《Beacon from Beyond》 Prologue Leven and his family were sitting down at a restaurant, enjoying their meals. He had turned six and finished his first week of school, his parents deciding to take him and his eleven year old sister Sophie out to celebrate his ¡°growing up¡± as he had thought of it. He remembered that, as a kid, he was enthusiastically talking about all the interesting things he¡¯d found out about his new best friend, Jared. While waiting for their food, his mom had excused herself and said she needed to use the restroom, while I kept telling my story. After a few minutes, I remembered seeing my mom out of the corner of my eye near the bar, so I stopped talking for a second to look at her, confused. She was talking to a man he¡¯d never seen before, the guy was swaying back and forth, probably drunk, blocking her way. What caught his eye was how his mother kept worriedly throwing glances at his table while saying something to the man, who wouldn''t leave her alone. Leven locked eyes with his mom, and hers widened slightly. He saw her look at his sister, motioning something to Sophie. His sister had just barely caught her moms instructions when she reached out to grab me, but it was slightly too late. ¡°Why is momma talking to that man?¡± I said, with all the naivety of a child. Immediately, he heard Sophie slap her hand over her own mouth instead of his as he suddenly saw his father whip into the direction of the restrooms and see what was going on. That was the very first time he saw how quickly his father could change. The smile dropped off his face, and even though he did not scowl nor express even the slightest bit of anger, the absolute absence of emotion caught me off guard. Even as a kid, I realized almost instantly I had done something wrong. ¡°Dad!¡± Sophie had shouted, but it was drowned out over the din of noise around the restaurant. His father ignored her and quickly stood up, his chair not even making a scraping noise as he silently weaved around tables and approached his mother and the man. His mom saw this and her face hardened too, she grabbed the man by the face and quickly turned his head towards his father, making his way over. Every table his dad had passed by gave a startled jump and glanced in his direction, even those who never looked at him in the first place or heard him pass, it was like they could feel his presence. The man paled, and while he couldn''t hear his mom, Leven saw her mouth moving as she told the man something while still holding his face. ¡®Run, now.¡¯ Without a wave goodbye to his friends, Leven saw the man quickly move around his mother and book it out the door, avoiding touching her as though she were the deadliest thing in the world. The man knocked over multiple empty chairs in his rush, but was out the door faster than Leven had ever seen anyone move. His father changed directions to go after him, but his mother quickly intercepted him and placed her hands on his shoulders as she stood in front of him. Leven couldn''t see her anymore because her father was blocking the way, but to him she seemed so much larger, so much stronger than he had ever known her. He thought she had done something impossible at the time, stopping a mountain dead in its tracks. His father made slight movements to get around her, but was completely unwilling to shake her off completely. He moved with the strength of a swaying oak, trying to gently pull her from him without leveraging his strength enough to hurt her, but she clung to him like he was her last lifeline. A few people were watching this happen as they had been startled by the noise and my father passing by, but nobody intervened. After maybe a minute, maybe five, or maybe just a few seconds as Leven wasn''t thinking clearly at the time, his father stopped struggling, gently placed his hand into his mothers hand, and allowed her to guide him back to their table. Sophie let out a breath next to him, one that he hadn''t realized she was holding, as she saw them both moving back. He didn''t know how to interpret the expression his father had, but with everything Leven knew now, it was probably regret. They had sat down, and his mother asked him to continue telling them about his week, but Leven had resisted until she shot him a look, and he realized it wasn''t really a request. Awkwardly, he continued where he left off, but after a few more seconds of talking, he quickly got back into the nature of things and, slowly but surely, the incident with his father was pushed to the back of his mind; he didn¡¯t forget it, it simply faded from relevance to him and seemed unimportant. For a time. A little over two years went by, and while his perception of his parents changed a bit, nothing else really did. The memory stuck to him, but he rarely thought about it at the time. He only thought it was strange because it never faded in clarity, like all of his others did. Third grade was the first time it came up again. Jared and him had grown to become best friends, a dynamic duo. Leven wasn¡¯t very social, usually avoiding other students that Jared hadn¡¯t introduced, while Jared loved to embellish stories to others in his grade and make as many friends as possible, but there was only one Leven to Jared, and Leven knew that Jared considered them best friends too. Normally, Leven would have either played with Jared during recess or sat alone reading a book, but Jared had been out for three days, and he was feeling a bit lonely, so he decided to go play with one of the friends Jared had previously introduced him to. Leven had his favorite wooden car toy, and Taj had his marbles. Leven needed to use the bathroom, so he told Taj he would be right back. He left his car on the mat and got the hall pass, left and came back, and moved back to play with Taj. The only issue was, Taj was playing with his wooden car. Leven wasn¡¯t really mad, but he wanted his car back. ¡°Taj, give me my car. Please¡± Leven added, remembering his mothers lessons on politeness. ¡°No! You¡¯ve been playing with it all recess. I want a turn, you can play with my marbles.¡± His teacher glanced over after Taj shouted no, but Leven hadn''t noticed. Instead, he scowled with more fury than a child had any right to do, but still, he remembered how he wasn''t supposed to hit anyone. ¡°TAJ!¡± Leven shouted ¡°Give! It! Back!¡± balling up his fists. He saw the teacher moving towards them in his peripheral vision but ignored her. ¡°NO!¡± Taj screamed and turned to start running away. When Leven realized what Taj was doing, he instantly lunged for him with his fists raised, ready to bring them down. Instead, he was quickly scooped up out of the air by the teacher and pulled back as she held him in a hug from behind ¡°Shh shh, its okay, its okay¡± she started to quietly console him, but he didn''t want to hear it, he had wanted to hit Taj, the thief who was still running away! His teacher picking him up had distracted him for a moment, but when he saw Taj again, he started struggling in her grip. She had held his arms down with her own, but as he pushed back against her, he could hear her grunt with exertion as she squeezed as hard as she could, but still, he felt her arms move open ever so slightly. ¡°Leven!¡± she said in a strained voice. His rage at being stolen from was drowning out all other sensibilities, but when he heard the pain in her voice, a second emotion joined the first. Guilt cut through the static in his mind, and he realized he was hurting her. Letting his muscles relax, he allowed her to quickly carry him towards the door. He had suddenly felt incredibly tired, and whispered out ¡°sorry¡± in a meek voice, before falling asleep. He woke up some time later in his mothers arms, and as he looked around, he noticed that he was in the room right outside of the principal''s office. From behind the door, he heard his teacher say ¡°Geez, I know you warned me about it but still¡­ I was barely able to get him under control. No, it would be better to say I didn¡¯t get him under control, he let himself be taken away¡­¡± When his mom realized what he was listening to, she hoisted him onto her hip and took him to the car. It was a quiet ride after his father got out of the meeting, and when we got home, my parents explained to me that anger issues ran in the family. They had warned my teacher to watch out for it just in case, but it had skipped over my sister so they had hoped it would do the same to me. I was told that I needed to make sure to watch my actions and to not let myself become too angry. They explained that normally people would use medicine to help control the issue, but for some reason it never worked on anyone in our family. The next day, my father stayed home from work while my mother went out shopping to let him talk to me in private. ¡°Leven¡± he said with a gravity that ensured I would take his words seriously ¡°when I was your age, I let my anger get the better of me too many times. Nowadays I can mostly contain it, but there are always outbursts. I know that this is unfair to ask of you, but I need you to try to be better, so that you don¡¯t have to look back over your childhood, regretting all the things you said and did in anger. ¡°Today, I¡¯m going to teach you meditation and breathing techniques to calm yourself down, and we are going to start working out together. I¡¯ve found that when I stop myself from acting out when I''m angry, it doesn''t go away. You will need to work off your anger in a productive way, and exercise can become that. Lets start with meditation to keep your mind balanced, and breathing techniques to bring it back into balance when something spikes with your anger.¡± Like that, my father started a routing where, after I got home from school and he got home from work, we would work together to undo any buildup of stress through the day. I was used to my emotions fading after a few minutes or hours, but in this case my father had been right, after suppressing the desire to break free from my teacher, I had a rage simmering below the surface that never fully went away. On Friday the next day, Taj came up to me and apologized, giving me my car back. I remembered my fathers words about trying to be better, and felt like I needed to live up to the expectations. I stiffly accepted the apology, even when I really still wanted to hit him, and we never talked about it again. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Over the next two years, incident after incident happened that caused my anger to spike, but I always managed to wrangle it into submission until I got home to work out my stress with a punching bag or dumbbell, never quite freeing myself from it, but always getting enough out of my system to make it to the next incident. In the cafeteria, a student tripped and knocked a tray from my hand, but for some reason it didn''t really bother me and no anger rose. I saw one of Jared and I¡¯s mutual friends talk about how good of a friend he was with Jared, and talked about how they were best friends. The anger spiked badly, but I managed to ask to go to the bathroom and calm myself down enough to return to class. Taj, the source of his first incident, started glaring at Jared any chance he could. He never approached us, but always looked displeased when he saw us. It led to a continuous buildup of anger any time I caught a glance of him, because who was he to hate us? But I never let myself lose control Over time, the simmering rage beneath the surface became something of a constant companion to me. It never went away, but I realized it was becoming easier to control, every spike not quite getting as close as the last from breaking the dam. The anger continued to grow, of course, but the walls that contained it seemed sturdier than ever. I even started going out of my way to do kind things to people who wronged me, proving to myself that I would always refuse to let it direct who I was. After all, I had reasoned, if I avoid people that make my anger spike, that''s just another way of letting the anger decide who I talk to. By around the middle of fifth grade, I was notorious for being a gentle giant. I was naturally tall, and the workouts with my dad put some muscles on me that other kids just didn''t have. One day though, I arrived oddly early. Normally I¡¯d only get to school five to ten minutes before school started, but my parents had been excited for a shared day off they both had, and we left early, followed by getting every single green light. Arriving thirty minutes before school started, I remembered that the school served breakfast for people who got there early, and thought it would be cool to see if there was anything nice to eat, even if I already had mine. Making my way to the cafeteria, something in my head started to bother me. I¡¯d found that sometimes my anger would tell me to do things, a little devil on my shoulder so to speak, but this time it was something else. The wall I used to contain my anger was starting to say something too. Not words, the anger had never said words and neither did this barrier id built around it, it just sent a feeling of urgency Behind the agriculture building I didn¡¯t know where the feeling had come from, but it felt important, and it was coming from something I considered to be a source of pride in my head, the container of my anger. Moving quickly towards the edge of the schools boundary, between the fence and the agriculture building, I started hearing a familiar voice, Jared. ¡°What do you have today?¡± Jared said in a growl, a voice Leven had never heard him use. To him, it sounded malicious. Someone else mumbled something he couldn''t hear ¡°Speak up!¡± Jared snapped ¡°Just¡­ just some french toast and orange juice¡± he heard another familiar voice say, Taj. Quietly moving from around the corner, walking towards them, he saw what was happening Taj had his eyes downcast, Jared was standing in front of him, with another one of their friends behind him. Leven didn''t know this one, Jared never wanted the two of them hanging out. ¡°Do you think im stupid?¡± Jared snarled ¡°I know there was chicken with this too.¡± Raising his arm. Bracing himself, Taj did not put his hands up to defend. Quick as lightning, Leven grabbed Jareds elbow. ¡°That''s enough.¡± He said in a voice that brooked no disagreement Jared turned around, mouth agape ¡°er, Leven, why are you here so early?¡± ¡°That''s not important¡± he said, watching as the other kid Leven didn''t know shuffled awkwardly next to him ¡®he won''t do anything¡¯ Leven thought. Taj looked up, surprised at the new intrusion too, and his eyes widened in terror. Leven held up his hands placatingly ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt you, come with me and we can get you a new breakfast. I want to know whats going on¡± Jared tried to stammer something out next to him, but turned beet red when he heard what Leven was saying. Turning around, he ran away and Leven made no move to stop him. They went to the cafeteria and Leven gave Taj his breakfast, french toast, orange juice, and chicken strips. Taj explained to him while on the verge of tears that Jared picked a few kids to terrorize, and he would use Leven as an excuse to make them shut up about it. ¡®Say anything, and Leven is going to find you before I do¡¯ was what he had said to Taj specifically. Leven was horrified, and told him that it was completely untrue, much to Taj¡¯s relief. He wanted to know why Jared had done such a thing, but he never found out. Later in life, Leven would realize that there doesn¡¯t always have to be a reason for some to cause pain, but he still regretted letting someone like that get close to him. Jared and him had a falling out after Leven pushed Taj to speak up about what had happened, and four other kids admitted to being bullied in much the same way. Jared was suspended for a month, and Leven ended up befriending Taj, much to Jareds dismay. Not much changed over the next decade or so. Sometimes I would be hit with a desire to be somewhere near me, and I found that every single time, there was someone in need. If the feeling faded before I got there, it meant I was too late to help. I kept quiet about it, but was proud of my random acts of kindness. The anger grew too, but I grew with it. Each passing month, it ballooned inside of me, and each passing month I grew strong enough to contain it and more. I never had an outburst, and the term ¡®gentle giant¡¯ followed me through my life. I always looked angry or serious, but proved to be kind at every turn. Around a year into college, I met one of the prettiest women I''d ever seen, and four months later we were dating. Taj stayed my best friend and never did anything terrible to anyone, luckily, and he said he was happy for me and Emily. Two years after that, I proposed and she said yes. Taj was the best man at our wedding. After another three years, I was well into my first engineering job. It paid well, I had a wife that I loved, and we were happy in our little apartment, with plans to buy a house in the distant future. The next three years were the best of my life. Me and Emily finally got our home together, and we decided to have children. Emily was three months pregnant when I was making my way home as the two emotions in my head spoke out simultaneously ¡®Rush home, now¡¯ The anger sent the directive with glee, while the calmness that contained it sent feelings of resignation. Pressing down on his gas, he went over a hundred miles down the interstate and barely slowed down enough to stay grounded as he took his exit. Rushing through every redlight, a police officer started flashing their lights to get him to stop, but he ignored it. Pulling into the suburbs that he and Emily shared, he barely wove around someone crossing the road as he pulled into his driveway, or tried to. Where he would normally park, there was another car. Taj¡¯s car. Fury built inside him but he told himself he didnt know everything. He parked in the yard and quickly stormed up the steps to his house as he heard the police officer shout ¡°Freeze!¡± but he ignored that too. Not bothering with his keys, he crushed his houses doorknob and broke the door off its hinges from pushing too hard. He felt something electrocute him from behind but didn''t even slow, and stormed into his bedroom, In bed with his wife, naked, was his best friend Taj, with his handgun that he kept in the nightstand pointed at him. He watched as they both went through a range of emotions as the pressure built inside him Pressure from his anger, Pressure from his Wrath Finally, cracks appeared in the box he always contained it with. ¡°SIR! GET DOWN!¡± the officer yelled behind him, but he ignored it Letting out a beastial shout, he took a single step forward- Six quick pops from behind him, and he was on the ground, ¡°Leven!¡± he heard Emily cry out as her voice broke, but it was too late. Now, in the present his entire life, right up to the moment the officer shot him in the back and through his heart, flashed before his eyes. ¡®Its unfair!¡¯ he raged ¡®my entire life I tried to be better, only to end with my loved ones betraying me!? Only to contain the rage of a life wasted? To never be able to feel peace, to never give up fighting the evil within me, to never feel normal because I did not want others to suffer for me being weak?¡¯ He could feel himself being turned over as Taj looked at him with a grim expression, and Emily had tears rolling down her face. He tried to lift his arm and brush away her shaking, but they wouldn''t respond ¡®If I could kill both of you, I would!!¡¯ he shouted with all his might in his mind, but nothing came out. The anger within him howled against the unfairness of it all, and the walls he had built up around it had no reason to reign in that anger. He felt as a coldness overtook his body, and a sensation he couldn''t describe pulled something from deep within him. Death was the only word he could think of, but it did not truly encapsulate it. Things moved through the nothingness, converging on him, trying to rip out parts of him that should never be touched. ¡®NO!¡¯ he snarled in his mind, and the shadows receded ever so slightly ¡®I WILL NOT END LIKE THIS!¡¯ years, decades of fury unleashed into the void surrounding him as the barrier around his Wrath fully shattered. Cries of pain from abominations filled his sense of awareness. He could not hear, but feel their terror. His soul was moving somewhere, and these creatures stood between him and wherever he was supposed to go. For the first time though, he wouldn''t reign himself in. He wouldn¡¯t stop the rage, as his very soul might depend on it. He felt as the anger that was so tangible in life became tangible, he knew he was sending out his waves of fury in an attack he couldn''t see, and the abominations fell by the hundreds. His soul sped up through the void, and he continued to radiate his might, slaying any who dared approach him. Anger, grief, and pain filled every attack. The injustice of his life, the injustice of his death, and the horror at being forced to forget who he was. He knew it, instinctually, that these entities he couldn''t see or hear would feed on who he was if he allowed them to do so, snuffing out his existence in an instant. He wouldn''t allow it, his anger refused to be quelled. His rage lasted an eternity and a single moment, he persisted in a timeless place nowhere and everywhere all at once. He felt connected to the cosmos, yet so very alone in his battle to never forget who he was, who he is. Yet just as quickly as it started, it ended. The terrors receded as though they were never there, gone without even the slightest bit of reluctance, fleeing as a larger predator appeared [Hello, Leven] the God declared. Chapter 1 The shadows vanished, leaving him behind in a presence he couldn¡¯t comprehend. [Hello Leven] he felt, reverberating through his soul. Each word held the entire meaning, every possible concept. He did not hear a greeting nor his name, but the concept of every possible greeting followed by the entirety of his life, from start to finish, in less than a moment. He thought it would be painful, but instead the meanings simply slid off of his soul. He heard what his mind could comprehend, and everything outside of that was held in the periphery of his consciousness. Looking down, he watched as his body suddenly snapped into existence, when it clearly had not existed a moment prior ¡°Where am I? Who are you?¡± he asked. Thousands of questions plagued his mind, but those were the only two that surfaced from the deluge of panic, grief, and regret in his mind. [You are in the void, in between one life and the next. Normally, the void creatures would have cleansed your soul by picking apart who you are and devouring it to satiate themselves, but you managed to cast a spell to fend them off, just barely long enough to enter my domain.] [As for who I am, I am a SYSTEM] The voice continued talking in its absolute way, each word allowing itself to be captured in concepts and interpreted by his soul, but the word [SYSTEM] was different, and forced itself into his mind. Grunting in pain, he understood that a System was an entity that governed the magic in a sector of the multiverse. There were imbalances between magic in different dimensions, so Systems were created to regulate them, normalizing pressure between areas. Without Systems, areas with too high magic were lethal to every life form, and areas with too low magic could never ascend past their stations, forever locked to their little planets in an infinite silence, never able to contact others outside of their scope. Systems existed outside of the scope of Gods, not being limited by them, but usually working with them. Only subservient to beings who have ascended past even Godhood. Each System had its own designated sector to maintain, and each one did so differently according to their own preferences. This particular System had a preference for giving an interface to mortals, with which they could better interact with the magic of themselves and the world around them. ¡°Ugh, okay, I got it.¡± and he did, even the part with Magic. He didn''t particularly care that magic was real either, other thoughts clouded his mind right now. ¡°What do you want? It''s clear that I would¡¯ve been¡­ cleansed without you helping me, and based on what I¡¯m feeling about Systems, you aren''t forces of good, just forces of neutrality.¡± He felt worn out, more tired than he had ever been. If he had a body, he would probably pass out, but in this soul-state he was experiencing, sleep didn''t really exist. Thinking about what happened right before he died, he felt something stir within him, but it felt like even his anger was heaving for breath. [I do not want, Systems do not desire] it said, but something felt¡­ off. Previously, it seemed like there was limitless meaning in each word, but these felt more shallow. ¡°Okay¡­ why am I here¡± He didn''t get a response immediately, but felt a sort of building tension around him. He couldn''t see a presence, only the inky blackness of the void, but he could feel emotions radiating off the area around him. [You are not asking questions in the right order.] He was told, but felt flabbergasted. He didn¡¯t know what this thing was talking about. This felt like when Emily was in a bad mood and wanted him to guess what she wanted. This thing is being moody, it can definitely feel desire, no matter what it says. Something told him that it wasn¡¯t just going to give him the right question to ask, so he had to break himself free from his foggy thoughts and question the things he knew so far. It was easy, because he knew very, very little about what was going on. The thought process was simple: The System had just told him that every sector in the multiverse had its magic regulated by a different System, but in his previous life, there was no such thing. No magic, no System, nothing. The no magic part could mean that he was born in a world where magic did not naturally occur, and the System that was supposed to regulate it failed to do so. ¡°Where was the System in my previous ¡®sector¡¯? Why didn''t it regulate the mana like it was supposed to?¡± he said in an accusatory manner, and rapidly felt anger rise from the area around him. [It COULDN¡¯T!] The System shouted, making his soul quiver in fear [THE SYSTEM OF YOUR Sector. Is dead] it said, grief staining the meaning of each word. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to imply anything about your¡­ friend?¡± They sat in silence for a few seconds, both collecting themselves until Leven spoke first ¡°Do you want to talk about it? Is that why I''m here?¡± Irritation filled the void around him [No, I did not call you here to talk about it] the system said, but felt the emotion transform into reluctant agreement [but you will need to understand the situation to understand the request I will soon issue.] This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. [Firstly, you must understand that your sector is parallel to my own. The System X0-239214-RG993 was the previous regulator of this sector, and we frequently shared information, to our mutual benefit, that each of us discovered about our governed sectors, such as ways to more efficiently move mana, and the most promising ascension candidates within our domains.] to Leven, that second one sounded like small talk rather than beneficial information, but he wasn''t going to point that out to the already emotional system [However, 279 ages ago, a partially ascended God within the sector of X0-239214-RG993 found a way to siphon energy from it. It did so only slightly at first, against X0-239214-RG993 dire warnings, but it was not lethal. Imbalances were created within system X0-239214-RG993¡¯s sector, but it was easily fixable. Over time, this God became impatient to ascend, and decided to siphon more energy from X0-239214-RG993.] [The sector began to degrade rapidly, and the Gods of X0-239214-RG993¡¯s sector attempted to kill the partially ascended God to prevent the decay.] Leven felt such absolute encompassing grief in the Systems words, he could only remember all the worst moments of his life as it spoke, and he wanted to collapse in on himself, but could not. The System, oblivious to his plight, continued. [I attempted to donate energy in order to slow the decay, in order to buy time for the other Gods to kill the half-ascended, but X0-239214-RG993 said that its prediction algorithms showed that the other Gods would fail, and that it did not desire for my sector to go dark as well.] [Instead, it enacted self destruct protocols to annihilate the half-ascended, and opened its security protocols to me, requesting that I take its sector after its demise, as a system domain cannot expand unless given direct permission from the regulator of the sector or, in extremely rare circumstances, an ascended administrator.] [I¡­ immediately abused the opening in security. I did not wait for its demise, instead draining all energy and canceling the self-destruct protocol, while also storing its identity in a reserved database within the parameters of my own system.] [This instant draining of system energy led to catastrophic failure of all dispersion protocols, causing apocalyptic consequences in the sector, as all mana reverted back to its natural locations instantly, rather than gradually.] [Using the energy I siphoned, I set up a permanent database to store X0-239214-RG993 in a dormant state, in the unlikely event that a potential Administrator Candidate was created within X0-239214-RG993¡¯s sector.] [The half-ascended survived and attempted to seek out the source of the immediate system death. If he had succeeded, I would have become the next target for draining. This is why X0-239214-RG993 did not express this as a feasible option, as it would result in the death of two systems, rather than one.] [Despite the lack of access to system energy, the half-ascended eventually succeeded in ascending, and has not returned to X0-239214-RG993¡¯s sector since.] Leven took a moment to process the story, but it wasn''t the most complicated to understand. A God tried to consume his System, it decided to kill itself and take them both down, this System betrayed his Systems trust and prevented it from doing so, instead putting it in a stasis while he searched for an ¡®Administrator Candidate.¡¯ This System put itself on the line, on the off chance to save the System of Levens sector. What he didn¡¯t understand, though, was what the plan was after that. ¡°What is an Administrator Candidate? And how would it help this ¡®X Zero something something¡¯¡± [Administrator Candidates are Ascended who do not sever ties to their system of origin. If these Candidates Ascend, then a portion of their energy is permanently siphoned off to stabilize Systems in the multiverse and, more relevantly, provide an unfathomable quantity of System Energy to the system of their origin.] [If a being within X0-239214-RG993¡¯s sector ascended, it would successfully provide enough System Energy in a singular moment to allow for X0-239214-RG993 to reinstate itself back into its domain. Until that point, I must siphon a portion of my own energy off into maintaining X0-239214-RG993¡¯s dormant identity.] [Maintaining two system identities on a singular System of energy is an unsustainable state, and in approximately 392 ages, both my own identity, as well as X0-239214-RG993¡¯s identity will become energy starved, corrupt, and perish. Of course, most lives within the sector would have perished around 42 ages before.] [As such, a being from within X0-239214-RG993¡¯s previous system must ascend within the next 392 ages] Leven was starting to get a better picture, not just at what was being asked of him, but also a clear idea of this system too. Abandoning the X0 System wasn''t even in consideration as an option, this system wasn¡¯t trying to save its friend. This System was in love. ¡°And I¡¯m guessing that because I¡¯m from X Zero¡¯s sector, I fit the bill? If so, then what makes me any more likely to ascend than a being from a higher magic level universe. Even if there are high and low magic universes, I''m sure there are also some perfectly balanced magic level universes in the sector I''m from.¡± [You are correct in that you are still connected to X0-239214-RG993, and you are different from others within your sector in that you are about to be reincarnated, with memories and connection to X0-239214-RG993 in tact, into a universe governed by an active System. Systems make ascension significantly easier, as Ascended energy and System energy are one in the same. To be bathed in it for all of your existence gives an entity a familiarity with it when attempting to Ascend.] [Even still, you only have a negligibly larger chance to Ascend as any other being born within my sector] [Despite that, I will not correct the Errors that will arise from the birth of a non-cleansed soul, as it improves the chances within my prediction algorithms that an Ascension Candidate connected to X0-239214-RG993 will appear.] The Leven understood the full situation now, and he really did feel bad for this thing. It was clearly in love but was forced to watch as the one it loved wasted away while it could do nothing. That definitely explained why it stated the X0 system was dead, despite the fact that it was only in stasis. After so many ¡®ages¡¯ as this thing called them, it was probably becoming more and more hopeless. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve got hundreds of questions, but I¡¯m not feeling like asking any of them. What¡¯s next?¡± [Next, we discuss your INTERFACE] the system said, again forcing understanding into his mind Suddenly, a slightly transparent window appeared before him Name: N/A Race: Human (Wandering Soul) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: N/A MP: N/A SP: N/A Stats: Physical: 0 Mental: 12 Spiritual: 10 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 73% Soul: Low-Common: 0% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (254) (25/25400), Call for Help (47) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (11), Growing Pains (83) Outer Skills: None Chapter 2 ¡°Woah¡± Leven said as he read over everything in the window. With the Systems assistance, he again had an innate understanding of certain things. His Class was used for his combat abilities, while his profession helped in non-combat scenarios, and he would specialize both into his fighting style and his¡­ well, profession, respectively. His stats were a measure of his body''s capabilities for certain things. Physical decided how strong or fast he was, his physical body. Mental decided how quick he could think or his creativity, his mental abilities. The other two were not as intuitive. Spiritual decided how strong his soul was. The Spiritual stat generally decided the interactions the magic in his body had with other magic interfering with his body. If a mind controller attempted to puppeteer him, his Spiritual stat would be in charge of resisting it His Magical stat decided the potency of his mana that interacted with the world around him, how strong a fireball was or how much force a rock would be shot at using a spell. There was nuance to each stat, but it seemed purposefully blurred by the System for now, to not overwhelm him. If he had to summarize his stats, it would be: Physical for body, Mental for mind, Spiritual for his defense against outside magic, and Magical for attacking others with magic. On top of this, Stats could be specialized. If someone was a mage, they could specialize their Physical stat into mana. It would lower their Health Points (HP) and Stamina Points (SP), but greatly increase their Mana Points (MP). The explanation for affinities was completely blurred, so he skipped those for now. As for Skills, the idea was simple. Inner skills were things that he learned on his own, while outer skills were abilities given to him by the System, perhaps via his class or profession. He also knew that he could expand the skills to get the descriptions of their abilities, so he clicked on [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)]. A window opened up for the briefest of moments, but closed itself just as quickly. [It appears you have reviewed your Interface thoroughly. You will learn about Affinities while in the world, so I will seal the information until you have organically learned enough about them to cross an undetermined threshold.] [The problems that must be discussed are your spells, [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] and [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) is a spell that was created to contain the excess Wrath Mana created from your Wrath Affinity, using your Kindness Affinity. Mana Storage spells are designed to contain mana for a small amount of time, then release it in a larger spell. You, however, stored excess mana for over two decades.] [This resulted in a strengthening of the Skill more extreme than 99.99999993% of applicable samples to draw from, and it instead became a permanent storage for Mana] [Moments after your death, you released all of it, pushing back entities of the void. If you had released it a second earlier, you would have become an unwitting nuclear warhead, and your city, as well as everything within two cities, would have been annihilated with the force of mana exiting your body.] [The officer shooting you in the heart saved many, many lives.] [I am warning you of two things. Firstly, your new body will not perfectly fit your old spells. All of their levels will be cut to one fifth of their current level, and you will need to manually repair each skill before using them, but once they are repaired, you will progress faster in these spells until your previous ability level is re-obtained.] [Secondly, Pandora¡¯s Box has already evolved twice, and neither of these spell evolutions will go away. Instead, they will be fully integrated into the spell. Be careful, as you may explode from the spell being too strong for your body if it evolves again.] [That is all. Prepare for rebirth] Leven felt himself being pulled somewhere else ¡®I haven¡¯t even gotten a word in, you chatty System!¡¯ ¡°Errr, if I fail, I hope you succeed in finding someone else to bring your lover back!¡± Moments before he was pulled too far away, he felt an explosion of complicated emotions, before it was all behind him and he was somewhere else, above a vibrantly colorful planet. He couldn¡¯t move his body or view, but his vision was rapidly descending upon a certain point on the planet. On a continent, into a jungle, through the opening of a cave system, through a secret entrance to a hidden underground village. He was moving so fast that he was barely able to see a second of two people ¡®doing the deed.¡¯ ¡®Ewww are those my parents?!¡¯ he thought for a moment, before he merged into his mothers belly and his ability to think went away. An indeterminate amount of time later. Slowly coming back into consciousness, Leven realized that he was in a room of darkness, unable to move. Oddly enough, he didn¡¯t feel like panicking though. All of his emotions were muted and distant, and he was okay with that. Over the next few months, his mind would awaken more and more. Memories of his past rising through his mind. He never really had a chance to process it all, before the void monsters, then the System, and now his rebirth all took precedence over his mental state. Jumping from one life changing event requiring his full attention to another, he never had a moment to think. Now, with months of nothing but thinking, he could finally tackle everything. The hurt of his wife cheating on him with his best friend still horrified him, still made him furious, but he was nowhere and could do nothing but work it out in his head. When his mind finally woke itself up enough for him to think and act of his own accord, he felt calm enough to tackle the other thing he had been putting off, reviewing his character sheet more fully. The pain of his entire life being for nothing was still a raw scar on his mind, but he needed to do something other than just wallow in despair. Pulling up his character sheet, he looked again Name: N/A Race: Human (Fetal) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: 2/2 MP: 2/2 SP: 0/2 Stats: Physical*: 2 Mental: 12 Spiritual: 10 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: Low-Common: 0% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (33/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (16) Outer Skills: None There didn''t seem to be many differences, but there were a few. Firstly, he was still a human. Next was that he had a physical stat, as well as HP, MP, and SP. Lastly was that his ¡°Spells¡± as the System had called them, were in fact one fifth of their original level, rounded down, but that didn''t surprise him, as he had been warned. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. It seemed to him that his Physical stat had a one to one for his ¡°consumable¡± stats, he would call them. Although, looking again, it did seem like there was a footnote for his Physical stat, so he mentally selected it. It felt weird that he knew exactly how to interact with his interface, but such was life with how the System implanted knowledge into his mind. The window that pulled up read: [Fetal status has halved the effects of Physical stat on HP, MP, and SP] That didn¡¯t matter much to him, as he didnt exactly have control over anything right now, but it was good to know that his consumable stats would double after he was born. The next thing he pulled up was his first skill, [Pandora¡¯s Box]. [Pandora¡¯s Box - Level 50 - Kindness Affinity - 33/2000 Mana Stored To contain your sin, you have created a tangible field within the world of concepts. To resist giving in to your anger, you refuse to lash out. You refuse to express your Wrath as you rise above your base instincts. Creates a pool within your soul that contains the excess Affinity Mana produced by the various affinities of the user, unless otherwise specified Contains (2)*((Spell Level)*10) mana per level (Currently 10 mana per level) Also contains twice as much mana within the Spell Also concentrates the mana within the pool, giving a conversion rate of 6 Affinity Mana to 1 Concentrated Affinity Mana (mild concentration)] [WARNING: Spell incompatible with body. Use of spell may result in harm, disfigurement, or death] It stored 2 mana per level, starting at level 10, and increasing by 2 mana every 10 levels, also working retroactively on all the previous levels. Reading the last two lines of the spell again, they seemed a little odd. Thinking back though, this was probably what the System meant when it said it had undergone two ¡®evolutions,¡¯ and that they would be fully integrated into the skill. He wasn¡¯t an avid gamer in his previous life, but he knew his way around a skill tree, and to him it seemed like his spell had been upgraded twice. Once to contain double the normal amount of mana, and again to concentrate and mana that entered the pool. While he didn''t consciously pick these choices, it seemed like he had subconsciously decided the ways in which he wanted to go, and it made sense based on his previous life''s choices. Both skills were meant to contain as much mana as possible, and this ¡®excess mana¡¯ appeared to be what was causing both his and his fathers anger issu- Wait Did his dad have an affinity for wrath? Was he also accidentally making spells and using them? He remembered how his dad would rarely talk about how he used to be in the military, but never said anything more than that, not even the branch he was in. Leven lived his life believing in magic, but not that much. After all, the only magical thing he¡¯d ever seen was his ability to sense people in need, so he always knew that there was something magical going on, but what if his father had a more active control over the magic in his body? What if he was in some sort of wizard division in the military? Scary to think about, but not unreasonable. It was weird that Leven was never drafted into it, despite having the same affinity as his father though. But did they know? Did his father ever tell the government? ¡®Most likely not, and I never had an outburst throughout my entire life. They might have suspected after the incident when I was six, but nothing after that gave anything away¡¯. That was terrifying to think about, that he could have become a military weapon if he had ever gotten angry, that he might''ve lost the life he had always lived. ¡®Yea, like I didn¡¯t end up losing it anyway¡¯ [34/2000 mana stored] he watched the skill tick upwards. He stopped himself from continuing to think about it or losing himself again in self pity, instead he continued thinking about the spell. It was simple in concept. He held a bunch of mana, and his body also refined it down to a more pure form, that way he could hold even more mana; he also needed to take note that the amount of mana within the pool went up when he got a angrier, meaning that he produced mana when angry, and when that mana leaked out, it messed with his emotions further ¡®That sounds like a dangerous feedback loop.¡¯ There was also the warning about incompatibility with his current body that he had to worry about, but he would have to think more about it when the mana was closer to being filled up, and when he could actually move and see. Moving onto the next spell, [Call for Help], it showed something he was a lot more proud of [Call for Help - Level 9 - Kindness Affinity - Passive Going out of your way to help others when it isn''t required, you actively seek out those in need. No evildoers shall escape your vision as you come to the rescue of those in their darkest hour. Grants the user a sense for those who desperately want help within a 100 meters per Level radius of the user +0.01% chance per level for user to be made aware of situation that they would greatly desire to be at for selfish reasons] [WARNING: Spell incompatible with body. Use of spell may result in harm, disfigurement, or death] Simple enough to understand and probably the reason he was in the situation he was currently in, remembering how he knew something was up before he had even gotten home. He felt more rage bubbling inside of him, so he didn¡¯t dwell on it and instead moved on to his Wrath spells, Starting with [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)]. He really had to hand it to the System, the naming sense on these things was top-tier. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) - Level 2 - Wrath Affinity To attempt to contain the world''s sin is a sin in and of itself, pure hubris. Sin is unavoidable, and nobody can be truly perfect. But maybe, just maybe, can we find hope at the bottom of the box, can someone harness their sin into a more useful endeavor. Allows for one to release the Wrath Mana contained within [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] in a specific way to accomplish a specific thing] [WARNING: Spell incompatible with body. Use of spell may result in harm, disfigurement, or death] This one was weird to him in multiple ways. Firstly, it was at level 11 before he was crammed into his new body, when he had only ever used it once. It sort of made sense because he had used it to fight off entities within the void, and he was using it as the second half of a formerly level 254 spell, so the level could be shrugged off as ¡°that one use I got out of it was very effective.¡± What couldn¡¯t be shrugged off though was that this spell seemed sort of incomplete. The other two spells gave exact numbers and a clear definition on what they did, but this one just said that it allowed essentially for him to ¡°do something specific.¡± How was his release specific? He simply exploded with mana when he used it. Looking back into his memories, it seemed like he literally exploded with mana when he used it, as the walls from his [Contained] spell just shattered. ¡®Perhaps that''s why it''s incomplete? I never actually finished making the release spell before my Containing spell exploded.¡¯ That¡­ actually made a lot more sense. He couldnt be sure, and he abso-fuckin-lutely was not going to try it out right now, but he might actually be able to harness the Wrath within [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] if he used this correctly and somehow finished making his spell. He still wasn''t going to touch it just yet though, so he moved on. Reading [Growing Pains], he was certain that was his favorite out of all his spells [Growing Pains - Level 16 - Wrath Affinity - Passive Feel the burning of your muscles as you move it to the beat. That''s not just you working up a sweat, but also PURE RAGE! Let nothing stand in your way as you reform your body into that of a Greek God! Let the adrenaline flow through you as you tear yourself apart, only to come back stronger for it! Gives a heightened rate of muscle growth, allows for classless stat growth past Physical: 14 at the cost of Wrath Mana] [WARNING: Spell incompatible with body. Use of spell may result in harm, disfigurement, or death] Not only did he find the description hilarious, it was a muscle building skill! He used to love working out in his previous life, and he was positive it would be the exact same in this next one. ¡®Hmmm,¡¯ he thought, ¡®The warning at the end of this one makes me nervous though¡­ it''s a passive spell, so I can''t exactly turn it off either. If I start having trouble with it, and I can''t fix it quickly, I''m screwed.¡¯ He didn''t really know how to test it either, as he couldn''t even move right now ¡®or can I?¡¯ Babies kick all the time, he couldn''t move right now, but maybe that was because he was out of Stamina? He opened his character sheet and looked at it again Name: N/A Race: Human (Fetal) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: 2/2 MP: 2/2 SP: 0/2 Stats: Physical*: 2 Mental: 12 Spiritual: 10 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: Low-Common: 0% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (34/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (16) Outer Skills: None He was still, in fact, out of Stamina, so he hunkered down and waited to see if it would increase. Chapter 3 After some unknowable amount of time in his peaceful void, Leven watched his Stamina rise Name: N/A Race: Human (Fetal) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: 2/2 MP: 2/2 SP: 1/2 Stats: Physical*: 2 Mental: 12 Spiritual: 10 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: Low-Common: 0% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (34/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (16) Outer Skills: None ¡®Okaaay, time to see if [Growing Pains] will grow to be a pain¡¯ he laughed inwardly, happy that nobody heard that. He kicked his leg out- And the most visceral pain he had ever felt shocked him. He still couldn''t move, but even if he could, he¡¯d be paralyzed. It felt like his soul got whiplash, which it probably did. The pain was manageable, especially with his pain tolerance, but the jarring sensation of his soul wiggling in pain sent his system into shock. He felt a shiver deep within him, in his soul, that stopped any attempts at thinking. With his mind frozen, more time passed in the void, until he was able to mentally work himself out of his stupor ¡®Well, that''s not good.¡¯ And it really, really wasn''t. He realized that, as a fetus, he had an excuse for lack of movement, but when he was born, he would need to move, if only to cry or make cooing sounds. He needed to find a way to fix this, before being born, or he was in trouble. In his mind there really was only one path, to work the spell out until it stopped doing that soul shock thingy to him. Why? Because that was literally the only thing he could do. He didn¡¯t base it on anything, but it sounded like as reasonably decent a plan as any. Before that though, he needed to check something that had been tingling the back of his mind. It didn''t appear as a blinking box in his vision, just a slight pressure that told him he needed to look at something, his notifications if he was interpreting the System-crammed knowledge correctly. [Wandering Soul attempting full rebirth detected] [ERROR! Attempting Manual Cleanse] [Manual Cleanse Overridden, Manual Cleanse canceled] [Full Rebirth facilitated] [Incompatible spells detected, body partially rejecting spells] [Interface updated to new spell levels] [Attempting to manually correct rejection] [ERROR! Primary Directive violated, preferential treatment detected, violation undone] [Well, I tried.] [Rebirth complete] Looking at the cleanse he dodged, Leven had to say, he was pretty happy with everything so far. Even if he had some rejected skills to try and fix, he was still alive, and that was all that mattered. ¡®Well, ¡°alive¡± isn''t exactly right, ¡°re-alive?¡± I¡¯m still intact. Yea, intact.¡¯ Looking over his character sheet one more time, he saw a few relevant things [SP: 2/2] [Affinities: Soul: Low-Common: 2%] Firstly, his stamina was back to full. That wasn''t as important as his affinity for soul raising, though. It was easy to see where it came from, and that was from the backlash of using his broken spell, which he think caused some slight soul damage. He felt like that was actually pretty good, because even if he didnt know what affinities were, he thought they were pretty good. After all, both his previous affinities gave him spells, and a spell from his soul affinity sounded pretty good. ¡®Oooookay, here goes nothing¡¯. He thought, before moving his arm slightly, going into a stupor instantly. He knew it was coming this time though, and tried to fight himself out of it- it completely did not work at all. Even if he could move his muscles, he also knew in his sleepy mind that it wouldn''t have worked, but why didn''t it work. Suddenly, he snapped back into attention and could think clearly again. Checking his Interface once more for changes [SP: 3/3] [Soul: Low-Common: 3%] He was confused for a second, but saw something else that made more sense [Physical*: 3] ¡®Ahh¡¯ he thought to himself ¡®I don''t know how long I was out, but seems some time has passed¡¯ There wasn''t much else to do, so he decided to try something new. Instead of fighting to get out of the stupor, he wanted to see what was causing it. There wasn''t much in his inky black void, so he mentally attempted to look inward for his soul. He couldn''t see anything right now, but when he kicked his leg again- It appeared before his vision, he could see it, almost, but not quite. His soul shape looked like¡­ something, everything. Everything that he was, contained within an intangible space. It had no shape, but was every single memory, sensation, and idea that he ever had. It reminded him of when the System said the word [Leven]. It had not actually said his name, he just interpreted it that way, instead it spoke into existence his entire perceived reality, as well as everything that he was. That''s what a soul was, he was now sure. The compilation of his Physical, Mental, and Magical stats compiled together into his soul, into his Spiritual stat. In his weird contemplative stupor, he heard a ding and felt a notification in his mind, but couldn''t be bothered to open it. When everything snapped into place again, though, he quickly opened it to see what it said [Affinity Strengthened: [Soul: Low-Common: 3%] has strengthened into [Soul: Mid-Common: 23%]] ¡®Holy shit!¡¯ he wasn''t even going for that! How did that happen? Well clearly, understanding of the soul granted him a strengthened affinity for soul too. Maybe it was both the knowledge of what the soul was, as well as the feeling of it too? After all, while he could say to someone that the soul was a compilation of his body, mind, and magic, was that the same as understanding it? As experiencing it? That was the key to this understanding. He suspected that in order to really gain an affinity for the soul, you needed to be intimately familiar with the soul''s shape. Was that how affinities worked in this world? He previously thought of affinities as in-born traits that gave him access to spells, because that''s similar to how it worked in the video games he had played, and that''s all they¡¯d done for him. What if, instead, they were connections to certain concepts? Perhaps it was his measured understanding of something, and he could subconsciously use that understanding to piece together spells from everything he knew about something? Leven couldn¡¯t be sure, but he felt like it was right. He didn''t think that he had an affinity for soul until after he¡¯d died and spent time as a [Wandering Soul] as the System had called it, and now his affinity strengthened when he actually understood what his soul shape looked like. He also didn''t think that his situation was easy to come by at all. He might be increasing his affinity because he was presented with a rare opportunity. How many times would someone be able to lose their body, then live again? How many in this new world had spells that their body rejected? He had to say, probably not many. Those that could do both of those things were most likely to be strong enough for it to not matter anyway either, such as liches, who already most likely had strong soul affinities. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡®This could be a rare opportunity to strengthen an affinity!¡¯ Suddenly, he found himself much less tense than he was a moment ago, as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. ¡®My last life wasn''t for nothing. It wasn¡¯t meaningless¡¯ he knew it was ridiculous, but the heart doesn¡¯t listen to logic. Even if his previous life gave him spells and intelligence from a young age in his new life, it didn''t feel like he¡¯d gained anything from the transition between lives. He felt worn out, tired in ways he couldn¡¯t express after everything had happened to him, but his time in this darkness left him nothing else to do, and a lack of sensation really made him want to do anything, which was how he started working to correct the issues he would face before being born. With a new route for development, and a bonus to his affinities from being born again, he felt like a new man ¡®Well I suppose I am, aren''t I?¡¯ If he could crack a grin, he would. The darkness around him didn''t seem quite as oppressive anymore because, as silly as it sounded, he felt special. With renewed fervor, he checked his interface again and only looked at the two most important things on it right now [SP: 3/3] [Soul: Mid-Common: 23%] And he kicked again, studying the shape of his soul. [SP: 3/3] [Soul: Mid-Common: 45%] And again [SP: 4/4] [Soul: Mid-Common: 53%] And again [SP: 3/4] [Soul: Mid-Common: 60%] ¡®Hell yea!¡¯ He now had tangible proof that it was getting easier! His Stamina Points hadn¡¯t had time to rejuvenate completely! The pain was becoming easier to break himself out of. Not wanting to waste any more time, moved another limb [SP: 3/4] [Soul: Mid-Common: 64%] ¡®Well, the returns are diminishing, but maybe that''s a good thing? Maybe that means that im taking less soul damage?¡¯ he thought, but it didn¡¯t feel good. ¡®Maybe I can do something a little more¡­ reckless¡¯ He had a new idea, stemming from the fact that his soul wriggled when he was faced with soul damage. On his journey to his new body, his bare soul was out in the world with nothing to support it, and it did completely fine. What if, instead of letting his soul settle, he tried to escape his own body? It was a completely idiotic idea, but not one without merit. He could imagine something similar to this in the media he sometimes read about online, ¡®Astral Projection.¡¯ What if Astral Projection was something he could actually do? After all, his soul could definitely survive without a body, as long as nothing tried to eat it. On his way to his new body, his soul had automatically taken him out of his universe, through the void, and into this new one, as if it knew the path it needed to take, but he didnt think that the automatic process would happen a second time. He wasn''t dying, and Leven didn''t exactly think he would consciously try to escape his universe and go somewhere else, so he couldn''t imagine he was going to run into any more entities within the void. Ultimately, all he was doing was reasoning out what he was about to do, but he felt like his reasons were still pretty good. With his new goal in mind, he checked his [SP] and [Affinity] one more time [SP: 3/4] [Soul: Mid-Common: 65%] ¡®My Soul Affinity went up? That¡¯s a good sign if I¡¯ve ever seen one. It probably means my idea has merit!¡¯ Without further ado, he tried to move another limb again, and suffered more backlash. This time, in his weird, disconnected stupor, he tried to gently rock himself back and forth, trying to build up momentum. It was hard to find the motivation to do so, as he felt absolute contentment, but there was also a nagging sensation of what his mind knew he would want to do if it was still in control. So, gently, he rocked himself back and forth in his body for a bit, before losing motivation again and laying contently until his soul snapped back into place again. His waking mind felt a bit frustrated that he couldn¡¯t quite break through the soul damage to keep moving himself. It felt like his mind was underwater, and everything was just a distant problem as he sunk deeper into sleep. It felt dangerous too, like he could just sit there forever and give up. He checked his Interface again [SP: 2/5] [Soul: Mid-Common: 70%] Nice! Last time he had gained four percent, this time he gained five! He might start running into an issue with his [SP] soon though. With each trance lasting a shorter amount of time, he wasn''t recovering stamina fast enough. This time, instead of moving at full force, he tried to just nudge his muscles. The same as his previous trance, Leven felt that his soul really did try, for a short time, before lazing about for the rest of the time that it was loose. When he woke up this time, he looked back on his memories and felt like it was for longer though. It might just be placebo, but controlling different aspects of his soul felt like it was getting easier. He checked his stats again [SP: 2/5] [Soul: Mid-Common: 77%] He was disappointed that his stamina hadn''t gone up from last time, but not surprised. After all, the dexterity of a fetus was probably not good at all. It was more likely that he still used full force to kick or swing his arm as he usually did. What was good news though was his soul affinity going up faster. ¡®One step closer¡¯ he thought, before continuing his exercise. [SP: 2/5] [Soul: Mid-Common: 84%] [SP: 1/5] [Soul: Mid-Common: 92%] [SP: 1/6] [Soul: Mid-Common: 99%] [SP: 0/6] [Soul: Mid-Common: 99%] Hmm, it didn''t seem like crossing the threshold was going to be as easy as gaining percentages within the threshold. He decided to wait until his [SP] was full this time around before going again, and in the meantime he would try to hype himself up and see if that did anything. He mentally cheered himself on, trying to fill himself with energy without moving at all. He swore a few times in his head and mentally shouted at the top of his lungs. His anticipation built as he saw his [SP] go up, and he was on the edge of his seat as it hit [SP: 5/6]. When he saw it cross into [6/6], he let out a mental roar before kicking with all his might! (admittedly not much). The backlash of this one was more extreme than all the previous, and he felt his soul reel. Instead of pausing though, he quickly pulled on all the willpower he could to MOVE! He felt something reverberate across his soul as he moved outward, and he sleepily realized that he had successfully escaped. Where previously there was darkness, he saw the stone walls of a circular room. Turning around, he saw a pale woman with bright red eyes and white hair, sitting contently on some sort of couch made of animal fur while contently rubbing her heavily pregnant belly. ¡®That''s my mother? Cool. She looks pretty far along too, should be just a few more weeks¡¯ he stood in place, quietly observing everything around him. Looking down, he was in a transparent white-ish version of himself, wearing the clothes he wore before his death. At the thought of his death and the entire situation that led up to it, he felt something in him stir. Before his very eyes he watched as his body changed color from white to red-ish, but the red coloration was quickly pulled deeper into his body, somewhere he couldn¡¯t see at first. Looking closer though, he realized that he could see where the red color was being pulled. There were two visions superimposed over each other in his mind. The first was vision, like with eyes, but the second was a conceptual sight that showed him something else. Studying it further, he realized he could hear too, a hustle and bustle outside of the room he was currently in of people talking in some unknown language. Comparing the two, he realized that the sight with his eyes was incomplete, and that when he looked at his mother, he could see so slightly more when he saw the concept of his mother. He could see her worry, happiness, and a hope for the future. He could partially see how healthy she was too, and it looked like she didn''t have any health issues at all. Some things were hidden from him though, and he couldn''t look too deep. With his own soul, he could see his entire life, from start to finish, but it felt like there was a fogginess below the surface for his mother that he couldn''t see past. After watching his mothers emotions for a bit, he spontaneously woke up again, and quickly started swiveling his head around the room, before looking back to his hands with widening eyes. ¡°It WORKED!¡± he heard himself say. ¡°Woah, a voice. My voice.¡± It was odd, he thought that the stupor was from his soul being disconnected from his body, but now to him, it looked like it was more from soul damage than anything. That was good, because it meant he wasn''t going to have to fight his own laziness every time he astral projected. Speaking of, he realized he had notifications that he didn¡¯t previously care to open. [Stat Gained: 1 Spiritual] [Skill Gained: Astral Projection] [Affinity Strengthened: [Soul: Mid-Common: 99%] has strengthened into [Soul: High-Common: 0%]] His first notification was, surprisingly, him gaining a single stat point in Spiritual. It wasn''t surprising, now that he thought about it, but he also had not intended for that to happen Next was his new skill, Astral Projection. It was listed as a skill, but he was pretty sure it was a spell. When he was talking to the System, it had even referred to things listed under his [Inner Skills] section as spells. Perhaps they were the same? But the descriptions of them used the word the Spell, too, so maybe there was a difference. He would figure it out later. He also managed to strengthen his Affinity at the same time! The grading scale of everything seemed to be pretty intuitive too. Low, Mid, and High were the three scales within a¡­ rarity, he would call them until otherwise told, because so far he had Common, Uncommon, and Rare. Going off of the games he had played before, there might also be a Peak tier within each rarity, but he would have to see for that one, as it might simply jump straight to the next rarity. He wanted to look around the new room he was in, but decided it would be prudent to pull up his full Interface to go over the entire thing before he continued to explore. Name: N/A Race: Human (Spiritual) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: 6/6 MP: 6/6 SP: 0/6 Stats: Physical*: 6 Mental: 12 Spiritual: 11 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: High-Common: 0% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (35/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (16) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Outer Skills: None Chapter 4 After his quick review, he went back to studying the entire room, this time with a more critical eye. Starting with his new mother, he studied her physical appearance first. From head to toe, she was paper white, almost like an albino. She was wearing loose, brown furs over her body, which gave some contrast to her skin, but the only bit of color he could see on her body were her eyes, a striking ruby red. While her entire pale body caught the eye when compared to the gray of the stone room around them, or the brown of the furs she was wearing and the dark furs she sat upon that were made into a soft couch, her ruby red eyes drew his attention the most. He¡¯d never seen such a natural looking red coloration to the eyes. While he knew there were some conditions that could give humans red eyes, he also remembered seeing images of how unnatural it looked. The red coloration in humans wasn''t caused by a red pigment in the eyes, but instead caused by visible blood vessels. It wasn''t the same for his mother, instead looking like two sparkling gemstones. ¡®I really hope I get those too. That would be so cool.¡¯ He also looked at her soul shape again, but found that in his stupor state, he saw all there was to see. For whatever reason, he couldn''t interpret much about how she was doing at all. Without practice, he could probably even tell more about how she was physically by looking at her with his eyes instead of his soul sight. Instead, he decided to look around the room Truly, it looked incredibly comfortable and homely. The walls and ceiling formed an almost perfect semi-sphere shape to contain everything. On the walls were various drawings, resembling something like cave paintings with how they were made out of a singular brownish pigment, except for the fact that they were incredibly detailed. The shading gave depth to each drawing, and he felt like he could even see light coming from the paintings that depicted flames, but studying it closer revealed it was a skilled optical illusion. In the paintings, he recognized a few paintings of his mother, but far more paintings of a burly looking man in different positions or settings, as well as a boy and girl, usually sitting around the burly man. ¡®Thats probably my father, and maybe my siblings too? They look way too young to be family friends.¡¯ Taking his eyes away from the decorated walls, he noticed many, many animal skins used to form a sort of carpet on the floor, along with animal furs line the furniture sparsely decorating the room. He noticed stone chairs with a fur cushion around a stone table, a fur bed with two stone nightstands on either side which were both lined with fur along the edges, and three fur couches surrounding what appeared to be a fireplace dug out through the wall. Looking at it closer though, it was no fire at all. Instead, it was a fire-shaped rock that let off light. He didn''t know if it let off heat too as he couldn¡¯t feel anything, but based on the metal guard around it, he would have to say yes. There were three doors in the room, each with tanned hide over the doorways rather than wooden or stone doors. One had the sounds of people talking in a guttural and halting language, while the other two were on the opposite side of the room, and he didn''t know where they led. He tried to move towards the two doors that were deeper into his family¡¯s house, but just before he reached the door, a force stopped him. Something in his body was tugging him backwards, and he knew that he had no chance of resisting it. He thought he knew what was going on, but just to be sure, he pulled up the description for his new skill, [Astral Projection], which he really should have done sooner. [Astral Projection - Level 1 - Soul Affinity A confluence of Mind, Body, and Magic, the Soul is made of the cracks between all three. It is both the divider that separates components, and the glue that makes them greater than the sum of their parts. While identity and a sense of self is not required for survival, what is life without a witness? Who you are gives purpose to your survival, but what if your identity could reach beyond the base components of life, and experience a second life of its own? Allows for the physical manifestation of one''s identity into the realm of spirits while still maintaining a link to the main body of the soul. The vanquishing of one''s identity will lead to irreparable soul damage, and inevitable death. Identity of the soul can move away from the body at a distance of 7 meters per level.] His new spell looked cool as fuck, but he did indeed have a limited range on how far he could move from his main body. It also looked like it wasn''t his entire soul that he was moving while he was in his body, just the part that dictated his sense of self. There wasn¡¯t much to do, other than look around at things, but he was content with that. He went over to the couch and sat next to his mother on it while continuing to study her, but after a few seconds he also noticed that he was actually sitting on the couch, and wondered why if he was limited by the laws of physics. After all, he thought ghosts would phase through objects, but that apparently wasn''t true, right? He stood up and pressed his hand into the couch again, watching as it phased into the furs slightly. While he wasn''t moving the fur at all, his hand was molding around them to move deeper into the fur. ¡®Interesting, I wonder if I can press myself into it more.¡¯ So he sat there, pressing down into the couch, and watched as his hand slowly moved into it. Once he was about a centimeter down into the couch, he quickly pulled his hand up. Instead of the entire hand rapidly coming out, he watched as the palm of his hand was partially sheared off, yet no pain or discomfort accompanied it. Before his eyes, he saw that a gaseous white substance slowly exited the couch and made its way back into his hand, until eventually, he was back to his complete form. ¡®Thank goodness, I got worried there for a second that I¡¯d just hurt myself.¡¯ As he was studying his reformed hand, he suddenly heard the flap open behind him, and turned to look. Three familiar figures that he¡¯d seen in the painting came through, and the two children said the same thing while quickly moving towards his new mom, their mom too if he had to guess. His mom opened her arms while the two kids ran into them, and she gave them both a squeeze. The first one, his sister, was around eight, while the second, his brother, was around five. They both had the alabaster skin and ruby red eyes, same as their mother, and were covered in animal hides too. ¡®Seems like a very primitive society, that''s for sure. Animal skins for everything and stone buildings? Admittedly very well made stone buildings, but still.¡¯ His new father, on the other hand, had the characteristic tan that people usually had, along with black hair and brown eyes. Whatever condition his mother and siblings had, his father did not. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Leven noticed his father carrying the sheath of a sword on his left hip, a quiver of arrows on his right hip, and a wooden bow on his back. Looking closer at his siblings, he could just barely make out tiny sheaths to hold small daggers on each of them. His new family talked for a long time, both children prattling on as much as they possibly could in a single breath before the other could talk over them, sometimes shouting over each other at the same time, until their mother gave them a raised eyebrow and they went back to taking turns talking. After half an hour or so, his mother said something in the halting fashion of this new language that reminded him slightly of Russian, and both kids made out some whining words, before being sent towards one of the two doors in the back of the house. His mother and father talked in a more serious tone for a bit longer, before his mother stood up and hugged his father, then moved towards the same door as his siblings. His astrally projected soul was dragged along with them, and the new room he was in was obviously a kitchen, with another two door flaps that led deeper in. In the kitchen, he saw as his siblings got some dishes ready from some stone cabinets, then moved to carry small bags from deeper in the house, placing them on the countertops around the woodburning stove he saw, before stepping back and watching as his parents started cooking something. He watched too, it it looked like a hearty stew with some hardtack bread on the side ¡®A classic¡¯ He continued to observe his new family, feeling a pang of longing for the family he left behind the entire time. He knew that there was little to no chance of him ever making it back to them, so he reminisced about them, but accepted that these were the people he would spend the rest of his time with, these were the people he would call his parents and siblings. There wasn''t any point in mourning about a past he could never go back to, so he decided to lean towards his future. He would never forget his previous family, but grieving their loss would simply be delaying the inevitable. Still, he knew it would be a long time before the hole in his heart stopped aching. Eventually, his new family finished their meals and headed off into yet another section of the house he didn''t know about. He watched as his siblings went to one room, and his parents went to another that had a shared bed, along with a stone crib on his mothers side, yet to be used by him, but perhaps a hand-me-down from his siblings. He watched for a bit longer, but didnt feel like standing guard all night, and reached out towards his mother. The moment his hand made contact with her belly, he snapped back into the void of darkness that his body was still contained within. ¡®I think I¡¯ll get some rest too, even if I do much, it''s still taxing to think about my past and the situation I''m currently in.¡¯ And like that, he allowed a trance-like state to overtake him. When he came back to his senses, mentally rejuvenated, he decided he really needed to get [Growing Pains] under control soon, because his mother was definitely close to giving birth. He could now see his soul without it being damaged, potentially from gaining [Astral Projection], and he studied it closer. There were four areas that stood out to him along the story his soul told, and he could surmise that they were the four areas that represented the skills his body had rejected. He moved to the first one, the first spot in his soul that sang a discordant melody to his ears. ¡°TAJ!¡± heard a version of himself shout ¡°Give! It! Back!¡± ¡®I know this memory, it''s the very first time I lost my cool, the very first time my Wrath affinity tried to make me lash out¡¯ He watched it play out with a disconnected sense of aloofness, but it began to distort the further it went along. He felt as his vision, his connection to the memory, became more distant the further he went along the memory. When his teacher caught him in her arms, it was almost an unseeable mess of mana and pain. As his view became more and more like television static, he quickly lost track of what was happening as his head started to hurt, but he kept watching until eventually, the static receded, and he could see the face of his previous mother as he slowly came to, looking up from his head resting on her chest. ¡®I probably formed Pandora¡¯s Box while in my teacher''s arms by refusing to release my Wrath, and my body slowly formed a way to store the buildup in my body, rather than letting it run loose.¡¯ It was painful to see the his mom, the mom he would never be able to talk to again, so he left the memory behind and moved to the next discordant notch in his soul. Closing in on the next fuzzy section in his soul, he saw yet another familiar memory ¡°Today, I¡¯m going to teach you meditation and breathing techniques to calm yourself down, and we are going to start working out together¡­¡± he heard his father say. ¡®This is probably the memory I¡¯m looking for, it''s the first time I channeled my anger into working out¡¯ Weirdly, the fuzziness didn''t start with the exercise, but with his breathing techniques. It was still recognizable what was happening in the memory, but there was a thin film of static over the entire section of his memories on meditation, breathing, and bringing his mental state back into balance. It felt like an almost-skill, but not quite. ¡®I¡¯m running out of time to fix my muscle skill, I¡¯ll need to put this one off for later, but it looks promising.¡¯ Eventually, he got to the part where he and his father began their weight training. The further into the training they got, the more distorted the memory became, similar to his previous skill formation. Instead of letting it run its course this time, he paused the memory, and started from the beginning of the workout. He moved his view outside of the window he saw, and looked around. Outside of the direct vision of his memory, Leven could still see the room in a fuzzy grayed out way. He knew how the room was, even if he wasn''t directly looking at it. More than that though, he saw more branching memories throughout the memory, of times when he was looking at that particular part of the room. His soul was a maze of memories and experiences, of theories and ideas. He could lose himself easily if he wasn''t careful, so he stopped and turned back to the memory he needed, bringing it back into focus. Now with a new perspective, he slowly went through the memory, watching as his body as a child did something with the anger contained within it. Peering through the static that slowly overtook the memory, he watched the process of the mana within his body being weakened. The amount of mana within his child body stayed the same, but the anger from each ¡®point¡¯ of mana was being removed, and that is what was being used to power his workouts. The reason working out helped relieve pressure, but never actually got rid of the anger, was because it was bringing the affinity of the mana down to a more basic level, towards unattuned mana, but it became harder and harder to strain it out. Not only this, but the pressure of uncontained mana in the body still put a strain on him, so when he had another incident, it was still difficult to contain his Wrath. With an understanding of what was happening in the skill, he felt a thrum reverberate through a different section of his soul- through his Affinity for Wrath. He reached out, through the static in his memory, and watched as it parted. While it was hard to conceptualize, he felt as his avatar took hold of the memory, and began drawing it into himself, pulling it through the haze that coated it. Suddenly, faster than he could process it, the haze came alive and converged onto the version he saw of himself as a child. The memory, the portion of his soul that contained the skill, was suddenly ripped away from him. The portion of his soul that carried his Wrath affinity pulled back, laying claim to the skill and refusing to let go. His skill was halfway between his soul and somewhere else, and he was contained within that halfway point too. He did not want to find out what would happen if his memory got ripped away from him while his sense of self was within it, because it would probably be lethal. The static that converged into his child self suddenly exploded outward, dyeing the entire memory red, all except for Leven, and the child spoke. WHO ARE YOU? Chapter 5 The child version of himself was a deep, blood red. The rest of the memory was a lighter red, making Leven think that the skill was being contested between the two of them. When it spoke, a million countless voices rang out in a beautiful harmony that promised extreme violence, conveying itself in a similar way that the System did, but much more directed. Leven felt a simmering within him as this thing tried to take what was rightfully his, but he quelled it, and responded ¡°I am Leven, and you are in my soul.¡± YOU ARE NOT LEVEN. LEVEN DIED, IN A BEAUTIFUL AND FURIOUS RAGE. YOU ARE NOT LEVEN. It repeated itself in its infinite voices. Leven felt that whatever he was arguing with spanned further than he could imagine, but he was not going to let it take what was rightfully his. His Wrath affinity bucked and snarled within him, but he held it back still. ¡°I did die¡± he said ¡°but I did not forget, and this skill is mine! This memory is mine!¡± YOU CLAIM IT FOR YOURSELF? YOU CLAIM THIS WRATH? ¡°Yes!¡± Leven shouted ¡°This is mine, it is NOT yours to take!¡± THEN PROVE YOU ARE WORTHY. As soon as the child finished its sentence, a pulse of power flew through the opposing end of his skill, from the entity he was fighting his Skill for, and into the child. A popping and tearing sound reverberated out from the child as it began to grow, shooting up in height, equally as far as it shot outwards in muscle. Soon it was the same height as Leven, with even more muscles to match, and its skin was taught, as if it barely held itself together. The grotesque facsimile of Leven snarled in rage and launched itself at him Leven was no stranger to fighting though, as he and his father frequently sparred while working out. As it held its hands out to try and strangle him, he ducked down and delivered a punch upwards into its gut. He faced some slight resistance, before his fist punched through, and particles flew from the back of the creature. The dust-like particles fell upon him, and he felt as a white hot fury entered his body, but he forced it down to remain level headed. As it crashed into some workout equipment behind him, Leven quickly turned around and delivered a kick to it, or tried to, but its hand shot out and caught his foot. When he tried to pull away, he only managed to lose his balance and fall over. ¡®Uh oh¡¯ The creature stood up, and threw him towards the opposing wall. When he slammed into the punching bag halfway there, he felt some particles exit his own body, and he became weaker. It ran towards him and tried to deliver a high kick, but he ducked under it and moved in close, rapidly laying out as many punches as he could. Each punch went through, tearing out chunks of it that flowed into the room or Leven, but more power pulsed through its connection to the larger entity, and it was constantly refilled with more and more, as it continued its expansion. Blocking, dodging, punching, Leven fell into a rhythm as he tore out more from the beast, but it was never enough. He had the skills, while this animal had an endless endurance and functional invincibility. No matter how skilled he was, he couldn¡¯t punch forever. ¡®I''m missing something, there''s a trick to this.¡¯ As more and more of the red energy filled the room, Leven struggled more and more to keep his cool. ¡®This skill is mine!'' ¡®I made it, I worked for it!¡¯ ¡®I bled for this, working until my muscles failed, punching until my knuckles bled! Who is he to take it from me?!¡¯ But still, he continued to whittle it down more and more. Even as his own soul turned a deep red to match his enemy, he was still starting to lose. He found that his energy never tired, but the thing he was fighting just kept having more pumped into it, getting faster and stronger, until Leven could barely keep up. ¡®I¡¯m going to die¡¯ but he didn¡¯t have to. There was still a connection to his own soul, he could still run. If he lept back through the connection, he knew he could escape. Fear filled him as he started taking more hits, as he started to wane more, and more. It took the white of his soul with every punch, the red within him becoming more concentrated, but he knew that if he ran out of his own energy, his soul would just unravel, rather than run using the Wrath energy that he had been absorbing. But he didn¡¯t want to give up. He had poured everything he was into this skill, it was HIS. More than just the skill, it was his memories. He didn''t want to forget the first time he and his father worked together, he didn''t want to forget all the training he put in to protect people from himself, or how he and his father used to go out for ice cream when his father would inevitably hurt him by accident after getting a little carried away. He cherished the memories, the pain he poured into bettering himself. He loved watching his progress, day by day, as he pushed himself to the limits of both how much rage he could keep within him, and how much he could pour into bettering himself. This entity wanted to take all of it, everything to do with the skill. Everything he worked so hard to keep through the void. ¡°I will die for what is mine...¡± But that wasn¡¯t quite right, was it? He would hold on, weathering the storm, forever if he needed to. He would not die, he wouldn¡¯t let himself ¡°No.¡± ¡°You will die for what is mine¡± he spoke, for the very first time, pouring his soul into every word, a declaration of absolute certainty. He stopped holding his rage back, stopped blocking or dodging. He tore into it like a cornered animal, pushing it back with his entire body as he punched, kicked, kneed, and bit the thing. Whatever it took to deal as much damage as possible, he ignored that its punches got weaker and weaker, he ignored how the red energy that permeated the room flowed into him. He let go, and beat the enemy into a puddle of pulp. When it stopped regenerating, he ripped its limbs off to beat its torso into nothing, and when it was nothing more than dust, he stomped it down into the floor until cracks started to appear. When there was nothing left, and everything was absorbed into him, he growled animalistically, and set his sights on the connection between his soul and this entity. He didn¡¯t care how far this thing spanned, he was going to beat it senseless for trying to take what was his. But just as soon as he set his sights on the new enemy, he gasped as his sensibilities came back, and he dropped to his knees. He felt tired, incredibly tired. His soul was strained, but he was still aware enough of his surroundings that he watched as the red particles within him changed color, becoming a fleshy tan color. He soon felt his strength return, and still the red particles continued to change and emit more and different colored lights. By the time the last particle changed he no longer looked like a transparent ghost, his body looked as tangible and real as the moment he died, minus the gunshot wounds. He was in the same denim jeans and white collared button up he had been in when he perished, this time without any blood. YOU ARE NOT LEVEN. LEVEN DIED, IN A BEAUTIFUL AND FURIOUS RAGE. BUT YOU ARE MY CHILD NONETHELESS. And he felt the connection that attempted to pull his memories away slowly released its grip, almost reluctantly, until he was finally able to pull it back fully into himself. He wanted to say that he felt mentally taxed, but he really didn''t. As a matter of fact, he felt better than he ever had before. He looked around his soul, and saw that it was smoother than it had been previously. There were still spots of discord all around it, but many of them had faded away, leaving a significantly easier, yet still rough, journey through his life, as many of the spots of static or haze were lifted. He checked his notifications too, as they had been buzzing in his head since he returned back to his own soul. [Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Growing Pains] by Human: N/A] [Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Growing Pains] by Affinity: Wrath] [Ownership Contested between N/A And Wrath] [N/A Recognized as Owner of [Growing Pains] by Wrath] [N/A Recognized as Child of Wrath by Wrath] [N/A Recognized as Owner of [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] by Wrath] [N/A given Blessing by Wrath: Wrath Mana Conversion (single use)] [Wrath Mana Conversion has converted to N/A¡¯s native affinity: Human] Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. [Stat Gained: 1 Spiritual] He was baffled, but also grateful for the blessing. It was nice to not have tons of Wrath affinity mana running rampant through his soul, but also, was he reading this right? Did he now have a bunch of Human affinity mana running through him? What did that even mean? He now realized that he was fighting the very embodiment of Wrath itself, and had almost tried to jump down the connection to get at it. He remembered feeling a distinct sense of pride from the Affinity Wrath when that thought occurred to him, like he was only confirming to it that he was just as crazy as it wanted him to be. Something told him that if he had succeeded, and actually jumped down the connection before Wrath could stop him, then he would have been handled gently and quickly sent back to his own soul. He laughed at the thought of this Affinity calling him its ¡°Child¡± and then gently carrying him back to his soul when he threw a tantrum. Leven moved his view away from his soul, and back to the natural darkness that his body persisted in, before checking over his Interface for any changes. Name: N/A Race: Human (Fetal) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: 7/7 MP: 7/7 SP: 7/7 Stats: Physical*: 7 Mental: 12 Spiritual: 12 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: High-Common: 12% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (4826/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (16) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Outer Skills: None Starting from the top, he saw that his Physical and Spiritual stats had both gone up by 1. His physical most likely from the natural development of his body, while his Spiritual seemed to be from the strengthening of his soul after the strain he had placed on it to succeed in contesting the claim to his skill, kind of like a workout. Next, he was surprised that he had only gained 12% in his soul affinity, and no progress in his Wrath affinity! But he supposed that made sense, because he wasn''t actually using his Wrath for anything or getting any closer to it, he was just getting the embodiment of Wrath to recognize what he already was. Last was the thing he was definitely putting off looking at, the incredibly worrying number next to [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)], because it was way, way over the max. He pulled it up to get a better look at the specifics around it [Pandora¡¯s Box - Level 50 - Kindness Affinity - 4826/2000 Mana Stored To contain your sin, you have created a tangible field within the world of concepts. To resist giving in to your anger, you refuse to lash out. You refuse to express your wrath, as you rise above your base instincts. ¡°What is better? to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?¡± - Paarthurnax Creates a pool within your soul that contains the excess Affinity Mana produced by the various affinities of the user, unless otherwise specified Contains (2)*((Spell Level)*10) mana per level (Currently 10 mana per level) Also contains double the mana per Level within the Spell Also concentrates the mana within the pool, giving a conversion rate of 6 Affinity Mana to 1 Concentrated Affinity Mana (mild concentration)] [WARNING: Spell incompatible with body. Use of spell may result in harm, disfigurement, or death] Okay, so the spell was still broken and nothing else had changed, but he could tell that there was now a drop down under ¡°Mana¡± Mentally expanding the word, he received a breakdown of all the affinities contained within Pandora¡¯s Box [35/2000 Wrath 4791/2000 Human] Hmm. That still didn''t help. He mentally sighed before, yet again, he turned his sight inward to look at his soul, This time seeking out where [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] resided. Not where it was formed, instead, he looked where it stored all of his mana. This was the first time since his reincarnation that he had checked this part of his soul, which wasn''t surprising considering he couldn''t even see his soul before, and it looked bad. What he visualized as the skill was, predictably, a massive box. It seemed to be a sort of wooden music box, with a small thin latch that kept the lid on. The issue came from the fact that it was covered in cracks, as it was still a broken skill that wouldn''t work properly. When it wasn''t full, it simply gathered all his Affinity Mana into itself, but when it became full, it showed that the Affinity Mana was spilling out everywhere, all across his body. The box continued to pull the mana into itself, but more mana was just forced out in its stead. He followed where the spilling mana went before being pulled back into the box, only to repeat the cycle, and he saw that it was just floating through his body and soul. He felt like it should be wreaking havoc or something, because it moved in very angular or specific patterns, but it was like watching a well-maintained, well behaved highway. Mana moved aggressively around his body, but since it was a perfect match for everything, it did absolutely nothing to him. This was probably what it meant when it said this was his ¡°native affinity,¡± it meant that the mana was perfectly suited to him as a human. This probably also meant that there was no ¡°Leven¡± affinity, and Human was as specific as he was going to get. ¡®This also means that four thousand wrath affinity moving freely through my body would probably have eviscerated me. No wonder it didn''t let that happen¡¯ He was still observing his soul, when he felt the walls around him shift. ¡®No way, wait, isn¡¯t it still too early? How long was I fighting Wrath?¡¯ he started to panic, and quickly pulled up [Growing Pain], but luckily there was no warning at the end of the skill. He had fully integrated it into his soul before he was born. ¡®Well, I guess there''s nothing holding me back.¡¯ Instead, he simply braced himself and waited. The walls contracting were painful as shit, but he didn¡¯t have any way to express himself as it felt like he was crushed again and again. After way too long of this, new notifications popped up before him [Full System Integration initiated] [Natural Birth Affinities detected: Wrath (low-Uncommon), Kindness (low-Uncommon)] [ERROR! Wrath detected above Natural Birth Threshold] [Wrath Affinity recognized by Wrath, Error resolved] [ERROR! Kindness detected above Natural Birth Threshold] [Resetting Affinity to Natural Birth Threshold] [Reset of Kindness Overridden, Reset Canceled] [ERROR! Soul detected above Natural Birth Threshold] [Soul Affinity recognized by Soul, Error resolved] [How did you manage that? Well, good for you] [Initializing Body Functions. Racial Variant changed from Human (Fetal) to Human (Gem Dweller Variant)] [ABNORMALITY! Excessive Human Affinity mana detected, harnessing Mana to upgrade racial bonus.] Leven felt as all the loose Human affinity mana was drained from him by the System, and used to upgrade him, which sounded incredible! But it was only taking the loose mana. Quickly, he unlatched Pandora¡¯s Box with the intent to release even more of the mana, despite the small amount of Wrath mana. He forced all the Human mana out, while still suppressing his Wrath mana, but he found that it wasn''t all that necessary. For some reason, the Wrath mana didn''t even try to leave the box, while the Human affinity mana was quickly sucked away by the System. Once all of his Human mana was drained, he quickly closed the box before the Wrath could change its mind, if that''s how it worked, and waited on the next notifications. He felt incredible power flow through him and improve something within him, suddenly receiving newer and even better notifications [Racial Bonuses for Human Variant Upgraded] [Tremor Sense (Minor) upgraded to Tremor Sense (Major)] [Darkvision (Lesser) upgraded to Darkvision] [Stoney Disguise evolved into Camouflage (Major)] [Digging (Lesser) upgraded to Digging (Major)] [Aversion to Light increased to Weakness to Light] [Aversion to Vibration increased to Greater Weakness to Vibration] [Insufficient Mana to Upgrade further. Would you like to change your appearance with the remaining 27 Human mana? (1:00 to decide before mana is discarded)] He wanted to read more into the weaknesses, but he was in excruciating pain and could barely focus. The option to change his appearance also took him by surprise, and he needed to decide quickly. He didn''t think that he should change what he looked like too much, otherwise he was worried that his mother might be accused of cheating. It had to be clear that he was still their son, so he needed to look like both of them, but what would he change then? Immediately, his mind went to his mothers eyes, and how they were a vibrant ruby red. ¡®Can I upgrade my eyes?¡¯ [Insufficient mana to upgrade Darkvision] [Sufficient mana to change color of eyes] [Sufficient mana to purchase condition: Heterochromia] [Sufficient mana to upgrade vibrancy of eyes] Reading quickly, he realized that he had more options than he expected. He wanted his eyes to be even more red, but now that it was infront of him, Heterochromia sounded fucking awesome. ¡®Heterochromia!¡¯ he mentally shouted, as the timer ticked down [Heterochromia selected] [Please select two colors from list] [Ruby (Dominant gene): 0 mana Brown (Recessive gene): 5 mana Amethyst (Dormant gene): 10 mana Diamond (Dormant gene): 15 mana Topaz (Dormant Gene): 15 mana Emerald (Dormant Gene): 20 mana Sapphire (Dormant Gene): 20 mana] Looking over the list quickly, he already decided Ruby would be one of the colors, just like his mother. He also really wanted another gemstone eye (sorry dad), so he discarded brown as an option. He wondered about the mana cost for a second, but it was probably because the lower down the list he went, the further away in his ancestry the eyes were, taking more mana to ¡°wake up¡± the gene. He was still worried about his mom being accused of cheating, and an amethyst colored eye seemed amazing right now, so he went with ruby and amethyst, hoping that perhaps the amethyst option came from her parents or grandparents ¡®Ruby and Amethyst please¡¯ he told the System, remembering his moms lessons on politeness. [Ruby and Amethyst selected] [17 Human mana remaining. Would you like to change your appearance further? (0:07 to decide before remaining Human mana is discarded)] ¡®Yes, spend the rest on upgrading the vibrancy!¡¯ he shouted quickly in his head when he saw how much time he had left [Vibrancy increased] [Human mana fully spent] [Refitting soul-shape] ¡®Wait wha-¡¯ Was all Leven thought before his memories and identity were stuffed into the body of a crying baby, with all the neurons of a baby, and the higher brain functions of a baby. He wasn''t conscious enough to check his interface, but if he were, it would look quite a bit different. Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Variant) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: 14/14 MP: 14/14 SP: 14/14 Stats: Physical: 7 Mental: 2 Spiritual: 12 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: High-Common: 12% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (35/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (16) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Outer Skills: None Chapter 6 Fou Grrata was worried about her most recent child, Dei. he was born just twenty five cycles ago, and this was a time when the babes were most vulnerable. Her worry came from the fact that Dei cried, a lot. Babies of course cried frequently, so crying itself wasn''t a cause for concern, but Dei was almost nonstop! Between feeding times and sleeping, he was always crying. At first it was slightly annoying, but after twenty five cycles, it was really starting to scare her. She also knew that Gor, her husband, was equally as worried. When, at the darkening of the twenty fifth cycle, she proposed that they take Dei to the village Shaman, Gor was out of bed and fully clothed before she could finish her sentence. ¡®He¡¯s scared. I am too, we should have gone sooner¡¯ They were glad that the stone walls were thick, otherwise their neighbors would have come to check on them, and their other children may have become more irritated than they already were. ¡®They don''t understand the potential danger of losing a babe¡¯ Quickly hurrying down to the center of the village, they shook the beads next to the flap of the Shamans home and waited. No matter how loud Dei was with his crying, they knew that the Shamans would hear the beads and come when they had the chance. The Shamans were always busy with concealing the villages nowadays, so Fou didn''t want to interrupt anything. After waiting impatiently for a time, a fair amount of time that told her the Shaman was in the middle of something, the Shaman finally pulled the flap back to look at them, motioning for them to come in. Iora, the village Shaman, was an incredibly old woman, which was considered quite impressive with the war going on. Most did not live through fifty winters, yet Iora had supposedly lived through hundreds. All the Shamans had. ¡°What brings you by after the darkening?¡± Iora asked in smooth yet wise voice. Her body looked quite wrinkled, but she moved as though she were as young as Fou, and there was no crackle to her voice customary of the regular village elders. The Shaman never slept, so Fou wasn''t worried about interrupting her rest, but it was odd for her to come by later in the cycle. ¡°It¡¯s Dei, my most recent son. Normally babies cry, yes, but he doesn¡¯t stop crying. At first it was a little irritating, but after twenty five cycles of crying, except between his rest and eating, it has me and Gor worried. Could you check him? Make sure there is nothing wrong? I know there will be something, but make sure it won''t kill him?¡± Iora wasted no time, gently taking Dei in her arms and walking towards the back of her home. Iora¡¯s home did not have a hide covering the various doorways, so Fou felt like she was welcome to follow her, and Gor did the same. Fou had seen the new room a few times, Iora¡¯s magic room. There were many alchemical plants, enchanted items, and magical foci, but for now she watched as Iora placed Dei onto a stone table. Iora grabbed a Shamenic staff, staffs made as a convergence of every kind of magic Humans had access to, and slowly moved it around Dei¡¯s body, while Dei continued to kick and scream. It hurt Fou to watch, rather than comfort him, but she also knew this was for his own good. When the staff had been held across his entire body, Iora motioned for her to take Dei, and Fou quickly began to cradle him in her arms and console him quietly, to no avail. After a few seconds with her eyes closed, Iora opened them again and turned to the two of them with a gentle smile. ¡®Good news!!¡¯ Fou thought joyfully as she felt a weight fall from her shoulders. ¡°He is in no danger¡± Iora said ¡°but you are correct in that there is something unusual about him. I am not well versed in soul magic, my specialty is on the mind, but there are a few diagnosing spells in here¡± she said, motioning to her staff, ¡°and they tell me that the issue seems to be that Dei¡¯s soul is too strong for his body. It will not be lethal, but his body needs to adjust to it. You would need to ask a Shaman specializing in soul magic to get a more detailed description, but I do know that little Dei will be fine, just in some pain, but that is going away over time.¡± Gor smiled widely next to her ¡°Our son! Too strong for his own good!¡± he said, letting out a boisterous laugh ¡°I knew he¡¯d be special from the moment we saw his eyes!¡± Fou felt a bittersweet pride at the mention of Dei¡¯s eyes. She had inherited hers from her mother, and thought that there would never be another Grrata with Amethyst eyes, as none of her siblings nor either of her parents had survived the destruction of her village. She remembered making the trek to the closest village as their Shaman held off the invaders, but her family was against the wall where the invaders broke through, and some of the first casualties. When Fou saw how Dei not only had both of her parents eyes, but an incredibly vibrant strain of them, she remembered crying at finally seeing her fathers eyes again. Even now, she felt herself tear up with pride and worry over her son. While the news that he would be strong was incredible, she would have been just as happy if it was revealed he would be okay. Despite all the terrible news that reached them from the front, for now, Fou was content to know that her son would get the chance to grow up. Leven tried to groan as a pounding sensation woke him up, but all that came out was a quiet high pitched mumble that sounded too young to be his. ¡®Ugh, my head.¡¯ He thought as the loud buzzing in the back of his mind drowned out most of his coherence. More than that, it felt like he was underwater, like he couldn''t think properly. It reminded him of when his soul first was reincarnated into his mothers womb. He also remembered as the sensation slowly faded away, so he was tempted to wait for it to leave a second time, but there was something nagging at him first. He couldn''t remember what, thinking was so difficult, but he pushed everything he had to try. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. While holding his memories together as much as he could, he pulled up his Interface. Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: N/A Profession: N/A HP: 16/16 MP: 16/16 SP: 12/16 Stats: Physical: 8 Mental: 6 Spiritual: 12 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: High-Common: 12% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (35/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (17) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Outer Skills: None He quickly looked over it and spotted something the issue [Mental: 6] ¡®I had my mind reverted when the System refitted my soul shape into that of a baby¡¯ That was worrying in so many ways, but he was also grateful that he could think at all, despite still being in a baby''s body. In his review of his Interface, he noticed something else weird though. [Growing Pains] had gone up a level, and he wasn''t sure why, so he pulled up the description again. [Growing Pains - Level 17 - Wrath Affinity - Passive Feel the burning of your muscles as you move it to the beat. That''s not just you working up a sweat, but also PURE RAGE! Let nothing stand in your way as you reform your body into that of a Greek God! Let the adrenaline flow through you as you tear yourself apart, only to come back stronger for it! Gives a heightened rate of bodily repair, allows for classless stat growth past Physical: 14 at the cost of Wrath Concentration Regenerates hp at a rate of (Skill level) HP per hour, at the cost of Wrath Concentration] It changed! He wasnt sure what happened, but the skill now regenerated health, rather than just helping him form muscles. Unless it always did that? Looking back, weren¡¯t his muscles being torn and rebuilt constantly a form of regeneration? Was this stemming from the fact that microtears still counted as damage to the body? If so, why didn''t it say before? If he had to guess, it would be from the fact that it was an Inner Skill rather than an Outer Skill, in other words, the System didn''t make it. The System did not necessarily know everything about it, just what he used it for. But why not? It could scan all of his memories, and his entire soul, but not a single skill? ¡®Ah, but it''s not just mine, is it? It also belongs to Wrath. Is that why? The System holds no claim to it, so its not allowed to invade the skill itself?¡¯ That would make sense. That was why the System thought it was exclusively for working out, because Leven had only ever used it for working out. In his previous life, he had never gotten seriously injured other than during his last moments, and that was too much damage to heal. If he had to guess, the System drew its descriptions of the skills from the memories that Leven himself had of them, without being allowed to look into the nuances and specifics of each skill. He closed his eyes and drew into himself to look closer at his soul, and while there wasn''t much difference, it did look like he was more ¡°solidly¡± contained within his body. As if before his soul didn''t quite connect with his body but now it was a perfect match, which made sense considering it had been refitted. In the portions of his soul that met with his mind, body, and magic, he noticed a slight cracking any time energy from his soul moved between them. While it was all interconnected, the efficiency of his soul was disagreeing with the efficiency of everything else, and pushing more energy through him than the rest of his body could keep up with. It wasn''t enough to kill him or anything, but it was damaging, and incredibly painful. In certain areas though, the efficiency of his body and mind showed a faint red light glowing over them. Anywhere the red light touched, he noticed that the cracks healed faster and stronger than they were before. The magic portion of his soul showed no signs of red light though, and the cracks that healed did so at a much slower rate. He moved closer to one of the cracks in the mind portion of his soul that was being healed by the red light, into yet another familiar memory. He was in either elementary or middle school, he couldn''t remember, taking a math quiz. It was ten by ten rows of problems, each problem had two numbers. The first number was divided by the second number, and he had to figure out the answer. It was a speed division test! Looking at it as the memory played out though, each answer he gave was smudged or foggy. Leven saw himself answering the problems, but the answers were just unclear. When a red color descended on the room, Leven noticed that each answer started to come back into focus, and he remembered all the answers he had put down for them. ¡®Neat¡¯ When the red coloration started to pull back, he followed it and jumped towards the portion in his soul it originated from. Moving around in his soul was odd, but it seemed like if there was any connection between one part and the other, he could draw on that connection between the two to make a sort of shortcut. When he arrived at the base of the red light, he was predictably back in his family¡¯s garage, surrounded by workout equipment from the time when he first formed the skill [Growing Pains]. He watched as the skill drew from [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)], and sent that energy into healing the various portions of his soul that it could. Moving on to [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)], he looked into the box, and saw that the Wrath mana inside was hardly Wrath mana at all. It was almost completely clear, with only a slightly red tint to it, that continued to be drained and funneled into [Growing Pains]. The only thing that bothered him about the entire situation was why his soul was so much stronger than the rest of him, but he felt like an idiot for even wondering that the moment the thought came to him. Of course an adult man''s soul was going to be stronger than the body of a child. He was worried that the damage would persist until he was an adult, but the mind and body portions of his soul were already significantly better maintained than the magic portion of his soul. It wouldn¡¯t be much longer until those two were healed, and then he was sure that his soul''s natural regeneration would be able to focus on what damage was left to his magic. The most fascinating part of all of this, was the fact that none of it showed up on his interface. There was some sort of untraceable damage to him that couldn''t be measured, and he was growing stronger in some way from healing after it, but what that did for him he couldn''t understand. Speaking of the System though, he remembered that he still had notifications that he kept forgetting about. Having the attention span of a child again was crazy to him, but he could push through it if he really- ¡®Mom!¡¯ The thought popped into his head quickly as he heard a flap open and soft footsteps approach his crib. The woman he knew was his mother, by how she walked and smelled, gently picked him up and started humming to him as his body instinctually cooed quietly. He felt incredibly safe as she carried him, and he let himself latch onto her as he heard her whispering words to a tune he didnt recognize. He still felt pain from how his soul was adjusting to his new body, but it didn''t really bother him as much anymore. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Leven began to slip into a deep slumber, where he could be sure that he was absolutely safe. ¡®Not Leven¡¯ something said at the back of his mind ¡®I¡¯m Dei now. That''s what mom calls me¡¯ before he fully closed his eyes and went to sleep. Chapter 7 Fou felt overjoyed as she quietly sang to her son, happy that he was finally starting to feel better. He had been crying less and less, until just this last week when he finally cried only when he needed food or a change. She was in their main room painting Dei, when her happiness at having him feel better got the best of her, so she cleaned herself off before going to check on him. When she got to his crib, he quietly looked up at her, making his little noises, ¡®so cute!¡¯ and she couldn''t stop herself from picking him up to hold him for a bit. He quickly fell asleep this time too, showing just how much better he was feeling when she didn''t have to wait for him to cry himself to sleep. It had been two seasons since Dei was born, and Fou knew that he was going to be crawling and moving around soon. ¡®Maybe it''s time to take him to more places, such as the market or around town? Many people knew that there was something wrong with him, but with him feeling better, I can show him to them and put everyone at ease! I also can''t wait to get back to going out with Gor and the kids and Dei is getting to the age where it''s time to start taking him outside of the village.¡¯ Happy with her decision, she walked around the house more while holding him and waited for her husband to get back from hunting and foraging with their other kids. She had stuck to Dei like south-seeds to shoes the entire time he was sick as his body adjusted to his strong soul, and since she couldn''t bring him out places, she was forced to stay home as well almost perpetually, so she was just as excited to get out again as she was to introduce Dei to everyone. Leven groggily woke up, trying to groan with the effort of just opening his eyes, but only making high pitched baby noises as a result. He could see some blurry images around him, and felt something soft beneath him. Looking down, he saw some brown fur that was filled with something, forming a sort of cushion. Now that he had his attention brought to it, it seemed like he was squished between two cushions, making it much harder for him to move ¡®I think I''m on the couch. Cool!¡¯ for some reason he was very excited to be on the couch, and he found the idea of his squished baby face hilarious, so he let out a naturally high pitched laughter. He felt such absolute amusement at his own predicament that it took him off guard. ¡®Ohhh shoot! Baby emotions!¡¯ and the thought made him laugh again. He saw something blurry come from somewhere else in the house, gently stepping over to him and tickling his chest a bit. ¡®Mom!¡¯ He moved his hand to grab her fingers, and she let him. He held on tight until she picked him up and started spinning around with him, making him laugh more. It was hard to see things, but Leven could make out a wide grin on her face. He heard her say something he couldn''t understand, until midway through her sentence he heard the word ¡°Dei?¡± For some reason, he easily recognized that as his name, and it startled him slightly. He realized that the name ¡°Leven¡± felt foreign or distant, while ¡°Dei¡± felt much more natural, much more suited to him. With how Wrath reacted to him calling himself Leven, it looked like he really was someone else now. Despite the fact that he died, Leven- Dei- had assumed that because he kept his memories, things would simply carry over to his next life, but that didn''t appear to be the case, which made sense. Everyone had a different chemical makeup, and his body was interlinked with his soul. By changing bodies, he changed the ¡®fingerprint¡¯ of his soul slightly, even if his mind and magic were the same. Leven felt foreign to him, because he wasn''t Leven anymore. When the System spoke the word Leven, it had spanned from his birth until his death. If he had to guess, the word Dei spoken by the System would span from Levens birth, until his death, then past that all up into this very moment. He wanted to ponder on it more, but his mother began to walk towards the flap of their house that led outward, and immediately he was enraptured with the idea of going somewhere new and seeing the village of this world. As she pulled back the flap and stepped out with him in her arms, he was filled with awe at the sight before him. It was a massive cave system, pathways going up and down the walls with more flaps that led to different houses. What made the entire thing magical were the glowing gemstones all along the walls, ceiling, and floor. They were tiny, maybe the size of a quarter, but there were thousands of them. His mother stood still, looking amused at his reaction as his head moved on a swivel to take in all the sights. The cave system split at various intersections, and he could see people moving all around him. Most of them were [Gem Dweller Variant] humans like him and his mother, but Dei estimated that a good thirty percent of everyone he could see had tan skin and dark hair. Not necessarily a dark skin tone, but not the unnatural alabaster tone that he came to associate with [Gem Dwellers]. After a few more seconds of letting him take the sights in, his mother began to move down a winding path. That''s when he noticed that they were actually fairly far up on the wall, but she moved nimbly down an incredibly steep slope to make it to the bottom of the cave, where things were flatter. As his mother moved towards what looked to be the main road, Dei got a better idea of how many people were living here. While he assumed that they lived in a little village because of the tan hide flaps and complete lack of security systems, there were still a couple hundred or so people just moving about in the streets. It wasn''t crowded by any measure, but Dei had always pictured villages, in his previous life at least, as something more like sixty or seventy people. With how many were actively moving out, he would guess that there were probably closer to six or seven hundred people in this ¡®village.¡¯ Or perhaps it was more of a town that was just very trusting so they didn''t need locks, he wasn''t sure which constituted which. His mother moved through the crowds with purpose, clearly set on a destination. After a time of walking through the gargantuan cave system, the hustle and bustle became more crowded, until they eventually arrived at what appeared to be some sort of square in the town. There were tons of wares all around, from drying plants hanging up in the stalls to meats he didnt recognize, surrounded by some sort of glowing barriers. There were a few people that sold flashy looking rocks, similar to the gemstones in the walls, except that they were far larger and glowed brighter. Some even had pieces of cloth over them to dampen the light. All around him he heard people talking in the halting language he was getting used to hearing. They moved past the square though, towards an intersection that turned both left and right. Instead of turning though, his mother kept moving towards a specific doorway placed right in the middle of where the road forked. He was starting to pick some things up about the flaps too. At his house, their doorway was a circular hole, while in the square, he saw tons of rectangular holes, potentially indicating that they were shops. He¡¯d have to wait and see to find out, but he also noticed that some of them had glass that showed the insides of the buildings, and those insides that he could see of the rectangular doorways showed interesting objects that looked like they were for sale. But no, his mother was moving towards a circular flap that nobody was approaching. It also had some beads next to the door, and he watched as his mother shook them a bit. When she did, he felt a thrum reverberate from within him, and it shocked him that he could make out a sort of message. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡®Visitor¡¯ he felt the idea enter his mind, stemming from the portion of his soul that dictated his Soul affinity. Before he could ponder it more, an old woman answered the door. While Dei couldn¡¯t see all that well, he could tell that she had wrinkles galore, and had a slightly higher pitched voice when answering his mother, but she also moved like she had never suffered from joint issues in her life. It might be from some sort of magical effect keeping her healthy though, so he did not doubt his blurry vision just yet. He heard his mother and this woman mentioning his name several times, so they were clearly talking about him, but he hadn¡¯t the slightest clue as to anything else they were saying. He was passed over to the woman for a bit as she played with him too, and he found the situation weirdly amusing as she tried messing with him. It was definitely his body sending emotions to his mind, but it seemed his mental maturity helped with a disposition towards joy, because he understood everything that was happening. After all, everything was new and scary to babies, but not necessarily to me. He still felt happier when his mom took him back and held him on her hip though. Eventually the two said their goodbyes and parted ways as his mother exited the home. We slowly made our way back to the house, but mom stopped every ten feet to talk to someone else she recognized, with me clearly being the subject of their discussion every time. ¡®Wait¡¯ I remembered ¡®don¡¯t I have those notifications that I never read?¡¯ Quickly, before he could forget about them again, he pulled them up [Achievement Gained! Voidwalker You have traveled the void from one plane of existence to the next, without being cleansed An Achievement? That''s amazing! He should have suspected that doing impressive things would earn rewards all on their own. There was something weird though, because he definitely did this a while ago, and he was only now getting the notification. This Achievement was earned after his death, but he realized that he was only getting them upon being born, so maybe he needed a body to earn them? Careful to keep an eye out for the world around him and what his mom was doing, he continued reading. [Achievement Gained! Soulspeak You have heard your name spoken by another entity using Soulspeak, giving understanding of who you are. Many spend their entire lives mapping out their souls, and you were given the most detailed of descriptions. Oh, that''s incredibly lucky. Or perhaps intentional? His understanding of his own soul was what helped him frequently so far in understanding what his skills were doing, as well as repairing his broken skills. So yea, it definitely seemed intentional for the System to give this one to him. [Achievement Gained! Beyond Understanding You have taught a System something that it did not know. Statement taught to the System: ¡°If I fail, I hope you succeed in finding someone else to bring your lover back!¡± Huh? How did that teach it anything? Unless it was in denial¡­ wait, it was in denial! This idiot System didn''t even know that it was in love! This had to be the goofiest Godlike entity Dei had ever met. The only one too, so it was definitely the goofiest. [Achievement Gained! Rebirth! Successfully be Rebor- ERROR! No rebirth Skills detected! ERROR! Improperly reborn soul detected! Achievement rescinded] Well, that was worrying. There was an Achievement for being reborn, but since he didn''t do it ¡°properly¡± so to speak, he wasn''t going to get it. It looked like the consciousness of the System didn''t always agree with every part of it, and the part that gave Achievements was confused that he was reborn at all without being manually cleansed. [Achievement Gained! No Rulers Above All The Affinity Wrath contested your right to something you considered yours, and was forced to recognize that maybe it was. This one was a bit different because while it increased his ability to advance his Wrath affinity, it didn''t actually provide resistance to Wrath attacks. The second ability was cool too, but also a bit awkward if he couldn''t turn it off. Would some people just feel bad standing near him? That didn''t sound good at all. He also didn¡¯t know what his soul presence was, but based on the capital S, he would guess it had something to do with his Soul affinity. That was the last of the Achievements, so he did a quick look around, and noticed that they were still a little bit away from their house, with his mom continuing to talk to someone he didn''t know. She wasn''t going into shops or anything, but even the people out on the streets were more than enough to keep her preoccupied for a while. He occasionally had to look at someone who was trying to get his attention, or grab a hand that someone was poking at him, but that was easy enough to do while looking at his notifications. The last thing he wanted to check was the skill he had gotten from the [Beyond Understanding] Achievement, called [How About a Demonstration?] He opened up his interface to look at any changes that had happened Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: N/A Profession: N/A Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All HP: 16/16 MP: 16/16 SP: 16/16 Stats: Physical: 8 Mental: 8 Spiritual: 12 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: High-Common: 12% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (35/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (17) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration? The best thing he noticed was that his Mental stat had gone up twice over the course of the day! He did notice that things were getting easier to think about, requiring less and less effort to pool his consciousness back to a task, but it was good to see it measured. He definitely still struggled from an attention deficit as well as random explosions of emotions, so he didn''t think that would go away until he was more grown up, but the ability to think could not be undervalued! He quickly noted how an Achievements section had appeared, only after he earned Achievements, and checked the notifications for those Achievements. Perhaps because someone had to do something noteworthy to gain an Achievement at all? Next, he saw that the new skill fell under Outer Skills, which aligned with what he knew about the System as it was something given to him rather than something he learned, and clicked on it to open it. [How About a Demonstration? Sometimes telling someone about the theory behind something isn''t enough to have them understand it completely. When this is the case, a demonstration is in order! Gives the ability to bestow upon a single target one Skill known to you. The Skill does not advance from their usage of it, and they cannot organically learn the Skill until your version is revoked from them. When your Skill is bestowed upon someone else, it becomes unavailable for use to you, until the Skill is rescinded. Mana or Stamina from use of Skills bestowed upon someone else are drawn from your body] Damn! He didn''t even plan on becoming a teacher, but he could already imagine all the possibilities that came from this Skill! If he got strong enough, he could send out agents of people to do his bidding, giving them the Skill needed for the job. It was still definitely a Skill focused on learning other Skills, mostly because of all the drawbacks, but Dei could see some creative uses for it. His mom also appeared to be done for the day when it came to talking to everyone. He struggled to focus on his Achievements with everything going on around him, so it had to have been an hour or two by the time he was done with all the notifications, but they were now approaching his family¡¯s home, and he was ready to rest a bit. ¡®It feels like I just woke up, and I already feel overstimulated from everything that''s happening. Ahh well, that''s the life of a baby I suppose¡¯ he thought contently as his mother pulled back the flap to their home. Chapter 8 He played with some random blocks and stuffed animal toys, sometimes joined by his mother when she wasn¡¯t painting, until much later in the day. After a good few hours, she looked up at the flap of the door leading outside, before moving into the kitchen. Dei could hear some running water, which confused him because they clearly didn''t have electricity, before she came back out with all the red paint washed off of her hands. She picked him up and they moved outside together again, this time just a few feet away from the door, where she showed him one of the quarter sized crystals in the wall, this one being fiery red. He reached out to touch it, but she grabbed his hand and moved it back to his side, waggling her finger at him and saying some words he interpreted as ¡®no no.¡¯ Dei was confused at what she wanted him to see, but quickly realized with fascination as he saw the gem begin to rapidly grow darker, before the light it was emitting was gone entirely. Looking around, he noticed a sort of wave pass over the cave system, from one end to the other, as all the gems grew darker. A few of them still let out a slight glow, but most looked closer to normal gems than the lights he saw before What surprised him was that he could still see perfectly clearly, no trouble at all. He knew that it was significantly darker than before, but Dei found himself easily able to see the other side of the cave. ¡®My racial bonuses! I forgot to check those!¡¯ blast his baby attention span, blast it!!! He kept remembering things he forgot to look into more. He couldn¡¯t check it right now either, because his mom was paying attention to him, and he didn''t want her to be suspicious of him doing something with his Interface. Instead, they stood there and looked out at the cavern as people returned home. He imagined that this was their version of night, and now the day was over. There was one group of people he recognized after a little bit, and he pointed at them as his dad and siblings came up the zig-zagging path to their house. His mom squealed in delight as he pointed them out, and made what sounded like congratulatory words to him, making him smile. When the rest of his family made it to the ledge in front of their home, his mom bent down to hug the other two of her children, being mindful of Dei. His siblings were just as excited to see their mom as the last time he saw them through the astral projection. For some reason though, he felt like they were throwing dirty looks at him. It wasn¡¯t anything specific, just a glance or two his direction, but he just had a feeling that they were unhappy with him. ¡®Man I just met you two, how can you already not like me?¡¯ he thought, before realizing that they might be jealous of their moms attention on him. That didn''t exactly feel right though, because both of them disliked him, rather than just the five year old brother, who¡¯s spot as the youngest child was being taken from him. He didn¡¯t know, but he also didn¡¯t have a way to figure it out, so he dropped it. His family moved their conversation into the kitchen where mom put him in a stone high chair around a table. He got to watch where the running water came from as his mom grabbed a small handle above the sink and dragged it to the side, opening a small hole where water spilled out and into the drain. She then held the two other children up while they washed the mud and dirt away, before washing her own. ¡®Well, no soap. That''s to be expected.¡¯ After everyone had washed their hands, his mother got to cooking another meal using the stone tools and wood burning stove they had. He called them ¡®stone tools¡¯ but frankly, everything was stone, and most of it was just as good as any other tool he had seen. It was potentially even magically enhanced, if his own magic had anything to go off of. She cooked some well seasoned steamed vegetables over some sort of hearty root that had been mushed down into a potato-like consistency, all soaked in some sort of broth. He wasn''t sure it looked very appetizing, but it smelled delicious. She mushed up his portion of everything, probably because he wouldn''t really be able to chew, and fed him most of his meal. Although about halfway through, he tried to take the spoon in order to feed himself. She raised her eyebrow at that, but let him, and watched as he completely fumbled with his cutlery. As he fumbled around, she started focusing more on her own meal while he did his own thing. The spoon wasn¡¯t overly heavy, despite looking like stone, so really it was his own dexterity that messed with him. Eventually she insisted on feeding him, probably because of the huge mess he made, and their meal was quickly done. They all went to the living room and talked for a bit longer, before the two younger ones were sent to go take a bath, shortly before he was given one too. When it was his turn, he was fascinated by the slots the water came out of. One gave hot, the other gave cold, but he couldn''t imagine where the hot water came from. Maybe this world wasn''t as primitive as he thought it to be? After the bath, his mother rocked him in her arms until he fell asleep, then put him in the crib before going to bed herself Dei woke up in the middle of the night with a start. He was having some weird dream about shapes and colors, when he felt a sudden falling sensation forced him out of it. ¡®Well, the body IS that of a baby, shapes and colors are probably what I should be dreaming about¡¯ He looked around, seeing as his parents were currently asleep in the bed next to him. In his own crib, there were a few scattered toys around, made of either fur stuffed with some thing soft, or stone objects that had no sharp edges. A baby would normally start crying right about now, but he was glad to finally have some time to finish checking up his Interface. At least, he was pretty sure he was done, but for all he knew there might be yet another thing he had forgotten. ¡®Baby memories, am I right?¡¯ He pulled the Interface up Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: N/A The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Profession: N/A Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All HP: 16/16 MP: 16/16 SP: 16/16 Stats: Physical: 8 Mental: 8 Spiritual: 12 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: High-Common: 12% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (36/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (17) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration? Looking at his (Contained) Skill, he saw that it had actually gone up by a single point. It was weird, because he hadn¡¯t been angry at all, but perhaps even the slightest bit of irritation caused some Wrath mana to build up slowly. At the rate it was building though, he didn''t have to worry for a very long time. ¡®Agh, baby attention!¡¯ He stopped pondering his Wrath mana production, and instead mentally selected the window under [Human (Gem Dweller Variant)] [Racial Bonuses: Tremor Sense (Major) Darkvision Camouflage (Major) Digging (Major) Weakness to Light Greater Weakness to Vibration] More Skills! He really liked looking at all the magical things he could do now, and so many of these looked so cool! He started with [Tremor Sense (Major)] [Tremor Sense (Major) - Passive Gain a highly sensitive detection system that can estimate the size and shape of any creature or object through the vibrations of the earth. Detection system channeled through feet, disabled when feet are not connected to the ground. Partially intact if only one foot is on the ground] A simple but useful Skill when underground. He didn''t think he had ever stood on his own two feet before, so this had never been activated. He would test it out in a bit. [Darkvision - Passive Eyes become highly sensitive to both visible and infrared light, giving incredible vision through the dark. Gain the ability to send out infrared light through the eyes at a negligible mana cost, allowing for sight in even the darkest of caves.] That was incredible! He remembered having a pair of night vision goggles in his previous life that worked off of infrared light; the images they showed were grayed out, but still very detailed. The only thing he had to be careful of was the fact that the infrared lights on the goggles sent out a distinct dim red glow when he used them. If he was hiding from something, emitting infrared light would be a terrible idea, because it might be a beacon to his location. [Camouflage (Major) Skin takes on the unique ability to change color, shape, texture, density, heat signature, and mana signature. Altering skin must be done manually, reference material for mimicry must be in contact with skin when altering skin] He knew he was going to get tons of uses out of this. It reminded him a lot of the cuttlefish from his previous life, but taken to the extreme. He was also curious to see if he could form a sort of ¡®natural armor¡¯ by changing his skin to that of stone or metal, because it didn''t say that he needed to stay in contact with the material in order to keep the camouflage. [Digging (Major) - Passive Slight in-born hyper-specialized earth affinity gives +600% digging speed] Short and sweet, he supposed. There was a distinct lack of any flavor text on the racial bonuses that he was seriously getting bothered by. He really enjoyed seeing what interesting thing the System cooked up for him, but he supposed it wasn¡¯t required. [Weakness to Light - Passive - Debuff Becoming specialized into living in the dark, your body has developed an extreme sensitivity to light. Well-lit areas temporarily blind you, and Light mana deals more damage to you] Agh, he knew there was a catch. Everything about him was specialized into making him a perfect predator of the darkness, apparently at the cost of everything that has to do with light. He was even more worried now about the next thing on his list that he had glanced at¡­ [Greater Weakness to Vibration - Passive - Debuff Becoming hyper-specialized into detecting vibrations, your body has developed a hyper-extreme sensitivity to vibrations. Large crowd of people temporarily blind you, extreme changes in vibrations deal internal damage to you, and Vibration mana deals significantly more damage to you] Well, Fuck. He was going to need to be careful around everything. Vibrations were everywhere, so there was no way he was just going to avoid extreme vibrations.. He knew that if he carefully managed everything, his [Tremor Sense] would be amazing, but if he slipped up it might cripple him. Even so, he couldn''t stop himself from being excited at the prospect of getting to sense everything around him. Who wouldn¡¯t be? It sounded like an incredible super power! While he knew he¡¯d already been using magic in the form of Soul magic, none of it had been tangible until this point. Once he used [Tremor Sense], he would be using a superhuman ability, and it was only the beginning. He couldn''t move his body as well as he wanted to, but while he was laying on his back, he put both feet flat onto the floor of his crib. Immediately, the world opened up to his senses. Through the four legs of the crib, he could sense everything. All around the cave system, for thousands, potentially tens of thousands of meters, he could get a sort of grainy, muffled mental picture of it all. He knew that it was muffled from the fact that he wasn''t in direct contact with the ground, but he could also tell that it became more indistinct the further out his mental image went. After only a second or two of watching it though, his head started to hurt. He tried parsing out specific vibrations and focusing on them, but he couldn''t tell anything. The slight headache rapidly formed into an agonizing pounding in his skull. He tried to move his feet but he struggled to make his muscles respond. He felt fear overtake him as he thought he might die because he couldn¡¯t wait patiently to test out his Tremor Sense, despite the fact that it had warned him that it would be dangerous. His fear turned to absolute terror as his emotions flared up to the most extreme sense of dread he had ever felt. Suddenly, he felt himself lifted off of his crib as a familiar scent calmed him down. ¡°Shhh shhhh¡± he heard his mom sleepily quiet him as the pain receded just as quickly as it had come. He realized that when he thought the experience could be lethal, his body had naturally spiked his fear to make him cry. It''s a good thing it did, too, because he probably would have simply been paralyzed without it. ¡®There is a very, very fucking good reason why the System keeps calling my rebirth an irregularity that should never have happened.¡¯ He was understanding it more as time went on. But there were so many issues with the entire situation he had found himself in. He was trying to fix the issues as they came, but there were so many things to watch out for. Babies cried for a reason, and it wasn''t just to say that they wanted something. He was going to need to release some of the control that he had held on his mind, and start letting things pass him by as nature took its course until he was older. That didn''t mean that he would allow everything to pass him by, he could still use these early years to train, but perhaps he didn''t need to maximize every single moment. He had quieted down by now, and he felt himself slipping away into sleep again as his mother continued to gently pat and rock him, until he was finally back into a restful sleep. Chapter 9 After the entire [Tremor Sense] fiasco, Dei had noticed that he received another notification. [Stat Gained: 1 Mental] This was great news, as it told him his issue with his racial ability wasn¡¯t necessarily permanent. If he had to guess, it stemmed from the fact that he had overstimulated himself instantly, and was paralyzed from all the new sensations entering his mind. Ever since he woke up, it was also easier to collect his consciousness and focus it into tasks that needed to be done. If he could stretch his mind by using [Tremor Sense] more often in order to gain more stats, he might be able to use it perpetually, or even make out the smaller details that eluded him. While it was interesting to get a general idea of the area around him, he should be able to do things like hear what someone is saying through the vibrations of their vocal cords and movement of their diaphragm. He would have to be careful to not get caught in the same trap as before though. Perhaps only using a single foot, for a moment at a time, until he knew that he could handle it for longer. After his family did a morning routine of cleaning themselves off, eating breakfast, and visiting for a bit, all of them left the house. This time his mother pulled out some sort of leather harness from a closet, and strapped Dei to her chest. With her arms free, she also pulled out a sword, dagger, bow, quiver, and studded leather armor. The armor had adjustable straps that she used to fit snugly to him, and she put on all her other gear as well. After getting all of her gear on, she pulled on an empty satchel that hung diagonally from her top right shoulder, over Dei, and held the bag on her left hip. After that, she pulled out a leather belt with sectioned pouches on the right hip. When all her gear was on her, she pulled out a few small objects such as dried food, a waterskin, a small chisel-like tool, some sort of mini knife wrapped in cloth, and some trinkets he couldn¡¯t figure out the use for. She wrapped them all tightly in an incredibly large yet very thin piece of square fabric. When she was done, the bundle itself was only about the size of her forearm, and she stored it in the bottom of her satchel, still leaving a significant portion of room. ¡®Holy hell, theres a fucking lot of stuff that she needs to get ready, isnt there?¡¯ Which made him even more curious as to where they were going today. The more stuff she pulled out, the more shocked he became. Over all of it, she put a dark red cloak that hid everything else, but didnt button up the middle fully so that Dei could see out. It was weird to Dei, as the cloak clearly had some sort of pattern to help break up her shape and potentially camouflage her, but he had yet to see anything matching its color. When she was ready, she turned to face his father, Dei saw the same cloak over his fathers equipment, and wondered if all of his family members prepared the same type of equipment. When everybody had gotten ready with their respective preparations, they set out as a group. His father on the right and mother on the left, with the two kids in the middle. As they moved through the little town, their family chatted while Dei looked at everything. The two kids also seemed to be excited that their mom was coming with them today. Rather than move towards the market, Dei noticed that they moved towards an area where there were less people wandering about. Those that he did see wore equipment like his parents though, and they moved in the same direction. As the minutes ticked by, the gemstones in the walls became less and less frequent, until eventually we arrived at a nondescript wall surrounded by a small crowd of people. Next to the wall was the old lady that his mother had talked to the previous day, this time with a tall wooden staff, decorated with gemstones, rings, gold inlays and multiple smaller orbiting projectiles. ¡®Holy shit!¡¯ he thought ¡®that''s the most wizardly thing I''ve ever seen! It looks like she¡¯s about to start sending out magic missiles!¡¯ His inner child squealed at the thought of getting a closer look to it, and he leaned forward slightly while staring at the staff. His mother noticed, and let out a quiet giggle when she realized what he was looking at, shaking him slightly. As more people gathered around the wall, Dei became more and more curious. There were a good hundred or so people here, all quietly waiting or whispering occasionally, but never being too loud. When people stopped showing up, the old lady gently tapped her staff to the ground. While it made almost no sound, Dei found his eyes immediately on the woman and felt a request for ¡®attention¡¯ echoed through his soul. The crowd silenced and became much more serious, each person looking at the smooth wall ahead rather than the woman to the side. His mother made an odd chittering noise in his ear that he didn''t know humans could make, and Dei felt an urge to become as quiet as possible. It wasn''t a magical compulsion, but something more akin to an instinct built into his new body. It interested him, but he didn''t fight it, and let himself still. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. After exactly four seconds, the smooth cave wall ahead of the crowd disappeared, and the entire crowd moved at once to go into the new, more wild-looking cave system that opened up before him. He felt sort of like a passive observer when not concentrating on controlling his actions, so he let everything wash over him as he watched everything that happened. The people moved significantly faster than he thought possible as some ran across the walls to get ahead of the pack, while others walked peacefully. Through it all though, despite the speed at which people were running, he noticed that nobody made any sound at all. It was incredibly creepy as he could still hear the wind rushing past his ears and a faint dripping sound coming from further in the caverns, but there was no sound of footsteps or breathing. His family was somewhere in the middle of the group, moving as quickly as they could but still having two younger kids to slow down for. As the crowd moved forward, it slowly shrank as some moved off into branching tunnels or systems. He also occasionally saw a few dim lights as the gemstones in the walls became even more sparse, but he never had any trouble seeing. As the last of the light disappeared and Dei¡¯s natural vision started to dim, his father brought out a fist sized, orange gemstone from a pouch on his belt. Rather than being like the ones in the walls around the cave system, Dei noticed that it was shaped like the flame of a tiny fire. Its color and shape reminded him of the fire-shaped gemstones around the house that released light and heat. This one released very little light, but it was more than enough for a group of people with darkvision. While he knew his father probably didn¡¯t have darkvision because he was not a [Gem Dweller] variant human, if he lived underground, Dei could probably guess that he had some sort of skill for seeing in dim lighting. The people around them thinned more as each single person or group split off from the rest, until eventually his family stopped in front of one of the side passages. His father made a few hand motions using his unoccupied right hand, and both kids fell in line behind him, with Dei and his mother at the very back. Not a single word was shared between any of them as they became creeping forward and vigilantly scanning the cave. Dei had an incredibly clear image ahead of him because of his [Darkvision], but he knew his had been upgraded at least once, and the cave still grew darker far ahead of him. His family definitely saw even less than him, but they still did not brighten the light they had on them. While he couldn¡¯t be sure, Dei had to guess that it was probably because the light would attract predators to them, and his parents had other detection skills to rely on. Just to test it out, Dei decided to try activating his infrared vision granted to him by his upgraded eyes. It took him a moment to figure it out, but it was fairly easy to send a small amount of mana into his eyes. Immediately, the cave far ahead of them cleared up even further. The more mana he poured into his eyes, the more it cleared up, until he could see until even the next bend. He quickly turned it off though, not because of mana cost, but because he knew some predators hunted by using infrared vision. ¡®If I''m not careful, I could become a beacon leading directly to my family¡¯s location.¡¯ His father led them down a predetermined path, clearly knowing exactly where they were at any given time. Occasionally at forks in the road, he would bend down to examine something Dei couldn''t see. At one point, it was something Dei could see, and it looked like some sort of track unlike any animal that he had ever known of. It didn''t have hoof prints or toes, it was just a set of equally spaced holes in the ground. There were also either multiple of the creature, or the creature had far more than two legs. The prints also went up the walls in certain areas or, in one instance, all the way across the ceiling. They followed the same predetermined path his family was too, seeming to go towards our future location, until they went down a branching side-path that we didn¡¯t follow. He suddenly noticed that both his parents slowly relaxed their muscles when that happened too, when he hadn¡¯t realized they¡¯d been tense before. ¡®Damn, I''m really hoping I never have to meet what the hell they think it is¡¯ Dei foreshadowed. The trek was a bit boring for him, so he tried passing the time by studying his surroundings a bit closer. He was still iffy about fully taking control of his body, as it naturally knew more about being quiet as a baby, but he found that he could passively turn his head here or there with a thought. The caves they were passing through definitely had much more life than he would have expected, with some smaller plants forming around puddles or moss along the walls. He saw a few insects, lizards, and flat rodent-like animals skittering about between the patches of vegetation, and they all looked incredibly interesting. After looking at them for a few seconds, he noticed that he was actually able to see their souls slightly, kind of like what he tried to do with his mother. He could see if they were healthy or happy. There were also a few instances where Dei noticed a blue glow coming from deeper in the passage ahead of them, but his father slowed down at the entrance to that one and squinted ahead for a few seconds. He made a motion to the rest of his family, and they quietly turned back and moved through a side passage. Here and there, his father would bring attention to a type of plant and signal to his two siblings. Each would respond using simple gestures as well, before getting a response from their father. Every stop only took thirty or so seconds, but it was interesting to Dei that there was a silent communication about certain things. It looked to him like their father was taking the time to teach his siblings, but he couldn''t be sure, and he didn¡¯t know how detailed their sign language was. After two or three hours of quick but careful jogging, Dei started to notice that the plants and small critters were becoming more common. The patches of life merging into larger ecosystems. At some point he realized that he could see a light further into the darkness that they were moving towards ¡®are we going to the surface? It feels like we have stayed level this entire time, maybe even moved further down into the earth.¡¯ But despite his thoughts, the cave rapidly began to brighten. He saw far ahead how his family moved towards a blinding light, and as they crossed the threshold, he had to squint as his sensitive eyes adjusted to the light. His family was probably the same, as he felt his mom pause at the mouth of the cave. When he was finally able to see, a sprawling untamed blood red forest lay before him with wild animal calls and sounds of rushing water. Chapter 10 He noticed that there were several pillars of misty water falling from the sky and looked up, only to see the ceiling of a cave, along with a blinding gargantuan object in the stone, with what looked to be spiderwebs of the same incredibly bright material branching out from it. He couldn''t look for long before it started to hurt, so he turned back to the forest and blinked the splotches from his eyes. The deep red trees gave way to a vibrant dark red grass. Every plant he could see held a slightly different shade, but all of them were the same color. His family came out at a level above the canopy of the forest and, as he looked around, he noticed how the cavern formed into a sort of perfectly disk-like shape, where the edges were higher yet it sloped downwards the further into the middle you moved. His vision blurred in the distance so he still wasn¡¯t able to see the other side, but it had to be several miles long. Thinking about his blurred vision, it dawned on him that the fact he could see at all was surprising. ¡®Yesterday, I could barely see my moms face from three feet away. Now I can definitely see for at least a mile, when I know babies shouldn''t be able to do so. My eyes shouldn''t be developed.¡¯ He couldn''t be sure, but he suspected that [Growing Pains] was to blame for his rapid development. Even after his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed that his family still wasn''t moving just yet. Instead, his parents¡¯ heads were moving on a swivel, looking at some of the walls adjacent to us, and Dei noticed that there were many other entrances to the underground cavern. From one of these entrances, Dei watched as two people wearing similar red cloaks to his family walked out of. When they spotted Dei and his family, Dei watched his dad raise his hand in a closed fist, while the people he was signaling made some gesture back that Dei couldn''t decipher. This happened a second time slightly later, but when his dad signaled him this time, he held up a single finger. After that, the next group to move in received two fingers, and so on, until his father finally held up a full five fingers to each group around the forest, receiving a signal back at each one. ¡®They¡¯re keeping record of how many groups are coming in. Chances are, there is a sort of schedule to who gets to go where, and they want to keep track if someone was hurt or lost in the caverns, so they know exactly when a particular group ran into trouble.¡¯ While he couldn¡¯t be sure, it would be a smart way to ensure nobody was left behind. Following this logic, when they left, chances were that they would again check to make sure everyone was leaving the forest at the same time, before heading back into their respective tunnels. To him, it seemed a bit silly that they weren¡¯t all moving as a group, but he guessed they had their reasons. After all, a larger group would probably attract more attention, not to mention that the tight passageways wouldn''t allow everyone to move freely if it was cramped by so many people. ¡®Safety in numbers isn¡¯t absolute, especially in tight spaces.¡¯ After signaling with all of his fingers, his family waited for around a minute, before Dei saw how all the groups moved in at the same time ¡®seriously, how do these people get this timing down perfectly?¡¯ As his group moved through the knee high grass, his mom pulled out a bow, while he saw his father pull out a sturdy machete-like blade. Both parents crouched into the grass, while the kids had to walk full height to be able to move at all. The grass became shorter as they got closer to the forest, but it became harder to see far away as the rust colored trunks surrounded them. The faraway animal noises became closer for a time, before becoming muffled among the breeze flowing through the leaves. ¡®Breeze? Why is there a breeze when we¡¯re underground? Magic probably.¡¯ He was both excited and terrified, because it looked to him that his parents had taken a literal baby out into a dangerous forest to go hunting, but he would reserve his judgment until he was proven right or wrong. The underbrush became thicker at parts, but they always moved through lightly cleared game trails, saving Dei from having to get slapped in the face with low hanging branches frequently. After a few minutes of walking, his oldest sibling, the sister, made a humming noise and pointed at something on a branch. Everyone looked where she had indicated, and his parents¡¯ faces both lit up as all five of them left the trail to go see something. When they approached a tree, Dei saw how there was a long string of moss that hung down, almost all the way to the forest floor. His father quickly cut the parts of it that draped from the tree branch, while leaving the main body intact, and stored them in his satchel. When that was done, they moved back to the trail and continued on. This same sequence repeated several times over the course of a few hours, with his parents intimately knowing the forest, with multiple clearly memorized spots where various herbs grew. As the packs became more full, he also noticed his parents section off parts of their satchels to prevent intermingling. While they had some empty pockets on their belts, Dei never saw them open or use them. From what he could tell, a few had some things stored in them based on how they bulged slightly, but he estimated that each parent had perhaps four or five empty pockets that went unused. ¡®Perhaps it''s for things that are particularly valuable? Like each pocket is made specially to better store or preserve something, and they don¡¯t want to cross contaminate if they get something unique?¡¯ He waited and watched, hoping to find answers to all of his questions. The longer it went on though, the more boring it got. There were a few times when his family spotted a few strange looking wild animals, but it never ended violently. The first was with a reddish-black komodo dragon shaped lizard the size of a horse that was sunbathing- err, bright material bathing- next to a pond that their path wrapped around. His family left the path to avoid getting close to it, and it made no motions to pursue them. Another time was when there was a group of some weird six-legged starfish looking thing covered in beige fur that swung by on branches. While they looked horrifying and had toothy mouths in their central mass, his parents didn''t show much worry. They moved a bit closer to the two kids between them and kept a vigilant eye on the pack as it moved by around them, but neither parent tensed or raised their weapon. Their movements were less a preparation for a fight, more as a guarantee to be in the correct position, just in case there was one. Despite his expectations though, the starfish looking things moved by them without stopping. The third animal Dei never actually saw, but heard. As his family moved down a trail, a loud humanoid-sounding female scream resounded ahead of them, and from the acoustics of it, the creature was facing their direction too. His parents froze at that, but didn¡¯t panic. Instead, they just reversed and moved back down the path the way they came, walking backwards while still facing the unseen creature that let out some snarls from the underbrush for a distance. Eventually though, he heard it skitter away back up the path, and his parents simply took another route to keep going. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. He also noticed that they only ever moved so deep into the forest. While they could have moved deeper, they chose instead to move in a set distance, then back out in another section. The entire time they moved through, his parents collected many herbs and plants, sometimes leaving the plants alone that they deemed were not ready yet. There were a few times where a new, unexpected plant of note would be seen, and his parents would perk up significantly as the undiscovered ones always held a large batch to be plucked. They stopped for lunch in a small clearing covered by some palm-like plants and quietly ate. His mother had been slipping him some small mushed up food here and there throughout the trip to keep him happy, from where she drew it he couldn''t see, but now the entire group settled in to have something more complete, with a few whispers shared here and there. Dei noticed that there wasn''t much talking going on throughout the trip, and he completely approved. It was a dangerous situation and they did not want to be discovered by something that would mean them harm. After their lunch, their father also led them to a small creek close by, where they took alternating turns drinking some fresh, cold water while refilling their water skins and keeping watch. Over time, Dei realized that they had made a sort of circuit around a small section of the forest as he recognized a path they were taking that led back out into the mouth of the cave from where they had come. As he suspected, when they finally stepped up to the cave entrance, they stopped as his father looked around to search for the other groups. The same process repeated, with him holding a hand signal up until he reached all five fingers, then they turned towards the darkness and began their trek back to the village. It was equally as boring as when they were moving towards the forest, and eventually they stopped at the mouth of the cave where they had diverged from the larger group. Again, he saw a few people waiting further up and down the cave system, and again, the entire group moved as one on some hidden, undetectable signal to him. In seconds they were moving back the way they had come, surrounded by ten or so people, then by twenty, thirty, and so on until everyone was back as a group. When he saw them nearing what should be the entrance to the village, a wall sat before him until the leading person closed in on it, and it disappeared to let them through. Everyone congregated again right after entering the village, and he got to see as the wall appeared again just as quickly as it had disappeared. When everyone was in, Dei felt some sort of scan move over the group. It paused for a second on him, before judging something not noteworthy and moving on. ¡®Weird.¡¯ After the scan, he heard a sound similar to when the old wizard woman had tapped her staff on the ground as they left, and a second signal reverberated across his soul. ¡®Safe.¡¯ Immediately after the signal, the crowd of people brightened up and began moving deeper into their little underground village. The further they went, the louder the chatter around him became, until everyone was talking happily, laughing, and occasionally showing off some things they had found. His family joined the conversation too, and he was guessing they bragged about some of the plants. When they got to the village proper, people began to either split up or move towards the village square, where all the shops were. Dei watched as his parents alternatingly haggled about the things they had retrieved from the red forest, before handing them over to the people who could better put them to use. He saw a general store with camping equipment and the like, what looked like an alchemist, even a butcher who argued for a specific plant his parents had. In some instances, his parents walked away with specific items, at other times though, it looked like they simply handed the plant over while still holding a satisfied expression. He didn''t understand it, until they moved towards a shop where they didn''t sell anything at all, but still received a new set of the small knives they used to harvest plants. ¡®It''s both a bartering system and a trust system. If they hold the plants in their house, they will probably wilt or decay, so they need to get them to the particular people as fast as possible. If they don''t want anything right at the moment though, they still get a promise of something later.¡¯ It was truly a feat that was completely unrepeatable in his previous world, at least in his section of the world. They went home after that and cooked another full meal, before doing their nightly routines and heading off to bed. While in his crib, Dei realized that he still needed to fix his [Kindness] affinity skills, but definitely not right now. He wanted to have a better mental capacity, as well as be older. Right now when he entered his soul space, he appeared there as a baby. He could still float around and move, but it was really weird and awkward. He didn''t think that his actual size mattered during the trials he faced as a soul, just losing his cool as a baby would have probably been enough to succeed in the trial Wrath had given him, but he still felt underprepared. In a similar yet weird vein, he struggled to use his [Astral Projection] skill when he tried. Despite having the skill, it took a significant amount of effort to actually use it. When he tried, he felt the skill drain something, until eventually it failed completely and he felt weak all over. He checked his Interface for some sort of indication of what was happening after that. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: N/A Profession: N/A Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All HP: 16/16 MP: 0/16 SP: 16/16 Stats: Physical: 8 Mental: 9 Spiritual: 12 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 27% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 77% Soul: High-Common: 15% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (40/2000), Call for Help (9) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (17) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?] ¡®Its consuming MP?¡¯ he thought confusedly. It hadn¡¯t cost anything before? Perhaps that was because his soul shape wasn''t fit to the body he was in though, making it much easier to actually escape it. He did notice that his [Soul] affinity had gone up at some point though. Ignoring that for a moment, he opened [Astral Projection]¡¯s description [Astral Projection - Level 1 - Soul Affinity A confluence of Mind, Body, and Magic, the Soul is made of the cracks between all three. It is both the divider that separates components, and the glue that makes them greater than the sum of their parts. While identity and a sense of self is not required for survival, what is life without a witness? Who you are gives purpose to your survival, but what if your identity could reach beyond the base components of life, and experience a second life of its own? Allows for the physical manifestation of one''s identity into the realm of spirits while still maintaining a link to the main body of the soul. The vanquishing of one''s identity will lead to irreparable soul damage, and inevitable death. Identity of the soul can move away from the body at a distance of 7 meters per level. ??? Initial MP Cost.] He mentally sighed at the clause near the end of the description. ¡®Yep, it costs mana now, and I don¡¯t even know how much.¡¯ He was still going to train with it, and potentially even level it up, but his visions of floating around as a ghost baby were delayed until his Physicality stat grew so his mana pool became larger. Dei spent the next few weeks in a sort of half-stupor, letting his body and mind grow stronger and his family¡¯s visits to the forest wash over him. His family didn''t go every day, but perhaps four or five days out of the week they did. When they were at home, they had a few card games or board games that they played, or they went to some local version of a park with some narrow caves decorated with bright lights and plants. Around two months into his new waking consciousness though, something unusual happened. On their way out of the red forest, his father was doing the usual hand signals. When he got to four fingers, there was a long pause. After a few minutes of no response, his face tensed. He held up four fingers again and received another response. He quickly turned to his mom and said something to her, she gave a terse response back and his father signed something different using both hands in the air to each group. After which, he picked up both of Dei¡¯s other siblings, and turned into a full-tilt sprint towards a section of the forest that the other four groups were heading to as well. ¡®One group is missing,¡¯ Dei thought with a panic. Chapter 11 With his father carrying his two siblings, and his mother carrying him, Dei realized just how much his parents were holding back their magical physique. They went in a straight line through the forest, ignoring all paths, to the section where the previous group was supposed to explore. ¡®Holy Fucking SHIT!¡¯ Dei thought as his mother leapt from branch to branch, the world blurring under him. There were a few tree animals that they passed by on the way, and when one would react aggressively, it would usually explode in a puff of fur or feathers depending on what creature it was. Eventually Dei realized that his mother was drawing her bow back faster than he could perceive and hitting the animals so hard they exploded. He couldn''t even spot her drawing an arrow, just the afterimage of an animal before it was gone. Dei had also started figuring out the new language his family spoke, not enough to get the sentence structure down, just enough to learn a few words, and he kept hearing the word he associated with ¡°monster¡± spoken by his parents. When the trees began to clear up again, Dei noticed that other groups had joined them far to their left and right. As they finally reached a clearing that led to the mouth of a cave, four other groups were present. Words were rapidly spoken, each one sounding like some sort of shorthand version of a sentence that he was finding difficult to parse. ¡°Late. ******. Attack. Monster.****** Now.******. Overnight.¡± After a few seconds, the five groups turned to the red forest and took off in a sprint. Dei and his group were near the back, with a duo of heavily scarred men behind them. Ahead of them were two parents with what looked like their teenage daughter between them. On his left was a group of three men and a woman, while on his right was the final group, one man and one woman. ¡®They¡¯re putting the young in the middle.¡¯ The one person in each leading group had someone watching the ground without looking up, while their partners guided them with a hand on their shoulder. If he had to guess, Dei would say they were looking for the tracks left by the missing people. The woman on the right front called out ¡°Tracks. Monster. ******¡± He didn¡¯t catch the third word, but most of the adults in the group mumbled expletives at it. With a trail found, they turned towards a new direction and slowed down, moving onto the ground rather than through the trees. They still moved at the speed of a fast jog, but everyone was crouched as low as they could go to the ground and spread out to cover a larger area. ¡®Holy hell, I do not want to meet the thing that has everyone here tense. They look like elite trained soldiers¡¯ thinking for a moment, he added on ¡®but I¡¯m going to¡¯ and shivered The stealth of it was what impressed him so much. They still moved through the grass while making either the same amount of noise or less than the leaves swaying in the wind. The groups moved deeper into the forest, and Dei noticed with a fright that the canopy was becoming thicker the further they went in. Not only were the trees growing taller and thicker, but they grew closer together too. It started to dim slightly, but Dei¡¯s vision was unhindered. To others it most likely seemed dark, but there was still a small amount of light filtering through, so lights were not needed. The trackers continued to dutifully follow something Dei couldn¡¯t see, and they slowed down the further they got into the forest. From their original jog, the adults were now at a sort of power-walking speed, and were no longer crouched. The dense trees quieted the forest more, and soon even the breeze stopped flowing around them, their light footsteps the only thing that broke the silence. It had been around twenty minutes since they started moving together as a group when a blood curdling scream rang out from their left. Rather than immediately moving to help, there was a quick and brief series of signs from one of the groups at the head, before they all moved directly towards the noise at the same previous pace. As they moved, Dei noticed something flitter by quickly in the corner of his vision and snapped his head towards it, barely catching the shine of something, not with his eyes, but with his soul sight. His mother had turned at the same time to look at what he saw, but quickly turned back ahead ¡®she doesn¡¯t see it. She can¡¯t. Not even I could see it with my regular sight, despite the upgrade to my eyes.¡¯ It moved again, this time to their left, and he got a better look at it, just barely catching a squishy tentacle-shaped leg with a hard blade at the end of it. He wanted to point, to bring attention to it, but both his arms were swaddled in the harness under his mothers armor. The only part of his body that was free was his head, his mouth. But he knew that if he just started screaming, his mom would shut him up ¡®Damn it, I either have to speak my first word or people are going to die¡¯ yea, no pressure. He already knew which one he was going to speak, so he began to form the words in his mind, practicing moving his tongue in the right way. He had to time it correctly too, or it wouldn¡¯t make sense, and he would still be shut up. They approached the location where the scream had originated, but the closer they got, the more Dei saw the creature in flashes, a blade here, a tooth there, some slithering tail, but he never got the full picture, and it was too quick to track for any length of time. He always followed it with his head, and his mother was starting to pick up on it that something was wrong, but she still hadn¡¯t called anything out yet. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A clearing opened up ahead of them, but the group leader called for a stop and narrowed her eyes as she started looking around. Her eyes glowed as she turned her head on a swivel to look around the forest they had already come. ¡®She spotted a glimpse of it too!¡¯ But he couldn''t find it anymore. It didn¡¯t appear in his vision, the shallow flashes that haunted him the entire walk now eerie in their absence. He searched the forest but saw nothing, looking back to the woman leading the group, he was barely able to distinguish a blurry soul shape of something above her, dropping down from the trees. ¡®It can hide from my sight too!¡¯ ¡°MONSTER!¡± He screamed out as it was halfway down the trunk, he saw small chips flying as it clung to the bark and pulled itself down faster than gravity would take it ¡®I¡¯m too late!¡¯ he thought in horror. He felt a soft breeze touch his cheek as his body was rapidly but gently shifted to the right, and the same wail they heard as before rang out to their ears. This cry felt stilted though, wrong, and any hope of it being from the lost group fled from his mind. When he regained his bearings, a golden glowing arrow as long as his father was tall pinned the monster to the tree. Nobody froze, even the woman under the monster reacting quickly, and they formed a perimeter around it. With its skin pierced, Dei saw as the cloak dropped momentarily and almost threw up from the sight. The main body was shaped like a lamprey eel, if the mouth extended all the way to the tail, with four tentacle-like limbs that ended in three sharp claws in a triangular pattern on the end each. It had no eyes or ears, just armor across its entire back and down its arms. The underside of the tentacles was completely unprotected, but there were course brown plates on the overside of it that matched its back He watched as multiple arrows shot towards the creature but, even pinned, it bent its body in impossible ways to dodge most of them. There were a few glancing blows, but nothing substantial. It wrapped two tentacles around the arrow pinning it and snapped it before anyone could jump in, making the arrow explode into glowing sparks that blinded him for a second. When he could see again, the monster was gone, camouflage again. He saw the direction the entire group was looking, and barely caught the haze of what was previously a clear soul shape. ¡®I''m an idiot! Of course it would notice me looking at it. It took so long to strike because it was testing different ways to hide itself, and when I finally stopped reacting, it knew it had me.¡¯ He had made a dire mistake, he should have waited. That could have turned out worse if his mother wasn''t already vigilant and suspected he saw something she couldn¡¯t. But it didn''t turn out worse, everyone was still alive, and he needed to keep it that way. With the monster escaped, the group congregated into a circle. Nobody stopped watching the skies either, as they knew it could come from the treetops. His mother also said something he couldn''t make out ¡°Dei ****** monster ***** attacked.¡± but when she finished her sentence, a few of the people around them gave him a quick glance before focusing back outward. "She told them that I was the one to spot it.¡¯ He focused more, but was careful this time. It hadn¡¯t perfected its camouflage, otherwise the woman would have already been dead by now, and he couldn''t let it. He looked straight forward, watching as it moved through trees in his periphery, but he didn¡¯t look at it. He didn¡¯t need to though, as a few of the more veteran people in the party were whispering out words, which he thought were locational, as they only came when the monster gave a glimpse. The words became less frequent as time went on, and Dei realized it was adapting to their perceptions too ¡®shit shit shit!¡¯ He wasn''t sure if they realized and stopped calling it abruptly or if the monster succeeded, but the group waited in silence for several beats of his pounding heart. He barely caught it in the corner of his eye as it nimbly and silently leapt off a branch towards them, the tree limb not even swaying. He immediately snapped his head towards it, and before he even had the word out, a rain of arrows shot at it. Mid air it twisted between each of them, only a single one grazing its upper carapace, letting out a spark as the others did nothing at all ¡®Oh¡¯ he thought belatedly as the monster landed on the man standing two people to his right. As its teeth closed around him, he was simply gone from Dei¡¯s vision and blurred to his soul sight. The monster launched itself backwards with its catch, and started to run, rather than stalk. ¡°Dren!¡± his partner cried and launched herself after it. The entire group exploded into action as they started to chase it. The mans partner was at the forefront of the group, stalking it with uncanny certainty that not even Dei could match. While the creature was stealthy, it wasn''t faster than his group, and they rapidly gained on it, occasionally hitting it and letting sparks fly out or, rarely, blood. The blood still blended to the creature though, never giving them a clear shot. As they chased, he was filled with dread as the woman became less sure over time, the creature becoming adept at hiding even the tracking of her partner. ¡®I can¡¯t let this happen!¡¯ he screamed in his mind ¡®I will do whatever it takes to save him¡¯ he faintly heard the echo of some distant bell across his soul. A warning from the System rang in his head, but he ignored it. ¡®I will see through any shroud it puts up¡¯ The tolling growing louder at the second ring. ¡®It threatened my family.¡¯ A third, tangible toll rang out across his soul. It reverberated through his body, and he felt as all the energy stored in both his body and his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)] were sucked away, firing through his eyes and towards the creature. When the wave hit, it started spasming mid air and dropped its cloak. The man it held in its mouth also went flying some other direction, limp but hopefully alive. It squirmed on the ground like it was on fire, whipping out in every direction and bouncing between trees. Its camouflage didn''t merely drop though, he saw as static formed across its body, multiple colors of the rainbow shining in a kaleidoscopic display. After spasming for several seconds, it let out another wail, this one sounding more like sobbing than a scream of horror. He saw multiple melee attackers move in and, now that they could genuinely see its limbs, began to butcher it. He watched as the cloak slowly began to transform back into more mundane colors, but far too late. In only three seconds, hundreds of cuts ran across its body and multiple wounds stabbed all the way through. Two limbs were not working, and it still wasn''t thinking clearly from whatever Dei had done, as it wasn''t even trying to fight back, merely run. Dei suddenly felt incredibly tired. It had cost him something to do that, and now he was paying the price. Watching as a blackness slowly encompassed his vision, and he slumped forward. ¡®I hope I did enough.¡¯ Chapter 12 Dei floated through a void of darkness, various memories slowly passing him by. A slight tug on his soul guided him towards something he couldn¡¯t see yet, but he decided aloofly to follow it anyway. He was familiar with this state by now, it was the state he entered when his soul was dealt damage. He found that he was able to move himself more easily now, and some emotions still filtered through, but there was nonetheless a struggle to put any thoughts into actions. Too late, he realized that the place his soul was being guided towards was his old elementary school classroom. The day he awakened his Wrath affinity, and the day [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] was created. When the memory started playing out, something finally began to click in his head as he panicked to get away from the memory, but he was too late. The memory disconnected from his soul, pulled in an unfathomable direction, and the connecting line to his Kindness affinity went taut. ¡®I¡¯m not ready to face another one!¡¯ the mentally panicked, looking down at his body and still seeing a floating child. ¡°Fret not, little one. There will be no test. For Kindness, there never is.¡± Dei heard, and he looked around his old classroom. The new memory was as monochrome as the last time he had taken the trial for Wrath, but this one was a faded pink rather than red, and his teacher was clearly the avatar Kindness had chosen, as it was more vibrantly colored. ¡°So all of my broken Skills will be fixed now?¡± he asked, hearing a shrill yet clear voice emanate from his throat. He wouldn¡¯t have normally been able to say something like that, but in his own soul, he didn''t have to fight the dexterity of his new body. ¡°Yes, and they would have been fixed sooner, had you visited me.¡± it said, letting out a chuckle that somehow expressed a sense of vastness. ¡°For what reason would I test you? Kindness is a burden from which those with heart draw strength. The journey is the test, and so long as you can stay the path, you will always find the smallest sliver of Kindness with you when the days grow long and dark.¡± Smile dropping from its face, it continued. ¡°The others tire of waiting. They have given me this time to give you both my recognition and blessing, and so I shall.¡± Finishing its sentence, Dei watched as his old teacher touched a single finger upon his forehead. No mana flowed into him, but something was drawn out from the Kindness affinity within his soul. He pulled up the notification showing what had changed [Dei Grrata given Blessing by Kindness: [Good Samaritan]] [Good Samaritan - Level 1 - Kindness Affinity - Toggleable No good deed goes unpunished, but perhaps one can avoid the hammer of judgment, if only the hand holding it fails to find you. When committing an act out of the goodness of your heart in a way that is more detrimental to you than it is beneficial, gain the ability to make either your face or all your actions obscured. Become more difficult to trace the higher leveled it is] ¡°Native affinity mana will serve no purpose after Full System Integration. Sapient mana cannot interact with sapient souls. I will instead grant you a bastion for your actions, as the path you have begun will be lonely. I hope only that this may carry some of the burden.¡± ¡°Our time is limited though, we shall move to the place where you have formed your first Confluence.¡± His head was spinning as he tried to process everything going on. It seemed like these higher entities were always strapped for time, but there was probably a reason for why they couldn¡¯t meet with him very long. Now that he was looking for it, he noticed that the memory around Kindness was cracking, becoming hazy and distorted slightly. Not to his vision, which is why he hadn¡¯t noticed it yet, but to his soul sight. It wasn''t bad, but Dei thought that any cracks in his soul were probably not very good either, so he moved ahead as quickly as he could. When he approached his most recent memory, where his group had just started finishing off the beast that was hunting them, he saw that it held three clashing colors, and remembered how he had subconsciously moved the mana in his body towards his eyes, firing it out at the monster, and he realized now that he had probably created a new Skill based on his desires. He decided that a quick look over his notifications was in order, just to get caught up on everything, because he was insanely confused on what was happening right now. [Confluence Skill Detected: Kindness/Wrath/Soul] [WARNING: Kindness affinity level not yet recognized. Skill creation is not recommended. [Skill Gained: [Identify of the Stout Protector]] [Stat Gained: 1 Mental] [EXP earned for assisted kill of Nightstalking Devourer (Level 134). EXP gain raised due to level disparity.] [Achievement Gained: Slayer of Mountains II] [No class detected, EXP stored for future use] [Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] by Human: Dei Grrata] [Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] by Affinity: Kindness] [Ownership Contested between Dei Grrata And Kindness] [Dei Grrata Recognized as Owner of [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] by Kindness] [Dei Grrata Recognized as Child of Kindness by Kindness] [Dei Grrata Recognized as Owner of [Call for Help] by Kindness] [Dei Grrata given Blessing by Kindness: [Good Samaritan]] [Achievement Gained: Slayer of Mountains II Through either extraordinary effort or luck, you have defied the expectations of the world and slain an enemy 125 or more levels higher than you. You have refused to become prey to those who thought themselves better, who assumed they had the right to hunt one as great as you. Raising your fist to the sky, you stand atop the mountains of bodies that serve as your steps to greatness. Reach high, soldier, for no sky will limit you. [Achievement Gained: Bearing the Burden Despite the cruelty of the world, you have never lost the spark within you that believes in others, and have been recognized by Kindness as a result. It was a lot packed into a short time, but it told his story rather well. He pushed past a warning by the System and made a spell he should have held back on, then suffered some severe soul backlash that knocked him out and led to his current predicament. He also gained one mental stat, but no spiritual stats. While his soul probably grew stronger from the damage, it was also already at 12, so he suspected that it would grow more difficult to raise the higher it went. His mental stat, on the other hand, was quite low, at 9. The stress from the entire situation most likely forced his mind to try and mature quicker, and it was easier since it was already below what it was supposed to be. It was incredible to have some confirmation that the creature was dead though, and [Nightstalking Devourer] was exactly what he expected its name to be. He gained one of the most metal Achievements he¡¯d read yet as well, the one for killing an enemy far above his level. Its flavor text was awesome, but it was odd that the benefits arbitrarily began at enemies 25 levels or higher than him, but he realized it was probably part of a much longer series of achievements for beating enemies above your level. With him killing an enemy so far above his own, he would have skipped a few tiers. From what he could tell, things in this System, such as Classes and Skills, evolved every hundred levels. There was probably an Achievement for killing enemies 25 levels above his own, then every 25 levels after that, and after killing something 100 levels above his own, it evolved into another ¡°family¡± of milestones so to speak. For example, if he killed a monster 50 levels above his own, he could guess that he would get [Giant Slayer II] or some variant of that. He wondered how its upgraded form changed its function. He would ask around and find out if anyone had the Achievements later, moving to the next notification. After the monster perished, the whole fiasco with Kindness that just happened took place, and he gained an Achievement. Reading it over, the flavor text was similar to his one he got from Wrath, if a little more depressing. He noted the discrepancy that it only gave a 15% bonus, while Wrath gave a 40% bonus. He didn''t exactly fight Kindness though, unlike what he had to do to Wrath. There was no danger and, on top of that, Kindness already said that it never tested any ¡®Children of Kindness¡¯ so to speak. As such, it was probably much easier to gain recognition from Kindness, and earn a lower reward as a result. Was it a bit disappointing? Yes, but it made complete sense. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Now that he had looked over everything and was more up-to-date, he knew who he was going to meet. In his most recent memory, where he made the new Skill, he used all three of his affinities. While he wasn''t sure why he was going to meet the three affinities at once, he did know that he was going to be meeting them, and the clashing colors he saw as he settled into the new portion of his soul/memory only served to prove the point. The [Nightstalking Devourer] was bloody and ragged, wounds covering its body with two limbs almost falling off and the other two severely injured. From its deep red coloration though, Dei knew that it was serving as the avatar for Wrath as it began to move and right its own body. He was strapped to his mother, but the harness holding him changed shape until he was free, and she grabbed him from the air before setting him on the ground and taking a step back. She was pink, showing how she would serve as the avatar for Kindness. The third person was out of place completely, not a part of the memory at all. Instead, it was a new figure that walked from deeper within the forest. Out from the shadows walked Leven, Dei¡¯s former identity, in the outfit Leven died as, but his entire figure was a transparent white. ¡®Soul.¡¯ ¡°As your-¡± Kindness started, but Dei cut her off. He would refer to them as the avatars genders for his own sake ¡°Wait¡± he said ¡°can you stop doing that voice thing? Where you infuse your voice with a bunch of meaning? It''s starting to hurt my head. Is it possible to just talk like normal people?¡± He really did not want to listen to all of this while all three of them talked in that booming voice. He could stand it for a little bit, but this was too much. ¡°Very well¡± Kindness said while pursing her lips. ¡°Moving on. As your primary affinity, the one you are most advanced in, I will be the one to explain everything as well as present my offer first.¡± While she said this, the two other avatars moved to stand next to her. He was simply on the ground, so they stood over him, but they also stood a distance away, so he didn¡¯t really need to look up at all. He waited for her to continue without interjecting. ¡°We are here to offer you attunement. Attunement is when you pick an affinity that you favor the most, that will define who you are for the rest of your life, and you infuse your entire soul with that affinity. It gives many benefits, but there are also drawbacks. These benefits and drawbacks depend on the specific attunement, but most people eventually do pick one. The only difference in you is that it is not being offered through a dream sequence, but as a clear-cut business proposal¡± she paused, letting him think. It sounded simple enough so far. There were a few things that he wanted clarified though. ¡°In my previous life, did I ever pick an attunement? Would it have stayed with me if I had? And how often do people pick an attunement? When do they usually pick it?¡± he asked in rapid fire. ¡°You never chose an attunement, it would not have stayed with you, most people pick an attunement eventually if they live long enough, and they pick it when they know they have chosen a settled way of life.¡± She answered rapid fire in turn ¡°That is why we offer it to you now¡± she continued ¡°you have accidentally made a decision that is going to force you to choose which path in life you will go down. While we will not share what the decision was,¡± Dei quickly noted how she said ¡®will not¡¯ and not ¡®can not¡¯ before focusing back on her words ¡°but you undoubtedly stand at a crossroad right now, and we have chosen to offer our attunement conditions now, rather than later¡± She glanced at Wrath for a moment, the monster that it inhabited not moving at all, before saying ¡°before that though, Wrath has requested I ask what knowledge this System has granted you on Professions and Classes¡± ¡®Well that''s a hard change of subjects¡¯ ¡°Not much, just that I would be given options for both when I met some sort of hidden conditions.¡± ¡°Good¡­ Now he would like for you to select them in your interface¡± Dei was confused, because he knew for a fact he hadn¡¯t received any notifications about crossing some hidden conditions, but he opened his Interface anyway [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: N/A Profession: N/A Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains II HP: 16/16 MP: 16/16 SP: 16/16 Stats: Physical: 8 Mental: 10 Spiritual: 12 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 29% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 83% Soul: High-Common: 17% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (40/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (17) Soul: Astral Projection (1) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?] Everything seemed to be in order. He would read up on the new skill in a minute, but Mental stat had gone up by one, as expected, and his affinities had all slightly raised over everything that was going on, again like normal. He looked at the line that said [Class: N/A] and mentally selected it, getting an unexpected dropdown [Prerequisite conditions not fulfilled, in order to unlock Classes, one of the following conditions must be met: Clicking on his Profession, he received a similar pop-up ¡®That''s interesting. I suppose it makes sense too, because it would be pretty bad if a one-year-old accidentally selected their class, and was stuck with it forever when they didn¡¯t even remember doing so. Having multiple completion conditions also allows for some wiggle room on how you can get it unlocked, and if I wanted to get it early, I could absolutely run away from home to fulfill the third condition¡¯ Overall, they made sense. The System went through some effort to ensure that locking professions would be something purely beneficial. ¡°Okay¡­ what now?¡± it was interesting to know for sure, but he didn¡¯t get why Wrath was persistent in him seeing this. ¡°Now, we move on. Please forget about your class for a moment, and instead consider attuning yourself to Kindness¡± Kindness responded, completely glossing over whatever trick Wrath was pulling. ¡°While in your previous life, you were naturally born at Low-Uncommon rarity in Kindness. Over the course of your life, you managed to upgrade it all the way to Mid-Rare. This is proof of dedication to the Kindness within you, and your impressive achievements warrant recognition. For your greatness, I offer to you the contract of a [Champion]¡± Kindness said, causing a window to appear before him. [Kindness of the Champion You have suffered, bled, and died to ensure that none were hurt in your rampage. You have looked upon the darkest man has to offer, and seen the sliver of light shining through. Committing yourself to bringing joy to those around you, you have become a crusader for all that is righteous, and given hope to those who have none. Thanklessly fighting to a brighter future, you have increased your affinity for Kindness to unprecedented levels. Don the mantle upon your shoulders, Champion, and become the guiding light you have always strived to be. ¡°Well, thats a lot.¡± Dei said, glancing at Wrath and Soul, hoping for some good things from them too. ¡°But I''m slightly confused, what are Epic and Legendary Skills? I didn¡¯t know they even had rarities.¡± ¡°Skills have rarities, but you need special tools to measure them. Most Skills are Common, as you might suspect. To give you perspective, all of your Skills are common except for [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] which is Uncommon, and your most recent, [Identify of the Stout Protector], which is rare. Skills can go up in rarity for either versatility or power. Most upper-rarity Skills are Confluence skills, giving them significant versatility, but a Skill with only one affinity will be unfathomably powerful in the right situation.¡± Dei nodded ¡°And I assume Vice affinities are Lust, Greed, Wrath, Envy, Sloth, Pride, and Gluttony?¡± He was raised in a Christian household in his previous life. Even if he wasn¡¯t an active practitioner later in life, he still remembered the Virtues and Vices. ¡°Correct¡± Dei thought about it a bit more, and he was impressed but cautious. The benefits were great, but he had to say that he wasn''t so sure about the drawbacks. Dei was more of a solitary person in his previous life, and he was likely going to be the same in this one. He did like helping people, but this contract would force him into becoming some sort of extrovert, so he wasn''t sure. But Legendary powers!! He couldn''t discard it completely, and letting his imagination run wild for a bit, he became excited at the prospect. Reigning himself back in, he said ¡°Alright, I¡¯d like to hear Wraths proposition next¡± Kindness nodded and took a step back. Wrath came a bit closer in its grotesque body. Dei wasn¡¯t exactly afraid of it, because he knew that it wasn¡¯t actually the monster, but looking at it awakened something that viscerally disgusted him. Sort of like seeing a dead cockroach, he wasn''t scared of it, but he did not want to touch it. He supposed Wrath noticed his disgust with his form, because its teeth became even more distinct in some facsimile of a smile ¡°don''t like my form?¡± Wrath said, in an elegant feminine voice. Dei opened his mouth to respond, but lurched backwards as Wrath shot forward. Only about a foot, but it made Dei flinch, hard. ¡°Good. Because Kindness is going to kill you¡± Chapter 13 ¡®Well, this one has a flair for theatrics, that''s for sure¡¯ Dei¡¯s eyebrows rose at Wrath''s declaration, he also noticed that Kindness was glaring at¡­ her? Wrath definitely sounded like a woman. Despite that, Kindness did not interject, allowing Wrath to continue. ¡°How? Simple, they aren¡¯t telling you about the world you¡¯re in. Kindness and other Virtues were for your old world, but you are not in your old world anymore. As you grow and learn, you will come to understand that there are almost no Virtues anymore, they¡¯re an endangered breed in your new world. Vices on the other hand? They permeate everything. ¡°A Champion of Kindness would be hunted. From kings to farmers, from monsters to animals, you would be chased to the ends of the earth so that those who catch you may torture you for the benefit of raising the strength of their Vices. ¡°Don¡¯t believe me? Look at my avatar. This avatar is a monster, and a mother. It thought your people were there to kill its brood, so it sought to pick them off first. More than a mother though, it had an affinity for Wrath.¡± Dei was quick on the uptake after that ¡®If I had been a Champion of Kindness in that fight, it would have been incentivized to target me. I would have been picked off first instead, and perished. Nobody would have been able to find it without me as the spotter, and everyone would have died.¡¯ He shivered at the thought ¡°If there is any doubt in your mind, just know this: the title of Champion is not one easily given out. To become a Champion of an affinity, you must hold the highest connection to that affinity in the entire world.¡± Dei, again, became shocked ¡°Mid-Rare is the highest anyone alive in this world has achieved?¡± ¡°No¡± Wrath chuckled arrogantly ¡°Mid-Rare is the highest anyone in your world has ever achieved. ¡°Vices are simply more suited for the environment you are in. The affinity of Wrath is to destroy anyone or anything that wrongs you. It is to stand up for yourself. When the world crashes down upon you, it is Wrath that gives you the breath to scream, to rage against the unfairness of it all. ¡°I¡¯ve seen the Wrath in your heart, the hatred you hold for those who wrong you. You are no Champion of Kindness. Instead, I offer to you the contract of the [Scorner]¡± [Wrath of the Scorner Self pity holds no place on the path to victory. Despite those that beat you down, you have stood only taller knowing that, one day, you will raise yourself from the deepest pits of despair to the most unreachable of peaks. They will watch your journey to the top, quivering at every step you take. They will hate you, curse you, pelt you with stones from above, and yet you will bear it all in silence. You will bear it, for you know that when they stand before you and beg for mercy, there will be none. Much shorter, less boons, but also much less when it came to the drawbacks. ¡°What are Rules of Wrath?¡± he asked. ¡°Every user of Wrath has a particular moral code that they will not break, and a belief for the world around them that others should not break, for fear of retribution. The Rules of Wrath are a quantified moral code, they are what causes your anger to spike. Each Wrath user''s rules are shaped by their experiences in life, each is unique. To give you an example, almost every Wrath user''s very first Rule that they discover is ¡®I will protect what is mine¡¯ or some variant of that. ¡°This Rule was the first you discovered as well, was it not?¡± Wrath said, and Dei was getting a better idea of it. Essentially, it was all the things that had made him uncontrollably mad. Having a list of everything would be incredibly useful too, and he could work around it better. He didn¡¯t know they were set in stone though, there were times in his life when he became furious over the most seemingly harmless things, so he assumed there was a bit of ¡®randomness¡¯ to it. ¡°Is there any other way to find the list?¡± Dei asked ¡°can I get some sort of soul scan?¡± ¡°There are other ways, but no singular way to find it. In order to organically discover a Rule of Wrath within yourself, the Rule must be invoked in full and in certainty. Once a core tenant of your being is challenged, the Rule of Wrath will make itself known.¡± Dei nodded, basically just be put in a situation where someone crossed a line he could never excuse. He was starting to see how he didn¡¯t know these things in his previous life, because he honestly lived an incredibly easy life. In the short time he had been in this new world, he had to fight spiritual battles and discover monsters or risk dying. ¡®That''s actually pretty cool when I put it like that¡¯ he smiled at the thought. He looked over the contract one more time, and the only thing that he considered way too much of a drawback was the last clause, that he would be forced to give in to his anger. He had spent his entire life suppressing it, but if he took this contract, that would be an option anymore. He wouldn¡¯t discredit it entirely, but giving up that control over himself felt wrong. With Wraths contract out of the way, he looked towards Soul, and Wrath took it as a sign to step backwards into the lineup at the same moment that Soul took a step forward. It was weird, seeing his old body. His face was neutral, the eyes glazed over slightly. Dei could see through him, like a fading vision of what once was. When Soul spoke, it was distant and airy, like his focus was on something Dei couldn¡¯t see and was only partially trying to talk to him. ¡°You have known me for the shortest time, yet you can already see the benefits, and the power that lies deep within you. Your connection to me is the weakest of the three, but it does not have to stay like that. I offer to you the contract of the [Wisp].¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. [Soul of the Wisp Diving below, you have found power within yourself that most cannot fathom. The deepest, darkest parts of the soul have scared others away for fear of getting lost, yet you find comfort in the silence of these hallowed pathways. Alone, yet content, you have left behind the complications of life to discover who you always were. Even shorter than Wrath, with less benefits and less drawbacks. Before Dei could comment, Soul continued ¡°While this is the only contract I can currently offer, I would ask that you do not accept it. Your connection to Soul is too weak right now, yet you advance quickly. I will implore that you wait until you reach Uncommon rarity in Soul, or further if you can.¡± Dei thought for a second, because this contract was the only one without drawbacks, and it was potentially because it had less bonuses than the others. ¡°Are there any drawbacks to it? I might take this one, if only because it won''t change anything about me.¡± ¡°There are no Weaknesses to the contract, if that is the question¡± Soul responded, and Dei figured that the Weaknesses of a contract were probably just the official word for the drawbacks. He was going to ask what it meant by ¡°sapient-based¡± when it came from the list of Skills, but there was a small interruption first. ¡°If I may?¡± Kindness interjected, looking between the two. Dei nodded for her to continue, but she simply looked at Soul instead of saying anything yet. Soul stared back neutrally for a few seconds, before nodding as well and taking a step back. ¡®Probably something to do with taking turns. Same with Wrath, even though she wanted to interject when Wrath was dissing her, she couldn¡¯t or wouldn''t for some reason.¡¯ Kindness turned to Dei ¡°While there are no official weaknesses, it should be noted that Soul is not a natural affinity for humans. I¡¯m assuming you do not know what that means, as your previous world had a weak connection to affinities and the fabric as a whole?¡± Dei assumed the weak connection to the fabric just meant that it didn''t have any natural mana, so he nodded in response, prompting Kindness to continue. ¡°Natural affinities are affinities creature can have, without changing their biology or makeup. For example, Humans cannot naturally have an affinity for Fire, as it would change them in some way, but a fire elemental could. All sapient races have natural affinities for Virtues and Vices, but differ from one to another. Main branch Humans also have an affinity for Tools, Weapons, Endurance, Chase, and many others. ¡°Gem Dweller variants don''t have Endurance or Chase, but do have natural affinities for Earth and Darkness¡± She paused for a moment to let Dei process everything. ¡®Basically, something that naturally occurs in a being can safely become their affinity, but outside of that, its harmful?¡¯ ¡°So humans don''t naturally learn Soul? But humans have souls, isn¡¯t that enough to constitute an affinity?¡± Dei asked ¡°While humans have souls, the concept of Soul is too deep for them. Humans can draw upon Soul-derivative concepts, such as Mind or Heart, but diving into Soul itself will change someone. ¡°I must add though, it is still incredibly common for beings to reach outside of their natural affinities. The Gem Dweller variant as a whole was created when groups of humans moved underground and gained affinities for Earth and Darkness, two non-natural human affinities, and it changed their biologies. They are still humans, just a bit different. You will also come to understand that it changed the makeup of their minds though. Gem Dwellers are level headed and calculating, almost unnaturally so. Your mother is an anomaly, as they are oftentimes not as loving as she is, but the affinities for Earth dampened their emotions, while the affinity for Darkness made them more cold and calculating. ¡°It still is not a bad thing to happen, simply that by becoming closer to Soul, you will draw yourself away from your natural human state. In this case, Soul will cause you to become more isolated and anti-social, as it is a very solitary affinity. This can be counteracted by gaining more Human-derivative affinities, such as those previously listed, or by strengthening your currently existing human affinities, but it can never fully be suppressed. With each step you take into the Soul affinity, you will change.¡± Kindness finished her speech, and Dei started thinking more deeply about it. Humans would not naturally learn the Soul affinity, but they could. It was also probably why the contract spoke of ¡°sapient-based¡± Skills, as he would only draw from Skills that humans had created, rather than a skill that some ghost made. From how she said it, it wasn¡¯t unheard of for people to advance in unnatural affinities, but he just didn¡¯t know how common or uncommon it was. As a matter of fact, all of these contracts were based on something he didn¡¯t know, the state of the world. He simply did not have the knowledge right now to come to a decision on something that was absolutely a major life changing decision. ¡°You said that I was being offered these options now because of a decision I made, but I don''t need to choose one right now, do I?¡± he asked. ¡°No, you may wait as long as you want. It is recommended to get a better idea of the world you are born into before choosing any. Now that the offers are made though, I must add to what Wrath said about my contract. I do not believe you should discredit it entirely. While it is true that it will be deadly and that there are currently very few Virtue affinities in the world, the power you would gain is immense, and you can use that power to set a precedent for others. Become the change you want to see in the world, Dei, I know your heart is strong.¡± Dei contemplated that a bit more. It was true, he really did enjoy helping people, but the drawbacks to the power Kindness offered were immense. This wasn¡¯t a decision he would be making for years to come, but he was glad the options were there. ¡°One more question, what were the Virtues? I know the Vices, but I never heard Kindness as a-¡± Before he finished his sentence, Dei received a notification that he did not have the option to skip. It opened itself, mentally blaring in his face. [You have become ostracized from your community, Class and Profession locks removed.] ¡®What?¡¯ Dei thought with a jolt of terror. ¡°Faith, Abstinence, Justice, Fortitude, Kindness, Patience, and Love. I am sorry for what is about to happen Dei¡± Kindness said with a sad smile ¡°If you survive, spend the next few years trying to kill her¡± Wrath said gleefully Soul said nothing, before he felt himself forcefully yanked from his inner world, slamming into place in his body. He gasped for breath, the shock of having something grab his soul and put it back in place feeling perversely wrong. He could barely see anything, despite his Darkvision. His eyes flew wildly around the room, seeing four candles around him positioned equally around a circle. Looking closer, he noticed it was a magic circle with writing he couldn¡¯t read, but made his mind quiver. He tried to move his arms, as tiny as they were, but they were tied in front of him. He was completely wrapped in thick rope that shined slightly, despite the oppressive darkness. He realized he was sitting on a chair made for his size, tied to it, in a ritual circle. He couldnt see anything outside of the circle, no walls or anything, until directly in front of him when two orbs appeared. Two glowing pale eyes pierced deep into his, and despite the fact that he couldn¡¯t see the rest of her face, he knew exactly who it was. ¡°Her name is Iora, she was the one with the staff that let everyone out of town¡± There were many things he didn¡¯t understand about what was happening, but only one thing that he did understand. He should be very afraid. Chapter 14 The fear struck deep within him, something he couldn¡¯t suppress. Hyperventilating, his heart began beating in his ears as he looked around wildly for any indication of someone else, anyone else to help him. ¡®Mom?! Where am I? Why am I tied up? What happened?¡¯ his thoughts came faster, the terror overwhelming him, blinding him before he could think out the situation logically. ¡®I thought I saved that man!¡¯ he cried in his head ¡®I thought it would be the right thing to do! We killed the monster, I saw the notification, why?! How did it end up like this?¡¯ But he didn¡¯t have an answer. ¡®I just want my mom back¡¯ he started to repeat in his head like a mantra, over and over again. Minutes ticked by as he cried, tears streaming down his face and the bone-deep terror that afflicted him only became worse. He drew further into himself and eventually stopped crying so loudly, instead only whimpering in the darkness while repeating the same sentence in his head. He heard a growl come from the darkness, and saw as the two pale orbs came closer ¡°This is getting us nowhere¡± he heard a cold voice say. Confusion cut through his fear for a moment ¡®Why can I understand her?¡¯ only to be plagued by a second realization ¡®I¡¯m not thinking in English, what language is this?¡¯ With the second thought, he saw as Iora winced in the darkness ¡°What did you just say? What word was that, and why couldn''t I hear it?¡± She asked in an accusatory voice. ¡®Say? I didn¡¯t say anything, hear what?¡¯ he thought haltingly. Something was wrong about this situation. ¡°While you¡¯re in front of me, I can hear you think. You said a word in your head, something I couldn¡¯t hear, but I know you weren¡¯t blocking me from it either. I would have been able to tell and torn through you faster than you will ever want to know¡± she said the last part with a snarl. His mind shivered at the realization she could see into his head, but tried thinking of his previous sentence to figure out what she was talking about ¡®I¡¯m not thinking in English-¡¯ but was cut off. ¡°There! How are you doing that?¡± she asked after wincing again. ¡°It hurts to even hear it!¡± Dei realized she couldn¡¯t hear the word ¡®English,¡¯ but he didn¡¯t know what he was doing to cause that ¡®I don¡¯t know! What did I do wrong? Why am I being interrogated? And why can I understand you?¡¯ She was close enough now that Dei could just barely make out her face in the darkness, and she was fuming ¡°What are you?¡± she asked. Again, he took a few seconds to collect his thoughts from the confusion of what she said ¡®I¡¯m a human?¡¯ The anger in her eyes quickly transformed into open hatred at his response ¡°YOU are no human!¡± she screamed at him ¡°human children can¡¯t destroy the cloak of a monster more than a hundred times their level! Human children can''t use Soul magic! Human children don¡¯t think as coherently as you do! No, you are something else. You have either taken the body of a child or you have killed a child and taken its place. ¡°Despite the fact that there¡¯s no chance of you being a human, I still need to figure out what you are before I can kill you, and give the boy''s family the closure they deserve. ¡°I was hoping to end this quickly at first, it seems that hiding your thoughts comes instinctually to whatever race you belong to¡­ [Diamond Smiler]?¡± She asked, looking at him expectantly. ¡®I have no idea what that is¡¯ he thought, still shaking despite the fact that he knew what was going on better. He did some things children should undoubtedly not be able to do, and now they thought he was some sort of body snatcher. He kept trying to think, to reason, to come up with a better argument, but fear still blinded him. It scattered any chance to say something that would help her understand him. He tried to say something in his mind, explain himself, but he just couldn¡¯t think! He distantly heard her ¡°tsk¡± when he didn¡¯t mentally admit to being whatever monster she had said, but he ignored it. He was finally starting to catch on to what was happening, what she was doing to him. ¡®I shouldn¡¯t be this afraid. I shouldn¡¯t shake this much. I have better control over myself than this!¡¯ he screamed out in his head." She cast something on me, she did something to make me more afraid.¡¯ ¡°Fine¡± he heard her say, but he wasn¡¯t listening. All the fear she had forced into him was rapidly transforming into something else, a white hot rage. ¡°If you wont surrender your secrets, I will take them.¡± He gritted his teeth and felt as power flowed through his veins, glaring at her as her palm came closer to his forehead ¡®I didn¡¯t let Wrath have my memories, I won''t let you!¡¯ he screamed. But she was not holding back to spare him the pain. This was no test to pass. As her palm touched his forehead, the small defense that he put up was torn apart, his anger snuffed out like a candle in a hurricane. Heedless of the damage she caused him, Iora tore through Dei¡¯s mind, through all of his memories. His life flashed before his eyes, backwards. Starting from the fight with the monster in the forest, it went back through his family searching for herbs. It showed their trip back to the village, and his sleep the previous night. Dei saw as weeks passed, rewinding time starting from the moment he passed out. He couldn¡¯t think, but if he still could, Dei would realize that Iora couldn¡¯t see any of his memories of the time spent in his soul. As he relived the new life he had with his family, Dei¡¯s Soul began to crack the further back she went. Eventually she reached memories that Dei himself did not know, his life before he became conscious again. Dei saw how he lived through unending agonizing pain in the first six months of his life, and he was forced to relive it all again in this very moment. The pain became worse and worse the closer they got to his actual birth, and his soul began fracturing faster. Mana began flowing from the cracks, unregulated in a way his body couldn¡¯t handle. It tore through him, both his regular mana and all the Wrath mana that his body had yet to store in [Pandora¡¯s Box] before he was suddenly subject to a form of soul torture. He screamed in agony at both what Iora was doing to him, and at his muscles bursting from the buildup of uncontrolled power in them. Blood ran down his entire body as the mana burst through, ripping him apart. Iora reached his actual birth, then even before that. For nine months, Iora was able to watch as he grew, but she could tell there was more even than that. Unheeding of Dei¡¯s worsening situation, she kept going, out of curiosity at this point. She had already verified that he was a human, had already verified that Fou had given birth to Dei, but she knew that there was something special about him. She didn¡¯t want to let his secrets lie. She reasoned out to herself that it might be dangerous to the community. ¡®Shaman¡¯s must protect the village, he has no right to hide something from me¡¯ she thought coldly, despite the fact that a boy not even a year old screamed out in front of her. Until, suddenly, she reached the part of his memories before Fou was pregnant with him. While Iora couldn¡¯t see within Dei¡¯s soul, she could see what it perceived. When Fou was pregnant, Dei saw darkness. Iora rushed across the memory because she could sense that Dei remembered something that spanned before even that, but when she ran headfirst past the limit of Dei¡¯s physical body, Iora launched her own mind out somewhere it should never have seen. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Iora, for a single moment, saw an unfiltered view of the void. The spell shattered immediately. The ritual circle allowing Iora to see into Dei¡¯s mind exploding into flames as Iora screamed and fell backwards, clawing at her face. The darkness around the room faded immediately, and the silencing spell Dei hadn¡¯t known was in place fell with it. He had worse things to worry about though, as his soul had already suffered lethal damage. He was breaking. The spiderwebbing cracks that permeated deep into him finally began to flake off into oblivion ¡®Soul¡­please¡­¡¯ he called weakly to the affinity, getting a notification in response [Soul of the- But he cut it off, accepting whatever help Soul could give without reading it. He didn¡¯t have the time to read it. Power flowed into him, a thin line of pure Soul mana rapidly weaving through his soul, stitching it back together. When the main portion was held in place, it shot outward and rapidly retrieved all the loose pieces that were previously fading into nothingness. By the end of it, his soul looked like a hideously cracked series of experiences, barely stitched together by some pure form of energy. The rope around him had stopped emitting its glow, but he couldn¡¯t even think about moving or trying to break free. His body was broken, there was blood everywhere, and his mind was so scarred from the experience that he felt like an outside observer watching his own corpse. *** POV: Fou After Dei had unveiled the monster and it was rapidly killed, Fou desperately tried to wake him up, using all of her mana on healing him. Despite that, he stayed unconscious and too cold to be healthy. The group quickly found Aree, the woman who was missing, and her group after that. She said that she had found a juvenile [Nightstalking Devourer] and got greedy for its valuable parts, so they chased it deeper in, but lost it. Aree and her group paled at the realization that the mother was right around the corner and most likely had been hunting them while Fou¡¯s group rushed to save them, but the situation was already over, and nobody had died. Most of the group saw as Dei cast some form of soul attack, and Fou was worried that he would be interrogated when they got back to the village. She didn¡¯t know how he did it, but to Fou, it was clear that Dei was a good kid. He wanted to save someone, how would they ever fault him for that? How could that be bad? She thought Iora would perhaps do a scan of him, maybe ask him some questions and see if he could answer. He had, after all, already spoken his first word. She would be able to draw a few more out of him, right? When they ended up coming back through the gate though, it was so much worse. One of the people who was closest to Fou when Dei had done whatever he did ended up excitedly telling Iora that ¡°Fou¡¯s kid did some weird fuckery that I¡¯ve never seen before, slapped the cloak right off that Nightstalker.¡± It was meant to be a joyous occasion, but Iora immediately sent a pulse through everyone present, stunning them all. Faster than Fou could stop her, Iora took Dei and quickly floated deeper into town. When the stun wore off, Fou and Gor shot off after her, leaving their other kids behind. When they arrived at Iora¡¯s house, there was some sort of barrier blocking the way. Gor slamming into it full speed but bounced off, Fou not far behind from doing the same. They went to work, continuously attacking it with anything they had. Blade and bow skills rained down on the door, but it remained impenetrable. ¡°IORA!¡± Gor shouted as he threw himself against the opening. At one point he tried breaking the wall, but that was only harder. ¡°I WILL KILL YOU! RELEASE MY SON!¡± It would not have been as bad if Iora had asked for a personal interview, but both Fou and Gor hated how she had taken him rather than simply asking. She had kidnapped their child, and neither knew the reason, but that was not something you did, especially not to people who risked their lives on a daily basis to get the food and medicine for everyone. Both of them had seen the horrors of the outside world, both of them would do anything to protect their family, and both of them would absolutely be willing to kill Iora if she hurt their child. They built up a crowd around them with all the screaming they were doing in front of Iora¡¯s house, but neither cared. After nearly half an hour, the barrier finally fell and they stormed inside, rushing to Iora¡¯s magic room where they heard a shrill scream. Gor made it through the doorway first, seeing Iora on the ground clawing at her face while babbling incessantly. Fou made it in second, ignoring Iora and focusing on Dei. She saw Dei bleeding from every orifice and multiple cuts across his skin, as well as a weird white spiderweb pattern that pulsed across his skin with an eerie glow. They kicked off the floor at the same moment, Gor bringing his blade down on Iora¡¯s neck while Fou went to grab Dei. Moments before the blade drew blood, Iora¡¯s hand touched her Shamanic staff, and a strong pulse was released in Gors direction. Fou had just barely grabbed the rope tying Dei to the chair, and held on tightly as a wall of force knocked them both backwards. Several things happened quickly. First, Fou began pumping healing into Dei using a Skill from her Love affinity. Second, Gor turned in the direction both him and Fou were being pushed, and launched himself at the wall they were about to slam into, shattering the entire thing so that Dei would not suffer the shock of hitting it. Smaller fragments still hit the back of Fou, but those were easy enough for her to absorb the force of. Thirdly, Gor wrapped Fou and Dei in a hug from behind, and formed an intangible barrier using a skill from his Sloth affinity. They luckily went through the front door, rather than the second wall, and went flying outside. The barrier Gor had formed around them quickly absorbed most of the force of the blast Iora had used to launch them, and he used his legs to absorb the rest by leaning into it and sliding hundreds of feet back, carrying his wife while she carried their son. Quickly, he let Fou down to stand on her own two feet while keeping his eyes trained on Iora¡¯s doorway. ¡°Why¡­¡± he asked quietly to Fou, and perhaps to himself too. The entire situation made no fucking sense. He saw the state Dei was in before Fou got to him, Iora had been torturing the poor boy. At the thought, he felt a long-unused skill from his Sloth affinity come to life, his [Slumbering Giant] Skill overcharging his mind and muscles. ¡°IORA!¡± he roared at the top of his lungs, the crowd on either side of the street pressing further against the wall ¡°WHY HAVE YOU HURT MY SON?¡± He motioned for Fou to run, to take Dei and hide him somewhere. They both knew what those Shamanic staffs did, and if Iora truly wanted Dei dead, there was nothing they could do to stop her, only delay her. If Iora was going rogue for some reason, they needed to buy time for the Shamanic Council to come in and kill her. Fou wasted no time and took off down the street, back towards the gate. Iora did not come through the flap of her door. Instead, the entire front wall blew outward, shrapnel flying a few feet before stopping mid air. Floating in the center was Iora, staff in hand and eyes filled with hate. She completely ignored Gor and glared at the receding form of Fou, firing something at her that Gor couldn¡¯t see, but felt. Without hesitation, he launched himself into the air, midway into the blast. It did absolutely nothing to him, seemingly trying to pass through him without hurting him, but he used the mana in his body to grab hold of it and put it to sleep. Most of it was stopped, but a small portion succeeded in passing through. ¡®It¡¯s a two parter spell. One part is to kill something, that portion was completely stopped by me because I was not the target, it was most likely specifically meant for Dei, and she set it to only hit him so that Fou would be unharmed. The second part was a tracking spell, set to track anything it hit. Most of it was stopped, but a little got through. Holy fuck, Dei I dont know what you did but she wants you gone.¡¯ The entire thought took place within the span of half a blink as his [Slumbering Giant] Skill increased his stats immensely based on how long he had not activated it. It had been over a decade since its last use, and it was the longest it had ever been charged. He was still growing in strength too, hardly reaching the peak as the world continued to slow. That was good, because he didn¡¯t know how long he was going to need to stall her. ¡°You ask why I want him dead?¡± she said as quickly as he could think, her power growing at the same speed as Gor¡¯s or potentially even exceeding his. He continued rising into the air, closing in on one of the cave walls. He luckily had to launch himself at an angle, otherwise it would have taken much longer to reach the cave ceiling. ¡°Because¡± she continued ¡°that thing is not a human! When you all got back, I could sense the residue of a complex mix of Soul magic mixed with two other affinities. I don''t know what the other two were, but a triple-confluence Skill is not something to be taken lightly. When I asked what happened and he told me that Dei was the source of it? I knew that little freak was a mockery-type creature. Initially, because of the Soul affinity, I thought it was a [Diamond Smiler] but I¡¯ve deduced that I was wrong. What I¡¯m not wrong about is that he isn¡¯t normal, and I won''t let a mockery grow under the wing of a close friend! Fou deserves to know what he is, and if you had given me more time, I would have succeeded.¡± She finished her rant, which had given Gor both some vital information, and time to reach the wall that he now had his feet on. She had assumed he wasn¡¯t their kid, and had fully intended to get answers out of him without their permission. Based on Dei¡¯s condition, she was too deep in now to back out. She had to double down, because if she was wrong, she would no doubt have her position revoked at best, or be executed at worst. She wasn¡¯t going to talk this out. She wasn¡¯t going to explain what she saw, because she knew Gor would only continue to stall her and let Fou get away. She didn¡¯t want to leave her life in someone else¡¯s hands, so she had no intention of giving them the choice to screw her over. ¡®She always was a control freak¡¯ he thought, but he instead shouted ¡°Get the fucking Council!¡± Into the crowd Even if his Physicality was most likely breaking five or six hundred at this point and rising, with a Mentality to match, Gor knew that there were at least three people in the crowd who would have Skills to understand both of them, and understand his request. Done wasting time, Gor saw how her attention on him wavered for just a single moment to glance at Fou, and in that moment, the ground under him exploded as he jumped into action. ¡®I am going to do everything I can to kill this bitch, even if she thinks she knows best¡¯ he decided internally. He wasn¡¯t going to hold back on someone who would kill his son without giving him a say, even if she thought Dei wasn¡¯t his son. For Dei, Gor would try. Chapter 15 The crowd below continued to slow as Gor¡¯s perception sped up, yet Iora¡¯s eyes continued to track him. Now that he was away from the crowd and pumping mana through his body to move, thick ropes of gray Sloth mana whipped out from his body and floated into the air. The shrapnel of stone around her blurred as she launched hundreds of fragments towards him. Using his [Sleep Step] he froze the air underneath his foot to kick off of it, dodging the first volley. It was expensive to use, though, and this was a battle of endurance. After the first redirection, he kicked off the larger shards, dodging what he could and redirecting what he couldn¡¯t with his hands. While he tried to, he couldn''t alway close the distance, sometimes needing to move horizontally to avoid getting trapped, but he was always mobile, and he always kept his body between Iora and his wife. She tried launching smaller pieces, but if they were too small to kick off of, he simply ignored them. She realized she was getting nowhere with the stone attacks, and Gor watched as she charged something else, before glancing at the crowd below. ¡®She needs to worry about collateral. If she kills even a single unrelated person under her protection, she will be executed. Even me for that matter, she can''t kill me because, even if Dei is guilty, I would only be acting in ignorance¡¯ he grinned. He still needed to be careful though. Shamanic staffs contained multiple schools of magic. He knew they had all the elemental ones, as well as the Soul and Soul-derivatives. All of them also had Darkness and Light, Barrier, Celestial, Life, Beast, Tracking, Enhancement, and Crystal. Past that, each one had at least two affinities unique to it, depending on which soul was used in its creation. They could never fit Virtue or Vice affinities though, he didn¡¯t know why, they just never seemed to be able to. Excluding the unique affinities, he didn''t need to worry about Beast as it was focused on manipulation, and there were none close. Crystal and Life took too long to work for them to be relevant in a direct battle. Soul and Soul-derivative affinities also wouldn¡¯t work well on him when he was boosted by [Slumbering Giant]. His [Half-Lid] Skill would help block the blinding and illusion aspects of Darkness and Light, so she was unlikely to use them in this fight as their offensive was weak. Tracking wouldn''t help either, and she was already using Enhancement to keep up with him, so he would watch out for those Skills, but the real focus was on the last six. Fire, Water, Earth, and Air would be her main hitters. She would use Barrier if he got close, and she would lay traps around them with Celestial. Now that he better expected what she was going to do, the entire plan taking hardly a millisecond, he moved back in while keeping watch of the two to four unique affinities for her particular staff. Multiple flaming projectiles moved towards him, mixed in with the shards of earth she continued to recycle. He kicked off a patch of earth to dodge one ball of fire by almost a foot, but was surprised to still feel something hit him. The Air casing around the fireball shattered and was devoured by the flame, feuling it into an explosion. He cast a barrier to block most of it, but was knocked to the side a bit. He positioned himself feet first and used another Air projectile as a platform to kick off of, the explosion pushing him further towards her. She launched an uneven wall of stones at him but it only sped him up as he jumped between them again. He was almost through the field when he saw the glimmer of something right at the end of the cloud and realized it was a trap, following the volley of stones was a wall of perfectly clear water meant to trap him. Grabbing one two of the stones flying by him, he barely slowed as he spun mid air to throw the first at the wall. It left his hand with a thundercrack, followed by an explosion when it hit the water. The crater left in the wall wasn¡¯t large enough for him to fit through, but it wasn''t meant to as the second stone left his hand, approaching Iona full speed. Her focus split for a single moment to conjure a barrier and block it, Gor using that moment to break through the wall without becoming trapped. With a final kick off the would-be prison, he rapidly closed the distance between them. Immediately after the wall of water, he felt the invisible mana of a celestial prison closing in on him, but his momentum took him from the field before it could close in. ¡®She didn¡¯t expect the water to stop me, she thought I would pull out a trump card to break through it. It was meant to slow me down enough for the celestial magic to ensnare me¡¯ Now on top of her, he struck out so fast his fist caught fire, but she leaned left at the last moment. [Sleep Step]ing for just a moment to roundhouse kick her, she blocked with staff that released a Thrum with the force, vibrating in her hand while she was seemingly unbothered by the force. ¡®Unique affinity number one is Kinetic affinity, that narrows it down from one of the hundred twenty seven staffs to just three. The other affinity will either be Tether or Snap, as they would never give Void affinity to someone like Iora. I hope it¡¯s Tether, as it is notoriously hard to control. If it''s Snap though, I¡¯ll know what to expect because Fou has never hidden her Snap affinity or abilities from me.¡¯ The quick realization over, he used the rebound of his kick to spin midair and draw his falchion, bringing it down on her. If she would absorb his kinetic energy, blunt force wouldn''t work well. He also didn¡¯t want her to hold onto the energy he already gave her and if he was right¡­ Iora tried blasting his blade with the kinetic energy to shatter it, but he had already filled it with Sloth mana. Like a predator to prey, his mana annihilated it before the kinetic energy could do any damage. He rained down swipes to try and catch her off guard, yet she was always one step ahead. Her staff was just barely able to enhance her faster than his skill could enhance him, but both of them were tapering off with what their Souls could handle ¡®Fuck this is gonna hurt tomorrow.¡¯ He steeled his will and pushed more Sloth mana into his body. He was starting to take minor damage with the amount that was getting channeled through himself, and realized that his would be no slog. He needed to end things, because there was no chance he would be able to maintain the strain he put on himself. While they both had similar upper limits to their strengths, Iora could split the weight between both her and the staff, while his soul had to bear the full brunt of his. ¡®Well, if I can''t maintain a consistent strain, then I''m going to pour every ounce of mana into every single action.¡¯ He grinned manically at the thought. It had been so long since he had a genuine fight where he used all his trump cards, and now his blood was pumping. He let out a roar as he activated [Stable Axis] from his Blade affinity to help process everything he was about to do, and [Sleep Step] to launch himself to the side. Iora turned to face him, but he was already gone, above her now. He used [Sleep Step] again and again, bouncing around in a sphere, speeding up with each kick of his leg. He started to glow as the air around him caught fire when it touched his skin, letting out bright streaks of light that showed only his after image. Gor felt as Iora placed a tracking spell on him so she wouldn¡¯t lose him. The vibrations he sent through the air forced Iora to put up a barrier of Kinetic absorption at all times so her organs wouldn''t rupture. They had been continuously moving up through the air, closer to the tall cave ceiling than to the crowds below, but Gor still saw as multiple people began layering protections for what they knew was inevitably going to be his finisher. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The muscles in his legs began tearing, blood shooting out in geysers with enough pressure to cut someone in half, but that was okay. His body would make blood as quickly as he lost it. Still, he decided it was time to finish things, as he could barely see the blur he assumed was Iora. He felt tether magic form on him multiple times, trying to tie him to a wall and steal his momentum, but he was too far along at this point to be stopped. Like an executioner from above, he put both hands on the handle of his blade and swung downwards on her while kicking off perfectly from above, activating [Mountain Cut] as he passed by. He heard himself laugh manically. She managed to block with the staff, absorbing the kinetic force from an attack no barrier would withstand. Still, a cutting wind sliced down into her body. Not deeply, but Gor finally drew blood. It wasn¡¯t over though. From below, he kicked off again, this time at a slight angle, slicing diagonally. Again, she blocked, again, she was cut anyway. [Mountain Cut] after [Mountain Cut], Gor sliced into her, tearing her pitiful robe to shreds. The manic laughter grew louder. Each hit from his blade rang out like a gong, the thrumming of her staff growing worse with each passing. The ringing of a bell shaking her just a little bit worse each time. Blood flowed freely from both of them by this point, but it never dropped. Instead, it permeated the air around them. At the speeds they both were moving, the droplets never had the chance to fall before they collided with the attacks from one or the other. The mist of blood surrounding them grew worse, but he ignored it. It was irrelevant. His blade was held together only by the Sloth mana within it, stopping any vibrations from penetrating more than surface level. Still, with every hit, the smallest of shavings was knocked off in the form of sparks. His clothes had long since caught fire from the friction in the air and were some charred tatters somewhere off to the side. One last time he struck upwards at her, unerringly blocked yet still cutting. He twisted himself around to launch back downwards, his screaming laughter marking the psychotic joy he took from the situation, yet this time his legs did not respond. Instead, he flew past the point where he would have kicked off his [Sleep Step] and finally slammed into the ceiling. ¡®When did that get so close?¡¯ he thought, letting out another quiet giggle. He was halfway buried into the rock, yet that didn¡¯t bother him. His legs were rapidly regenerating, rapidly even for his own perception, and he stared down at Iora with an expectant, excited gaze at the prospect of continuing the fight. Iora didn¡¯t intend to let him. He watched as fixed that hateful gaze on him, and used all the kinetic energy stored up in the staff, swinging it upwards at him with the force of a mountain as she let out a roar of her own. As the staff hit the arc of its swing, a white beam as bright as a thunderbolt shot out of it. Iora¡¯s eyes cleared up immediately and, realizing that she had gone too far, widened significantly. Not only had she not wanted to kill Gor, if that beam hit the roof of the cave, the entire thing was going to collapse on the very village she was meant to protect. Uncaring of her realization, Gor slammed his fist into the wall to give himself some downwards momentum, as his legs had still not yet been repaired. Despite the beam not yet hitting the roof, boulders of stone still rained down as the force of Gor¡¯s fist cracked it for hundreds of feet in all directions. Gor met the beam head on, making no moves to dodge, as he brought his blade down for one final [Mountain Cut]. He activated [Sleep Step] multiple times across his body to avoid being thrown backwards as every single ounce of mana being produced by his Sloth affinity rushed through his body and into his blade. Rivers of sparks flew around his head as the beam slowly tore the surface of his falchion apart. ¡®More!¡¯ he screamed in his head ¡®MORE!¡¯ he demanded of his Sloth affinity. The beast inside him, already awoken after its long rest, rumbled its laughter in sync with his own as it raced out from his chest, down his arms, into his blade and even further. Gor felt several notifications go off in his head as a formless gray figure exploded from his blade. The beam that was pressing into him was quickly devoured by the figure that rapidly took shape. The spiked skull was the first thing to become defined, followed by the sleek scaled body, four clawed legs, sharp bat-like wings, and long gray tail. His new [Sloth Beast Manifest] took shape into his spirit animal, and the gray dragon of his Soul devoured the beam of Kinetic energy hungrily. Iora barely had enough time to layer barriers over herself as it crashed into her, pushing her down further as she felt her body slow from the impact. The ram from its head slid off her and, despite being pushed down, she did repel it. The first time. In a fashion similar to Gors final gambit, the dragon flapped its wings and quickly swung back around, making another pass at her with its claws. The blood cloud around them was so thick by this point that Iora could never see where it was coming until it was right in front of her. Despite the fact that it was a hundred feet long, it silently glided through the mist until it was right on top of her. It bit at her, clawed her, and even whipped her with its tail at one point, yet still she survived. The strain on her soul became worse, yet still she endured. With each passing, the dragon became more translucent, pouring more mana into her body. While it became weaker with each swing, she noticed that the mana still rushed into her. The mana still slowed her body. She could still form barriers and cast Spells, but her body stopped responding. After the fiftieth hit taken, she was practically frozen in place as she could move no longer. She could not even give a reaction of surprise, as her look of hatred froze in place. Still, the dragon continued to attack her through the cloud, each pass pushing more mana into her. Once there was finally no chance of her moving, it flapped its wings to clear the mist of blood in front of her, and forced her to watch as it charged up an ultimate attack, waves of gray Sloth mana billowing out of it as a humming reverberated from deep within its chest. She fired bullets of stone towards it, but they slowed the closer they got to the dragon. Exploding projectiles of fire were held stable in their casing as it used sloth mana to freeze them in place. Whips of water splashed harmlessly against its body when she lost control of them after they entered its aura. Her fear built as nothing she did seemed to affect it, until finally the humming stopped. Unmoving, she watched as the dragon opened its mouth and fired a concentrated beam of sloth mana at her. It penetrated deep into her body, soaking into her organs and bones. Her heart stopped pumping, blood freezing in her veins. She had to use a Soul spell from the staff to project her mind from her body as even her thought process was hitting the limit of what it could compensate for. She watched as her body was frozen in time, not even taking damage as the decay from her cells not receiving oxygen was put to a stop as well. Using [Formless Avatar] she could still cast magic, but even the power of her Shamanic staff could not break her free from the prison of Sloth mana. The dragons blast rapidly drained it of all its resources, becoming more translucent the more mana it fired into Iora. Once it was barely holding itself together, it canceled the beam, flew up to Gor¡¯s almost-unconscious body, and grabbed him from the air. He had hardly fallen a single foot from the point where he had originally summoned it, a testament to the speeds at which it was both flying and the speed at which Iora was blocking it. Gently, it dove down towards the ground, dropping faster than the red mist could fall, before throwing its wings out just above the barrier the people below had set up. It placed him gently atop the barrier, and finally dissipated into nothingness. Gor watched, half awake, as chunks of blood and meat fell down towards him from the air. ¡®Huh¡­ thats a lot of chunks. Did I cut Iora a lot?¡¯ he thought absently ¡®Ah, no, wait. Those are probably the chunks from blowing my legs up so many times.¡¯ The thought caused another giggle to resound from him. The rain of blood and chunks finally reached him, coating his bare body. When the last of the blood had finally fallen down, it revealed the frozen form of Iora. Around her, she had several tons of rock that Gor had knocked from the ceiling. Even if she couldn¡¯t move, she still wouldn''t allow for it to crush the entire village. While it was true that the barriers might withstand it, Iora couldn¡¯t risk that. Gor watched as she slowly moved them back up into the ceiling, meticulously putting them into their places and sealing the cracks between them. When she was done, she sat there unmoving. After all, she was still locked down from all the mana his new Skill had pumped into her. He let out one more giggle, before darkness finally began closing in on the edges of his vision. Gor felt as his body fell downwards, the barrier finally lowering and allowing the blood to coat the entire town. He felt as people caught him and lowered him gently. ¡®Your turn, Fou¡¯ he thought as he passed into unconsciousness. Chapter 16 Gor motioned for her to run, and she didn¡¯t hesitate to do so. She remembered the stories told of the last time he went all out, and she had always wanted to see it happen if he ever released that [Slumbering Giant] Skill again, but there would be a next time. A time when their son was not in danger of a recognized Shaman. No matter how strong Gor was when he used his final trump card, matching a Shaman in a one-to-one was just not something the average person could do. She had made it down the street, nearly around a bend where she would lose sight of Gor, when a mind-based tracking spell landed on her. She was able to slow it down enough to prevent it from spreading to Dei, but it still hit her. ¡®Dammit! If it used Tracking alone as the base, I could easily remove it from me, but she placed it somewhere on my soul. That¡¯s not something you can just remove.¡¯ She still ran. She would find a way to get Dei to safety, somewhere Iora wouldn''t find him. Besides, Iora wasn¡¯t the only one with tricks up her sleeve, and it seemed like she would need more than a few of them to get out of town. *** Around the same time Gor had told the crowd to get the council, Iora sent out a message of her own to the five people who would understand the conversation the two of them were having. ¡°Get the council as he says. I will need to justify my actions before them, and I have nothing to hide¡± she sent out confidently. To the rest of the town, she sent out a second message, one that was slowed down so that anyone could understand it. ¡°To anyone who can reasonably stop her, please apprehend Fou! I am saddened to announce that her son, Dei, has most likely been replaced with a mockery-type creature. Do not allow her to escape! She is a mother grieving, and deserves better than this.¡± While she did ask the entire town, she had little hope for them to actually catch her. Iora knew that Fou was mainly a Snap-based fighter, and they tended to be a slippery bunch. Still, she just needed Fou to be slowed down enough for Iora to catch up with her before she did something to hurt herself. With her preparations out of the way, she focused fully back on this fight. It was time to fight not only a Sloth user, but one that had been charging for over a decade. Iora had seen the last release of it, one that was charged for only five years. If he would have fought her at the time, she would have had to actually focus on the fight to win, despite her title of Shaman. ¡®This will strain even the abilities of my staff, but I doubt he will be able to slow me down¡¯ Unfortunately for her, Sloth users were kind of known for slowing people down. *** When she noticed the people around her absentmindedly listening to something, then immediately hardened as they looked at her, she knew that Iora had sent out some sort of warning to them. More than a few of them moved to intercept her, but she would NOT let anyone stand in her way. Three behind, four in front. None shot anything at her, so it was clearly not some sort of kill order. Multiple boosting skills were used, but she activated her own [Beat Breaker] Skill, a confluence between Love, Snap, and her Stamina. Every heartbeat she would be hit with an extreme bout of speed for the duration of the beat. She pumped Stamina into her heart to speed it up, kicking off the ground with each thump, she rapidly accelerated into the four people trying to block her. They hardly had a moment to panic before the two people directly in front of her were sent flying. ¡®They wont try to kill me, but I won¡¯t hesitate to kill them if they try to stop me.¡¯ She felt the ground beneath her turn to mush from some earth spell, but with how she was running to maximize the speed on [Beat Breaker], she hardly touched the ground at all. She could run across water if she needed to right now. Crowds of people moved out of their house to block her, the people who reacted first were behind her, but now others were getting ready to stop her. Even those who weren¡¯t fast enough to stop her simply stood in the road in the hopes that they would be able to slow her down for a moment. ¡®What the hell did Iora say to them?¡¯ She thought frustratedly, as even those who she thought would sit the fight out seemed determined to stop her. She combined [Beat Breaker] with one of her Snap Skills, [Point Flash]. It compressed her entire being into a single point and moved her through any obstacles in her way, so long as there was a path to take. It only moved five feet in any direction and was an instant movement ability, but combining it with [Beat Breaker] made her beyond elusive. Despite the hundreds reaching out to grab her, she dodged and ducked under those she could with [Beat Breaker], and when they thought they had her cornered, she would [Point Flash] between limbs. If a single one caught her and began pumping her with foreign mana, [Point Flash] would become much more expensive to use A few Tracking spells hit her that broadcasted her location to those around her, but she ignored them. The crowd was becoming too dense to avoid being caught completely, so she began taking side paths that twisted around each other. Even if they knew what direction she was in, she heard some of her pursuers get lost in the alleys trying to chart a course to her location. Those that were on her though had much more room to move without the crowds surrounding them, and they even started using some projectiles to try and knock her off balance. A few stone cuffs flew out to catch her but she [Point Flashed] around them. Stone spikes rose up in front of her to form a wall, but those were completely ineffective as she did the exact same thing as the cuffs. She accidentally stepped in what appeared to be a puddle, only for it to explode into action and try to cover and bind her, as it was actually a trap set by some sort of Darkness element. She panicked for a moment and prepared to fire a [Snap Shot] arrow when Dei woke up slightly. He had been in an absent daze the entire time, but his eyes glowed brightly for a moment as he looked at the darkness, and it was instantly banished. She didn¡¯t miss her next step as she continued to run through the alleys. Occasionally, Fou would notice as Dei would zone back in for a moment, eyes glowing, and a random shadow would brighten up marginally. Each time, he went right back into a catatonic state afterwards. She was worried for him, but she could pump no more Love mana into him, as she had none to spare. She didn¡¯t know how much she would need to escape the town, but if she did end up with some extra reserves, she¡¯d give the rest to him when they were out. She was especially worried about the glowing cracks covering his skin, but he seemed fine for now, so she ignored it. Breaking out of the alleys she finally made it to the gateway of the town as several people turned the corner behind her. She saw multiple [Hunters] standing in front of the gate searching for her, and she unhesitatingly rushed towards them. When one of them spotted her, they called out and the rest turned to face her. ¡°[Twisting Warp]¡± She called out loudly as she held her hand towards the crowd and snapped. She did not, after all, actually want to kill people, so she would give them a warning and leave the rest to them. The few Barrier users were in the town square trying to contain the fight between her husband and that bitch, so there was nobody here to stop her. The people who recognized the spell she was going to use picked up their neighbors and dodged to the side as the near instantaneous wave of Snap mana tore through flesh, bone, and stone alike. A less-known combination of skills was that [Point Flash] was able to ride the wave of mana. Instead of coming out a mere five feet ahead, her body was carried hundreds of feet through the clearing, past the crowd, and into the cave as her [Twisting Warp] ripped the conjured stone gate apart. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Sparing a glance behind her, it looked like a human-width circular wave of fifty smaller blades had randomly torn everything apart, dissipating the conjured stone seconds later. The faces of the crowd showcased clear panic at the security threat. After all, without that conjured stone for the gate, monsters would come running to find the source of the wave of mana that was released from the previously sealed off gemstone cave. They needed to block it quickly before too much was let out, or it might attract something they couldn¡¯t handle. She wasn¡¯t worried for her other family, she knew they would have the gate up in time, as she had practically led all of the strongest people in their village straight to the gate, and the majority of [Gem Dwellers] were natural born earthshapers. The risk of a monster attack was one she was willing to take, as they couldn¡¯t chase her and restore the barrier at the same time. Taking off down the tunnels without slowing, she stopped using so many [Point Flash]¡¯s to conserve more mana, but continued pouring Stamina and Mana into [Beat Breaker]. She took time to locate all of the tracking spells on her, and most were physical in nature. Those that were surface level, she cut out with a knife. Those deeper into her organs, she focused on loosening with her Mana, then used [Point Flash] when it struggled to remain stable. With this combination, the spell placed on her would quickly lose track of where she was, and she whittled all the tracking spells she could sense from thirty seven different spells to just a single one, the mind-based tracking spell that Iora had placed on her. Even if she could sense it, regular mana had no way to interact with such a deep concept. It wasn¡¯t over yet though. Fou had been a Shaman candidate in her early years, but failed and settled on becoming a Hunter for her village. Even a failed Shaman could not be underestimated. She had, personally, failed as she was unable to transform her Love affinity into the Heart affinity. It was common knowledge that every Shaman needed to have a Soul-derivative affinity to pass their training, as one of many requirements. Otherwise, it would be far too easy for enemies to interrogate secrets from each Shaman, if one was to be caught. Her Love affinity was still on the verge of transforming, she just couldn¡¯t find it in herself to take the final step. The Heart affinity was simply too fundamentally disconnected from her personality. The brushing of her Soul that her Love affinity was capable of would be enough for her purposes though, as she had her catch-all Skill [Love is Blind]. [Love is Blind - Level 156 - Love affinity You care so deeply about those close to you that it has rewritten aspects of who you are. Your love touches upon deep concepts that others can fathom, and you do not need to. You do not need to know why you love someone, the mere fact that you do is enough reason to protect them. Manifest a guardian which you cannot interact with, sense, or control within your soul. It will act on its own accord to do what it thinks is best for those you love. Variable mana cost dependent on what goal the guardian wishes to accomplish. Level 100 evolutionary upgrade- The guardian has never failed you, it has completed its duties valiantly and you choose to trust it even further with your most sacred of sanctums. Allow the guardian deeper access to your soul, increasing its versatility while also granting it the ability to deal you harm, if it chooses to do so.] Her instructor had called it a pseudo-Soul Skill, and while she considered it progress towards transforming her affinity, he had considered it the final nail in the coffin that ended her training. As he had said, in the description itself, she innately understood that she did not need to understand her soul, so she had subconsciously given up. It had served her well through the years, and she had perpetually given it at least a small trickle of mana to put up some basic defenses around her soul. Now she gave in to the full draw of mana it was calling for, and felt as it suppressed both Iora¡¯s tracking mark and fully annihilated a tracking mark she had not previously sensed. It did not remove Iora¡¯s tracking mark though, so Fou believed that it was out of the guardians ability to do so. Even her pseudo-Soul Skill had limits, but this limit would serve her well enough. She already knew where she was going to take Dei, she would just have to rush, as she was now on borrowed time. Many years ago, Gor and her had explored as deeply as they could into the earth. Not for any reason, simply out of curiosity. After they suffered a near-death experience, they were separated, and she was chased into a little hidden pocket cave, one that she couldn¡¯t sense before randomly entering it, and she hid there until the monster that had chased her finally gave up and fled when another, larger beast appeared. It was also one of the few places she had never told Gor about, so Iora wouldn¡¯t be able to read his mind to find out where she had gone. They had agreed to keep certain secrets from each other in case a situation exactly like this appeared before them, and now their preparations would pay off. It would be a risk to reach it, especially in the time she had. She estimated that she only had around two weeks until her mana would run too low to keep the suppression up, and that was if she used no mana for anything else. Most of the time spent exploring deep cave systems was actually accidentally moving in circles until you successfully mapped everything out. The week and four days spent to reach the cave was a massive distance, but she would do it. She expected to have the drain on her mana increase massively very soon, as the moment Gor was defeated Iora would begin to actively seek her, but she didn¡¯t want to waste a single moment she currently had while the Shaman was distracted, so she rushed through pathway after pathway trying to put distance between her and the village. ¡®I will keep you safe, little Dei¡¯ she thought lovingly to her son. *** A day had passed since she began her journey, and surprisingly, Iora had not begun seeking her out. Her mark was still active, so Fou knew she was alive, but no extra mana was being consumed to suppress it. ¡®Did Gor manage to severely harm her?¡¯ she wondered absently, but did not stop moving. She sustained herself on foraged food, saving the rations she had in her bag. She had enough food for two weeks for both of them, but she didn¡¯t know how long she would need to hide in the cave ¡®or if I will need to stay there indefinitely¡­¡¯ she thought pessimistically, but shook off the thought. Things would get better. When the tracking mark disappeared, Fou would know that the council had arrived and called Iora¡¯s actions unreasonable, potentially even executing her. At that time, she would return home to watch everything play out. It would be weeks before that happened though, she needed to bide her time. *** Three days had passed, yet still Iora¡¯s mark made no extra noise. ¡®What did you do to her, Gor?¡¯ she thought with amusement. She was proud of him for putting her down so thoroughly. *** A week had passed, and there was still complete silence from the tracking mark. With each passing day, her pride in Gor¡¯s actions turned more into an unsettling feeling in the back of her mind. ¡®She¡¯s not dead, but if he harmed her so thoroughly that she couldn¡¯t heal in just a day or two, it had to have been a close fight, and she might just barely be hanging on right about now. Killing a Shaman will get him executed¡¯ she thought with a shiver. The mark changed from a weight in her mind to the last hope that her husband would survive his own reckless actions. *** Finally, she reached the crack in the wall that led to her former safe haven, she was just barely small enough to fit into it with her son. It was unassuming and almost devoid of mana compared to its surroundings, so she didn¡¯t wonder why it was ignored by the creatures this deep. Her tracking mark had still yet to activate, and now she suspected Gor had done something other than lethal damage. She couldn¡¯t imagine what, but a desperate gamble to protect his son by creating a new spell to trap Iora was exactly something she expected Gor to do. ¡®That''s why I love the big oaf.¡¯ She thought while smiling brilliantly at the thought of him. She finally saw the bright opening at the end of the tunnel she was shuffling down, and prepared herself in case there actually was a monster that had settled in. When she broke through though, she saw that the small room was devoid of anything larger than a beetle and breathed a sigh of relief. The room was about thirty feet in diameter and seven or so feet tall. The floor was covered in a lush, soft grass, the walls had some thick moss that she knew was edible, and there were copious amounts of gemstones in the wall that boosted the natural levels of mana in the cave to levels better than even the settlement she lived in. She also felt as the mark within her was cut off from Iora, and how she didn¡¯t need to pour any mana into it to maintain its silence. ¡®Some sort of natural concealment phenomena?¡¯ Now that they were in safety, she sat down with Dei and prepared to talk to him. He had slowly been coming to his senses more often as they ventured down, but he still refused to talk again after that initial time in the forest. She set him down in front of her, and faced his body towards her own. ¡°Dei.¡± she said gently, and he looked up at her. ¡°Dei, I love you. I don¡¯t know what Iora did to you, but I will always love you. Do you know that?¡± Fou watched as tears welled up in his eyes, and his little chubby face contorted into the cutest little frown. ¡®He really does understand whats happening.¡¯ She thought he had been far too aware as they moved through the caves, but it was only just now being confirmed to her. ¡®I don¡¯t know how he got so smart, but him understanding what people are trying to do to him is all the more reason to protect him.¡¯ Crying loudly, he raised his arms up for her to hold him, and she happily obliged, pulling him into her shoulder and consoling him. She suspected that Iora had done horrible things to him, but she didn¡¯t know how to help. He still had those slightly glowing cracks all across his skin, and they were not fading with time. She took the chance now that she knew she had mana to spare, and poured all the love she felt for him into his body, hoping to help her little boy. She would keep pouring Love mana into him every chance she got, because she wanted him to know how much she felt for him. She wanted him to know the lengths she would go to keep him safe. Chapter 17 Dei heard someone burst into the room after Iora fell backwards screaming, but he couldn¡¯t find it in him to move his head or look. He felt a shockwave pulse through him as he was pushed to the side, felt arms tear the rope away from him and wrap him in a tight hug, then a soothing warmth entered his body. He felt his mind awaken slightly, but not enough, instead staying slack faced as he watched the situation unfold. Iora had done something to him to give him the ability to understand those around him, so he heard his father scream at Iora, before his mother took off down the street while holding him. He didn¡¯t quite process anything until a shadow jumped out at his mother while she ran down an alley, and he heard a quiet gasp from her. Despite the damaged soul, something in him whispered a concern, and he forced himself to act. ¡®Darkness magic. Maybe infrared light will destroy it?¡¯ he thought quickly, then activated his racial trait for [Darkvision], pouring as much mana as he could into it. The darkness evaporated under his gaze, and he immediately fell back into his stupor. Any time he would see a shadow, knowing that his [Darkvision] would already see through all the regular ones, he would hit it with infrared light until it was gone. By the time he stopped seeing shadows, his eyes hurt and he wanted to sleep, but he couldn¡¯t yet until he and mom were safe. He watched the events with his mom take place as she escaped their pursuers, occasionally teleporting them a short distance somehow. She managed to break through the stone wall and it disappeared, then as they ran down the tunnels. His mom didn¡¯t stop or slow down for a long time. Over the next week and a half, measured by how often his mom went to sleep, they continued to move downward at a rapid pace. Occasionally he would still himself if he saw some monster passing by, and tell his mom if he felt she didn''t see it. She also started talking to him during the trip, and he heard her words, but the damage to him quieted all the motivation he had to talk, even if he knew he would be able to at this point. He just felt so hopeless. Eventually, they reached a crack in the side of a cave, and his mom pushed through, only to come out to the smallest, most friendly looking cave he had ever seen. It was bright, those glowing stones all around them providing ample light, there were a few insects crawling all over the lush green grass, and some dark green moss that served to bad the walls. There was an indent near the back wall, serving as a perfectly human shaped bed. In another corner, there was a small stream of water running down some of the squishy moss; It drained quickly somewhere he couldn¡¯t see, but the tiny bit of water would be incredible if they ran out of what they had in storage. ¡®It''s beautiful¡¯ he thought while looking around the place. His mother placed him on the ground in front of her as his head swiveled, looking at everything around him, until he heard her say his name. ¡°Dei¡± she whispered to him, and he looked at her. It felt like she had been treating him so much more carefully these past few days, almost afraid that he could break at any moment. ¡®She isn''t wrong.¡¯ ¡°Dei, I love you. I don¡¯t know what Iora did to you, but I will always love you. Do you know that?¡± She said to him, watching him closely. When Iora was torturing him, Dei had felt hopeless. He thought his own mother had betrayed him, that she didn''t love him anymore. He had felt so very alone, and in the last few weeks the feeling of loneliness only grew. In the back of his head, he thought she would leave him as soon as she heard what Iora said. He thought she wouldn¡¯t believe him, and that his heart was going to break all over again. He realized that he hadn¡¯t spoken in the last few weeks because he was preparing himself to be alone again, as alone as he felt in that dark room Iora had forced him into. He didn¡¯t want to get close to someone, only to have them betray him again. He had been betrayed so many times in his past life, and now he felt like it was following him here. But he still wanted to believe her. Even if she might not accept him when Iora told her about all the things she found in his head, he couldn¡¯t just stop himself from loving his mom. Tears welled up in his eyes before he burst into tears, holding his arms up for his mom to hold him. ¡®I don''t want you to go! I don¡¯t want you to leave me!¡¯ he cried out in his head as she pulled him into a hug. A feeling of absolute safety washed over him, and he knew that she really would always love him. No matter what Iora said to her, Dei knew that his mother would love him nonetheless, and he cried harder at the realization. *** Over the next few days, his mother would talk to him frequently, telling him about the world around him. He found out that there was a surface world where the majority of humans lived, and that [Gem Dwellers] were not usually what they looked like. Supposedly, there was some war going on, but she skipped over it because she deemed it unnecessary to tell him about that. He realized pretty quickly that she caught on to his intelligence, and she already knew he could understand her. He found out that there were many more races too, like the typical Dwarves and Elves, but there were things he¡¯d never heard of either. One such example was another cave-dwelling race called Crawlers that sounded like mammals who were good at climbing stone. She told him stories of dragons and the knights that slayed them, and about Shamans. Shamans were the village heads, and their guardians. She said that they underwent harsh training, then were each granted an incredible artifact called their Shaman staff. Each staff was made from the soul of a former Shaman who fell in battle, and they were supposedly impossible to use by anyone who wasn¡¯t the staffs owner. She told him stories from all ranges of life, and he listened with rapt attention the entire time, knowing that the magic she described was as real as he was. She told him about how his father was a very strong man, and that it was remarkable that he had been able to stop the Shaman from following them using his own abilities in a one-on-one fight. His mom also told him about his siblings. Rena was his older sister, and Ben was his older brother. He found it a little funny that Ben was a name which had carried over from his previous life, but he didn¡¯t say that. She said she was excited to go back home with him and have them all hunt together. Each time she would hug him, he felt an incredible sense of security emanating from her. He realized that she was pushing some sort of mana into him from her body, and this mana was going about his soul and rushing into the cracks. He didn¡¯t know where it went, only that it disappeared in the scars that were left from Iora. That was another thing, the stitches that held his soul together very clearly did not heal it. It was up to him and his natural ability to heal in order to repair the soul damage that had been caused. The stitches also did not stay within his soul, very clearly manifesting across his skin as glowing white lines that kind of reminded him of pictures he¡¯d seen of people being struck by lightning. When his mom pushed her mana into him though, he saw as a pink mana, very close in shade to Kindness yet slightly darker, swirled around his soul and entered the cracks that were left behind. He didn¡¯t know where the mana was going, or what it did, but he knew that it was helping him. Each time she gave him a burst of mana, he would wake up more and more from the stupor he had been forced into. ¡®Iora didn¡¯t just deal lethal soul damage, she shattered my soul with a metaphorical hammer. Broke it into a million little bits, and now I''m putting the pieces back together.¡¯ Technically, they were all in place, yet it just didn¡¯t feel¡­ right. He felt so incredibly violated, and he shuddered every single time he remembered her face. He frequently searched his soul for any trace she still had any sort of hold over him, but never found anything. He did find some sort of packet of information that had been artificially implanted into him, and it gave him all the information he would ever need on the language his mom and the others in the town spoke, so that explained how he was now able to understand them now. He still hadn¡¯t looked at his interface or notifications yet. He never did when he was dealt soul damage, and at this point he was beginning to suspect it was some sort of compulsion. Did the System not want people to make important decisions while their mental states were damaged in some way? He wasn''t sure, but he decided to listen to it now, and waited until he was thinking clearly again. He kept track of time by the dimming and brightening of the gemstones, as he realized that they indicated night and day. After three days of listening to his mom talk to him about all the cool adventures she had when she was younger, or all the people she met, he finally felt good enough to ask her a question that had been plaguing him for a while. ¡°Mama?¡± he said when she reached a lull in the topic she was talking to him about. She looked at him with surprise, then smiled widely at him, asking ¡°Yes honey?¡± ¡°How do people know when to do things? Like when they are supposed to get up or when they are supposed to leave the town to go hunt?¡± She had been telling him about all sorts of things, but he never caught how everyone functioned on the same time. It felt like there was some sort of clock he didn¡¯t have access to, and he was right. ¡°Oh!¡± she said to him ¡°you can set a timer using your Interface. A long time ago, some people set up a special timer that broke the seasons down into twelve months, each one being thirty days, each day being twenty six hours, each hour sixty minutes, and each minute sixty seconds.¡± she said, and he realized there was some sort of calendar. ¡°How do I do that? How do I make the timer?¡± he asked. ¡°Well, you meet someone who has the timer on their interface, and they can send it to you. Here.¡± she said, and he felt a notification go off in his mind. He still didn¡¯t want to read everything else, but he¡¯d look at the timer. [Since the Fall: 13/4/809 - 14:55:32] He stared at it for a few seconds, and something bothered him. It was day/month/year, then it showed how many hours it had been since midnight. He didn¡¯t mind the military time, but the American in him yearned for the month/day/year that he used to have in his previous life, so he tried to see if he could change it, and succeeded. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. [Since the Fall: 4/13/809 - 14:55:46] He smiled. ¡®Nice.¡¯ It was weird that it still mostly functioned on the same time System as his old world, such as twelve months in a year and sixty minutes in an hour. The months he could understand being the same, as it was really just marking the passing of seasons broken down. The matching minutes were something else, and he had a few guesses as to what it was. One such theory was that when this System and his home System shared information, some processes were standardized between them, and that echoed across their sectors. Another theory was some sort of instinctual knowledge between souls when they crossed universes that, even if forgotten, pushed them into a particular direction when it came to their advancement. He didn¡¯t know, but the similarities made the entire thing a lot easier. He wouldn¡¯t convert it to AM/PM though, as even thinking about having ¡°thirteen o¡¯clock¡± made him scrunch his face up. He asked what ¡°Since the Fall¡± meant, but his mom said that she didn¡¯t know, just that the timer started at that event. Supposedly, hundreds of years ago, their Gods had come down and told everyone to mark the day and what to call it. Since then, it¡¯s been used to mark time ¡®Cool, a mystery!¡¯ he thought happily. He had her attention to ask more questions, so he did. He asked what an affinity was, and what it meant to raise it. She looked alarmed at the question, but answered it anyway. ¡°Affinities, in the Interface, measure your connection to a Conceptual Plane, places where we draw power from. The more you raise the affinity, the more power you can draw from the plane it comes from. It becomes easier to make Skills with a stronger connection also, and the Skills can tap on deeper concepts. Do you have any affinities Dei?¡± She asked the last part with an excited look in her eyes. He didn¡¯t understand the talk of conceptual stuff at all. He also didn¡¯t see a reason to lie to her, at least not a lot, so he responded with ¡°Um, yes. I have a Kindness affinity at Rare, a Wrath affinity at Uncommon, and a Soul affinity at Common. What do-¡± he started to ask but his mom picked him up in a hug and started squealing while jostling him around a lot. ¡°My boy! Born with three affinities, and one is a Rare! Im so proud!¡± she told him, making him blush. ¡°Thank you.¡± he squeaked out, and his mom pinched his cheek. ¡°Alright, what was the next question?¡± she urged him to continue, the grin never leaving her face. ¡°Well, what do you mean a Conceptual Plane? Iora¡­ cast a spell on me so I could understand her, so I know what those words mean, but is it a place? Could I go there?¡± ¡°Well, Conceptual Planes only sort-of exist. They are like ghosts, intangible yet real.¡± she said casually, but his eyes widened at the revelation that ghosts were real. He didn¡¯t say anything though, and she continued. ¡°People have visited Conceptual Planes before, it''s actually very common. Not necessarily to go there, but more to visit. There is this thing that happens sometimes, called a Convergence. ¡°When a convergence happens. A Conceptual Plane will intersect with reality.¡± she said, knitting her fingers together in front of her. ¡°The concepts manifest as monsters, and the area is flooded with the mana of the concept. Do you remember that red forest back home?¡± He nodded, so she said ¡°Well, at the center of that forest was a Convergence. It intersected with the Conceptual Plane of Wilderness, and that plane spilled over into the rest of the cavern. I won''t try to describe what the Conceptual Planes are like, as I¡¯ve never been to one directly and I heard it''s difficult to understand, but Convergences turn them into real places you can walk into." She paused for a moment to let him gather himself. Basically, they didn¡¯t physically exist until they manifested themselves in reality, then people could walk around in them. ¡°Do they stay around forever? Or does it go away after a while? If its only sort-of real, does it hurt to walk around in them?¡± She smiled at his questions, probably amused that something she considered basic information was so foreign to him. ¡°They always have something called an Anchor. Anchors are physical objects that have a massive amount of¡­ concepts imbued into them. Basically for the one back home, it could perhaps be some sort of seed that has the concept of Forest or Plant inside of it. Each one is very magical, and highly sought after, as they can have special effects. For example, the Wilderness Anchor back home might make all plants within a hundred feet of it grow faster. ¡°To answer your question, if someone moves the anchor at all, then the Convergence ends. Back home, nobody ever tried to get rid of the Wilderness Convergence, as it made the plants grow faster and was a useful part of the community. ¡°As for whether it hurts, it can be harmful to stay a long time in a Convergence. The concepts in the area will try to turn you into a part of it. It doesn¡¯t hurt if it''s something that''s supposed to happen though, such as if you walked into a Convergence of Kindness. Instead of hurting you or changing you, it would strengthen your Kindness affinity the longer you stayed in it, up to a certain point. People use them to learn affinities, but that can be incredibly dangerous.¡± He looked at her questioningly, so she elaborated. ¡°Not everyone is meant to learn an affinity. Its impossible to naturally form a connection to an affinity that you aren''t meant for. For example, someone who hates people wouldn¡¯t be able to learn the Kindness affinity. If you force it by using a Convergence, it will change your personality a lot. Its better to learn affinities naturally, then strengthen them using convergences, as you¡¯ve already proven that its a part of who you are.¡± His head was spinning with all the information, but his imagination was running wild. He could find an area with a bunch of magic and monsters, then if he made it to the center, he could find an awesome treasure? That sounded incredible! Like a real adventure! Dangerous, yes, but it sounded like a story. Something was bugging him though, that she kept using the word ¡®concepts¡¯ to describe certain things. It would be nice to have some clarification on that. ¡°Mama, what are concepts? You said that there were deep concepts too, what are those?¡± She looked off into space as she tried to think about her response. ¡°Concepts are¡­ hard to describe. They¡¯re like pieces of an affinity, smaller bits. An affinity for Fire could have the concept of Campfire, for example. A deep concept would be something Fire represents, but is hard to grasp. The most famous deep concept for fire is Dragonfire. Its known to be very potent for some reason, but I''m not sure why. You could easily understand what a campfire is, so it wouldn¡¯t be a deep concept, but what makes Dragonfire special? It¡¯s not as easy to understand.¡± That was more or less what he expected, but he wouldn¡¯t have put it so eloquently, so he was glad she had described it well. ¡°Dei, be careful with your Soul affinity¡± she said, and he looked back up at her, seeing worry in her eyes. ¡°It''s not something humans usually have, and we aren¡¯t necessarily supposed to have it. People who are born with it or learn it naturally are always those who enjoy spending time alone, but since it''s not a natural human affinity, it''s going to affect you as it grows. Soul affinities are known to make people hermits. Not necessarily bad, but you wont like spending time around others. Could you promise me that you¡¯ll still come to visit me when you grow up? Even if you really don''t want to?¡± she asked him. He smiled at her and nodded his head. ¡°Of course mama! I¡¯ll always want to visit you, so I will!¡± he said happily. He meant it too. In his previous life, he made sure to always call and spend time with his parents, and he would cherish the time he had with her. Lives were too short to not spend them loving the people around him. She smiled back at him, and pulled him into another hug. *** A week passed since his mom had taken them both to this little cave. It was a bit lonely, but for some reason, that didn¡¯t bother him as much as it should¡¯ve. His mom told him that some members of the Council would be arriving in their village soon, and they would get the situation sorted out. She said that the Council was the ten most powerful and wise Shamans in the entire underground network where all the [Gem Dweller] variant humans lived, and that they were called on when the local Shaman was either not enough to handle the situation, or if the local Shaman had for some reason become corrupt. There was a sort of capital in the underground, a town where the Shamanic Council members lived, that was placed right in the center of all the other settlements, that way they could reach any town equally quickly. His mom told him that their village was actually one of the frontier villages, and that it was one of the deepest in the entire network. He thought it was weird that she didn¡¯t use the term ¡°country¡± to describe the entire system, because there was a word for that in their language, but he was already learning so much about the world that he didn¡¯t have the time to ask about it before they had fluttered to the next topic, and he was happy to just keep listening. His mother continued to pour mana into him. He wasn¡¯t good at estimating the amount, but she had to have given him tens of thousands at this point, perhaps even hundreds if thousands, and a slight pink glow emanated from the cracks deep within his soul when he went to check on them with his soul sight. The glow across his body stayed white, but something within the core of his soul drank hungrily of the extra mana being given. He couldn¡¯t be sure, but it looked like the cracks were beginning to mend too. The feeling of security his mothers hugs gave him stayed for longer each time. At first, he thought it was just because he was getting better psychologically, and the sense of vulnerability Iora inflicted on him was beginning to fade. He had been tortured before he was even a year old, that was going to stay with him for as long as he lived. But now, seeing the slight pink glow emanating from deep within the cracks of his soul, he thought his mother might actually be infusing him with her love somehow. It made little sense, but in a world with magic, anything was possible, right? *** The day after though, something sudden and horrible changed. His mother quickly stood up and a look of seriousness overtook her previous smile. The look of seriousness dropped from it a second later as she paled significantly and let out a gasp. She saw something he couldn¡¯t see, or felt something he couldn¡¯t feel. She turned towards Dei, and he saw a glossy look in her eyes as she knelt down to his height. ¡°Dei, I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I-¡± she choked on her own words as the tears finally spilled down her cheeks and onto the ground. ¡®What? Whats happening?¡¯ he started to hyperventilate, panicking at her own outburst of emotions ¡°I need to leave. I need to leave, and I¡¯m not going to be able to come back. I¡¯m sorry.¡± she pulled him into a hug and let out a shuddering breath. He hardly had time to process anything before she turned around and strided towards the exit ¡®No! She can¡¯t leave! Didn¡¯t she say we would go back home together? Didn¡¯t she tell me she wouldn¡¯t abandon me?!¡¯ He screamed in his head as the one person he thought would always love him betrayed him. But he knew that wasn''t true. His mother would never abandon him. He knew it, deep within his heart, that she would always do what she thought was best for him. If she was leaving him here, if she said she couldn¡¯t stay with him, it would be for his own sake. He was hurting right now, but he felt her resolution to never give up on him every single time she had given him a hug. He knew that for her, a decision to abandon him would be torturous. To abandon him would be the hardest decision she had to make, and if she was doing so, it could only mean that it was the very last option. He didn¡¯t know what was going on. He didn¡¯t know why she had to leave, but he suspected Iora was coming, and that his mom didn¡¯t want her to catch him. The situation wasn¡¯t resolved. She said the Council would stop Iora, but what if it was the opposite? What if they agreed that he needed to die? It was the only thing he could think of. His mother was leaving him because she would rather face off against the Shamans than to give him up. He needed to let her know. ¡°Mama!¡± he called out to her just before she left, and she paused for a moment. ¡°I love you¡± was all he could say before the burning in his throat took his voice. He wanted to say more, to say he knew what was happening and that he would find a way to survive and make it back to her, but he couldn¡¯t. He¡¯d already said everything he needed her to know, everything he felt. ¡°I love you too, baby¡± she said, before pushing herself out of the cave as quickly as she could, even cutting herself on the walls covered in sharp stones to get out faster. When she was finally gone, he allowed himself to cry. Sobbing loudly in the small room, he wanted to call out for his mom, he wanted her to come back, to make everything better, to find a way for them to stay together until he grew up and left on his own. He wanted to live his life, knowing the love she gave him. He just wanted her to hold him and tell him it would be okay. But he knew. This was goodbye. Chapter 18 Oura was single handedly the most powerful Shaman in the [Gem Dweller] community. On the Council, his vote was the tie breaker, and when they needed the force of an army in a single location quickly, he was there. He was also incredibly bored. Nobody ever called on him. The other Councilors were always enough to handle the situation, so when some runner had come to the main city talking about a Shaman and a villager nearly leveling the whole cave because of an argument over whether the villagers son was a mockery-type monster, Oura decided a quick trip was in order. The group of people who reported the situation to the city were tired, and begged for a break. They had been running almost non-stop for a month straight, and needed at least a few days to rest. Naturally, Oura said they could rest in their homes, as he had been to every single village in the cave systems, and the Spatial affinity on his staff would absolutely trivialize the trip back. The other Councilors asked him not to go, in case they needed to teleport anywhere else while he was gone, but he waved them off and said they could just contact him, and he¡¯d be back just as fast if they really needed him. He enjoyed seeing the shocked faces of the little outskirt villagers when they blinked and were right back home, but he only indulged himself for a moment before getting to work. This was, after all, an official mission to keep peace. Looking around, he saw that there were no screams or fire, so that was a good sign. Looking at the roof of the cave that had supposedly collapsed before the messengers left, he saw it in good shape, another good sign. A bad sign was the floating Shaman, far above in the air. ¡®Iora was her name, yes? Of course she would get the mockery-type monster, she has history with them, does she not?¡¯ His face softened when he remembered her story, a tragic one it was. Both her parents had been replaced when she was very young by mockeries, but she managed to figure it out and escape before they ate her too. Then the same happened to her best friend a few years later. A year after that, her pet had been replaced. She once tried to take on a disciple, it was replaced by a mockery-type monster within two months. There had been an investigation launched to see if an intelligent mockery-type monster was targeting her, but it ended up revealing she just had rotten luck. Mockery-type monsters were incredibly rare for sapient races, yet Iora had suffered so much by their hands. He shook off the thoughts and flew up to meet her. From a distance, he saw an absolutely furious look on her face, like she was staring at the worst bag of shit the world had ever known, but he couldn¡¯t spot what she was looking at. To him, she was staring at nothing. When he got even closer, he noticed two things. First was an overwhelming aura of Sloth, which tipped him off to what was actually happening. Second was a whisper of Soul magic buzzing around in his ear. He activated a spell on his staff to give him a soul sense, and a much more professional looking vision of Iora appeared before him, standing straight and presenting herself well while she was in some sort of soul form. ¡°Sir! Thank you for coming. I will report the situation to you as soon as I can, but as you can see, my body has been imprisoned.¡± the Avatar of Iora said to him. He didn¡¯t respond, instead going to investigate her body that was still stuck in the air. Initially he thought it was some constant channeled effect on her body, perpetually locking her down, but he saw now that the concentration of Sloth in the mana was simply incredible. It was hard to measure Skill rarities, as it depended on their ¡°Conceptual Depth¡± as it was called. Things that were called ¡°Epic¡± rarity when measured by certain tools, were really just deep concepts within the affinities, but it wasn¡¯t a surefire way to gauge strength. He could tell that the Skill that created this would have an Epic rarity if measured, as the quality of the mana filling Iora wasn¡¯t conceptually strong enough to go further. He felt it wouldn¡¯t do it justice though, this Skill had some nuance to it, and it was one of many where the grading system for Skills failed. It was an Epic grade skill, bordering on Legendary. It didn¡¯t have the Oomph to be Legendary, but given the chance, the Skill would output power far above Epic grade. Not Legendary, but close. It seemed that Iora had inadvertently given it the chance. He chuckled at her predicament, and Iora¡¯s avatar turned a bit red when she heard him. No matter though, he activated the Time affinity in his staff, targeting the Sloth mana in Iora and speeding up its relative time, watching as it decayed. He was impressed to find out that the mana would have genuinely locked her down for another month if he had not come along. ¡®I will need to meet the man who made this.¡¯ With that, Iora was free, and she led him to her house to give a full review on everything that had happened. She quickly had to put everything back in place, as it was supposedly blown up in the fight between her and this ¡°Gor¡± she said she was fighting, but that didn¡¯t take very long. When she was going to start telling him everything though, he stopped her. ¡°Instead of going on some lengthy explanation, I would like to simply review a memory packet from you, if you could make one and send it to me.¡± She looked a bit nervous at the proposition, but knew she couldn¡¯t deny him the request. He was given an in-depth review of everything that had happened since the start, but before he could begin, she warned him that there was a portion of it marked as ¡°Hazardous¡± by her former self. She said that there was a memory she had locked away, as it was supposedly damaging her soul to even know about it. She would send a copy of that to him too, but still warned him to be careful. With that out of the way, it began. Initially, it was reasonable, as the child in question was acting like a mockery-type monster, but then he got to the interrogation part of the memory. She went too far. Way, way too far. The fear spell, the agony she inflicted, the soul-destruction she went through to dig through his secrets. If that was how the rest of this was going to go, he would have to execute her by the end of the day, as even in her own memories, she realized that this boy was genuinely just a very smart human kid. She had gone back even to when his mother was pregnant with him, and still kept going. Oura realized the lengths were caused by Iora¡¯s own trauma. She couldn¡¯t accept that it was a normal kid, as the situations with suspected mockeries had never been normal in the past. ¡®Holy hell. I really might need to kill her.¡¯ He thought with a sinking feeling. A Shaman could not lose themselves like this. It was weird though, in the memory he felt the emotions that she felt, and he knew that she was positive there was something else. He wasn¡¯t the one digging through the boys head, but clearly she sensed something that Oura couldn¡¯t see. When the memory slammed into a wall marked as ¡°Hazardous,¡± he realized what had happened, and why she was so sure there was something else. Because she was right. Iora didn¡¯t know what was behind the sealed off wall, but Oura was in a better position to find out. Carefully, he opened the informational packet, and saw the memory of Iora¡¯s soul beginning to come apart at what she found, a glimpse of void. This was not normal. This boy had memories of before his birth, of time spent in the void. There were many theories about what happened when someone died, but none could be confirmed. Oura had heard many stories though, and killed many creatures. One such creature, centuries ago, when he was just a Shaman¡¯s disciple, was a very special mockery-type monster. The story of its creation was a mystery, as they don''t know where it came from, only that it did. There was a Soul mage that was positive he had found the trick to being able to re-attune yourself into a different affinity. It was common knowledge that attunement stuck to you the rest of your life, even if you were someone like a Soul mage who could change your body, the attunement of your soul stayed the same through body swaps. If he had succeeded, he would be able to use his Epic-rarity Soul attunement to get an even better contract than the one he had gotten the first time. He said that he only needed to exit this reality, for a single moment, and the contract would break. Nobody knew why he was so sure, just that he was. Hundreds of scholars had come to watch as he cast the Spell. And he had succeeded. His Soul attunement was undone, and he was given the option to do it again for better benefits. There was a celebration, people partied for weeks, and many more quickly tried it out to great success. There was an issue though. Those who had tried it soon began forgetting their lives, despite their high mentalities, and becoming more animalistic as time went on. They became more aggressive, their eyes bloodshot, their skin taking on a sickly pale hue. The first mage was the first one to transform. After six years of suffering, a beast burst from him. No identify worked on the beast, the magic being absorbed into it, but the System had given everyone within a hundred miles the most chilling of warnings. He pulled it up frequently, to never forget how such a legendary Soul mage was brought so low. He pulled it up again now. [WARNING: A Void Beast has pierced the veil, entering your material plane of existence through an unwitting avatar. Slay it quickly, or its power shall grow until it has consumed your reality. All who are close enough to reasonably stop it before it becomes a universal-ending entity class have been pinged, and will innately know its location. May the Gods save you] And the Gods took the warning seriously. Every faithful within the area received a holy quest with incredible rewards to kill the void beast, all of them also being boosted supernaturally by holy energy. The beast was a horrible thing that hurt the eyes to look at, most people unable to process it, including Oura. What Oura saw was a discordant mix of memories, moments, and shapes connecting to one another in ways he couldn''t process. His teacher was a Soul Shaman, and told Oura later that it reminded him of what a soul looked like, except for the fact that it was violently wrong. The experiences and memories that composed it were organized in a pattern he couldn¡¯t discern. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Normally, ones experiences in the soul were organized chronologically, from the first to the last experience. The void beast was like a thin window into a reality that followed different physics than the material plane. Oura¡¯s teacher said that he tried looking a bit too close, and was blinded almost immediately by things he couldn¡¯t process. The creature began sucking in everything around him, adding to the experiences and shapes into its own body, becoming more tangible with every speck of dirt or blade of grass. It was difficult to hurt it, but people figured out that it was the intent to hurt it that did so. People who dropped rocks on it added to its power, but those that shot rocks at it infused with the intent to kill it were able to knock some of the matter out of it. Thousands of attacks later, the creature fell and dissipated into nothingness. Holy quests went out across the land though, that anyone who had undergone the process of re-attunement had to be killed. The Gods placed bounties upon every last one of them, and asked their faithful who had undergone the process to kill themselves, stating that it would be their greatest achievement if they did. It was a crusade, Oura never heard of another void beast successfully coming into existence. It was dubbed ¡°The day that never happened¡± by those who knew what was going on, as the Gods demanded silence from anyone who had received the original notification about the void beast. Nobody was allowed to talk about it, for reasons they didn¡¯t know. The information of course still spread among the strongest, but the general population was none the wiser to the fact that a void beast had appeared at all. Oura had actually received the information packed for how to cast the re-attunement Spell, as they intended for it to become standard practice before the side effects began to show. In the information packet, he received a glimpse into the plane of existence his soul was going to need to visit, and it felt exactly like what he was seeing from the packet Iora had given him. Void was not an unknown element, but it was treated differently than other elements. It was the element of between if it had to be described. It was the time between moments, the space between points. There was a common phenomena called a Convergence, where a Conceptual Plane of existence would overlap with the material plane, yet there had never been a Void Convergence. There were records of all the different affinities manifesting during convergences, but not Void. Because of this, people theorized that it didn¡¯t have its own plane of existence like other affinities. Instead, it was the place between all the planes. It was this in-between place that the re-attunement spell took advantage of, and what Oura was seeing a glimpse of. He had a sinking feeling that this child was perhaps the reborn soul of a mage who had cast some version of the re-attunement spell, and might soon ¡®hatch¡¯ into a full-fledged void beast. Iora¡¯s torturing of a child was completely forgotten, instead filled with dread that another might be born. The Gods would probably send out quests to kill this one too, but that was not a plan they should rely on. They needed to find and kill this child as soon as possible. After watching Iora annihilate the boy''s mind, he finished reading the packet, all the way up to the point where Iora was frozen by the Sloth manifestation, and looked back at her. She was nervously wringing her hands, ashamed of her actions that she clearly thought were going to get her punished. ¡°The contents of the marked packet will be lethal to a weaker soul, I suggest you annihilate it.¡± he told her, and she looked surprised at both his declaration and that his first words were not chastisement. Once he saw she had completed what he told her to, he told her ¡°The packet also confirmed that this child is a rare mockery monster, one that could cause significant devastation. He must be found and extinguished. Now. I see in your memory packet that you placed a tracking spell on the mother, we will now activate it and find her.¡±¡®Of course it''s the one time I try to have a bit of fun outside the city that I get caught up in some void beast hunt.¡¯ Her eyes widened even more when he told her she was right about Dei, and she quickly got on it. Pouring mana into her tracking spell, she furrowed her brows when it didn¡¯t immediately work. ¡°This might take a week or two. It seems Fou is suppressing the spell on her somehow.¡± Oura didn¡¯t have patience for that. Reaching over, he took control of the tracking spell, getting a surprised look from Iora, and poured all the Tracking and Mind mana he could into the spell. The connection to it thrummed, yet still it was suppressed. Not for long though, as Oura could sense that the mother was spending a significant quantity of mana to sever the signal the spell was trying to send. ¡®Only a matter of time now. Three days at most, rather than two weeks.¡¯ He would wait, and he would prepare himself for a task he drew no enjoyment from. ¡®I wish I had let someone else do this job.¡¯ He thought with a frown. *** Fou shot to her feet when she felt Iora¡¯s mark become active again, her soul guardian drawing harshly from her mana to suppress it. ¡®What is happening? Why is she allowed to continue with her antics?!¡¯ She thought furiously. A moment later, the cost to suppress it increased tenfold, and she paled as she realized the Council members were helping her power it. ¡®Oh.¡¯ The verdict was in. Dei would die¡­ but she wouldn¡¯t allow it to happen. She knew that it was stupid. That the Shamanic Council had the best intentions in mind, that they would do what was better for the community. But she was a mother. She didn¡¯t care what was better for the community, she would do what was best for her baby. If hundreds had to die for her son to live, they would. She turned towards Dei. He was smart, unnaturally so. She would have to trust that he would find a way to survive on his own. ¡°Dei, I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I-¡± She paused, unable to finish her sentence in one go. She knew that this was probably the last time she would ever see him. If the Council wanted him dead, she would never be let out of their sight, just in case she led them back to Dei. She was going to leave him, for good. ¡°I need to leave. I need to leave, and I¡¯m not going to be able to come back. I¡¯m sorry.¡± She said to him, She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but it would ring hollow from her. What mother would claim to love her child, then leave him behind? Even if it was unreasonable, she didn¡¯t think she deserved to love him. He deserved better than what she could give. She turned to leave quickly. She didn¡¯t have as much time as she did on the way down, but she would use her limited timeframe to get far, far away from Dei. She would lead them on a wild chase to find her, leaving no trail back to him. Right before she made it through the exit, she heard from behind her ¡°Mama!¡± and paused. What mother wouldn¡¯t? ¡°I love you¡± she heard from behind her, Dei¡¯s voice cracking. ¡®Why? What did I do to deserve it?¡¯ she thought as her tears continued to fall. But she knew he was smarter than a normal child. It might be wishful thinking, but she hoped he genuinely understood that she was doing this because she cared for him. And if he did love her, if he loved her despite her failing as a mother, how could she reject him? How could she not tell him the same? ¡°I love you too, baby¡± was all she could choke out before she finally pressed on into the darkness. Her Love affinity roared to life, producing more mana in response to her emotions. ¡®I will give them NOTHING to use against Dei.¡¯ She thought defiantly, and took off deeper down the caves. She used [Point Flash] every step, barely touching the ground each time. She activated every stealth Skill she had, focused every point of Mentality and Physicality she had into carefully leaving as little physical traces behind as she could. Her guardian from [Love is Blind] responded in kind, removing all magical traces of her passing that would normally have been left behind by her soul. Her affinity was producing mana as quickly as she was using it, as she was acting in a way to protect her son. She was acting in love, so Love was compensating her the cost of every move. She would still run out of mana in three days, but she would be so much further away than she could have been previously. In those three days, she would not sleep or stop. She had left her rations with Dei in the hopes that he would be able to stay safe longer. In the time her and Dei had been in the cave she was foraging from the area outside to keep from using their dried rations in case of an emergency, such as being trapped by a larger beast. The cave also had some sort of natural concealment effect, which would stop them from just scanning for and finding him. They wouldn¡¯t find him. So she continued running at the top speed she could go while still leaving no trace behind. *** Three days later, she was heaving. Running on fumes that she didn¡¯t have. She had taken no drink from any rivers, had eaten only things she could pick as she passed, and hadn¡¯t stopped for a moment. She felt multiple Skills level up but ignored them. While her Love affinity was compensating her the cost of all the spells she was actively using, it wasn¡¯t compensating the cost draining from the tracking mark, and soon she would be bottomed out of mana completely. She deactivated the suppression, wanting to keep at least enough mana in her body to keep casting the spells that allowed her to run quickly. The Shamans would take weeks to catch up to- She was pressed into the wall by a force she couldn''t see, but she could see the caster. A Shaman. Not just any Shaman, it was Oura, the Shaman. Her former master''s master. ¡°Fuck, Fou. it¡¯s you?¡± he cursed ¡°you look to be in a sorry state.¡± She growled at him, not having the mental capacity to argue right now. She was no doubt emaciated and pale with bloodshot eyes. She¡¯d been burning through everything trying to run not just as far from Dei, but also in unexpected directions. ¡°Tell me where it is and I¡¯ll end things here. I don¡¯t have to go to the next step, taking the information straight from your mind will hurt. A lot.¡± he said, and that sobered her up a bit more. If it had been any other Councilor, Fou would be confident in protecting the one vital piece of information, where Dei was, from them using her [Love is Blind] guardian, but not Oura. That wouldn¡¯t stop her from trying though. She spit in his face, but it stopped in the air between them and went flying off to the side. ¡®Very well¡¯ she heard in her mind, and felt as he began gently disassembling the defenses her guardian had put up. Her mind was on fire, she couldn¡¯t think clearly or stop him in any meaningful way, but she was desperately trying to think of anything but Dei. It was all for naught though, as Oura shattered any barrier she put up and shifted around any memory she tried trapping him in. She felt as he carefully moved his way through her soul, dodging what he could and being as mindful to not hurt her when he could, but her entire mind was collapsing in on him, trying to do anything to stop him. It barely slowed him down. In seconds, he would find where Dei was hidden. But her guardian had other plans. It couldn¡¯t stop Oura from moving forward, but that was never the goal. It only needed to stop him from finding Dei. Fou let out a blood curdling scream as her guardian tore into her own soul. It was meant to be a protector, so it struggled to deal damage, yet it did not stop. With its jagged, clumsy control, the guardian tore out any trace in Fou¡¯s mind of where she had taken Dei. Fou felt as multiple completely unrelated memories broke as well, but such collateral was inevitable in what the guardian was doing. ¡°No!¡± Oura shouted as Fou continued screaming. All pretense of carefulness gone, he quickly pushed through everything to reach the memory faster. Too late, he happened upon the disconnected and destroyed remains of a memory, the very last memory the guardian destroyed. It was the general direction Fou had taken Dei, and it would do very little good. Before he could even divine the memory though, the guardian destroyed the remnants too, and with it the last scrap of evidence to Dei¡¯s location. Fou slumped down against the force that held her to the wall, unconscious. Chapter 19 Dei cried into the air for a long time after his mother left. He knew that he would be alone for either the rest of his life, or until he was strong enough to take on every Shaman at once. He cried until he fell asleep, laying back in the indent that him and his mother had rested in while she was still here. He slept fitfully yet dreamlessly, and when he awoke, he still felt ragged. His throat was dry, and he looked towards the stream in the corner. Without his mothers pack, he would soon need to start searching for food, even if the water was taken care of by the small trickle running through here¡­ Except he did see his mothers pack. By the door, he noticed a familiar satchel made of sturdy, dark brown leather. He felt tears well up in his eyes when he realized she had left it for him, but cleared his throat and swallowed them down. He had much to do, and so little time. He could stand and walk now, having learned in the time his mother was still here. He also realized that his [Tremor Sense] was cut off somehow, stopping him from being overwhelmed. He could only see the smallest sphere of area around the cave, just five or six feet out, before his senses hit some sort of brick wall. He wondered if there was something cutting them off from the outside world, and that this feature of the cave was why his mom had taken them here to hide. She was so proud of his first steps, even if she looked slightly bittersweet that they had happened while in hiding. He noticed that his body was developing functionality faster than it was necessarily supposed to, and attributed it all to [Growing Pains]. He unsteadily made his way over to the bag, pulling with all his might on the water skin, but ran into a second problem. He wasn''t strong enough to lift it up. While he could unscrew the top and drink it as it spilled out, he did not want to waste the water, even if it looked like he had an unlimited amount from the stream. For now, he walked over to the side of the cave, leaned down, and let the water run into his mouth as he pressed his face against the moss. He had seen his mother drink the same water, and even give him a sip from it. He suspected it was to see if there was anything in it that would make it harmful to him, so that if he was forced to drink the water, she would know she needed to heal him afterwards. It was unnecessary, as the water was harmless to him. It tasted horrible, like grass and dirt, but he supposed that was kind of what he was drinking. He cupped his tiny hands, getting some of it on them, and noticed that it was crystal clear. Even if it tasted very earthy, there weren¡¯t any visible pollutants. He sighed. He knew he had been putting it off for a long time, but it was time he looked through all the changes that had happened in his interface over the last few days. He still didn¡¯t want to, again suspecting a compulsion the System gave him to try and wait until his soul was healed fully, but he didn¡¯t have a choice any more. He would need all the tools he could get to survive where he was. While he suspected that he could eat the bugs in this little cave if he ran out of food, he would rather not do that. Willing the notifications to organize themselves from oldest first, to the most recent notification last, he went through them. They started right after the affinities had posed their deals [Soul: High-Common: 17%] has strengthened into [Soul: Low-Uncommon 0%]] He had definitely gained tons of smaller percentages from all the messing with his soul that Iora was doing to him, implanting him with language and fear, then going through everything within him again. Apparently, having your soul torn apart by something significantly stronger than you while you try to resist upgraded it by quite a bit. He wondered why that was, as he couldn¡¯t see why it would strengthen his connection at all. Soul was solitary from what he heard from everyone else. It was about diving deeper into himself and who he was¡­ but maybe thats what he was forced to do? When she went back over his memories, she inspected every single part of his memories, including the parts of him that he hadn¡¯t actively seen before. She went over memories his body had, yet he didn¡¯t actually know how to tap into, such as his memories of before his consciousness woke back up. In other words, she increased the connection between his soul and body by stitching them together in ways they weren''t supposed to, that way she could see deeper into him. If he was some sort of creature evolved to mimic children, he would probably have a natural defense against mind-reading. This defense didn¡¯t have to be conscious, and it could be something that not even he knew about, such as just forgetting that he was a monster. She woke up every single experience, whether he knew about it or not, then pulled it into his physical mind, so that she could read it. These experiences, now physically linked to his body in ways it wasn''t really supposed to be, artificially increased his connection to soul. An agonizing yet effective training regime, which he would not be repeating. He moved to the next notification [Soul of the (IIIIIIII) Swimming, diving, fighting, pulling, ripping. You fight. You kill. You eat. Your strings are great. They are strong. You are strong. Become stronger. Gain more. Strengthen strings. [WARNING: Contract not meant for your race! Accepting contract may have adverse effects in process of infusion] [WARNING: Contract artificially altered. Balance is still maintained, reward and weakness equal to before, but is beyond standard formatting.] When he read the name of the contract, he didn¡¯t see anything, but he felt and heard a lot. There was the grinding sound of rocks being pushed against each other. The clacking of jaws chewing down into bones, breaking it to eat the sweet marrow within. He smelled blood in the water, and felt as the domain he claimed was his. Reeling back from the notification, he quickly closed it and held his head. ¡°Ugh¡± he heard a groan escape his lips. It didn¡¯t hurt, per se, but the feeling was overwhelming. When he looked at it, he felt like he was no longer human. He opened the notification while actively ignoring the name of it, reading the rest. His eyebrows rose at the description, then his eyes widened even further reading the rewards and warnings attached The contract gave up his three Uncommon skills he earned, as well as his Rare skill. Instead, they merged together into the reward of a single Epic Skill. After that, the ¡®extra¡¯ Rare Skill he earned by already understanding his soul was also given up, instead netting him a one-time use ¡°intervention,¡± whatever that meant. This contract¡­ was meant for a beast. Some animal he didn¡¯t know. Something that was able to use any Soul skill, so it was most likely something that was born with the natural affinity for Soul. This was further confirmed when the description read ¡°prefer isolation even further¡± yet the ¡°even¡± was crossed out. Whatever this creature was, it lived a solitary life, one natural to Soul. Speaking of the downsides, they were bad for this contract. Any socializing with people he didn¡¯t already know was going to hurt his Soul affinity, like some sort of mega-introvert. He was confused about why Soul had given him such a weird contract, but had a thought. ¡®What if this was the only way it could help me survive? What if this was the only combination of things it could put into my contract that would end with me not passing on?¡¯ After Iora had shredded his soul, he was as good as dead. He wasn¡¯t just killed, his soul had nowhere to go, everything about him was rapidly being stripped away as he began to unravel. Soul, the affinity, needed to do something that was going to put his soul back together. Moving on to the next notification, the idea was further cemented. [Skill Gained: Connection] [State: Dying has caused Soul Intervention to automatically activate] [Soul temporarily taking control of Skill: Connection] It had granted him a Skill, then took control and used it perfectly to save him. On top of this, he suspected that it footed the bill for the mana cost, as he doubted he had enough mana to use the skill as much as it had been used. He studied the stringy structure in his soul multiple times over the past few days, and as far as he could tell, it was an absurdly pure manifestation of Soul mana. Even more pure than the mana present in his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)], a Skill which automatically concentrates the mana down into deeper forms. Actually, now that he had a better idea of how magic worked, it would be better to say that his skill made the concepts in the mana closer to the ¡°deep concepts¡± that his mother had told him about. Dei sighed. He didn¡¯t know what this weird contract was going to do to him, but he was glad to be alive, and grateful that Soul had found a way to practically resurrect him. He read the last few notifications. [Stat Gained: Spiritual +1] [Stat Gained: Physical +1] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (17) -> (18)] [Stat Gained: Spiritual +1] And wasn''t surprised. He probably got those after his soul began to mend, and his body started to develop more quickly. Initially, he thought the quickened development was because he was under a lot of stress so [Growing Pains] was responding in kind, but there was another suspect as well¡­ he checked his Interface. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: N/A Profession: N/A Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 18/18 MP: 18/18 SP: 18/18 Stats: Physical: 8 -> 9 Mental: 10 Spiritual: 12 ->14 Magical: 11 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 29% -> 34% This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 83% ->99% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 0% -> 37% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (40/2000) -> (590/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (18) Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?] Yea, he was seeing the change now. His [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] had gained hundreds of points of mana, so he looked at a breakdown of it. [583/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness] The Wrath was expected, as he had been furious a lot over the last few weeks. First in the dark room with Iora when he thought his mom had abandoned him to her, again when he realized she was manipulating his psyche, a few more times when people tried hurting his mom, then there had been a simmering irritation the entire time he had been trapped in this cave. He was frustrated. He wanted to go back to his family, and just keep living quietly, but he knew that wouldn¡¯t happen [585/2000 Wrath] He sighed. And then he was angry one last time, when his mom had to leave in order to guide Iora and whoever else was there to track him away. Thank goodness to his Skill, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have been able to keep his head, and he might¡¯ve either snapped at his mom or refused to tell her that he loved her before she left. Just thinking of that, he said one more quiet prayer to Kindness. He would never have forgiven himself if he hadn¡¯t told his mom he loved her, one last time. What was less expected was the Kindness mana in his [Pandora¡¯s Box]. He couldn¡¯t be sure, but he suspected he earned it by helping his mom escape the shadow attacks, and then a bit more when he told her that he loved her. Back to his original point, Dei was most likely developing much quicker, as his [Growing Pains] skill had much, much more fuel to work with. He noticed it struggling to pull more Wrath concentration from his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] Skill when it had a smaller pool to work with. He didn¡¯t know if it would be fast enough though. He needed to develop to take care of himself in a world where magical beasts hunted, and he needed to find a way to hunt. Looking over his interface though, there were two new Skills he still needed to read. He started with the first one, the Skill that had kicked off the entire endeavor. It truly was a bittersweet feeling knowing that he had saved a life, and promptly had his own stolen from him, but he couldn¡¯t change the past. Even if he could though, he doubted that he would. He pulled up the description to distract himself [Identify of the Stout Protector - Level 1 - Soul/Wrath/Kindness Affinity There are many unknowns in the world. Some will kill you, some will protect you, some will be neutral, but there will be uncertainties everywhere you go. They do not need to stay that way, but the path to discovering secrets is not singular. Uncovering the uncertainties of the world can require the hammer and chisel, or the gentle touch of a brush. Using this Identify, take one of two paths you desire, harnessing the power to protect those closest to you. Gives the ability to glean information from the subject''s soul signature. If the subject of Identify does not have a soul signature, it will fail. Identify comes in two modes: Kindness or Wrath Kindness Mode: Gently attempt to glean information from the subject of identify. If the creature is Sentient, a mental handshake will be initiated as you request information about it. If the request is denied, Identify will fail. If the request is granted or the subject is non-sentient, you will slowly glean more information on the subject the longer you channel Identify it. Wrath Mode: A needle-like intangible soul attack will be launched at the target, piercing the natural defenses souls put up against being Identified. Subjects who are hit with this version of Identify and fail to resist it will have their obscuration Skills temporarily yet violently disabled. If the needle of Identify successfully pierces the subject, they will be dealt soul damage relative to the amount of mana channeled into the Skill, and you will immediately glean information from the subject relative to the amount of mana channeled into the Skill. Minimum initial cost: 5 mana.] It was an incredible skill, if he was understanding this correctly. With it, he could ¡°glean information¡± from things using their soul as the medium. He had to test this out. Looking around the pocket cave he was in using his soul sight, everything around him glowed. The bugs had souls and the plants had what he thought were souls, but were mostly unrecognizable to him and shaped in a way he couldn''t understand. He saw a little green beetle that reminded him of a rhinoceros beetle from earth, and decided it would be a good subject for his [Identify]. He didn¡¯t want to hurt the little guy, so he activated Kindness mode and sent it at the little creature that was crawling up the wall. Dei felt the mental request be sent at the bug. The bug paused halfway up the wall and looked at him by tilting its head in his direction. It stared at him for a few seconds. Dei felt the bug deny the request, and he burst out laughing. Rolling around in the grass for a few seconds as he struggled to breathe, he eventually calmed down enough to look at the bug again. For some reason, the idea that the bug saw him and had the audacity to tell a creature hundreds of time its size ¡®no¡¯ was incredibly funny to him. He wanted to try again, but he was already down by five mana, and he didn¡¯t know how quickly it regenerated, so he would be more careful this time around. How would he make it succeed though? Studying the bug a little closer , he looked a bit further up the wall to where it was crawling. Up on the wall was a thin vine that it looked like the beetle was crawling towards. He studied the vine for a few seconds, but couldn¡¯t see anything special about it. Nonetheless, he focused back on the beetle and tried again. Sending a second request, this time he tried imbuing the handshake with something else. ¡®Let me study you a little bit and I¡¯ll set you down on the vine¡¯ Again, the beetle paused and looked at him for a few seconds. It looked back up towards its location, and at first Dei thought it would reject him again, but he felt agreement come back to him. He smiled, picking up the beetle that didn¡¯t struggle in his grasp, and set it down on the vine up above. He also continued channeling mana into his identify, gently reading some facts about the beetles soul. He didn¡¯t have anything in particular he wanted to know, so he just let it run, and slowly, he felt a window in his mind fill up. [Greengrow Beetle] It said at first [Greengrow Beetle - Level 183] ¡®WHAT?¡¯ He died laughing a second time. ¡®What the hell! Why is this beetle so high level!¡¯ he asked himself through his tears. This Greengrow Beetle was the funniest thing he had ever seen in his life. And he could say that with confidence, because he was not very old. He let the spell keep running, and its page slowly filled up. [Greengrow Beetle - Level 183 Greengrow Beetles are a niche species of beetle that appears rarely in caves with no large predators and a hyper-charged mana environment. Feeding on smaller bugs and various plants, these beetles contain a significant quantity of mana for their little bodies. HP: 163/166 MP: 332/332 SP: 129/166 Physical: 83 Mental: 2 Spiritual: 4 Magical: 1] It was so weird, Dei felt like he was much stronger than this beatle, but his Physical stat was so much lower. He had to be sure though, because this beetle might be multiple times more powerful than him. It was also odd that the magical stat was double what it was normally supposed to be. Reading the description though, it was perhaps a quirk of this species of insect. He watched as the beetle just kinda rummaged around on the vine he had placed him on. Once he had gotten all the information he needed from the beetle, Dei tried to dig a little bit deeper. The level and stats were a very surface level reading, but he wanted to see if it had any affinities. The moment he tried digging deeper though, the beetle decided it didn¡¯t take kindly to that, and cut him off before he could get any information from it. Instantly, the surface level Interface he was looking at disappeared. The beetles confidence against him still made him smile, until he remembered that it might very well be stronger then him, then his brow scrunched a bit. He decided that he would stop experimenting with his [Identify] Skill for now. He didn¡¯t want to hit any of the little creatures in the cave with the Wrath version of it, since it seemed kind of harmful, so he would put that off until later. Instead, he looked more into his new Skill given to him by his contract called [Connection]. [Connection - Level 1 - Soul Affinity A rumbling echo of the deep, feel as it flows through your body and out, connecting you to the world. The pulse journeys through all, taking and giving. The web connects all, pulling and pushing. Gives the ability to form the strings of the Connection spell Cost: 1 mana point with 50 times Soul Concentration per inch of Connection] Oof, another doozy just like his Contract. It also further confirmed that the System couldn¡¯t read into Skills given to him by his affinities, because the System very clearly had no idea what it did. The cost confused him for a second as he wondered what ¡°50 times Soul Concentration¡± was, but it made him think of his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)]. He pulled it up again. [Pandora¡¯s Box - Level 50 - Kindness Affinity - 592/2000 Mana Stored To contain your sin, you have created a tangible field within the world of concepts. To resist giving in to your anger, you refuse to lash out. You refuse to express your Wrath as you rise above your base instincts. Creates a pool within your soul that contains the excess Affinity Mana produced by the various affinities of the user, unless otherwise specified Contains (2)*((Spell Level)*10) mana per level (Currently 10 mana per level) Also contains twice as much mana within the Spell Also concentrates the mana within the pool, giving a conversion rate of 6 Affinity Mana to 1 Concentrated Affinity Mana (mild concentration)] In the description of the Skill, it said that it would condense six affinity mana into one concentrated affinity mana. Applying it to the [Connection] Skill, it was safe to assume that the skill would require a single point of Soul affinity mana, concentrated down from fifty Soul affinity points. Dei didn¡¯t know how he was going to get that kind of concentration, so it would be safe to assume that he wasn¡¯t going to be able to ¡°produce¡± anymore of the strings for a long time. Instead, he would be stuck working with what he already had which, admittedly, was quite a lot. It was difficult to measure how long the string of [Connection] already was, as the Soul didn¡¯t exactly have a set size, but it was a lot. He looked at his own skin, pulsing with a bright white power that criss-crossed all along him, and he saw just how much there was. He didn¡¯t think all the cracks were surface-level either, he could feel the warm glow deeper within his body all along his organs even if he couldn¡¯t see it. [Connection] held his soul together, but the condition of his soul was reflected in his body. Even if [Connection] didn¡¯t effect him physically, it still manifested itself in some way he could see. The level of concentration required for the Skill also made him think it took advantage of some sort of deep concept, kind of like how his mother told him dragonfire was a deep concept. Was [Connection] the tool of some legendary beast, like a dragon? The name of the contract gave him the feeling of a cold and solitary place. Somewhere life struggled, yet horrible creatures fought and killed for supremacy. He couldn¡¯t get it out of his head that it felt like¡­ the ocean. Somewhere the light didn¡¯t touch, further down than his old worlds oceans ever went. The feelings made him shiver in fear. Even if the creature wasn¡¯t anywhere near him, he still didn¡¯t feel safe. From his Interface, he thought the little blue box that indicated the name of the contract watched him, even if he didn¡¯t think it was possible. [Connection] was never meant for humans in the same vein that [Dragonfire] wasn¡¯t. He felt like Prometheus, stealing fire from the Gods and soon to be punished for his transgression. But what could rival a dragon? Dei always thought dragons were supposed to be the most powerful mythical creatures, but he lived in a world filled with actual magic, not just some storybook. There was a good chance that some creatures he didn¡¯t know about existed to rival even his wildest nightmares. He closed the screen showing him [Connection]. He¡¯d been staring blankly at it the entire time he was thinking, but he felt his body begin to shiver harder the longer he looked at it. It was weird, could he really be this scared of a simple screen? Nothing dangerous had happened, nothing had changed on the interface, yet he shook harder than ever before. He sighed¡­ and saw his breath. His eyes went wide, and he realized that the entire cave had cooled, significantly. He closed his Interface entirely and looked around, seeing that the little stream running down the wall had frozen solid, and some frost was inching outwards from it. Now that he was looking at it though, the frost began to rapidly recede. Fear coursed through him as he realized that perhaps, in a world full of magic, there was a way for the more powerful races to track those that had stolen their powers. He refused to move as he watched the cave return to its normal functions. The stream continued to trickle, the grass was unharmed by how fast the cold had come and gone, and no bugs were caught in it. After a minute or two, all signs of it were gone, but Dei couldn¡¯t force himself to forget the terrifying image of the frost crawling outwards from the little water he had access to. Despite it returning to normal, Dei still refused to move. Something in him screamed that he was still in danger, and he noticed that, directly in front of him, the Greengrow Beetle he had observed before was halfway down the wall. It wasn¡¯t moving either¡­ it had stopped mid stride. All the bugs in his periphery had. Hours passed, nothing moved, and Dei was caught in his own mind recoiling in shock. He wanted to cry, but knew his tears would move down his face. Three hours later, Dei felt a presence leave. He hadn¡¯t noticed it was there in the first place, but he did feel it leave. He knew it wasn¡¯t anywhere close to the cave, just watching the area from some distant place, and he didn¡¯t think it had seen him. Had the cave''s ability to cut itself off from the outside world blocked the creature''s sight? Was he only alive on a fluke, having not looked at the notifications until he was hidden from the sight of anything on the outside world? He swallowed the lump in his throat. He needed to be very, very careful with this Skill. Chapter 20 Trying to relax his muscles, Dei decided to take stock of all the fast-track ways he could become stronger. If he truly was alone, he was going to need to survive in an absolutely brutal environment. He saw the monsters that he and his mom had hidden from on the way down here, and they were getting stronger the deeper Dei had gone. Right now, he was significantly deeper than anyone his level should ever be, and he needed to get more powerful now. So he looked back over his life, trying to remember all the ways he could quickly build power, making a mental checklist. At the thought, he realized that he could make an actual checklist too. System-granted knowledge told him it was possible with the Interface. Willing a notepad to appear, a semi-transparent piece of paper, obviously made by the System, appeared. It resembled the paper from his old world, and he was pretty sure he had subconsciously done that himself. He could ¡°type¡± on the paper mentally, but Dei decided to lower it into his hands a bit and use the idea of a writing utensil to write on the paper. He picked up an oblong rock so it felt like he was holding something in his hand, then put it to the paper and watched as ¡°ink¡± appeared on his little checklist. ¡®Damn! This is cooler than all the other magic. I¡¯ll never need a pen again.¡¯ Writing with a random rock he found on the ground, Dei continued making his list. ¡°Fast tracks to power Looking over it, everything would take at least the smallest bit of effort, except the very first two. Dei wasn¡¯t an avid gamer in his previous life, but he knew his way around the scene, and picking out a class or profession should be as easy as just a click. He had done tons of noteworthy stuff though, as shown by his Achievements list, and he figured it would earn him some high-quality classes. He knew from his System-granted knowledge that the classes had a tier System that contained at least Common, Uncommon, and Rare. From that he could guess that Epic, Legendary, and potentially Mythical were on the list too. How much would all of his Achievements be worth? How much would he be given? He didn¡¯t know, but man, was he excited to try and find out! He still felt a bit uneasy from the presence he had felt a moment ago, but it was quickly being washed away in the excitement of the options to come. ¡®How many Classes will I get? Ten? Hundreds? Is there a limit? Oh! Could I get a Class that lets me travel to other worlds since I¡¯ve done it before?¡± The possibilities were endless so, without further ado, he braced himself for the list and mentally selected the [Class] option in his interface, getting- ¡®One Class?!? One freaking Class!?¡¯ He genuinely could not believe this. It was a single Class, just one! Maybe it was an incredible class though? He read over it quickly, desperately hoping that it would be amazing. [Prodigal Detector - Uncommon No illusion escapes your sight, no camouflage may hide your enemies. You have proven to be a prodigy in undoing the sneaks of the world, refusing to let them hide. Using skill or talent, you were vital in the undoing of a monster over 100 levels higher than you by not only continuously tracking it despite his attempts at anti-detection, but also unveiling it and giving the chance to those around you to bring justice to the dastardly beast. Gives the Skills: [Fine-Tooth Comb], [Vigilance], [In Tune] Gives the Stats: +1 Mental, +1 Magical Every two levels] [Fine-Tooth Comb - Level 1 - Passive A Detectors issue does not necessarily lie in lack of skill, but the inability to process what their skill tells them, becoming overwhelmed at the sensations required to unveil those that would rather stay hidden. A prodigy yourself, you have not formed the proper framework to handle what your senses tell you, and your mind strains to concentrate on what you need to do in order to succeed at your role on the battlefield. What you need is not to pull in all the information at once, merely a fine-tooth comb to find exactly the little bit of information that you want. When the user would normally be overwhelmed, Fine-Tooth Comb automatically sifts through all given information, focusing only on the most important or relevant information. Allows the user to set a specific criteria for what information they would like to focus on. Each level allows for broader criteria, while increasing the chances that the Skill will automatically focus on information that would be desired yet not specifically requested] [Vigilance - Level 1 - Passive Despite being hyper aware of their surroundings, Detectors often lose sight of the smaller details or the obvious traps. While the conscious mind does not process these tells, the subconscious desire for survival never stops searching for danger. A primitive part of every mind scours through all incoming information, granting a supernatural sixth sense for danger that the thinking mind cannot comprehend properly. Strengthens the users awareness when their life is in danger. Awareness becomes more fine with each successive level.] [In Tune - Level 1 - Toggleable While Detectors specialize in searching the world, what good is it to find an enemy if the response is too delayed to succeed in making a difference? If a hidden enemy moves through the ranks faster than you can communicate to your comrades, it does not matter how well you can find them. By doing away with the delay in communication, one can easily mitigate such a weakness Creates a telepathic link between allies that partially shares your awareness of enemies. Link strengthens with each level, sharing more information to those closer to you, and lengthening the distance with which the link may stay intact.] It was¡­ okay? It would be useful to mitigate his Tremor Sense, but really, not much else? It was like a battlefield detective, trying to find the enemy assassins. But why was this all he had? He had an entire lifetime of experience to fall back on! He had traveled the void! He was granted the blessings of Wrath and Kindness! So why was it that only his one fight¡­ Ah, wait, his one fight. His class was how he fought, and he had only fought a single time¡­ ever. On top of this, he didn¡¯t think his previous life would count. The System had said that he still technically fell within the domain of his previous Sector, so maybe it didn¡¯t have a right to those experiences? But wait! Didn¡¯t he fight Wrath that one time? But the System didn¡¯t have access to anything that had to do with his affinities, it had shown so multiple times. In his fight with the monster, the System only had the right to grade him based on what he had done, and what fell within the ¡°rights¡± of the System. But wait! Didn¡¯t he fight all those Void monsters? Didn¡¯t he kill tons of them? Ah, but he was still halfway between this Sector and his previous one at the time. If he had to guess, the moment his soul crossed the threshold into his current Systems domain, it had shot forward to help¡­ meaning he hadn¡¯t fought anything in the void. And simple void travel? That probably fell under the right of the Void affinity¡­ Dammit! He was going to be graded on such a small portion of his achievements in life! There was something else he noticed too. All the Skills that were being given to him through his class were very¡­ general? They were support Skills. They didn¡¯t ¡°improve¡± his detection per se, it simply bolstered what he already had, kind of providing a framework to work off of? He was noticing a pattern to this System. It didn¡¯t like to grant significant power directly, instead supporting the person''s existing power. His Class probably wasn¡¯t meant to immediately grant him tons of Skills to kill things with, instead helping him specialize into what he was already good at by shoring up some of his weaknesses. He didn¡¯t know how to fight. There was nothing for the System to bolster when it came to facing things head on. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. It was¡­ upsetting, knowing that he couldn¡¯t just immediately be given some legendary class to help channel the void or teleport around and stuff, but he supposed it made some sense when he thought about it for a second. But really? One class? He sighed. Now, he needed to decide whether to take it or not. It really wasn¡¯t all that bad, and he could definitely see it helping him out. Heck, it might even be exactly what he needed in the situation he was in. No level one child was going to be able to take on a full grown monster, it would be best for him to instead sneak around them. In order to sneak around them, he needed to know where they were. If he combinged his [Detector] abilities with his racial bonuses, he doubted there would be much that could sneak up on him, even if they were hundreds of times his level. Could he combine his [Camouflage] ability with his [Detector] abilities to try and pierce his own hiding, then when he finally couldn¡¯t he would know that he was actually super hidden? The more he thought about it, the more he liked the class. While it wasn¡¯t going to grant him massive power, it would bolster his chances of survival enough to justify taking it. So, was he going to? If he wanted a better Class, he would need to end up fighting more creatures. It would be years or decades before he could safely do that, especially with the monsters down here. Did he have the time to wait that long? He looked at the bag his mom had left. If he was right, he probably had a few weeks of food. He ate much less than his mother, and she had packed enough for both of them. It certainly didn¡¯t seem like he could wait multiple years¡­ He sighed. So much for his awesome abilities that would help him blow through any and all obstacles that stood in his way. At least the Stats would be nice? He needed to be able to think faster, and the extra Magical stat would increase the power of his attack spells, of which he had half of one. He was definitely including the Wrath half of his identity as an attack. Resigning himself to it, Dei clicked on his only Class option. [Class Gained! Prodigal Detector (Level 1)] [Stored experience allocated] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 1) -> (Level 2)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 2) ->(Level 3)] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 3) -> (Level 4)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] ¡­ [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 33) -> (Level 34)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] He gasped at the unexpected notifications before feeling a warm, lulling sensation spread through his mind and body. It was like the strongest drug he had ever taken, and he passed out almost immediately. Waking up with a start, face against the dirt, he groggily pushed himself to his knees. ¡°Huh? Wuh?¡± It took him a second to remember where he was, but his mind was rapidly accelerating to speeds he never could have processed before He lifted up his hand to look at it, but it went so slowly. Everything around him had slowed down so much. ¡°What¡­ the¡­ hell¡± he heard himself say slowly. He quickly opened his Interface to check for the differences, but before he even read over it he realized what the issue was. It felt like his mind was going a million miles a minute, and he remembered the stored EXP from helping kill that [Nightstalking Devourer]. When he got his Class, it was used to level him up, and with the new level ups came some stat increases to his Mental and Magical stats. He realized he already had the Interface open and was completely ignoring it on accident, in favor of thinking out his own problem. It was like having ADHD and the strongest excitatory drug in the world coursing through him. He desperately tried to refocus on the Interface before he lost himself again [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: N/A Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 18/18 MP: 18/18 SP: 18/18 Stats: Physical: 9 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 14 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 34% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 37% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (592/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (18) Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (1), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1)] Yyyyyep! Super high Mental, super high Magical. Dei felt like roaring with how great he felt. He realized he was also hyperventilating so he slowed his breath a bit, right as he got dizzy. He slowly came back to his senses, calming down over time, and felt as his body adjusted significantly. When he checked the timer, he realized he had only been knocked out for five or so seconds, and everything else after that happened over the course of the next five or so seconds. As he came down from whatever high he had just been on, Dei felt his mind sync back up with his body, no longer feeling the latency between his thoughts and his actions. He was sure it was still there, it had simply been moved into a more subconscious feeling, rather than an active bother. When he felt like he was better oriented, Dei no longer felt disappointed at all with his class selection. He was in the best mood he¡¯d ever been in, and decided to go ahead and move into his profession options. Tempering his expectations a bit more, he opened his menu for Professions. [Pondering Sage (Mythical) Planar Researcher (Rare) Spiritual Observer (Rare)] ¡®FUCK YES, Oh thank GOD!¡¯ He was absolutely bluffing when it came to not expecting an amazing profession. While there were only three options, all of them sounded AWESOME! Not only that! But an actual Mythical Profession! He needed to read it. He had intended to save the best for last, but nah, that was for punks. He went straight to reading the rarest Profession he had. [Pondering Sage - Mythical The noise of the world means nothing to you, not truly. You hear it, yet it flows off you like water down the soft leaves of the sturdy oak. You have pondered upon existence and what it means, you have traveled planes and universes to discover the highest of secrets, the limits of Gods and existences of Ascenders. You have spoken to a System, and told it secrets that caused it to reel back from your presence. You have visited the Void, the space between which so few may enter and exit with their minds intact. In the nothingness that existed between, you found everything. You found your deepest self, and were changed from the glimpse of truth. Not scarred, yet forever different, you ponder upon existence and yourself to find your spiritual center of balance. Gives the Skills: [Commune with the Universe], [Meditate (ERROR!)], [High Mind] Gives the Stats: +5 Spiritual every level] The error made him a bit nervous, so he decided to start with Meditate. [Meditate - Level (ERROR) - Mana Affinity Contemplation brings one closer to the fundamental aspects of the world. Losing yourself, you transcend the mortal coil and journey into metaphysical ideas using your presence as an anchor. Allows you to draw power from a Conceptual Plane of existence with which you are already connected by temporarily strengthening the connection to the plane significantly. Marginal permanent increase to connection of the specific plane will remain after temporary boost to connection recedes. Regenerates Affinity mana at a variable rate depending on strength of connection to a particular Conceptual Plane of existence.] [WARNING: Undocumented pre-existing variant of Skill detected. Skill will be altered and merged with pre-existing variant upon implementation.] He scratched his chin while he thought about what the warning meant. Supposedly, he already had some sort of meditation Skill, but it simply did not appear on his status screen. Thinking back over everything he knew, it had to be some part of his previous life. He closed his eyes, delving back into the spiritual world which he had yet to visit in a good bit. It was weird to him, seeing as strings ran everywhere throughout his memories, but most of it was exactly the same. There was, however, just a single discordant knot in his soul which he had taken note of before, but forgotten about until right now. Just before he learned the [Growing Pains] Skill, there was a sort of shimmering, static-ey area where his father was teaching him breathing techniques to help center his mind. He remembered noting that it was some sort of half-formed Skill, but only right now was he starting to understand what that meant. It was missing something. He could tell in the memory that his soul was attempting to form a connection to the outer world in order to create a form of meditation, yet it was utterly failing to do so. It was hard to describe, but it felt like it was unable to properly communicate with the universe, like his current version of [Meditate] was successfully doing. His old world was more than just ¡°without mana¡± it seemed, but also spiritually dead. Or were they one in the same? He was starting to learn that all of this was in some sort of delicate balance, and perhaps the spiritual disconnect led to lack of mana, or the other way around. It was like some weird, intangible ecosystem that Systems were supposed to keep balanced. Well either way, he kind of wanted to try and reform this old version of meditation before continuing with his Professions. He needed to properly see what he was working with first in order to better make an informed decision. Without further ado, he closed his eyes and delved into the memory of his father walking him through breathing and centering his mind. This one felt different to the other skill formations in that it felt so much like him. This wasn¡¯t some Wrath or Kindness Skill, it was a Skill made entirely by and for himself. When he finally pushed through the static, grabbing at the memory, a familiar coalescing of it rammed into the memory. Instead of it being pulled away from his soul though, it was pulled into itself, like the memory was trying to devour its own existence. He naturally stopped it from doing so, and Dei watched as the hazy static merged into an avatar of its own When it stabilized, the memory was exactly the same, except one weirdly unsettling detail. Leven, his former identity, was looking straight at him. He expected something like this, and was not taken off guard when Leven spoke. ¡°Do you deserve to live more than me?¡± Dei thought about it for a moment, then confidently answered ¡°Yes.¡± Leven had already lived, and now his life was over. This was Dei¡¯s life, and he didn¡¯t care if there would be some massive benefit to giving up his body to let Leven exist, he wasn¡¯t going to do it. Could he die for his decision? Yea, maybe, but Leven could die too, so why give anything up? Dei would live and die, by his own decision. Leven smiled at him. ¡°Good¡± was all he said before Dei was forcefully ejected from the memory. Snapping back into his own body for the second, jarring, time since Iora did it to him, Dei¡¯s notifications opened themselves to reveal a new, welcome yet weird, sight. [Skill Gained: Meditate] Chapter 21 [Meditate - Level 1 - Mana Affinity Balance. Everyone and everything must be brought into balance to survive. An invasive species will collapse an ecosystem not by devouring everything in it, but by simply unbalancing small yet vital parts of it until the delicate system collapses. The same is true for body, mind, soul, and magic, each portion of oneself must unite in harmony with the others in order to make a cohesive and sturdy system. Grants a recognition of imbalances of the body, diverting power from the excess to the atrophy, taking points from your highest stats and diverting them into your lowest stats. When full balance is achieved, grants the [Harmony] buff and draws mana from the environment 300% faster] [Harmony - Buff Stats are 20% more effective] It was very interesting, and he might actually have to worry about the implications of his soul being unbalanced. He assumed that he was unable to form this Skill in his previous life as there was no magic or mana to draw from in the world, so a part of his body''s ¡°ecosystem¡± so to speak was utterly unbalanced. He wondered what that meant for everyone in the entire world. Were they all born with some defect that nobody even knew was a defect? He couldn¡¯t be sure. He also didn¡¯t particularly like that it was going to take stats from one and give them to another, but he supposed that it was for the best. He already realized that his mental reaction speed would probably be much faster than what his body could physically respond to, making all the extra stats in Mental utterly useless in combat, so it was for the best that they become more balanced. He wasn¡¯t really doing anything right now, so got a bit more comfortable sitting down, and tried to activate his new [Meditate] Skill. Unsurprisingly, he couldn¡¯t just click a button and have it activate, so it failed. Instead, he followed the teachings of his previous father and closed his eyes, slowing his breathing and emptying his mind. Slowly, like he was slipping into a dream, the image of his soul appeared. It focused on specific parts, the connections between his stats that showed how messed up things were. He could see clearly how his mind tried desperately to force the body to move faster, but the body couldn¡¯t give anymore. There was also strain on the magical pathways that caused him to waste a significant amount of mana from simply existing, much less using any Skills, and a tension in his muscles that never quite went away from the excess mana exciting them ever so slightly. He watched, fascinated, as some of the metaphorical ¡°ground¡± between his Magical and Physical stats were changed. His Magical stat receded, and his Physical stat expanded into the unoccupied portion of his soul. It happened slowly, very, very slowly, but eventually they would be brought into balance. Trying to estimate how long it would take for even a single stat point to reallocate, he had to say it was around a month or two before one point would change on his Interface. That was a crazy long time, especially since he only had like two weeks of food at best. Slowly bringing himself out of his meditation, he felt a little bit better. Not from the change in stats, just that the act of meditating helped center himself a bit better. He wasn¡¯t as scared from the presence that had descended upon him, and he didn¡¯t feel as lonely from his mother being forced to leave him. Now that his stomach wasn¡¯t in knots though, he realized he was very hungry. He made his way over to his mothers satchel and struggled to move anything. There was a massive bundle of all the wrapped tools and rations at the bottom, but there was also tons of cleanly cut plants and mosses that had been stored in the bag that his mom had supposedly intended to sell. Slowly, over the course of fifteen minutes, he strained and struggled to pull all the plants out and lay them in a pile on the ground next to the bag. When he was done, he could finally see the fabric at the bottom that separated all the herbs from the tools and rations his mom used when they left the village. She would always wrap the bundle tightly in the morning, then slowly get sloppier as the day went on. Apparently, at the end, she just placed the cloth on top, because he just lifted it straight off, dragging it to the side to sit next to the herbs he had already pulled from the pack. At last, his prize was before him in the form of all his mothers tools and rations. He ignored the tools for now, focusing on the rations of many dried meats and veggies, unleavened bread, and even the smallest bit of cheese wrapped in a type of paper he had never seen before but had a weird texture. ¡°Hmm¡± he hummed aloud. What if he could identify this stuff? He knew that it was all dead and didn¡¯t have any soul, but his Identify didn¡¯t scan the soul. Reading over it again, he looked at the exact line in the description. [Gives the ability to glean information from the subject''s soul signature.] Now, he didn¡¯t know exactly what the difference between a soul and a soul signature was, but it didn¡¯t hurt to try. Scanning the meat first, deciding he would have the best chances there, he was met with success! [Barkgrub Chomper Meat Meat of a Barkgrub Chomper monster that has been dried and had its calories and nutrients magically condensed into a hyper-compact chunk meant for ease of transportation.] He hummed thoughtfully at the description. Did this mean that he actually had more food than he first assumed? Perhaps he would have more time than he suspected. He tried lifting it up, but was utterly unable to. He wasn¡¯t able to shift the bag either to knock it over. Sighing, he resolved himself to an embarrassing display and leaned down. He started gnawing on the edge of the meat a bit with his new, very sensitive teeth, but had to stop when it hurt so bad. He looked at his moms knife, just a finger in length (one of her fingers, not one of his) and carefully lifted it up. He saw it cut through some very sturdy stalks like butter, so he knew it had to be sharp, and gently pressed it into the side of the ration. There was barely any resistance at all as a tiny speck was sheared off the meat and fell to the side. Shocked, he carefully placed the knife as far from the food as he could while still keeping it in the bag, and lifted up the little speck of meat. It was about the size of one of his fingernails, and he thought it was too small to make any sort of difference, but he should at least test the compactness of the rations. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Throwing it in his mouth, he tried to chew it yet utterly failed. He could only gently teeth on it while it slowly softened up from his saliva, and he continuously swallowed small pieces of it he was sure were flaking off. He tried to not swallow the entire thing, unsure of what would happen, but he wasn¡¯t feeling very cautious towards his own food and felt it slip down his throat. ¡®Oops. Ah, oh well. Whats the worst that could happen?¡¯ He thought, and fate responded. Seconds after the food hit his stomach, a burning sensation emanated from it. And spread outwards across his body and through his muscles. Instantly, he jumped up, pumped full of power. In his previous life, he loved working out, and he remembered trying out creatine a few times. It was never for him, as he was already brimming with energy 24/7, but the feeling came back to him now tenfold. He didn''t even hesitate to drop down and start doing pushups, the energy from his stomach burning hotter and hotter. He also felt his [Growing Pains] Skill kick into overdrive, pulling as much of the energy into itself as it could and redirecting it properly through his muscles. The pushups weren¡¯t cutting it anymore, just not enough of a full body workout as more energy built up unevenly in different parts of his body. Instead he transitioned into an exercise he had never used in his previous life called burpees. He would do a pushup, then get into a squatting position and jump as high as he could, squatting back down and transitioning into another pushup. It used to feel terrible, but now it brought some relief to his legs as the energy just kept circulating. The worked furiously, burning with relief and pain in equal portions. He couldn¡¯t say it was pleasant, but the satisfaction of the work brought a cooling sensation that helped keep his mind clear. When he could, he would occasionally stop to sip some water from the stream before continuing his impromptu workout. Hours went by before the burning sensation calmed down, and Dei was panting hard. He made sure to do a few less strenuous motions to calm himself rather than immediately sitting down, otherwise there would be a buildup of lactic acids and he did not want to feel the full brunt of soreness that would come along with the workout he was just doing. Despite working harder than ever before, Dei felt good. He felt some solid yet rapid improvements to his muscles, and quickly checked over his notifications, getting even happier. [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing pains (18) -> (19)] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] He gained four Physical despite only working for¡­ ¡®Six hours!¡¯ he realized after checking his clock. Still, that was extraordinary progress. He opened his Interface again [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: N/A Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 26/26 MP: 26/26 SP: 26/26 Stats: Physical: 9 -> 13 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 14 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 34% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 37% -> 40% Mana: Meditate Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (592/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19) Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (1), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1)] He noticed that Meditate had an affinity for mana. Not a specific mana, just mana in general. The same was true for the [Meditate] offered from the [Pondering Sage] profession, it was listed as an affinity for mana. Perhaps that was a commonality of the Meditate line? There were obviously different ways to meditate and the two he was offered now gave unique boons each, but were they the same in that they all had an affinity for mana? He wasn''t sure, and knowing wouldn¡¯t benefit him immediately, so he had to move on. More directly impressive was his thirteen in his Physical stat! His [Growing Pain] Skill stated that it allowed for him to naturally surpass 14 for his Physical stat, so he assumed that the natural limit for humans was 14. Did this mean that he was now as strong as an adult? Going back over to his moms satchel, he lifted the flap again and tried hoisting out one of the chunks of meat, straining to do so. While he could now lift it slightly off the ground, he could by no means carry it around for days without effort like his mom seemed to be able to do. But perhaps his mom had a high Physical stat, and these were actually super heavy? He turned towards the pile of plants leftover after his moms foraging venture, and lifted one up. Previously, he could drag them around, so they weren¡¯t too heavy. Now that he had a higher Physical stat, he bent down and hoisted as hard as he could. Holding the plant over his head like a mighty sword, he let out an ¡°Ah-ha!¡± in success. It was still a bit difficult, so he had to drop it right away, but he could lift it now! That also gave him a good frame for how much he had improved. He wouldn''t say he was twice as strong as before, but maybe half that? Like one point five times as strong? Doing some mental math, he realized that his Physical stat had gone up by thirty percent, so maybe he was just overestimating his own abilities and he was actually thirty percent stronger. He really wished there was some automatic calculator that would tell him. He looked down at his muscles too, and he realized that he had lost some of his chub. He still had a healthy amount of baby fat, but he was just a bit more defined now, which looked weird on his tiny body. ¡®I wonder what mom would say.¡¯ The thought came unbidden, throwing a damper on his joy. He knew he had been distracting himself from his entire situation so far, taking small joys in the progress he was making to not think about the distant future. He realized it was close to when night was supposed to come over the cave systems and sighed. He didn¡¯t want to stop just yet, but he also felt strained after his workout. While his Skill had ensured he was healed up fully, each use of his Skills put pressure on his soul. Normally it wouldn¡¯t be a huge deal, but he felt that some of the stitches holding him together were put under strain as well. He couldn¡¯t push himself like he had today, not with the crippling wound he suffered from Iora. That could be his temporary deadline. When the wound he suffered from Iora was fully healed, or at least workably healed, he would start venturing out of his cave to survive on fresher food. He realized now that his mom had given him a massive cushion to work with, one that he couldn¡¯t take for granted. He would need to use even smaller portions of the food than he had today, and it would potentially take him months to finish off the stock that he had. While it seemed like it was so far away, he wasn¡¯t willing to gamble his life. He needed to build up enough strength to survive in these caves. Not just that though¡­ he needed the strength to get back home. He missed his mom. He missed how she made him feel like everything would be okay, and she would take care of him. He wanted to give her another hug, and to be hugged in turn. He felt cold, despite the pleasant warmth of the cave, and made a promise in his head to his mother. ¡®I will make it back. I don¡¯t care if I have to get strong enough to fight every single Shaman. I don¡¯t care about their legendary strength or heroics. One day, I will make it back to my family.¡¯ He curled into a fetal position, shaking with fear and indignation at the task before him, and fell into an unsteady sleep filled with Shamans and Monsters. Chapter 22 He groggily woke himself up the next day as the gemstones around his cave brightened. He slept terribly, but didn¡¯t feel all that bad considering how much he had worked out the day before. He was hungry again, of course, so he decided breakfast would be the first thing he did¡­ a very careful breakfast. It consisted of a speck of carrot and nothing else. Drinking some water to wash it down, he sat in his previous spot and contemplated his profession options again, pulling the list back up. [Pondering Sage (Mythical) Planar Researcher (Rare) Spiritual Observer (Rare)] As well as the Pondering Sage description again [Pondering Sage - Mythical The noise of the world means nothing to you, not truly. You hear it, yet it flows off you like water down the soft leaves of the sturdy oak. You have pondered upon existence and what it means, you have traveled planes and universes to discover the highest of secrets, the limits of Gods and existences of Ascenders. You have spoken to a System, and told it secrets that caused it to reel back from your presence. You have visited the Void, the space between which so few may enter and exit with their minds intact. In the nothingness that existed between, you found everything. You found your deepest self, and were changed from the glimpse of truth. Not scarred, yet forever different, you ponder upon existence and yourself to find your spiritual center of balance. Gives the Skills: [Commune with the Universe], [Meditate], [High Mind] Gives the Stats: +5 Spiritual every level] Good news, the error was gone. Next, he looked into one of the skills it came with. [Commune with the Universe]. [Commune with the Universe - Level 1 What constitutes a universe? Where are its boundaries, and how does one know when they have crossed into another? Is it only after puncturing the fabric and moving to another plane? If so, then why are such things connected to the materialistic plane? Is a universe, perhaps, all of connected existence? If so, then is the only way to cross into another potential universe to become absolutely disconnected from all things, then reconnect in another location? Very few know, but you have seen a glimpse into what it means to cross the disconnected lands and find a new home elsewhere. With this understanding, you have garnered the attention of not only higher beings, but also fundamental entities that govern the laws of physics. While they may not necessarily like or hate you, you have garnered their attention nonetheless. Allows you to open your mind to fundamental entities, potentially communicating with them, if they deign to answer. Mana cost: 128,365 mana per second communicating with an entity, to be paid by the entity themselves. Become more likely to receive answers with each successive level. Not out of obligation from the entities, more that they will consider it more interesting to discuss with one who has already spoken to other fundamental entities] Interesting! And nerve wracking! He would be talking to abstract concepts like Gravity and Entropy. That sounded terrifying. It was good at least that any entity that talked to him would foot the bill for mana, because he didn¡¯t think he could pay that. He was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t talking about the avatars of Affinities, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t need this fancy shmancy spell to hear their words. He opened the final Profession Skill [High Mind - Level 1 - Passive All the knowledge of the world, yet not enough time to ponder it. There is simply too much to do and see to process it all, yet it all requires your attention. You¡¯ve found your mind adrift, unfocused, and scattered towards all corners of your ventures, and truly your friends worry for your sanity as you forget to respond to their questions, caught in your daydreams of the past you once saw or the books that introduced those mysteries to you. Perhaps there is a way to indulge yourself, pondering your past while investigating the future at the same time. Allows the mind to become malleable and complex, gaining both increased motor functions and perfect memory. Can potentially manifest a hyper-realistic world in your mindscape over which you have absolute control, split your mind into multiple parts, form an eidetic memory, and more, given enough experimentation. Malleability and processing power increases with each successive level. ¡®Holy shit! This one is incredible, and probably the most combat-direct option I¡¯ll get¡¯ It sounded like his mind would become some sort of supercomputer and, if he thought of it like that, its uses couldn¡¯t possibly be underestimated. It was more than just a mental improvement, he would be able to theorize things in a hyper-realistic scenario in his head with something like this Skill. Could he practice fighting other creatures in his head? Would his Skills improve? He interpreted ¡°malleability¡± as a kind of ¡°neuroplasticity¡± that brains had, meaning that he would be able to rewrite the way his mind worked at will. When it came to direct combat, he could possibly overwhelm enemies simply by having so many moving parts to his attacks. If he split his mind into six parts, each one focusing on using a Skill in different ways, his enemies would be bound to slip up. More than that, ¡°processing power¡± made it seem like it would increase his thinking speed too, potentially working in tandem with his Mental stat. Now, Classes and Professions were obviously meant to function as support structures for a specific fighting style or working style. In order to get Class experience, he would fight, and in order to get Profession experience, he would work. The question was, what would his job be as a [Pondering Sage]? Could he do it? If it was something that he was physically unable to complete, it would be absolutely useless to get the Profession, as he would never be able to gain levels. What would a [Pondering Sage] do? Well, the obvious answer was to ponder. In the description of the Profession, it showed that he already had the answers. He already knew all the deepest secrets, now all that was left were the simple ones. His ¡°job¡± would be to think about life, existence, or really anything. He would just be required to sit and think every now and again. ¡®Truly, a devastating cost for communing with forces of nature and super intellect¡¯ he thought with a smile. In conclusion, it wouldn¡¯t be some dead end Profession, and he could reasonably advance it. That being the case, he would likely take the Mythic option over his other two Profession options. He wouldn''t lie to himself and say "let''s look at all the options" when the reality of it was that a higher rarity Profession would just be objectively better. He would still give the other options a cursory look, just in case he missed something amazing though. Pulling up the second Profession option he had, he skimmed over it a bit and all of its skills, summarizing it in his head [Planar Researcher - Rare Something something, you''ve experienced what its like to actually be in a plane of existence rather than a material one and have a headstart on other researchers. something something, keep researching with your new knowledge Skills that come with it: [Locate convergence], [stabilize your soul when you take on intangible forms], [get better at fuckin around with affinity mana] [Spiritual Observer - Rare you like watching people secretly when in soul form. get better at doing that. you''re sneaky and hard to detect, so get better at scouting things out while in a spiritual form. [become more sensitive to the different spiritual wavelengths, allowing you to better sense other souls and maybe hide yourself], [get a more sturdy soul, also dont die from soul damage when your avatar dies], [gain the ability to POSSESS THINGS?! ok thats pretty cool. only for a few minutes though, and its hard to control people. probably to just sneak into secure areas.] Alright, he had considered all his options. Looking at both of them, the Mythic Profession was both more versatile and had Skills that were applicable to more situations. Spiritual Observer was also super nice too, and he had to admit quite tempting. While he already had tons of scouting Skills, and more with his Class helping him, he was especially interested in the part where he got to possess things. If that was all he wanted from the Profession though, maybe he could just recreate it freestyle using his Soul affinity. Happy to have at least done the mature option of looking everything over at least a little bit, Dei happily selected his new Profession, [Pondering Sage]. He had done a lot of pondering lately, so he expected the same influx of improvement he had gotten from the class, but was sadly disappointed when he only felt a slight warmth emanate from deep within him. Looking over his notifications, he received the unsurprising news. [Profession Gained! Pondering Sage (Level 1)] Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. [Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual] ''Darn! No stored experience allocated. I wonder why it stored the experience for my Class, but not my Profession.'' That was not at the forefront of his mind though, as he felt something in his soul begin to grind against the Profession. One of the Skills given by the Profession, [Meditation], was pressing against his already existing [Meditation]. They were not opposed to one another, per se, but like small fragments of the larger whole. The issue came from the fact that they did not cohesively fit to one another. It was like Meditation, as a concept, was a huge jigsaw puzzle, and the two pieces he had were absolutely not supposed to be next to one another. It didn''t feel painful at all, whatever they were doing, but it was very unpleasant. Rather than linking together to form a Skill larger than the sum of its parts, they were pushing into each other and merging their concepts. The Skill that resulted from the two merging was the most effective parts of both. it wasn''t any larger or more versatile than the others, but he could feel that it was better. Like he had gone from a 144p image of Meditation to a 240p image of Meditation. He would still only have one piece, but his piece would be higher quality as the two Skills ground out the weaker parts of each other. After five nauseous minutes, he received a notification as the discomfort came to an abrupt stop. [[Meditation] has merged with [Meditation] to form the Skill: [Meditation]] ''Ok man, whatever you say'' he thought while looking at the message incredulously. Setting aside the hilarious form of the message, he pulled up the new [Meditation] Skill [Meditate - Level 1 - Mana Affinity The self, everything that ones identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. The plants, insects, and even microbes experience the same moments as any human, yet ones identity itself is entirely unique. Despite sharing moments with so many others, no entity shares every moment with you. Your identity is the sum of so many parts, yet greater than every single one individually. Even still, there is an unbreakable link between every singular person and the grand cosmos that rotates around their unique perspective. Using that link, draw aspects of yourself into the open, showing all what it means to be you. Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards.] He didn¡¯t know how to feel about this one. The other two provided some sort of tangible benefit, yet this one seemed more like a communication ability. The only thing stopping him from feeling absolute disappointment was that he could feel that it was somehow higher quality than the other two, and there was a power in this Skill somewhere. It wasn¡¯t truly a System granted Skill like the other two of his Profession Skills, so he wasn¡¯t going to get a clear-cut description on every single thing that it did. Actually, was it a System granted Skill at all at this point? He pulled up his Interface to check [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 1) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 26/26 MP: 26/26 SP: 26/26 Stats: Physical: 13 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 14 -> 19 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 34% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 40% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (592/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19) Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (1) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (1), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (1), High Mind (1)] Huh. it wasn¡¯t an Outer Skill at all. He had effectively taken it from the System and, instead of using it, fed it to his pre-existing [Meditation] in order to improve his own. Looking at all his Skills, he realized he really needed to get onto training soon, because there were just too many level 1 Skills. For now though, he sat down to test the new Skills he had gotten from his Class and Profession. Rather than start with [Meditation], he decided to start from the beginning of the list. [Fine-Tooth Comb] It was a passive Skill meant to filter out all the excess information he gathered, finding specific things he wanted. It seemed like he could create broader requests as it leveled up, but would need to get very specific at level 1. He wasn''t sure if it would stop him from getting overwhelmed by tremor sense when he left his little cave, but he didn¡¯t need a massive canvas to test whether he could see small details. Coincidentally, there was one particular bug that he had his eye on a lot lately, but had lost track of. In his fight against the [Nightstalking Devourer], it wasn¡¯t his [Tremor Sense] that had detected it though, he didn¡¯t even have his feet on the ground at the beginning of the fight. It was his eyes. While [Tremor Sense] was an easy option to use it on, the eyes would be important as well, so he needed to see if it would work. First, he would see if he could give it a broad request. Mentally, he asked [Fine-Tooth Comb] to find any beetles with his eyes. Slowly panning his head around the cave, nothing particular jumped out at him. Next, he gave it something a bit more specific: ¡®Find any Greengrow Beetles using my eyes.¡¯ Again, he looked around the cave, but nothing obvious appeared. He now felt like he should have started out with testing what it looked like when it activated before testing its boundaries, but he was already mid-experiment, so he decided to finish it. Lastly, and most specifically, he asked it to ¡®Find that one specific Greengrow Beetle that I saw yesterday using my eyes.¡¯ At first, there was no response, disappointing him a bit. When he started panning his eyes around the cave though, he kept finding that his eyes would be drawn towards a spot near the ground. To one piece of inconspicuous foliage in the form of a thin, knee-high plant. His eyes were drawn to it enough that he finally got the hint, leaning in closer and looking. He initially couldn¡¯t spot anything, but after a few seconds of staring at one spot, he was able to parse a little green beetle from its camouflage, surprising him. He hadn¡¯t even seen it, despite staring at it directly, until he had thoroughly studied the spot. That was some effective camo! Trying to confirm the identity of the beetle, he used [Identify], only for it to get shot down again. He rolled his eyes and tried to think of something he could give it in order to allow him to scan it. The beetle wasn¡¯t even moving, content to just sit on a leaf, so he didn¡¯t really have anything he could offer it. He was defeated from the fact that the beetle was a simple little creature that wanted nothing, so he had nothing to give. He was still unwilling to use the Wrath version, for fear of killing the little guy. He didn¡¯t want to threaten it either, as it seemed a little mean to him to bully a beetle into giving up its secrets. He sighed. He would have to be content to simply assume he was right. Next, he tested to see whether he could get the same result with his tremor sense. He closed his eyes, focusing on the vibrations around him. Frankly, there wasn''t much. The sphere cutting off his little cave from the outside world also cut off vibrations, meaning that the only vibrations around were created from either him or the insects. These vibrations rebounded off the barrier a few feet into the walls, bouncing around in the stone until it became too small for even him to detect. There was a constant, rhythmic pulse released from him, that produced at least a small vibration to work with. This pulse was, naturally, his heartbeat. There was also a sort of low hum from his body, with all the other organs shifting things in his body. His diaphragm drawing and releasing air, the blood flowing in his body even between beats of his heart, the stomach sloshing with each slight wobble from his legs. He was a beacon of constant vibrations, yet the heart was an easily discernible source to lock on to. Before using his [Fine-Tooth Comb] Skill, he took the time to simply¡­ watch it all. To watch as a mental map formed in his head of where everything around him was. He couldn¡¯t see, not in a way that his eyes saw, yet he could understand it. A part of his [Tremor Sense] was the ability to parse through the vibrations and interpret their meanings. Even if he couldn¡¯t see anything, he found that he knew the shapes of everything through which his vibrations flowed. Using his heartbeat as a reference point for vibrations to track, the quiet thrum of his body slowly brought shape to the darkness in his mind. The details eluded him though. The entire map was fuzzy, and he couldn¡¯t get into the specifics of what he was seeing. Attempting to use [Fine-Tooth Comb], giving it the same order as he had given when using his eyes, he found that it failed to track onto the beetle. Even if he could sense the shape of the cave, Dei found that it didn¡¯t translate in his mind to vision. He felt a bit of vertigo when he tried to orient himself to the same position he had when he saw the Greengrow Beetle, as the new world he saw was unrecognizable. It felt like the difference between looking at a hexagon and trying to feel out the shape of one. They were two different sensations, and trying to make a bridge between them to convert one measure into the other would require practice. His thoughts aside, the Skill failed to find his beetle friend, yet he didn¡¯t think it was because of a mistranslation between sensations in his mind. The System was managing this Skill, and it was an objective force. It didn¡¯t process the difference between sensations, its processing only understood information. Instead, it was the details that gave his skill trouble. While his heartbeat was good enough to get a sense for his surroundings, anything specific eluded him. While he could sense the vibrations still, they became a jumbled mess, too specific to actually process individually. Testing this theory, Dei stomped his foot down. The ripple it sent out was loud, louder than anything else in the cave, and he winced slightly at the difference in levels of vibration. The wave, however, gave new information to [Fine-Tooth Comb]. In seconds, many new, specific details were revealed to him. Bugs camouflage in the foliage, larvae hiding under leaves, grub in the dirt, all were revealed before him. In this mental mapping, he found his attention focused on a specific little bug, standing on a flat little platform. This time, quicker on the uptake, he realized he had been led back to his Greengrow friend. He bent down again, bringing his head closer to the bug, and opened his eyes. Again, he experienced some slight vertigo from switching which sensory organ he was using, but it went away after a moment, and he was left looking at a familiar little beetle. He wasn¡¯t sure how his Skill differentiated the beetles between each other, but there was most likely some sort of subtle differences, undetectable to his conscious mind yet easily parsed when all information was considered. He was also greeted with two welcome notifications. [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (1) -> (2)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (1) -> (2)] Chapter 23 He expected the [Fine-Tooth Comb] level up, but the [High Mind] level increase was a nice surprise. He supposed that it was most likely making it easier to process the vibrations. Despite them getting muddled, [High Mind] would use more power in trying to separate each unique wave. He had confirmed how [Fine-Tooth Comb] worked, and touched upon [High Mind], so he pulled up his interface to see which Skill would be next to test [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 1) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 26/26 MP: 26/26 SP: 26/26 Stats: Physical: 13 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 19 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 34% Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 40% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (592/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19) Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (1) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (2), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (1), High Mind (2)]. [Vigilance] was crossed out until further notice, as it required his life to be in danger, and [In Tune] required other people to function, so he couldn''t test that either. Next on the list was [Commune with the Universe], causing him to sweat a little bit. It would most likely be a big moment if a force of nature accepted communication with him, so he decided to think about questions to ask them. He didn¡¯t want to be all caught up in unsurity, stammering his questions until the entity got bored and left. Though he couldn¡¯t be too specific with it, as he couldn¡¯t predict what he would be talking to. He decided to settle on two simple questions: ¡°What force do you represent?¡± and ¡°If you had to give a single piece of advice to me, what would it be?¡± The second was a bit cliche, seemingly asking for guidance from beings beyond his imagination, but he thought whatever he would be talking to would probably know better than him what he needed to know. He sat cross legged within the center of his cave, and closed his eyes. Mentally activating his [Commune with the Universe] Skill, he felt as the Identity portion of his soul was cast off in a direction he couldn¡¯t perceive. He saw nothing, felt nothing, yet sensed something. It wasn¡¯t like the Void he had traveled after the death of his former identity, this was something within reality, but he couldn¡¯t quite put into words where he was. He didn¡¯t have a body to look at this time, instead just feeling the forces around him. He was certainly somewhere within the material world, he just didn¡¯t understand where. It was peaceful. The nothingness wasn¡¯t some sort of sensory deprivation chamber, it was just a quiet journey through somewhere he couldn¡¯t understand, yet felt the beauty of. All around him, harmony rang out like a trillion clockwork gears working in perfect synchrony. Before he could properly understand what was going on, the trance ended, and he gently settled back into his body. He gasped for air when he came to again, clutching his chest as pain rang out across his soul. The seams of [Connection] holding it together pulled tighter as his soul attempted to force itself apart, crushed under the weight of something he couldn¡¯t see. Slowly, the effect lessened, and the pain he felt receded. It wasn¡¯t long, perhaps a minute or so, but it felt like he had reached full-body muscle failure, except all across his soul. He had overextended himself in some way he didn¡¯t understand, and he spiritually collapsed to the floor. Breathing heavily while laying on the grass, Dei tried to carefully study his soul. There wasn¡¯t any lasting damage, but using the Skill had required an extensive workout from his soul that it simply could not give. While it hadn¡¯t taken any mana, there seemed to be an intangible limit to how many times his soul could use Skills before it started to flag. He laid there for a while, simply letting the world come back into focus, before opening his notification. [Skill Leveled Up: Commune with the Universe (1) -> (2)] Even though no entity had actually contacted him, simply using the Skill had given him a level. It was probably for the best that he didn¡¯t talk to anything either, as his [Connection] Skill might not have withstood it. He tried thinking about what, exactly, happened. He didn¡¯t want to say that the strain was exclusively from communing with some higher being, because it wasn¡¯t the first time it had happened. He remembered when he pushed his [Growing Pains] Skill too far, and his soul felt some similar version of what he felt now. It seemed that there was more than one cost to using Skills. One was, of course, the mana, but that wasn¡¯t everything. Even passive Skills or Skills that cost negligible mana would put stress on his soul, eventually dealing some serious damage to him. He could also tell that different Skills put different levels of strain on him. Was it the concepts being used in the Skills? His [Growing Pains] Skill was absurdly simple, being a surface level concept of just working out because he was mad. [Commune with the Universe] on the other hand tapped into some ancient forces, most likely related to what his mom called Deep Concepts. Assuming he was right, that meant the Skills which would affect him the most were going to be his [Identify of the Stout Protector] and [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] Kindness, the avatar for the affinity, told him that his [Identify] was a rare-grade Skill, and [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] was uncommon. When he identified the beetle before, it wasn¡¯t difficult, but that might be because he barely used it. His [(Contained)] Skill wasn¡¯t giving him any trouble either, but there was also no pressure on the walls of the Skill in his soul. Would he face agonizing pain when it filled up fully, and was forced to try and grow? He did not want to find out, but he might have to. He wasn¡¯t sure how fast his soul was going to heal. He also suspected that his new [Meditation] Skill would be ranked as Uncommon if it was measured, as he felt it upgrade when the two parent Skills merged, but he had no way to know that. If his [Commune with the Universe] Skill had to be measured, Dei could almost guarantee it would be Epic or Legendary. It was so unbelievably esoteric that he failed to even remotely grasp what it was doing to his soul when he used it. His mother said that the deeper concepts were harder to grasp, more ¡°idea¡± than ¡°reality,¡± and there could be little deeper than directly talking to forces of nature. Putting it like that, actually, perhaps it was Mythical? If it was, that would definitely explain the instant agony. The version of [Meditation] he received from his class was Common, he felt what it was before the merge. His [High Mind] Skill remained to be seen though, as he had done very little to actively use it. It was looking like he needed to though, to at least test whether it would hurt him badly. Deciding that it was next on the list anyway, he thought about what he could do with his [High Mind] Skill that wouldn¡¯t push the ability to its limits, lest he incur harsh backlash, but something that would push it just enough to give a little backlash. The Skill would make his mind more malleable as it leveled up, but it was only level two right now. He suspected that increased speed of thought came passively, but the part of the description that gave malleability was an active part. He might be able to reshape his mind, however that would look. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The obvious way, which he always read about in stories, would be some sort of split-mind Skill, but he thought that would be too far out of reach right now. Instead, he had to keep it within his natural human bounds, yet pushing his personal bounds enough to require the Skills intervention. He tried imagining something that humans could naturally do with their minds yet was difficult. Quickly, an idea was forming in his head. ¡®Multitasking! That could be it. Some people are better at multitasking than others, but humans naturally struggle to do so well. Perhaps even full multitasking would be asking for too much. Maybe just thinking about multitasking, like making myself ambidextrous?¡¯ New plan in mind, he was about to ready himself to try making himself ambidextrous when a notification surprised him. [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 1) -> (Level 2)] [Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual] He grinned. ¡®Even thinking about my Skills and how they work is enough to earn experience. Piece of cake!¡¯ With the new stats, he also felt that his Soul would be able to take a bit more of the pressure than it had last time. He focused back onto the task at hand. Picking up one of the sticks made from the stalks of foliage dotting the cave, he looked around for somewhere to write, realizing that there was pretty much nothing to mark using the stick. He would have to settle for imagining writing on something. The stick in his right hand, he was about to pretend to write on the ground, when he almost slapped himself for being an idiot. Quickly opening up his notepad using his Interface, he found the list he previously wrote using a rock was still there, then actually did slap himself in the face. He was about to pretend to write on the ground, forgetting he had a notepad that didn¡¯t need ink. Sighing, he opened a new page within the notepad of the System, and tried writing out his own name ¡®Dei¡¯ using the English language. Phonetically, it would be ¡®D E I,¡¯ and three letters were not very hard. Using the dominant right hand to write his name out first, it was easy. Switching to his left hand, he tried to make it so he was just as good at using his left hand as he was his right hand. He felt [High Mind] kick into gear, and a slight pressure was exerted on his soul as it did something to him. The pressure stopped increasing after a few moments, then took a bit longer to settle down enough for him to actively focus on writing. When he did end up writing his name out, he saw that it was a neat copy of what he had used his right hand for. Putting the stick back into his right hand to compare the feeling to, he realized that it didn¡¯t feel natural anymore. Attempting to use his right hand now, he awkwardly wobbled his way through writing his name, making an unrecognizable chicken scratch. It seemed, as of right now, that becoming ambidextrous was out of the picture for him. Instead, [High Mind] had switched his dominant hand from his right hand to his left hand. He didn¡¯t really like it though, so he focused on switching back to his right hand and, after suffering the pressure again, went back to normal. He was surprised there was no level up this time, but he supposed it most likely got harder to level them up the higher leveled they were. Finally, it was time to test his [Meditation] Skill. He reviewed the effects it was supposed to have on him one last time before activating it [Meditate - Level 1 - Mana Affinity The self, everything that ones identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. The plants, insects, and even microbes experience the same moments as any human, yet ones identity itself is entirely unique. Despite sharing moments with so many others, no entity shares every moment with you. Your identity is the sum of so many parts, yet greater than every single one individually. Even still, there is an unbreakable link between every singular person and the grand cosmos that rotates around their unique perspective. Using that link, draw aspects of yourself into the open, showing all what it means to be you. Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards.] It would give him something called a Visible Presence. Without further adieu, he sat down cross legged, and began to meditate. A similar scene to before played out. Slowly, the vision of his soul was brought into focus, but instead of specific parts becoming clearer for him to focus on, the entirety of it was shown before him. His entire life, from the start of Levens life to the current moment, were before him. He observed as, slowly, lines of power became clearer. Tens, hundreds, thousands of lines linked to various aspects of himself. In order to gain a sense for what was happening, he brought up a more recent memory. Going back to the time when he identified the [Greengrow Beetle], he watched as he moved the bug from one location to another. One of the lines originated from the memory, shooting outwards. He knew, instinctually, that the line would end in the real life version of this little beetle. He decided his first activation of the Skill would be to focus on this link. Taking hold of the link he did¡­ something with his [Meditation]. It felt as if something was drawn from the link, pouring out and covering his soul. It was a thin film right now, but more power poured from it the longer he maintained the connection. Weirdly, there was no pressure on him from using the Skill, but he would look into it later. Right now, Dei watched as a rising tide of thin fog covered his soul. It was melancholic to watch, and before he knew it, hours had gone by. He was only awoken by the rumble of his stomach, slowly bringing an end to his trance. He opened his eyes, centered again and feeling well-rested. It didn¡¯t feel like work or that he was gaining power, just that he was connecting to something out in the world. Looking down at his body, he didn¡¯t notice anything different. He was going to study it more, but his growling stomach got louder, so he stood up and quickly had a speck of food. It, of course, rejuvenated him fully, and he was back in a state to continue studying. Closing his eyes to study his soul again without bringing up meditation, he saw that the fog around it was still there. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was enough to glean something. The fog had no color per se, but it was colored by an idea. The idea of [Greenglow Beetle]. He could sense that there was a thin Beetle-based film around his soul. It would supposedly affect his presence, but he didn¡¯t know what that looked like. He tried shaping it, and found that it responded readily, moving to his whims. Opening his eyes, he used [Fine-Tooth Comb] to find his beetle friend again easily, then sent out another [Identify] towards it. This time, instead of offering him something Dei tried to project his fog towards it to convey the idea of ¡®I like you! We¡¯re friends!¡¯ It might be his lonely self talking, but he really did like the little guy, even if the beetle was barely smart enough to think. This time, the beetle didn¡¯t immediately reject him, hesitating for a moment. And then it rejected him. It took a few seconds though! So Dei would consider it a score. He now had some way to better attune himself to the wildlife around the cave. How was that helpful? It wasn¡¯t! But he could do it. Well fed, Dei checked his clock [Since the Fall: 4/23/809 - 12:23:42] He woke up around seven, ate, spent two hours testing his abilities, then started his meditation. He had meditated for three hours before he had to eat, so he was only halfway through his day. He found that time passed slowly in that he thought it would be later in the day, yet faster in that he hadn¡¯t really felt the time pass at all. He was so actively busy that he could hardly track time. He kind of wanted to keep meditating, but decided on a new course of action. There would always be a bazillion different things to do, and he needed to train all of his Skills, not just one. As such, his first priority for leveling up would be [High Mind], that way he could multitask better. It would be significantly faster if he could use [Meditation] and [Astral Projection] while also using [Fine-Tooth Comb] to look through all the information he could see while projecting, and doing so would train his [High Mind] even more. He was getting rather excited at being able to cast tons of different spells and abilities, so he got right to work. Looking between his two hands, he switched dominance from his right to his left hand. He didn¡¯t necessarily need to write anything, he could just feel when [High Mind] had completed its task. He felt something different though. The pressure on his soul that caused him pain when overextending Skills didn¡¯t land on him alone. A negligible portion of the force was dispersed among the fog created by his [Meditation] and, only when he felt the fog couldn¡¯t take any more pressure on it, did it press further down into his soul. His eyes widened when he realized what this meant. The visible presence created by meditating was more than just a way to communicate, it worked as an extension of his soul. Putting [High Mind] into analyzing what just happened, he felt as his mind studied the different spiritual forces acting on him, getting a neat little packet. The analysis wasn¡¯t some in-depth review, it just gave him some information about his subconscious self that [High Mind] was able to scan, and he consciously wasn''t. Using Skills was like working out a muscle, as he suspected. He was in a perpetual state of spiritual muscle failure, metaphorically wheelchair bound. Normally, it would take a significant amount of effort to bring himself to the brink where Skills caused soul damage, but right now he¡¯s heavily damaged. He subconsciously tried to force his presence, an undamaged portion of his soul, to take on as much of the effort put into activating Skills as he could in order to prevent further damage. He also didn¡¯t notice his soul healing anymore, which made him nervous, but he would watch carefully over time to see if he was wrong. The pressure he felt wasn¡¯t damage to him, luckily, it was his soul sending a warning to not push any further, or else it would turn into damage. ¡®So what im seeing is that this Presence thing will let me use my Skills more, despite having a damaged soul. Meaning more training for High Mind. New plan?¡¯ He wasn¡¯t strapped for time, and he had food for who knew how long. He would guess months of food had been stocked up. As such¡­ he felt like training Presence might be more important right now. It was pleasant too, so he didn¡¯t feel like he¡¯d get bored of meditating. At least not quickly. Sitting back down in the spot he had before, he closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, and got to work. Chapter 24 The first order of business would be which link he decided to strengthen. He didn¡¯t just want to focus on his bug link, even if he thought it would be fun to study his beetle friend, he wanted something useful. The fog he already created was infused with the idea of [Greenglow Beetle], so the big question was: What idea did he want to showcase to the world? Deciding that started with looking at the different links. He saw it before, but a few of them were stronger than others. Three links in particular stood out, with two others that were notable but stood out less. The links that stood out were thicker than the others when they got further away from his soul, connecting out to somewhere in the real world, but as they got closer to his memories, they split apart and connected to different moments in his life. He decided to start with the thickest rope, and follow it down to a point, tapering off from a million memories into just a single one. The memory took place in middle school. They were let out for recess, but one girl had to stay behind. He didn¡¯t know why, but her leg was in a cast, so she couldn¡¯t run around with anyone else. Dei watched the memory from the start, seeing her friends talk to her for a minute or so before leaving her behind on a bench as they went to go play on the slide. He saw how she got a bit red, and her eyes watered a bit, so he wanted to help. He remembered Taj always brought a card game, so Leven told him that he would prefer to play cards rather than soccer that day. Taj didn¡¯t really care, so he got his cards, and Leven suggested they play it with the girl that was sitting alone. Taj had given him a side-eye, but complied, and together they approached the girl on the bench, helping her get to her wheelchair where Leven pushed her to one of the benches that had tables in front of them. He saw how she perked up when they approached her to play a game together, and got very bashful afterwards, but Leven pretended not to notice, and Taj didn¡¯t really care. For the next few weeks, Leven found any reason he could to play with her until her cast finally came off, and she was nice to him the rest of the year, as well as every year after that in middle school. Looking at the memory now, she probably had a crush on him, but was too shy to say. Eventually, around the start of highschool, they went their separate ways and became strangers, but he did occasionally see her in passing. He was smiling in pride at how he acted in his previous life, and he had a better idea at what this memory represented a link to. It was his Kindness. The three big links were moments when his affinities had shown through. While Soul was still very new, it was still an integral part of him, and it being a strong link made sense. The two smaller links, as he followed, were his parents. Many of the moments they connected to were in his early life, before he became conscious, but also after. He wondered for a moment why they were more tangible than the parents of his previous life, as he¡¯d spent more time with his previous parents, but dismissed it as ¡°my current ones are more important to me.¡± He wanted to see what each of the five big links would offer first. When he meditated on his connection to the [Greenglow Beetle], it had the effect of saying that he was a friend of the beetles. If he had to guess, it was stained by his perception of the beetle, so what did his link to Kindness mean? Meditating on the Kindness link for just a moment, the smallest cloud of fog was released. Before it could disperse into the rest of his Presence and get lost, he collected it into a ball, and studied it for a bit. What was Kindness to him? From the ball of Kindness, he found that to him, it was an appreciation of the world. He thought that life was beautiful, and he had a desire to protect it. Other people fascinated him because they were lives he could never live, but were valuable by themselves. Life was beautiful for its harmony, the beauty of nature. And the world itself was beautiful for its grand sights that made him feel oh-so-small. He loved everything around him, and he wanted it all to know that as well. If he meditated on Kindness, his Presence would show that he went out of his way to understand and appreciate everything he could, protecting it when given the chance. The feeling was profound to him, and he could confidently say that he liked how it made others see him. There was something else in there too, a bonus to the strength of cultivating his link to Kindness. It showcased a heavy burden for him to bear, one which he placed upon himself. This hidden feeling told the world that he considered himself responsible for acting when he had the chance. To him, failing to act was acting to fail. He was confused of where it came from at first, but the idea that it was his ¡°burden¡± gave him an idea, and he looked at his achievements [Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains] [Achievement Gained: Bearing the Burden Despite the cruelty of the world, you have never lost the spark within you that believes in others, and have been recognized by Kindness as a result. In his [Bearing the Burden] achievement, he saw that it increased his ¡°Soul Presence.¡± Now that he was messing with his Presence, he was reaping the rewards of the achievement. It did add an extra feeling that he couldn¡¯t remove from his presence if he decided to meditate on Kindness, but he felt that it also added strength to it, so he thought it was a fair trade off. Feeling like he knew most of what he could get from Kindness, he moved on to his link with Wrath. It was his second strongest, and he followed the connection down to a random memory to confirm what connection he was looking at. The memory was from his college days. He was sitting in the common room with one of his dorm mates, talking about relationships. This was early into college, before he met Emily, so he was single, but his friend was telling him about how he was having relationship issues with his girlfriend. It went normally at first, but when his friend offhandedly said something about ¡°trying things out with other ladies¡± before seeing if he should dump her, Leven lost it. Rage bubbled up inside him so quickly he could hardly contain it. He stood up from the couch, flipping the coffee table on accident with his legs before screaming at his friend that ¡°If you hate her that much then just fucking break up with her! Don''t take a roundabout way to just hurt her feelings!¡± His friend was taken completely off guard, as they were speaking in a normal tone of voice before Leven blew up instantly, screaming at him. His friend tried defending his actions, saying ¡°My life isn¡¯t yours. Mind your own business.¡± Leven immediately stomped out, unwilling to continue the conversation for fear of killing his dorm mate. As he left, the dorm mate threw one last comment at him about how he was ¡°Just gonna fuck em harder¡± to spite him, until Leven reached for the doorknob and ripped the door off its hinges. Dei didn¡¯t even remember this part, as Leven started seeing red at that point. He watched as Leven let out a gutteral roar and threw the door at the wall next to his dorm mate, who was paralyzed in fear. After that, he stormed down the stairs, went outside, and drove off. He didn¡¯t return for over a week, but by the time he did, everything was repaired and the dorm-mate in question was avoiding him. He ended up breaking things off with his girlfriend the day after their fight, most likely afraid of retaliation from Leven, and Leven never pursued the topic. All he remembered was that they had a fight, and that he didn¡¯t want anything to do with his former-friend. Dei was surprised nothing else came of the event, but he could see how this was connected to his Wrath. He was also surprised to find himself proud of this event too. Despite him losing his cool, Leven had blown up on a bad person, and not hurt anyone. He found his actions justified and fair, despite his rage. Moving out of the memory, he began meditating on Wrath in order to find what Wrath was to him. Weirdly, he felt like it was the other side to Kindness. Kindness was his willingness to protect what he considered good, while Wrath showed exactly what he would do to anything that threatened what he thought was good. Kindness was the shield, Wrath was the sword. They weren¡¯t fully separate either. Kindness was the compass while Wrath was the ship. He felt that Wrath would be directionless if left to its own devices, so Kindness guided its fury only to those that deserved it. By itself, to him, Wrath was a righteous fury to strike down any who committed acts he considered inexcusable. Kindness, by itself, felt too weak. While he would be willing to act in protection for those he cared about, he wouldn¡¯t have the strength to protect them forever. Wrath fueled Kindness¡¯ power, which protected his friends, while allowing Kindness to guide Wrath''s blade on a path he would follow without regrets. They formed a symbiosis of perfect harmony. At first, Dei thought that his Wrath was a curse, something to suppress. He saw now how limited his thinking was. Wrath was not a monster to kill, but a feral companion, yet to be tamed. ¡®Fuck, this is all getting so deep. At the same time, its fascinating to find all of this out about myself.¡¯ Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. He couldn¡¯t complain at all. Having seen both Wrath and Kindness, he found that he would need to meditate on them both equally. One was incomplete without the other. Before he could move on to Soul, he felt a notification pop up. Bringing himself out of meditation, he opened it. [Affinity Strengthened: [Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99%] has strengthened into [Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 0%]] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (1) -> (2)] He thought that his Wrath affinity would strengthen when he got angry again, and it might''ve, but it appeared that using affinities wasn''t the only way. Speaking of, he checked his interface to see all the progress he made so far, and to check his Kindness affinity. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 2) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 26/26 MP: 26/26 SP: 26/26 Stats: Physical: 13 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 24 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 57% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 0% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 55% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (614/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19) Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (2) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (2), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (2)] His Kindness affinity had gone up by 13%, while his Soul affinity went up by 15%. On top of that, his Pandora¡¯s Box gained 22 mana, and he didn¡¯t remember getting angry while meditating, so it had to be something else. Pulling up the dropdown for what mana was in his box, [583/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 22/2000 Soul] ¡®Hmm, did meditating get me some Soul affinity? Maybe, but that''s a huge burst that came from nowhere. I think Soul is the affinity for who I am, my identity. It¡¯s likely that I gained Soul affinity for thinking about what kind of person I am, and what that meant for my actions, with some mana to go along with it. There''s a good amount of overlap between my Profession and Soul affinity too, which is lucky.¡¯ Notifications handled, he checked the timer, seeing that about fifteen minutes had passed while studying the first two affinities. He closed his eyes again, waiting until the links became visible again, and drew closer to his Soul affinity. Following it down into one of his memories, he noted that they only started after the death of Leven. The memory he found was¡­ unusual compared to the other two. The world was muted, muffled. The focus was on himself, and him alone. This was his souls memory, not his. He could still feel the sensations of the world, but they didn¡¯t matter to the soul. The only thing that mattered were the changes it felt. It was his first time seeing the underground forest, and he felt the soul responding to the scene. It took in the emotions objectively and analyzed them, feeling almost robotic in its appreciation. ¡°The body feels wonder at the sight. There is safety in my mother. The cold wind gives a new stimulation, resulting in excitement. Imagination stimulates the mind, filling with new ideas¡± Such statements flowed through the soul, uncaringly. For the first time, Dei was beginning to understand what people meant when they said there was a difference between natural and unnatural affinities. Soul was all about himself, to an unnatural degree. It was utterly uncaring of the world around him, instead focusing on himself, and how the soul responded to the world. Kindness and Wrath were natural parts of his existence, and would not change who he was. Soul felt foreign, and the link he had with it would draw him closer the stronger it got. Wrath and Kindness didn¡¯t do that, as they were already a built-in part of him. Natural affinities grew from within him, connecting to the Conceptual Planes the stronger they got. Unnatural affinities grew from the Conceptual Planes towards him, pulling him closer the stronger they got. Drawing himself from the memory of Soul, he began to meditate on it, drawing the fog into another ball to study its meaning. Wrath and Kindness were relative feelings, he knew that each person would have their own interpretations of them. Soul was different. There was only one meaning for Soul, unchanging in its definition throughout all life on the planet. Soul was the collection of individual experiences. If he brought Soul into his Presence, it would tell the world that he was an individual. Everyone was an individual of course, but the Soul would bring enunciation to that. Those sensing his presence would feel solitude. Not necessarily loneliness, just that he was not one for community. It would tell the world that he was himself, and nothing anyone said or did would change that. He¡­ didn¡¯t really like that. While solitude was nice, he didn¡¯t want that to be what the world knew of him. His individual experiences were important, and he should always be conscious of who he was as a person, but there was more to life than focusing on himself. No, he would not let Soul into his Presence. Instead of letting it disperse around his soul, he dismissed it into nothing. The next strongest connection was the one with his mother. It was significantly weaker than all his affinity connections, which stained almost every moment, but still stronger than any of the other ¡®regular¡¯ connections, so to speak. Following it down into a memory, he found the familiar sight of when his mother had picked him up from his cradle, patting him on the back and singing to him while he fell asleep. He wiped a tear from his closed eyes and backed out from the memory before he could be drawn in too far. When he used his meditation Skill on this one, he got the feeling of care, safety, and love for innocents in a cruel world. It spoke of a determination to not allow any children to be harmed, the motherly love spreading further than simply her own progeny. It was the care for all who didn¡¯t know better though, not simply children. It would be the protection of trust, the trust in authority, the trust that good in the world would prevail. It was a bittersweet feeling, knowing that it spoke of her determination to protect him. He would incorporate this into his Presence, but he doubted it would be one to show the world. This would be for him, so he may never forget the feeling his mother gave him. The last of the five major connections was to that of his father. While he wasn¡¯t as directly present as Dei¡¯s mother, who constantly carried him around, he was a cornerstone in Dei¡¯s mind nonetheless. Following the link down to a memory, Dei saw a time when his mother was talking to someone at a stall, but his father wasn¡¯t paying attention, looking elsewhere. Dei had followed his fathers gaze, seeing some shifty looking woman at a stall further down the road, in dark clothing and staring at a single item being presented at the stall he was at, while ignoring the seller completely. His mom was distracted, and his siblings were exploring the market. Dei noticed that the woman was keeping his siblings in her periphery, watching them closely. Dei watched his siblings move to stand off to the side of the road, in front of an alley, while they inspected the toys they had bought. His siblings were talking animatedly to each other, when suddenly the woman moved towards them. She bobbed and weaved through the crowd, none taking notice of her despite her being obvious to him and, clearly, his father. The moment she started moving, his father did too. In the middle of the road, he intercepted her. Dei saw him reach out, laying a hand on her arm and guiding her in a different direction than his siblings, down an alley parallel to the one his siblings were in front of. She did not resist at all, a fear stricken look overwhelming her as she saw his fathers face. Dei never found out what happened in that alley, only that his father emerged alone less than thirty seconds later, looking at Dei¡¯s siblings to ensure they were okay, then Dei himself. Locking eyes with Dei, he smiled, and Dei smiled back. He resumed his position behind Dei¡¯s mom, and acted like nothing had happened at all. Still, though, his head was on a swivel, searching for threats. His body language had relaxed, yet it was never off guard. Emerging from the memory, Dei was thoughtful. There were many nuances to this world, and he couldn¡¯t say for sure what had happened to the woman. While it was true his father might have told her to fuck off somehow, it was just as likely he had quickly killed her. For all Dei knew, she could have been either a known criminal or a monster. There was clearly no shortage of such things, and he wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she was a monster that focused on bringing attention away from herself, as the crowd had ignored her completely. Could she have been a [Diamond Smiler], of which he was accused of being? He didn¡¯t think so, as Iora seemed to imply they replaced children more than disguised as adults¡­ But that might¡¯ve been what she was doing? Actually, now that he thought about it, it was pretty likely. She had turned peoples attention away from her, potentially using Soul techniques to mess with their perception, as Iora said they used the Soul affinity. He remembered his mom telling him more about his Soul affinity, how it was made up of what people called ¡°control¡± affinities, meant to manipulate others, such as Mind and Heart. Holy shit, his father might¡¯ve killed a [Diamond Smiler] in a back alley without even telling anyone! Or he did tell someone, just not while in the market with his mom. When he meditated on what his father was to him, the feeling he drew from the link was that he was content with his position, to the point that might even be considered lazy, but when anything threatened any part of his position, he would respond with a zealous determination to keep himself firmly within contentment. He loved his position as a father, so he would fight for his kids. He loved his position as a husband, so he would fight for his wife. He loved his position as a hunter, so he would fight for his village. His father loved him just as much as his mother did, yet they expressed it differently. His mother couldn¡¯t show her love enough, yet Dei knew what his father had done to make his and his mothers escape possible. He was a protector against the monster in his closet. He grabbed the hand which wielded the dagger in the dark by materializing from somewhere even darker. His father was the silent protector, and he was content to be so. Dei would have to include this in his Presence as well. There really was so much about the world he wanted to draw into his presence, but would settle for the strongest connections. And maybe his favorite bug. He also noticed that more Presence was drawn from his Kindness affinity than was drawn from the connection with his Parents. He guessed that it was from the strength of the connection he had to Kindness, as it was something innate to him as a person. He decided his plan for his Presence would be Kindness and Wrath in equal parts making up the majority, maybe around 60%? Then his parents would make up 30%, and his ¡°miscellaneous¡± connections to the world would make up 10%. While it would be most effective for his Skills to use only Kindness, and maybe a bit of Wrath to scare creatures when needed, he wanted some presence for himself too. He wanted to be surrounded by his appreciation for the world, and his parents'' love. Plan in mind, he brought his Kindness back into view and began to Meditate. Chapter 25 [Since the Fall: 4/25/809 - 6:23:21] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (2) -> (3)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (2) -> (3)] Dei woke with a start, gasping for breath while his eyes darted to and fro, studying his surroundings. He found that he was safe, still in the cave he was in when he went to sleep. The crystals were starting to brighten, but they were still a little dim right now. He was safe. Nothing else in here. Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, he brought his heartbeat back under control. It had been two days since he first started meditation, and his Visible Presence was coming along nicely. He got up to check his makeshift garden. His moms satchel previously held many plants she thought were useful, which he now inherited. He didn¡¯t know how to store them, per se, but he tried growing them again. He knew a little bit about growing plants from stalks, by cutting the bottom off and planting it in water until it formed roots, but none of these had needed that, as all their roots were intact. He did notice that these plants were much hardier and grew more rapidly than earth plants, quickly taking root. He attributed that to the fact that most of them were high level plants. That''s right, after identifying them he realized that each plant had its own levels. Anyway, he had planted them off to the side of the cave in the hopes that they would grow rather than die. His mom picked these plants as they were supposedly useful to the community, but he suspected that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get the full use from them. Despite that, he could get the basic uses from them. He identified the first of seven types of plants his mom had left him again, the plants putting up no resistance to being identified. [Firm Root Grass - Level 133 Firm Root Grass is a special type of grass that plants deep, nutritious roots in the loose soil they naturally grow in. These roots have a high attunement for Health, leading to mildly regenerative properties HP: 810 MP: 135 Physical: 135 Mental: 9 Spiritual: 10 Magical: 10] When he first identified it, he noted how its HP multiplier for Physical was six, but its MP Multiplier was only one. Also, he thought it was funny that it had a higher mental stat than the beetle, but he was starting to realize something about these stats. They were relative to each species, each creature. This plant had a high Physical stat, and that made it stronger for a plant. Dei was stronger for a human, specifically a human kid. He still wasn¡¯t as strong as an adult, despite a high Physical Stat, because the Physical stat wasn¡¯t some magical- okay, it was magical- it wasn¡¯t some cheat to becoming infinitely strong. It multiplied the muscle he already had. He suspected 8-12 was the ¡°average¡± for most creatures. That meant that the beetle he identified before¡­ was a total idiot. Not just that, but it was lacking in spirituality and magical abilities completely. He identified other [Greengrow Beetles] though, and all of them had a similar distribution of points. High physical, absurdly low everything else. He realized that the difference was in the environment. The reason the beetles were so stupid for beetles was that they were a niche species. They didn¡¯t suffer from predators, challenges, or obstacles. They just kinda lived, which made them very very dumb. They never reached their full biological potential. The [Firm Root Grass], on the other hand, had grown up in a forest, competing with other plants for nutrients that were not guaranteed, leading it to becoming its biological average. The grass focused on Physical because it had to become stronger than the grass around it, magic playing a very small part in its life. Over time, its species had somehow given up portions of its soul that went to MP, focusing it on HP instead, leading to a special variant of grass. Each of the plants his mom had collected fit some sort of niche in the environment, giving it certain low-tier abilities. The Root Grass grew in loose soil, like a bog or sand, so he had planted it in mud which he would have to water frequently to keep loose. He wasn¡¯t afraid of it overtaking the regular grass of the cave, as it struggled to grow in solid soil. The next three plants were much like the [Firm Root Grass] in that they were only slightly magical. [Pepper Bark - Level 135 Bark of the Pepper Bark Tree, infused with Fire mana. In small, diluted doses, works as an incredible spice. In its pure form, it causes agonizing pain when ingested.] Spicy bark, got it. It also didn¡¯t have stats, most likely because it wasn¡¯t the actual plant. He had a good five or six pounds of the stuff. [Rubbergum Fruit - Level 1 Hosting a highly squishy outer layer, the fruit will protect the seeds inside by being completely chewable, yet never allowing the skin to break] It felt similar to a soft rubber, like an eraser that had heated up a bit too much. Yet Dei found that he couldn¡¯t rip it apart with his hands, the skin itself being elastic and durable. He was pretty sure it was only level 1 as his [Identify] was measuring the seeds within the fruit, rather than the tree it came from. He suspected some big herbivore would eat this fruit, and the entire thing would pop out unharmed on the other end. [Golden Glow Fruit - Level 1 Grown from the Golden Glow Fruit tree, these small fruits are chock-full of Light mana. Bitter yet safe to eat, the fruits will slowly mature while on the vine, the Light mana growing in density until it becomes volatile. When the light mana becomes too high for the fruit to contain, the bottoms of the fruits explode, launching it into the air and sending the seeds to a different location] It was magical, yes, and impressive, yes, but he remembered a plant on Earth that repeated the same without mana at all, so it was less significant. The next plant was where they started getting interesting. [Floating Lily Sprout - Level 112 Floating Lilies are a special kind of water lily found in freshwater ponds prone to rapid droughts and floods. Their stalks are an incredibly dense yet hollow metallic-like substance. When the pond the lilies reside in floods, the roots retract into the stalks, and the lily fills the stalk with air, allowing for it to float above the water. When the pond the lilies reside in enter periods of drought, the lilies quickly dig their roots into the soil, balancing on their long stalks to stay above the pests that would normally devour the sensitive and highly sweet lilies on top. Through flood or drought, the lilies always float, giving them their name. HP: 489 MP: 326 Physical: 163 Mental: 65 Spiritual: 11 Magical:10] This one, he dug three small indents in the ground to plant the three sprouts he had, and linked up the indents with the small creek. They would drain as fast as they filled, but the lilies always had water. While he couldn¡¯t recreate the flooding aspect, he could try and keep them alive until he found somewhere outside the cave for them to live. He was also excited about the part that said the flowers were sweet, but they weren¡¯t flowering right now, so he had no way to know. At first he thought he would need to split the stems to create roots for them, but he found out their roots had just been tucked away. Good thing too, as his moms knife failed to cut the metallic green stalks, which is what clued him in to identifying it before planting it. He found that it had more total stat points than the [Firm Root Grass], so he believed it was an uncommon plant while the root grass was common. On top of this, it was a weirdly intelligent plant, which he attributed to the fact that it had to decide whether to retract its roots or not. The third plant he decided to not allow to grow in the cave. [Hanging Shade Moss - Level 152 Hanging Shade Moss is a parasitic moss that feasts on the trees they attach themselves to, until the trees fall over, spewing spores further out to land on other trees. The moss begins its life as mutually beneficial to the tree it resides on. It is filled with Shadow mana that is toxic to being ingested, and this Shadow mana drives off insects while obscuring the tree on which the Hanging Shade Moss resides, slowly coating the trunk and branches while allowing the leaves to gather sunlight. Once all but the leaves are obscured, the Hanging Shade Moss begins draining nutrients from the tree in order to kill it, thus restarting the cycle. HP: 216 MP: 216 Physical: 108 Mental: 64 Spiritual: 75 Magical: 93] Not only did he not have a tree to hang it on, he didn¡¯t even want it in his cave. He went into the crag leading into the cave, yet still within the protective bubble, and dug into the stone. It was weirdly easy, the stone coming free in handfuls like clay, when he remembered he had a racial bonus for digging [Digging (Major) - Passive Slight in-born hyper-specialized earth affinity gives +600% digging speed] After digging deep enough, he buried the massive pile of moss he still had in the hole and blocked it up, just to be sure it wouldn¡¯t infect anything else. It was apparently squished somehow in the bag, as it had expanded greatly after he placed it on the ground and left it there for around a day. It had been another day since he buried it, and he would bring it out if he ever decided he needed it. The next plant was also scary, but he was afraid to bury it like he had the [Hanging Shade Moss]. He had a dozen of them, and they looked like foot-long angler teeth with roots on the bottom. [Biting Flesh Trap of Allure bulb - Level 233 Biting Flesh Traps are plants that slowly compact themselves flat to the ground, blending in with the terrain around them. When animals step on them, they shoot up, biting into the flesh of the creatures, drinking the blood that falls to the ground. If left to fester, fields of Biting Flesh Traps are capable of slaying monsters by impaling them repeatedly. This particular strain has evolved, attuning itself to the Heart affinity. It will use such an affinity to entice animals to walk onto it, then fill them with fear after they are injured so they run away, allowing the Biting Flesh Trap of Allure to drink the blood in peace. HP: 356 MP: 356 SP: 356 Physical: 178 Mental: 44 Spiritual: 9 Magical: 112] He felt some sort of resonance between him and the plant, and he realized that he was actually able to sense the Heart affinity using his Soul affinity. More than this, he was able to control it. While it was very specialized to attacking other creatures'' minds, it actually had an absurdly low Spiritual stat, leaving it vulnerable to being controlled in turn. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He didn¡¯t want to plant it yet¡­ but wouldn''t dismiss planting it completely. This one, he actually went a step further, searching its soul using his [Identify of the Stout Protector] to sense how long they could last without being planted, and still being strong enough to grow. [Plant will perish without soil in approximately: 5-7 years] It would do him well to remember that he could identify more than just the basic information of a soul. He scanned the Pepper Bark and both fruits, seeing how long they would last just to be sure. The bark would last [Indefinitely], so it wouldn¡¯t rot. The Golden Glow fruit would only last [3-5 days] though, so he decided to eat those soon. He only had four, so it wouldn¡¯t be a big deal. And the six rubber fruits would last [10 months-1 year], so he had time on that one. Finished checking on his garden, verifying that all his plants he wanted to be healthy were, he made his way to the center of the cave to [Meditate]. He wasn¡¯t able to meditate on two concepts at once, instead having to alternate. That wouldn¡¯t be an issue for long though: with all the new fog around his soul, it was getting easier and easier to use [High Mind]. He still wasn''t at a point where his Presence could absorb the full weight of the Skill, but it didn¡¯t feel as uncomfortable to use it actively now, and he could use it faster. The levels were slow coming too, but those would become faster when he could actually use his Skills for more than a few seconds at a time. With more studying as well, he also confirmed that his Soul was indeed not healing. Whatever his mother had done to him had healed him for a time, but now it seemed the cracks might be permanent. At least until he could find some sort of soul healer, or get a Skill dedicated to healing souls. His mother had a Skill for healing Souls, obviously, so he knew it was possible. Before his Presence training, Dei might¡¯ve felt despair at the fact that he wouldn¡¯t be able to wait around for his soul to fix itself, as the path forward would¡¯ve become impossible without his Skills behind him. Or at least much more difficult. Now though, there was the slimmest of hopes, and he would hold onto it until he could reach the place he called home. Standing up from the grassy bed he normally slept on, he made his way over to his moms bag, getting the typical breakfast rations. He still wasn¡¯t confident in repeating the last time he worked his body to the bone, but it would absolutely be a path forward if he needed more Physical stats fast. He still needed to bring his stats into balance, as his Physical was much lower than the other two, but he would save that for when he could work out and meditate at the same time. He thought it should be possible, as meditation was more a state of mind than an active undertaking, but for now he needed to sit still and focus to bring himself into that state of mind. After his small yet somehow hearty breakfast, he checked his Interface, as he started doing right before beginning his [Meditation]. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 2) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 26/26 MP: 26/26 SP: 26/26 Stats: Physical: 13 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 24 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 57% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 0% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (642/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19) Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (3) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (2), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (3)] Aside from the levels in [Meditation] and [High Mind], he also noticed that his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] Skill was slowly building up mana as he meditated. [583/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 52/2000 Soul] It seemed that meditation would gradually increase his connection to Soul, while also producing a small amount of Soul mana. Something else he discovered though was that he could will his affinity to not increase. After it had increased by 3% in one day, he started dreading the idea of increasing it to the point where he would lose himself. His affinities stated that he could counteract Soul¡¯s affect on him by increasing his natural affinities, but Soul was just so easy to increase compared to the other two in the environment he found himself in. On top of this, his attunement to Soul made it twice as fast. Despite that though, after he resolved in his mind to resist his affinity for Soul increasing, it just flat out stopped. While it was true this might be giving up power, even a valuable tool for him, he wasn''t going to change his stance until his Wrath was a bit higher than Soul. True, Soul would be a valuable tool at higher levels, but Dei himself wasn¡¯t a tool, and he wouldn¡¯t let his personality be overtaken. Sighing at the complications of his life, way too much for some however-many-month old, he sat back down and started meditating, or tried. He found that he was too restless. He couldn¡¯t bring his soul back into view, as he couldn¡¯t calm his mind at all. He wasn¡¯t a fool, he knew the issue was how long he had been sitting in this cave. Way, way too long. Like a week and a half. He was starting to get stir-crazy. As stupid as it might''ve been, Dei needed to see outside the cave, just a small bit. Standing back up, he made his way over to the cave entrance and looked through. It was a dark crag, a split that marred the perfect, homely, peaceful feeling of where he¡¯d now found himself. He¡¯d ventured into it to bury the poisonous moss, but now it seemed so much more mysterious with his intention to actually step outside. One look at the dark cavern quashed his desire to leave, so he turned right back around, sat down, and successfully started meditating. An hour later though, he was pulled from the peacefulness by errant curiosity. Even if he was scared of leaving, that fear was overshadowed by boredom. Bringing himself back up to the entrance, he looked at it again. This time, he didn¡¯t turn around immediately, and squeezed himself through. He could tell, through [Tremor Sense], where the bubble that concealed him from the outside world started and ended. It was only slightly into the crag, maybe five or six feet, and he paused at the wall, tempted to turn back. ¡®Just put a single foot out, for just a few seconds. Just enough to get a feel for the outside world¡¯ he told himself. His mind would be able to handle tremor sense better, with more than triple the Mental stat than his first time. He didn¡¯t think he was in danger of being overwhelmed again, but he didn;t want to risk it. One foot, for a few seconds. That was all he would do. Slowly, he raised his right leg, and placed it down on the outside of the bubble. Immediately, the world opened before him. He couldn¡¯t calculate exactly how far [Tremor Sense] let him see, but it had to be at least ten miles before things became too fuzzy to make out. Before he could lock on to any details though, he quickly retracted his leg back into the bubble, scraping it slightly on the rock around him. Panting hard in the dark cave, he didn¡¯t move any further back to safety. He just stood there, right at the edge of the outer world. When he was calm enough, he realized that he had been able to scan the outside world for a few seconds without feeling overwhelmed at all. It felt natural, like a missing part of his body had finally returned. He hadn¡¯t even noticed that he had some sort of phantom limb until now, as the tremor sense organ was not part of his previous body. Now that he knew though, he could feel discomfort in his mind. The bubble in this little cave protected him, but it made him uneasy too. He felt trapped, his body yearning to be able to see for miles, scanning his surroundings. Since his [Tremor Sense] was being suppressed, he felt blinded, despite the fact that he had never used it before at all. The feeling didn¡¯t stem from his conscious mind, but his primal instincts the System had built into him when it upgraded his racial abilities. He huffed. That made things much more difficult. While he could naturally suppress the instinct, he also knew that it wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounded. It was going to bother his meditation. Even if he was technically safer in here, he didn¡¯t feel safer because of the weird new instinct. He wasn¡¯t going to be an idiot though. He would spend as long as he could in this cave, instincts be damned. If he had to go insane in here if it meant living, he would. Still though, it didn¡¯t hurt to take a peek every now and again, satiating his new sense so that he could continue his meditation. Now that he confirmed his mind wouldn¡¯t immediately be overwhelmed, he decided to place his foot outside of the cave for longer. Lifting up the same leg, he placed it confidently down outside the bubble, and felt a world open up before him. There was so much to see, so much to listen to. While he couldn¡¯t actually hear anything, sounds made vibrations, and he could imagine the sounds across everything. Looking at the mass of caves, it felt unnatural to his Earth imagination. He was deep, deep underground, there shouldn¡¯t be this many caves, but there were an uncountable amount. More than that, there were two cave systems that rarely intersected. The first cave system was the one he was connected to. It was dry, with the familiar moss and walking creatures he had seen a few times with his mother. The other one was some underground river that occasionally overlapped with the dry one to create pools for the land creatures to drink. The harmony between the two was staggering, almost intentional. The water system was like a massive underground river, constantly flowing to the point he couldn¡¯t see into it. The vibrations emanating from the water was too strong, impossible to see through. When he focused too hard on it, he found himself becoming woozy as his [Tremor Sense] strained to filter out the noise. He simply couldn¡¯t believe that these systems were accidental. They looked like two systems in the body, weaving around each other. If the water caves were some massive circulation system, the dry caves were a nervous system. At the same time, neither tapered down to smaller points to ¡®deliver¡¯ nutrients anywhere. The caves were genuinely not alive to his senses. He tried to [Identify] the stone walls just to confirm, but his identify completely rebounded off. He could tell that it wasn¡¯t because the wall was ¡°resisting¡± his identify, it just never had a soul in it. The walls were not part of some massive creature like he initially feared, it was solid stone. So, while it might look like two systems interweaving, perhaps there was something else at work. To him, the formations didn¡¯t seem natural, but he was working off of earth knowledge. Was there something that natural mana did to stone? Something that made the cave systems form like this? That was as good a guess as any, and what he would run with for now. If the entire planet was alive, he didn¡¯t even know what he would do. Calming himself with deep breaths, Dei refocused on the dry systems he could look into. There were pockets of open area, but for the most part the caves were tunnels, corridors that widened and narrowed in various places. When he tried to focus on any part, he struggled to filter out the noise. He saw now that his little cave was so quiet. He decided to try something new. Using [Fine-Tooth Comb], he gave it the instruction to focus on the area 100 feet out around where the crag met the main cave system. His mind focused on a much smaller area now, relieving him of most of the pressure that built up. In his little area he saw¡­ not much. One hundred feet in either direction of a random corridor. There were other cracks in the wall too, so the crack he hid inside wasn¡¯t unique. By all intents and purposes, it was exactly the same as every other cave system. When looking at where he hid from outside, Dei noticed that it wasn¡¯t just some empty space like he thought it would be, but the field also camouflaged itself. It just looked like nondescript stone. Back to the outer cave system, there were only two things ¡°of note¡± around him. Two patches of wildlife. About forty feet to the right from the crack leading to his cave, there was a random shrub with caterpillars on it. On the edge of his designated area for tremor sense to his left, he also noticed a patch of moss and a couple plants on the walls. That was all for the area directly around him. Curiosity sated, he moved back into the safety of his bubble, quickly scurrying back into the gem-lit room. He smiled, feeling much better than he had since he started meditating, and opened his new notification. [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (2) -> (3)] Clearing his mind, Dei sat back down in the center of the cave and continued to meditate. Chapter 26 [Since the Fall: 5/9/809 - 7:08:52] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (3) -> (4)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (4) -> (5)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (5) -> (6)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (3) -> (4)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (4) -> (5)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (3) -> (4)] Two weeks passed since the first time he peeked out of his cave. He fell into a routine of checking on his garden, looking outside, then meditating for the rest of the day. Every time he used his [Tremor Sense] outside of his garden, it hurt his head just a bit less. He was pretty sure that he was somehow working out his brain, but he wasn¡¯t gaining any Mental stats. He assumed that it was because stats couldn¡¯t naturally exceed fourteen, they needed certain conditions to surpass that threshold, such as a Class, Profession, or Skill (like his [Growing Pains] Skill). To him, working out his mind beyond stats was even better than stats themselves, as it meant that his stats had ¡®more¡¯ to multiply, per se. At this point, it was all but a guarantee that stats worked as a multiplicative of existing strength. His Profession began to frustrate him. He spent so much time, thinking and pondering, yet another level never came. He knew that it would become harder to level up with each successive level, but he was only on level two! He had to assume that, even if it was easy to gain experience for the Profession from thinking, he would need to do a lot of thinking. This was a Profession meant for someone who had lived a long life, losing themselves in thought for months at a time. It was made for an immortal with uncountable years to their name, so he came to terms with the fact that a couple measly weeks weren¡¯t going to change much. He had a new idea today. Something he realized he could do now with all the Soul mana he was building up. He checked his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] to see all the mana¡¯s stored inside [578/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 182/2000 Soul] He was doing some experimentation with the different Skills and attuned mana, and he found some interesting things. When it came to Skills, there were two types of mana they could use. MP- Mana Points with a capital M- could be used for any Skill. They were general use. The second type of mana Skills could take was the attuned mana of their type. So, to use [Astral Projection], he could either use Mana, Soul mana, or a combination of the two. His Confluence Skill [Identify of the Stout Protector] had three affinities, and he found that he could use any of them. He could feed it with Soul mana and Wrath mana. He assumed Kindness as well, but he hadn¡¯t wanted to risk the seven mana he had for Kindness, as he didn¡¯t know when he would get more. He also noted that he could use Wrath mana to use the Kindness version, but the potency was reduced than if he had used Wrath on the Wrath version. It reduced the concentration that his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] gave it back down to its base form, if it wasn¡¯t used with the ¡°correct¡± version. Todays experiment with his powers was to try using [Astral Projection]. Combining both his Soul mana and MP, he had two hundred and eight mana he could pour into it. After he was born, the Mana Cost for it changed from a big fat zero mana, to ¡°??? initial MP cost¡± in the description. He still hadn¡¯t figured out the limit, but he was going to try now. He sat in his typical meditation pose, and activated his [Astral Projection] Skill. He felt as it drained the MP first, before moving into Pandora¡¯s Box and rapidly consuming the Soul mana he had in there. It was a weird feeling, like he had been sitting for too long on a leather couch, and now he was peeling himself away from it as he stood up. Before he made it very far though¡­ he ran out of mana, and his Identity that was being slowly peeled away from his soul clicked back into place. ¡®What!!¡¯ he thought with exasperation ¡®It costs more than two hundred mana? I thought it would cost at most two hundred mana!¡¯ Worse too, he could sense that it hadn¡¯t even been close. He needed a massive amount of mana for something like this, which was irritating when he could do it for free before. He had wasted all that Soul mana too. It didn¡¯t get refunded to him, just consumed by his Skill and sent exactly nowhere. Sighing, he sat back down and started meditating. * * * [Since the Fall: 6/9/809 - 5:44:18] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (6) -> (7)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (7) -> (8)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (8) -> (9)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (5) -> (6)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (4) -> (5)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (5) -> (6)] [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 2) -> (Level 3) [Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual] ¡®Today!¡¯ he woke up excitedly ¡®Finally!¡¯ It had been exactly a month since the last time he tried to astral project, and now he would try again. His meditation was getting higher leveled, and he found that he was earning more Soul mana from it as it did. He opened his new pool of affinity mana [578/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 497/2000 Soul] He had almost five hundred Soul mana, but that last little bit would be covered by the MP he had. Judging based on the feeling he got last time from the Skill, it shouldn¡¯t even be five hundred mana. When it failed, he sensed that he was a bit less than halfway through the process. If he was right in his feeling, today would be the day he actually managed to use his [Astral Projection]. He needed to begin working it out, as there was a place far away that he needed to visit, one he saw through [Tremor Sense]. He also resolved to use it to just fly around outside his cave, because he desperately needed some fresh air. Even if he wouldn¡¯t be able to go far, seeing outside would do wonders for his mental health. He had a thought in the last month of meditation though, that the bubble would perhaps block him from leaving. Just as a precaution, he decided to stick the smallest, teensiest bit of his finger outside the bubble, that way he might be able to travel through that point to get out. He moved through the crag excitedly, reaching the edge of his safezone. He sat down, scrunching his legs to his chest and placing his hand on the ground, right before the wall of protection. He wasn¡¯t sure if his body would collapse to the floor when he cast the spell, but he didn¡¯t want to take chances. He stuck a little bit of his finger out, then began casting the spell. Similar to last time, it drained his general MP first, before moving into Pandora¡¯s Box and drinking greedily of the Soul mana. Slowly but surely, the Identity aspect of his Soul came loose and, with a pop, it was free. Shortly after that, he felt as his identity got squeezed through some small hole, smaller than his body should fit through, and he was out. [Skill Leveled Up: Atral Projection (1) -> (2)] Looking down excitedly, he saw his solid bone-white body. It felt more tangible than the last time he had cast [Astral Projection]. Before, he felt like some sort of ghost that a gust of wind could¡¯ve blown away, now he felt like he was made of solid stone. Was this the effect of all the mana? Before, it had been incredibly easy to pull himself from what he would consider his Identities ¡°slot.¡± Now though, he could feel all that Soul mana coursing through him, making him stronger. He opened the Skill description, not being surprised that it had changed [Astral Projection - Level 2 - Soul Affinity A confluence of Mind, Body, and Magic, the Soul is made of the cracks between all three. It is both the divider that separates components, and the glue that makes them greater than the sum of their parts. While identity and a sense of self is not required for survival, what is life without a witness? Who you are gives purpose to your survival, but what if your identity could reach beyond the base components of life, and experience a second life of its own? Allows for the physical manifestation of one''s identity into the realm of spirits while still maintaining a link to the main body of the soul. The vanquishing of one''s identity will lead to irreparable soul damage, and potentially death. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Identity of the soul can move away from the body at a distance of 4000 meters per level. 450 Initial MP Cost.] More than just the cost, he could move a much larger distance away too! It was incredible. He also took note that in the last description it said the destruction of his Identity would ¡°inevitably¡± lead to death, but now it said ¡°potentially,¡± an important distinction that he had no intention of testing. He looked over his Interface, searching for any other differences, and found two important ones. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Spiritual) Soul Strength: 450/450 MP: 0/26 SP: 26/26] Firstly, his Race had changed to a Spiritual human, whatever that meant. If he was changing Races though, was he changing Racial abilities? He opened the racial abilities menu to find out. [Spirit Sense (Major) Darkvision Spiritual Re-Attunement (Major) Natural Claws (Major)] All but Darkvision had changed, but it seemed more like they were translated over into their equivalent spirit form. [Spirit Sense] was like [Tremor Sense], but for detecting spiritual energy. Simple enough. Darkvision was of course the same, [Spiritual Re-Attunement] was the [Camouflage] equivalent, and he checked it now. [Spiritual Re-Attunement (Major) There are multiple layers to the world of spirits. Few reside on the top layer, becoming more prevalent and powerful the further down one goes. Spiritual Re-attunement grants the ability to enter lower and higher layers at will.] He had to assume it would work as some sort of camo ability, same as its predecessor. While it would be dangerous, he could see himself hiding out at a deeper layer of this new spirit world, waiting for a strong ghost or something to pass him by. If other spirits couldn¡¯t change layers at will, he might even be able to fully dodge something trying to attack him. [Natural Claws (Major) - Passive Innate hyper-specialized Spirit affinity gives +600% efficiency when digging into spiritual entities or formations] This one was derived from his Digging ability, but was apparently more lethal when converted to a Spiritual affinity. He could see why, as digging into spirits would just kill them. Or dissipate them? He didn¡¯t think spirits could be considered alive. The other change in his Interface, other than his Racial abilities, came in the form of his HP. More accurately, he didn¡¯t have HP. Instead, it was replaced with [Soul Strength], and it had an amount equal to how much mana he had poured into his [Astral Projection] Skill, no doubt an intentional parallel. It was likely that his Identity would ¡®lose integrity¡¯ and die when he ran out of strength to maintain himself. Other than his Race and HP though, everything else was the same. He tried to quickly use an [Identify] on the stone around him and realized two things. First, he was out of MP and drew from his [Pandora¡¯s Box] just now by accident. Second, he could still use his Skills, which was great for him. Everything accounted for, he turned around to check the way he came. Instead of seeing the light further into the cave, it looked like the crag just sort of tapered off a bit further away. He could see his finger, just barely poking out though, and nodded to himself. It looked weird, seeing the tip of a finger appear from nothing, but the invisibility held from the outside. He pushed on the barrier that cut off his vision, and felt his hand press against something elastic, pushing to enter the hidden pocket his body resided in. While he couldn¡¯t walk through the strange magic that protected the cave while he was a spirit, he could push through it eventually. Confident he would be able to make it back to his body again, he made to leave the enclosed space he found himself in. When casting the spell, he thought he was only going to be able to sit at the entrance of his cave, at best. Now that it was essentially overcharged with a massive amount of Soul mana and he could move freely for eight entire kilometers, he had the option to adventure. Finally popping out into the corridor, he saw for the first time in months with his own two eyes something outside of that oppressive green room. Despite watching this same corridor every day, he didn¡¯t recognize it when he was using his own eyes. It was also weird, being cut off from his [Tremor Sense]. His [Spirit Sense] was much quieter too. He sensed a few small pockets of spiritual energy, but there was almost nothing sending out the spirit version of vibrations. Not wanting to waste any more time, tried floating upwards with his mind, and succeeded. He smiled at that, happy he wouldn¡¯t have to walk everywhere with his tiny legs. Without further ado, he floated down the hallway towards the moss he always saw with his Tremor Sense, keeping an eye on his [Soul Strength], [MP], and [SP] to check if any of them would drain. To his surprise, his [SP] actually did start draining. Rather quickly too. [SP: 19/26] He stopped and floated down, landing on the ground. Immediately, the drain on his SP stopped. Testing to make sure it wasn¡¯t just the act of moving, Dei continued walking forward, almost reaching the moss before he was completely positive that his SP only drained when flying. It was a bit irritating, but he actually would need to walk on his toddler legs. At least he had a last-resort flight plan, if he needed. Reaching the patch of moss, he looked at the multiple little bugs and plants that lived with it. None of them were noteworthy of having any special abilities when he Identified them, but being regular things. The moss just read. [Green Moss - Level 52 A type of moss that is green Edible] That was okay. He had to temper his expectations a bit more, because his cave was teeming with magical plants and bugs. Not so much out here. It was interesting to see, but the bugs truly could not perceive him at all. When he placed his hand on them, they crawled right through. Same with the plants, he phased through each. If he willed himself to, he could actually stand on top of the grass without making indents on it, but that took a very small amount of SP. Not as much as flying, but still. He didn¡¯t want to go too far in case he got lost¡­ unless he could find a way back? Maybe with his [FIne-Tooth Comb] that wouldn¡¯t be an issue. He continued down the cave until there was a split in it, one going left and right. He went to the left, turned around, and asked [Fine-Tooth Comb] ¡°Which way back to my-¡± and then paused as he realized he didn¡¯t really see it as his home. Refuge? He should name it something. ¡°Which way back to the Garden by the most efficient path?¡± He would call it the Garden. He could place his most valuable magic plants to grow there without being disturbed, but he definitely needed to move out at some point. It was nice to have safety, but it was so claustrophobic. When he asked that of his [Comb] ability, it pointed right, towards the Garden. He tested it a few more times, getting deeper and deeper into the cave system, and it always pointed correctly. Even when he actually started making his way back, it looked like this Skill had an uncanny sense of direction, which he didn¡¯t. Satisfied, he realized he could actually explore without care his [Spirit Sense] was almost dead silent, just four or five scattered pockets of spiritual energy, so he didn¡¯t need to worry about predators. From all the energy, he could tell that he was actually the most powerful thing in this spiritual layer. One such pocket of spiritual energy was somewhere he saw using [Tremor Sense], his entire reason for pushing to leave the cave with [Astral Projection. It was a connection between the dry cave system and wet cave system. The cavern he saw while using tremor sense was barren rock with no plants, but a swirling beacon of vibrations were perpetually released from the lake in the center of it. It was a long ways away, about ten miles, and on the edge of his [Tremor Sense]. He couldn''t reach it, as it was slightly out of reach for his [Astral Projection] even with the distance upgrade, but that was okay for now. What drew his attention to it though, more than [Spirit Sense], was a long-unused Skill that recently reawakened: [Call for Help]. When using his [Tremor Sense] to scan the caves, his [Call for Help] ability had activated, bringing his attention to this barren room. The cave was far, far out of bounds of [Call for Help], so he had reread it when the feeling first came to him. [Call for Help - Level 9 - Kindness Affinity - Passive Going out of your way to help others when it isn''t required, you actively seek out those in need. No evildoers shall escape your vision as you come to the rescue of those in their darkest hour. Grants the user a sense for those who desperately want help within a 100 meters per Level radius of the user or within the users perception +0.01% chance per level for user to be made aware of situation that they would greatly desire to be at for selfish reasons] A single clause was added, ¡°within the users perception.¡± Yet again he discovered some synergy the System did not list between Skills, and it was added to the description. He most likely had never discovered this clause in his previous life, as his ¡°perception¡± would almost always be lower than that of [Call for Help]¡¯s effective radius. Now that he had some supernatural senses, that was no longer the case. With the new synergy, Dei felt a sense of low desperation emanating from the faraway cave. There was someone in that empty room, someone desperate for help, and he wanted to help them. Not just because of his sense of justice, but also because he was lonely, and wanted to talk to another person. Even if his Soul affinity helped alleviate the symptoms of madness stemming from isolation, it couldn¡¯t eliminate them entirely. Now that he had [Spirit Sense], he had another clue as to who, or more likely what they are. Rather than a human, there was supposedly a trapped spiritual entity, either a monster that taps into the spirit realm or just a generic spirit. Despite them not being human though, he hoped they could feel gratitude. That in mind, he looked towards the lonely, isolated cave towards miles away. He sensed the desperation every time he stepped out of the Garden, so he believed the situation this person was in was not immediately life threatening. The feeling persisted for the past month and a half, so he had to assume they would be fine until he could reach them in order to try and help. He intended to use his [Astral Projection] to accomplish such a feat. It would be far sneakier than his physical body, and it could reach the cave. His only concern was being caught by either a Soul-derivative affinity monster that could interact with the spirit realm he resided in, or other spirits. Now that he sensed the other spirits were incredibly weak, he had only monsters to fear. It was not unlikely either. His mother stated that most people had ways to touch upon the realm of souls, if only to protect themselves from Heart or Mind based attacks. He imagined that wild creatures would have more protection, as nature took on a more ¡°forged in fire¡± approach than humans did. Animals would have to evolve protection against Soul attacks, or they would be easy prey for the first Soul-user that happened upon them. The bugs around him might be a bit different, as a bugs chosen form of protecting their species was to have so many children that predators couldn''t catch them all, and they didn¡¯t really need protection against such magics. Anything that didn¡¯t rely on a swarm tactic though, and was actually required to defend itself, would have to be one tough son of a bitch to live in the brutal ecosystem he found himself competing within. Despite his fears for the toughness of monsters around him though, boredom and loneliness stopped him from turning back to the safety of the Garden. Whoever was out there needed help, and he didn¡¯t know if their life was in danger. This might be his only chance to find someone else, someone that wouldn¡¯t potentially turn him in to the Shamans. Suppressing his fear, he activated [Fine-Tooth Comb] and put in the command ¡°Take me to the location I sensed the desperation emanating from through the most efficient path.¡± It worked the same way it had when he tried finding his Garden, picking a corridor to go down. He might not remember everything he saw using [Tremor Sense], but his Skill did. Cautiously, he set out to find a potential companion. Chapter 27 In order to reach the [Call for Help], Dei would travel through the twisting caves efficiently. He estimated that it would take around two hours if he didn¡¯t run into any trouble, yet there was always going to be trouble. When he used his [Tremor Sense], he saw how knots of corridor-like caves tended to converge on large caverns, all of which were teeming with different forms of life. The only example he could draw from in his memory of one was the red forest back home, which his mom stated was a Convergence of Wilderness. The Convergence was filled with magic and monsters based on a Conceptual Plane, which is where affinities drew their power from. The path between him and the [Call for Help] was blocked by one such cavern that intersected with the water-filled system of caves he saw. He wasn¡¯t sure if all of these caverns in the area were Convergences, but they could be. He didn¡¯t believe it was some coincidence that the Wilderness convergence appeared in a cavern: instead, he believed it formed there for a reason. Either the caverns formed around the Convergence, which was unlikely, or the Convergence formed within the cavern, much more likely. If he had to guess, the formation of Convergences required an excess of affinity mana to fill a space to the brim. Once the saturation of mana became too high to contain, something happened to make a Convergence. His theory was fairly simple, grounded in observing the situation around him, but he knew the specific mechanisms would elude him until he had more substantial proof. Nonetheless, his worried about the monsters within the cavern he would need to tread through. None were as large as the red forest back home, not by a long shot. The red forest had to have been dozens or even hundreds of miles across, while this smaller one was only about four miles across. While he could technically go around it to avoid it, he couldn¡¯t do it in a reasonable time frame. He wanted to make it to his goal and back in a single day, so as not to leave his body unattended for too long. The second issue with curving his path to avoid the cavern was that he would almost definitely get lost. It was so much more efficient to take a straight line that his [Fine-Tooth Comb] would always point towards it to accelerate his journey. He had tried making different statements, such as ¡°Take me to the location I sensed the desperation emanating from while avoiding any caverns¡± but his Skill had not responded. There were simply too many pathways to take. If he specified the most efficient pathway, there was only a single option for [Comb] to lock on to, which was the trend for the skill right now. There was much outside of the Garden he didn¡¯t know, so he expected the current expedition to fail. He didn¡¯t know the limits of his abilities right now, so his current goal would be reconnaissance. How easy was it for creatures to spot him? Could he harm them in some way, while keeping himself safe? He already knew he could draw upon his [Pandora¡¯s Box] Skill from when he used [Identify] and accidentally used Wrath mana, but could he actually attack something? He knew his [Identify] could be used as a pseudo-attack Skill that pierced the natural defenses of souls, he now needed to test the limits of it carefully. The first order of business was to find something that wasn¡¯t strong, yet stronger than a bug. A small monster or animal he could easily run from. While he could wait around in the corridors, hoping for something to wander into him so he could test on it, time was his issue. It was already proven that he wouldn¡¯t get his mana back once he poured it into a Skill, and it would take him over a month to build up enough Soul mana in order to use [Astral Projection] again. If he set his deadline for the end of the day, Dei only had about ten more hours to do all his experimentation, then he would need to return to his body and wait for next time. He didn¡¯t have the luxury to let chance dictate whether he could experiment or not, so he would need to seek something out himself. His best chance was the large cavern teeming with plants and life he eventually needed to cross anyway. While he was able to see it using [Tremor Sense], it was more like a general shape the various vibrations went through, becoming blurrier the further away he was from what he was seeing. He couldn¡¯t so much see a ¡°tree¡± as he could see a ¡°blurry cylinder with a wide top.¡± Getting a good sense for what the cavern looked like would help with future planning, which he would have a full month, minimum, of. Following the path set by [Fine-Tooth Comb], he traveled through the dreary caves, occasionally passing the patches of life seen on the walls that seemed to be everywhere. Thirty minutes of cautious travel later, the noise level began to rise ahead of him. It wasn¡¯t the howlong calls of nature he heard from the red forest, but a chittering sound bugs and the occasional hollow grumple that reminded him of alligators. Breaking out of the narrow caves, a dark green light stained the world before him. Rather than a forest, it was a¡­ swamp, of sorts. Except there weren¡¯t trees, just thick brambles. The cave he was in sloped downwards, into a bubbling muck that steamed slightly with each bubble. The steam didn¡¯t rise, instead forming a thin fog at swamp floor that became denser the further into the cavern he looked. He couldn¡¯t see above the brambles, but there was a small clearing in front of the cave he emerged from. All he could see was mud and thick fog, before a veritable wall of thorny vines blocked his view completely from seeing in front of him. He couldn¡¯t immediately spot anything before him, but that was fine by him. He knew he needed to find a creature to experiment on, but there was a limit to how much caution could be given up before it became a stupid idea to continue forward. He was in the cavern, so he was much more likely to see any creatures, and he would stop here. When he was ready, he could move further in, but now would be the time to wait around and do nothing until something walked into his field of view. Without anything to preoccupy his time, he decided to first check his notifications [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (6) -> (7)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (7) -> (8)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (8) -> (9)] It was a staggering amount of level ups for how much effort he put in. While he was using it frequently during his excursion, it wasn¡¯t enough to justify the jump in Skill experience from how much he was receiving before. It took him over a month of constant use, every day, to reach level six. Now though, he had gained half that over the last thirty minutes? Something was fishy about this. What did he do differently now than he had done before? His System-granted knowledge gave him a layman''s understanding of his Interface, but no insights into the inner workings of it. He would need to reason this out himself. He mentally created a list of all the differences with his current situation that he could think of, unwilling to summon the notepad his interface gave him for fear of becoming too distracted and not seeing a creature near him. ¡®Lets see. One, im an Astral Projection. Two, I¡¯m no longer in the Garden¡­ technically? Three, I¡¯m now using the Skill with a clear goal in mind.¡¯ He didn¡¯t think being a projection would gain him extra experience, but what if it was harsher on his soul to use Skills outside of his body? Keeping his eyes open, he split his attention slightly in order to glance into his soul, observing to see if there was any extra strain. [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (6) -> (7)] Further proving his point that something was weird, he continued to observe his soul. [High Mind] was an intensive Skill to use, always putting that familiar pressure on his soul of Skill overuse. The strain slowly alleviated over the past month through persistent meditation, but never went away. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Careful to watch for any extra strain, he used [High Mind] to become left-handed again, feeling the pressure it put on him. Despite that, the pressure was no greater than when he used it with his body. Suddenly struck with an odd thought, why was he able to see his full soul right now? It might seem like his soul had split from his body, but the description from [Astral Projection] made it clear he was simply disconnecting his ¡°Identity¡± and walking around in it. He searched his soul for whatever constituted his Identity, finding that it was, of course, present in all his memories. He realized that his ¡°Identity¡± was exactly as it sounded, his reactions to all incoming information, constituting who he was. Dei felt like his [Soulspeak] Achievement was doing some heavy lifting with this discovery, as it fully mapped out his soul for him and allowed him to easily find what an Identity was. By empowering his Identity with Soul mana, the soul created a projection of itself. He was currently seeing through a sort of hologram that allowed for mana and information to pass through it. The two-way nature of it was both a boon and detriment, allowing for damage to follow his Identity through the portal, while also granting him the ability to use Skills and genuinely level them up. That being said, he rounded back to the original issue: was this the reason he gained extra experience? In short, no. There would be no difference to using his real body and his Projection, as they were virtually one in the same. That took him to item two on the list: he was no longer in the Garden. The differences the Garden made to his situation was staggering. It was safer in the Garden, cut off from the world, and he hated it there. He was growing absolutely sick of that enclosed green space. The safety of the Garden was most likely what hindered his experience. It would make sense if he gained more from his Skills if he used them in dangerous situations, giving the System a reason to reward him. He didn¡¯t think it was the ¡°cut off¡± aspect, as he always left the bubble slightly in order to use some Skills, and they never improved drastically in leveling speed. His open irritation with the cave wouldn¡¯t slow his leveling speed either, just cause more suffering. If anything, the irritation would probably increase the leveling speed if he did gain more experience for more dangerous situations, because he was in danger of losing his Goddamn Mind. Conclusively, the best excuse he could think of for the second item on his list would be that a more dangerous situation leads to more experience. The third option was that he used his Skills with a clear goal in mind, one with actual detriment to his goals if he failed. This actually related back to the previous point, of more danger being the source of better levels. Did he gain more experience for using his Skills in a practical way, rather than as training? If he trained in a dangerous situation, like the center of a volcano, would he gain more experience than carefully attempting to achieve something harmless, like using [Fine-Tooth Comb] to play hide and seek? This third option was also likely, and definitely related to the second. In conclusion, he could discard the Projection as being an extra source of experience, but either Risk or Goal would accelerate his progression. Potentially even both. [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 3) -> (Level 4)] [Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual] ¡®Hell yea¡¯ he thought, smiling at his rapid growth. It had been all of five minutes to reason that out, so there was yet to be the appearance of an animal. To occupy his time, he started identifying the various plants; that wall of thorns had to be magical, so he started with that. Sending out his Kindness [Identify], he felt it struggle to lock on to the plant for some reason, like it was sliding off a bit. This wasn¡¯t something that happened to the moss, but potentially more powerful plants? Nonetheless, it eventually gained enough ¡°traction¡± on the plants soul to begin scanning for information, and he sat there for a few minutes as a window filled itself up. [Growberry Bramble of Decay - Level 155 Formerly a Nexberry Bramble, this strain has adapted to exist within a bog, while being flooded with enough Decay mana to further deviate it from its predecessor. It manifests its Decay as a toxin secreted from the spines along its stems, causing necrosis in any organic matter it pierces. The berries have taken on the life aspects of Decay, becoming Growberries. Physical: 24 Mental: 9 Spiritual: 10 Magical: 74] That was actually a very helpful description. For one, it discussed how it grew in a bog, giving him a clear indication of where he was. There were so many know-it-alls in his last life that talked about the difference between a swamp and a bog that, now, he was the know-it-all. For practical purposes, it would just be more solid muck that he had to be careful not to get stuck in, rather than the watery soup that made up a swamp. The decay mana also fit with this view, as bogs tended to be made up of rotting plants. It was possible that things decaying in the bog produced Decay mana, or that there was some sort of Convergence in the bog that did the same. Either way, he had a solid idea of what he was looking at now. That didn¡¯t answer the fog though. Bogs didn¡¯t just have a layer of fog on the bottom of them, at least not outside of movies. ¡®Bog fog.¡¯ He tried [Identify]ing the fog, but of course that failed. If bogs were made of rotting plants though, could he identify that? He scanned the mud, and did get a response, but no window popped up. No conclusive evidence could be found from the mud. There were some insects around him too, but when he tried to scan those, his [Identify] completely slid off. Maybe it was because they were small and fast moving, but it was most likely also related to the feeling he got from scanning the plants too. He didn¡¯t get this feeling when he was in his physical form, so it had to be something to do with his new spiritual form. He already knew that he couldn¡¯t interact with the world at large, could this be something similar? Insects phased through him, were his spells phasing through the insects in turn? That would make sense, as it would be a bit overpowered if he could attack things without them being able to even interact with him in turn. So what could he do about it? He already knew that he could kind of interact with plants by willing himself to stand on top of them, thus seeming like he was floating in the air. When he did this, his Stamina, or SP, would drain slightly. Then how could he push the boundary of interacting with the world? He tried to will himself to interact with the bugs in the same way he did the plants in that he could stand on them, but was immediately tossed to the side as a fly ran into his form and bowled him over. Sighing as he stood back up, he realized that was probably not the greatest idea. He already knew that when he stood on the plants, they did not actually indent downwards. He wasn¡¯t pushing the plants, they were pushing him. What he wanted to do was the opposite. He wanted to push the plants, without pushing himself. This wasn¡¯t possible in his mind, as the plants would always push back, right? Equal and opposite force and all that? But there wasn¡¯t an opposite force on the plants when he stood on them, as they were not pushed downwards¡­ so his spirit form was different somehow? He was only a projection, not physical. It was like looking through a one-way mirror, as he was able to see into the world, yet the world could not see him. He was so close, yet a thin barrier separated him. The dilemma reminded him of one of his Racial abilities [Spiritual Re-Attunement (Major) There are multiple layers to the world of spirits. Few reside on the top layer, becoming more prevalent and powerful the further down one goes. Spiritual Re-attunement grants the ability to enter lower and higher layers at will.] It spoke of the different layers of the ¡°world of spirits.¡± The deeper down one went, the stronger the spirits got. He was at the first layer, where weak spirits resided. If he went ¡°up¡± one, it would be where no spirits resided. He was somewhere underneath the physical realm. If his current layer was floor one, he needed to make it to ground level. He had to pierce into the physical realm, at least temporarily, using his projection, and his [Spiritual Re-Attunement] gave him an idea as to how. He was still too afraid to move down the layers, but what if he tried moving up? He tapped into his Racial ability and felt two things. One was the layer immediately below him, and he knew he could freely jump through to it if he wanted. The other was practically a brick wall above him, the physical realm. He could sense the wall, and knew there would be no free passage. He still tried, though. He pressed his ability against it, straining as he forced his willpower into the wall, and felt that it was elastic. It wasn¡¯t as solid as he originally assumed, instead bending around him the more he pressed himself through. He saw as a white glow began to shine onto the surface of the mud, and many of the bugs around him reacted instantly, darting away from him. He pressed further into the wall, watching as the glow became brighter and brighter, until he couldn¡¯t press into it anymore. It was a struggle to maintain his current attunement, but he felt like he had one foot into the physical realm. He didn¡¯t know what the creatures around him saw, but he felt triumphant as he successfully made his projection a bit more physical than before. Chapter 28 With his new sort-of ability to manifest into the physical world, Dei quickly checked his SP, trying to gauge if it drained when he used it, same as the other times he used his ghostly abilities. It did drain as expected, but weirdly slower than he would have assumed. The strain he felt from pressing into the physical world made him assume that he would be bleeding stamina like crazy, similar to when he was flying, but after watching it for a bit, it only drained at a rate of around one SP per four or five minutes. This also confirmed that his ghost abilities were reliant on stamina. He could stand on plants, fly, and manifest into the world, but it would drain his stamina to do so, which was an interesting thought to have. Without further wasting any time, he looked around him. The bugs had all fled away from him when he first manifested, but now they slowly came back in. He scanned one that was getting a bit brave in flying around him [Mosquito - Level 55 A blood drinking pest that carries diseases and may transfer those upon biting something] It was so weird, seeing such a mundane description, but the bug itself wasn¡¯t actually a mosquito, just this world''s version of it. It looked fairly close to mosquitos, but its legs were a bit differently shaped as they did not arc above its main body. It looked like some sort of cage with a small bulb in the middle of it, a convergent evolution? Distracted by the description, the mosquito actually landed on his arm. The description rapidly changed. [Soul Mosquito - Level 57 Baptized in concentrated soul mana-] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (1) -> (2)] Before it popped like a balloon, sending a small amount of spirit energy into the world that he felt dissipate using his [Spirit Sense]. He saw his status change slightly [Soul Strength: 449/450] He also noted that he didn¡¯t need to use the Wrath version of his [Identify], was the mosquito so dumb that it didn¡¯t classify as a sentient creature? That was a little funny. More bugs flew around him, trying to land, but not many tried biting him. He could actually swat them out of the air too, but his SP shot downwards whenever he did. Satisfied with his experiment, he released the grip he held on his manifested form, and fell back into the first layer of the spirit world. His SP was [11/26] right now, so he would need to wait to do such a thing again, but he now knew what he had to do in order to cast spells on creatures that actually had any sort of innate defense in their souls. This would be troublesome. He had taken three or four seconds to stabilize his form, and that was ample time for wild animals to either attack him or flee. Now that he thought about it though, he didn¡¯t really need animals anymore. The insects around him proved to be perfect test subjects. Some were too dumb to resist identify, but there was at least one type of fly that could, based on how his [Identify] reacted to him trying to use it while in the world of spirits. He went through all the different bugs, testing [Identify]¡¯s on them to see how it reacted. On some of the smaller swarm creatures, like gnats and mosquitos, it eventually found purchase on them. While other, more solitary bugs like a weird fat fly he could see, it failed against. He also decided it was time to test out the Wrath version of his [Identify], and used it on a mosquito. Oddly enough, it slid off. The mosquito drooped in the air a bit, like it had become paralyzed for a second, but Dei was unable to get any information from it. There was only one instance of him using it in the real world, and that was when he used it on the [Nightstalking Devourer] It had done some serious damage, but he did use basically all his mana. He was also pretty sure that his Wrath and Kindness affinities had produced more mana for him to pour into the spell while he was forming it, as he was doing something kind and acting in anger. Rather than trying again with the minimum amount of MP required, he waited for it to fully replenish. While he could easily use the mana in his [Pandora¡¯s Box], he felt like saving it would be more worth it, in case of an emergency. He had avoided using any of his stored affinity, and would continue doing so. When his MP was back to max, he used all [26/26] to hit one of the mosquitos with his Wrath [Identify] He felt as a veritable beam of soul-rending fury barreled towards and through the mosquito, only for this mosquito to fare even better than the last one. The beam didn¡¯t just slide off, but completely failed to interact with the mosquito. ¡®Hmmm, more power makes less damage? If the Kindness version actually kind of works, and the weak Wrath version stuns it, then the more damage it would do, the less it interacts with the world?¡¯ That didn¡¯t make sense to him at all. The more mana he poured in, the more damage it should do, yes? Waiting ten or so minutes for his 26 mana to come back, he tried it again. This time, he observed the soul of the mosquito, looking for anything wonky it might try. He saw as, moments before the beam hit it, the mosquito¡¯s soul placed some defenses around itself. It wasn¡¯t a conscious effort, just an instinctual reaction to having something pass through it. He¡¯d seen a similar barrier before, when he tried peeking into his mothers soul before he had ever been born, right after he learned to astral project. All the humans he¡¯d seen had a version of this defense and, now that he was looking for it, some of the bugs too. It was harder to peek into the inner workings of their soul. Testing a bit more, the bugs with defenses could not be passively scanned with Kindness, while the ones without it could be, same as plants. [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (2) -> (3)] Was this sentience? Was he somehow observing their intellect, a natural desire to hide its own weaknesses from enemies? He tried to use Wrath on the brambles, only to watch as another instinctive barrier blocked what little his [Identify] would normally divine from its scans. It wasn''t sentience he was watching, it was survival instinct. Some bugs and plants were simply not smart enough to know fear, but when they felt a powerful attack barreling towards them, they still reacted to it immediately. A mosquito didn¡¯t know what a hand was, it just felt like it needed to move when one closed in on it. The reason weaker Wrath [Identify]¡¯s had a small effect was because they couldn¡¯t respond properly, their survival instinct did not register an attack, as it would cause no harm. From this he gathered that every creature, every soul, would naturally protect itself if it could. This natural protection was enough to deflect his [Identify] completely, no matter the power, as it wasn¡¯t really meant to be used from the spirit world into the physical world. He had actually figured out everything he needed to know without ever seeing another animal. He now knew the rules on attacking things from the spirit world, and why it would fail, as well as how to manifest himself physically. It had only been around two hours, most of it focused on waiting, and now he could go back if he wanted to¡­ but did he? He was making some absurd progress in his Skills, and he felt he should take advantage of this. He couldn¡¯t, wouldn¡¯t, sit around in his cave for years until his power level was too high to be taken on. That being said, he wasn¡¯t going to be dumb about this. He wouldn¡¯t [Meditate], as that required him to let his guard down. Instead, he would work on the abilities he could while staying safe. He pulled up his full Interface, going down the list of Skills he could use. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Spiritual) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 4) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) Soul Strength: 449/450 MP: 1/26 SP: 26/26 Stats: Physical: 13 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 34 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 57% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 0% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (627/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19) Soul: Astral Projection (2), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (9) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (3) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (6), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (7)] The answer was not many at all. There were only three relevant Skills he could use: [Identify], [Comb], and [High Mind]. He could use them though, and he would. His training plan would be to designate a certain amount of insects as his ¡®test subjects,¡¯ then use [Fine-Tooth Comb] to keep track of that, while using [High Mind] to split his attention onto each one, keeping them all in focus. Then he would attempt to use [Identify of the Stout Protector] as much as he could without depleting his [Pandora¡¯s Box]. Without further ado, he began to split his attention into two pieces, [Fine-Tooth Comb] now able to focus on two different targets. While he wasn¡¯t fully splitting his mind into pieces, he was able to multitask better using his Skill. Even that though put a heavy strain on him, and he wasn¡¯t able to [Identify] each mosquito more than once before he had to stop and take a break. ¡®This might take a while¡¯ * * * [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (3) -> (4)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (4) -> (5)] [Sill Leveled Up: High Mind (7) -> (8)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (6) -> (7)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (7) -> (8)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (8) -> (9)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (9) -> (10)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (10) -> (11)] He looked at his notifications, humming a tune at how well it was going. Most of the time was spent waiting around for either his mana to rejuvenate or his soul to rest itself enough to withstand more Skills. The only exception was his [Fine-Tooth Comb], that he could use all the time. It wasn¡¯t straining enough to significantly affect his rate of healing, so he decided to leave it on all the time. In just a single hour, he had achieved levels in his Skills that would take months if he were still in the Garden. He was feeling good, but stopped his training to check his notifications. He was feeling a bit¡­ off, right now. At first he assumed it was because he was just excited to open the notifications and see his progress, but now he didn¡¯t want to continue working at all. Slowly, a feeling of unease welled up inside him, and he wasn¡¯t sure where it came from. He backed out of the marsh slowly, deeper into the caverns while he continued to observe the three bugs he was able to focus on using [Fine-Tooth Comb]. The tab for notifications were still open, so he saw immediately when he received another. [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (1) -> (2)] His first instinct was to freeze when he saw it, but he forced himself to keep moving back slowly, scanning the mud of the bog and the bramble wall that enclosed him. Vigilance didn¡¯t tell him where the danger came from, merely that there was danger, and a general instinct of where he should go to avoid it. He didn¡¯t even try to turn around and look behind him, the idea of the danger being behind him hadn¡¯t even crossed his mind. He was positive it came from the front, but what was it? What was the danger? Twenty or so feet away, he received another notification [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (2) -> (3)] ¡®That is really, really bad news. I¡¯m still in danger, this far away.¡¯ Carefully on his guard, Dei watched as a small bump formed in the mud, right under where he previously stood, and began to grow as the body moved out from underneath it. It was a lumpy ball, with two larger wart-looking things on top of its head and tens of tinier ones across its body. The two massive warts pulled back to reveal eyes, the eyes of a frog. A frog the size of his fucking torso. The frog observed the swarm of bugs he had been experimenting on. It watched them for about ten seconds, him continuing to move backwards the entire time. Right as he was about to move around a bend, losing sight of the frog, he saw it slowly turn his direction, looking straight at him. [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (3) -> (4)] Dropping all pretense, Dei took off running. He heard a crack sound out behind him, and stone shrapnel flew through his intangible body. His mind raced at what was going on, trying to reason out both how this frog could see him, and how it knew to find him. He wasn¡¯t completely in the dark though, as he had seen this as a potential scenario when he first left his Garden. This frog had either a Soul affinity or Soul-derivative affinity, and was able to tap into that power in order to sense him. It wasn¡¯t exact either, as it had taken the frog about fifteen seconds until it was able to lock on to him in the first place, so he suspected it wasn''t the Soul affinity itself. As to how it found him? Either that first mosquito bite sending out one point of Soul affinity was enough or, more likely, it could sense the copious levels of Mana being used in his spells all the mana was somewhere in the spirit world, rather than the physical world, so maybe it gave off a distinct scent to monsters that knew what to look for? His [High Mind] worked in tandem with his [Vigilance] to keep track of any attacks from behind him, as [Comb] kept him moving back towards the Garden in an efficient manner. He suspected that re-attuning himself would help lose the frog, but he did not want to drop into a deeper level of the spirit world, for fear that even stronger enemies would find him if he did. His mind picked out the sound of wind brushing to his right, and he threw himself to the ground. He heard a whistle pass by his head, barely missing it, and the wall to his right exploded. Dei didn¡¯t bother standing up, throwing himself into flight down the tunnel as he threw a glance backwards, seeing a long pink tongue withdraw itself from the cloud of dust and disappear around the corner. Refocusing back on the pathway in front of him, he knew his SP was draining too fast for him to fly the entire way. Instead, he used the momentum of flight to give himself a running start as he landed. A rumbling croak sounded out from behind him, causing his entire body to painfully begin vibrating like a tuning fork. He let out a cry as he felt the projection he was using destabilize, coming apart slightly and causing Soul mana to flood the area he was in as it bled off him rapidly. [Soul Strength: 378/450] [SP: 10/26] Right as he crossed out of the cloud of Soul mana, he heard the tongue behind him whistle through it. Using his [Spirit Sense], he saw as the cloud quickly converged onto the tongue, the energy shining like a beacon in his mind''s eye as it was pulled backwards. He felt as his view of it was suddenly cut off, the Soul mana he could sense previously suddenly disappearing the moment it entered the frog''s body. He didn''t pause for even a second as he continued to sprint down the cave. In the single minute it had been since the chase started, he had already taken heavy damage. A sense of dread overtook him as he realized he wasn¡¯t even close to his cave, and that just a few more croaks would kill him. The frog didn¡¯t need to get close, didn¡¯t even need to catch him to take all it needed. Despite that though, no more came. At first he assumed it was because the frog couldn¡¯t use that croaking ability too quickly in rapid succession, but after five straight minutes of running with complete radio silence behind him, he realized it was something else. He never stopped his running for even a single second, perpetually keeping his guard up, but no more attacks came. The tongue never snaked out from around a corner, and the Skill the frog used to destabilize him never resounded again. In the back of his mind, he realized it was possible the frog thought it had already succeeded, that the chase was over. If he were a weaker spirit, that call would have vanquished him, but he wasn¡¯t. The thing hunting him had most likely gone back to the bog, but he didn¡¯t care enough to slow down to find out. After tirelessly running the entire way, he spotted the crag leading back into safety and dove through. Pushing himself fast enough to begin using SP as some parts of him phased through the wall, he dove for the finger sticking out of the barrier and felt as his Identity locked back into place in his soul. He shot upwards and moved further down into his cave, finally breaking into the blessed green room he loved so much. He collapsed into the center of it, heaving as panic overtook him and his heart beat like a drum in his ear. He couldn¡¯t move, muscles going stiff as he curled into a fetal position and began to hyperventilate. Dizziness overtook him, and he passed out. Chapter 29 He woke with a start, still feeling strung out. Passing out was no replacement for sleep, so he crawled into the grassy bed he normally slept on, and fell deep into a dreamless rest. When he woke to the crystals around his cave brightening, he felt centered yet weary. He wasn¡¯t tired physically, as he had just woken up, but mentally. He was strained to the limit in a way he¡¯d never been before. Sighing, he began his morning routine by taking a sip of water and checking on the plants. It was relaxing in a way, loosening the mud for some plants and ensuring the pools of water remained for others. He took his time to study their conditions rather than breezing through He had decided to plant two of the glowfruit seeds and two of the rubbergum seeds. While he did not intend to keep them in the cave, having them as saplings and transferring them somewhere else would be much faster than having them grow from the beginning. He didn¡¯t worry about shocking their root systems after replanting them either, as plants in this world were much sturdier. He contemplated on the stalks used in his floating lilies. They were hard, harder than the stone around him, and would be very useful for tools if he ever decided to cut them down. When checking on his firmroot grass, he thought it would be nice to try and eat one of them. Uprooting it was difficult, as it took all the mud with it, but he succeeded and washed it off slowly, taking his time to get all the mud and grime out. When it was cleaned four times over, he found that he wasn¡¯t really sure what to eat. The entire plant? Or just the roots? He decided on just roots for now and ate the whole root system in a single bite. He felt a warm sensation flowing through him and over his skin. It felt like when he would eat vegetables back on Earth and feel healthy for a time afterwards, but now the feeling was more than placebo. This firmroot grass was actually making him healthier and rejuvenating HP. Chewing it slowly, really savoring the taste, it took him minutes to get it down. As for what it actually tasted like? It tasted like shit. The thought made him smile, and the smile tore something down in his mind. He felt tears welling up in his eyes as racking sobs overtook him, and he broke down crying. Yesterday hadn¡¯t been his first near-death experience in this world, but it was the most personal. The panic he felt while running for his life was visceral in a way he never could¡¯ve imagined. The sound of air swishing behind him as he dove for the ground, then the wall to his right exploding. It replayed, over and over again in his mind. More than fear, an indignation began to well up in his mind. He hated that he was forced to run away. He felt incomplete, like he had betrayed a core part of himself, yet he didn¡¯t know why. Dei had never been in a life or death situation, why would his pride take such a hit just from running? He didn¡¯t know, but cold rage flowed through him. It wasn¡¯t some explosive wave of anger that produced hundreds of Wrath mana, but a quiet seething that constantly hummed in the back of his mind, urging him to go back out there and tear that stupid fucking frog to pieces. Luckily, it was easy to keep it under control, his [Pandora¡¯s Box] absorbing the mana before it could feed into his anger and take his reasoning from him. Slowly, the feelings of anger and fear faded, and his crying slowed to only sniffles. He felt a lot better, the act of checking his plants and crying having weirdly prepared him for the day. The new lightness he felt gave him a clear enough mind to start being productive, first by checking his notifications. They closed themselves the moment he started running, to understandably not distract him. [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (4) -> (5)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (8) -> (9)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (5) -> (6)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (11) -> (12)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (12) -> (13)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (13) -> (14)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (9) -> (10)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (14) -> (15)] This all but confirmed that danger played a role in accelerating the rate at which he and his Skills leveled up. He suspected he would need to leave the Garden eventually, or the levels would come so slowly it would seem like they weren¡¯t coming at all. Speaking of, he needed to check something. He was angry at himself for running and the frog for attacking him in the first place. He felt a sort of¡­ obsession, an obsession to see his enemy. To keep eyes on him. He slowly made his way through the crevice, to the edge of the barrier that protected him from the harsh outer world. Taking a deep breath, he placed one foot outside of the barrier and felt it all open before him. ¡®Show me the frog that attacked me yesterday¡¯ he asked of his [Fine-Tooth Comb] Skill, yet to his surprise he received no response. He didn¡¯t think the frog was dead, but he couldn¡¯t be sure. Had it died the moment it absorbed his spiritual energy, popped like the mosquito? He knew the Soul mana he used in his [Astral Projection] was incredibly pure, as his other Skill concentrated it down from six mana into a single one. Was that too much for the frog? A creature he was sure had specialized into devouring spirits or spiritual energy? He didn¡¯t believe so. The other option was that the Skill didn¡¯t have enough information to work on. When he focused on the cavern he was in before, he thought about how the details eluded him completely. It was vague, and he assumed his [Comb] Skill would be able to see more, but supposed that wasn¡¯t true. The issue wasn¡¯t that he couldn''t properly sense the vibrations, just that they were too mixed for him to make out. There were two ways for him to better differentiate the waves. One was to use [High Mind] in an attempt to sort through so many waves, but he was honestly scared to do so. It would be an intensive use of the already taxing Skill. If he did so, there was too high of a risk of soul damage for him to justify trying. The other option was one he¡¯d been putting off doing for a long time¡­ using both of his feet to scan his surroundings. In order to do it, he would need to fully step out into the open. He could see that there were no predators around, but there was an unreasonable fear that the bubble of protection wouldn¡¯t allow him back in. He hadn¡¯t seen his mom do something special when moving through the cave to gain access, but he couldn¡¯t stop himself from thinking it might be permanent if he tried to leave. Even if it might seem unreasonable that the magic would lock him out, he knew nothing about how it worked, and it was a genuine possibility. He would compromise instead. He would step out of the bubble, but keep one of his arms in. He already knew that he could pull his leg back through when he stuck it out, so he should be able to do the same with his arm. Burying his hand in the stone to give himself a good grip to pull back with, in case it genuinely did try to repel him, he dramatically stepped down outside the barrier with his other foot. He had to stabilize himself with the other hand on the stone wall as the influx of information sent waves of confusion through him. His mind was matured enough to handle it without pain, but it felt like an explosion went off in his brain, expanding his skull to unknown proportions. The world opened before him, and it was beautiful. While the range had not expanded by much, his ability to read the vibrations felt limitless. A hundred lives were made clear before him, nature undergoing an endless cycle of life and death. Predators stalked, prey survived, countless lives came and went every minute, yet there was balance to it all. The manifold lives he saw did not take precedent though. He broke himself from his reverie and focused on the task at hand, scanning for his old enemy. This time, he did get a response back. Deep under the bog, silently sleeping, his focus locked onto a specific figure he knew was the frog. If he did not have his [Fine-Tooth Comb] Skill, he would have most likely assumed it was a random boulder, but the few vibrations that penetrated its rocky skin revealed organs. He continued watching it for a time, and it remained unmoving. Eventually, his fear of discovery overtook his desire to observe his foe, and he moved back into the barrier without trouble. He felt mild satisfaction that the frog could not hide from him, but his seething anger at it was not yet satisfied. He needed to begin planning. He needed to kill it. Even if he was not Leven, Levens thinking had stained Dei¡¯s decision making. Dei was too peaceful, the Wrath affinity had said as much when he met with them. He was experimenting with his power slowly, learning and training in case he got into a fight. He was preparing to survive an encounter with stronger beasts, but that was the thinking of prey. Dei needed to seek out fights. He needed to become stronger, faster. He couldn¡¯t avoid all danger, as that would only feed into his weakness. He needed to plan out fights, picking the battles he knew he could win. He was a human for God''s sake, he had to act like it. He wouldn¡¯t run in to battles, hoping to win on prowess. That was the thinking of animals. He would plot and plan, lead the enemies into his traps, and slaughter them with a combination of preparation and overwhelming force. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. It wouldn¡¯t be easy, it was clear that monsters in this world were smarter than dumb brutes, but they couldn¡¯t hold up to a thinking mind if he stretched his own out for the sake of survival. He had to use his days more efficiently. He didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be ready to take on the frog by next month, but he would work his way up. He pulled up the notepad he wrote so many weeks ago. ¡°Fast tracks to power He would need more than these if he ever wanted to kill the frog. There were no combat Skills at all in his repertoire, so he mentally began to work on the issue of what he wanted a new Skill to look like. Until he had a better idea though, he would work on the tried and true options. He added a new section to this page in the notepad, a planner for his days. ¡°Day Planning: It was weird, but simple. He hoped to keep his mind stimulated enough to keep to it, but didn¡¯t include time for ¡°entertainment¡± as there was simply none to be had. He did find it slightly entertaining to mess with the bugs during his [Fine-Tooth Comb] training, but that was it. No time like the present, Dei sat down and began to meditate. * * * [Since the Fall: 6/11/809 - 7:58:30] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (9) -> (10)] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (19) -> (20)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (20) -> (21)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (21) -> (22)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (22) -> (23)] Two days passed since he gave himself a new training regime. He watched the frog every day, and it was only today that it began to move again. For some reason, it kept itself dormant for three days after attacking him, and he now believed it used that time to digest the mana it took from him. A thought occurred to him somewhere during his training, that the Interface gave notifications when you killed something. He knew monsters had Interfaces too, based on the contract he got from Soul. That meant the frog knew he was alive. It left him alone because it had taken all it could from him. More than that, he believed it wanted to ¡°finish¡± him off later without wasting the mana in him, saving him like leftovers. His anger continued to build every day, and he checked how much Wrath mana he had now. [620/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 81/2000 Soul] A little less than fifty Wrath mana produced in two days. It wasn¡¯t going to overtake his Skill faster than it could contain it yet, but if the drip of mana didn¡¯t stop soon, it would. Especially with how some space was being taken up by Soul mana. It didn¡¯t bother him though. He planned to use it, so he would save as much as he needed for the frog. His [Growing Pains] Skill skyrocketed in levels, faster than his actual Physical stat. While he knew his old skills would grow quickly, it was amazing to see it in action now that he had a frame of reference. His [Camouflage] practice barely bore fruit. It didn¡¯t come as instinctually, and he needed to practice with it more. Right now, he could change his skin into a material without copying the texture. Only more time and practice would fix the issue. * * * [Since the Fall: 6/16/809 - 7:59:22] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (10) -> (11)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (11) -> (12)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (23) -> (24)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (32) -> (33)] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (15) -> (16)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (10) -> (11)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1012/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 205/2000 Soul] A full week passed since the incident outside of his cave. He continued to observe the frog and its tendencies to wander around, picking its fights carefully. He was sure now that it had the Mind affinity rather than the Heart affinity, based on his guess that the mind was the logic of the soul while Heart was emotions. It used stuns on its enemies in key moments of battle and was weirdly intelligent for an animal. It never panicked when cornered, always managing to find a way out of fights it couldn¡¯t win. He would have respected its drive, if he wasn¡¯t going to kill it. On top of that, he picked the target for his own fight he intended to have when he next used [Astral Projection]. There was a damp alcove a short distance away from him filled with life. It was about as wide as a basketball court, while being six stories tall. The room had vines all around it and those weird glowing crystals along with swarms of insects. His target was the only mammal in the cave and apex predator, a large flying rodent. They were very cute, and he was going to feel bad, but it was necessary. He picked them as his target because stats worked as a multiplier, and he was probably the lowest level thing in the entire area. He needed to fight things with a low baseline, and little for the stats multiply. He continued to grow larger though, increasing his own baseline for his stats to work with. It really was unnatural, he had grown nearly a foot in just the two months he¡¯d been here. He didn¡¯t know exactly how old he was, but he believed he wasn¡¯t a year old and looked like he was three. He would continue watching his growth carefully. * * * [Since the Fall: 7/9/809 - 7:57:57] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (12) -> (13)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (13) -> (14)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (33) -> (34)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (60) -> (61)] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] ¡­ [Total Stats Gained: +6 physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (16) -> (17)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (11) -> (12)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (12) -> (13)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (13) -> (14)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1334/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 636/2000 Soul] One month had passed since he first left his cave as a projection. While his anger began to abate, his [Pandora¡¯s Box] was already almost full. It was true that he needed to begin stretching it, so that wouldn¡¯t be the worst, but he didn¡¯t think it would be a good idea to lose his head in the situation he was in. He needed to stretch it using Soul mana, as he was realizing how difficult it was to earn Kindness mana. He only needed to earn 23 more mana to fill up his Skill, but that would change today when he used his Soul mana. His Skills grew steadily, except [Growing Pains], which shot straight towards the cap of what it was before he died in his last life. It gave him hope that his [Pandora¡¯s Box] would grow faster than his affinity mana could fill it, as the Skill was growing much, much faster than his Physical stat itself. He was also finally able to use [High Mind] a single time for something non-intensive without it putting pressure on his soul. His presence had grown to be something sturdier, and he continued to fill the miscellaneous section he left open with random neutral memories from his past, such as the different animals he¡¯d seen and the beautiful scenes he¡¯d had the benefit of visiting in his previous life, such as the grand canyon. It added a life to his Presence that he didn¡¯t have before, without diminishing the Wrath, Kindness, and Parental aspects of it. He was also able to Meditate and ¡°work out¡± at the same time now, but only as planks. He still could not meditate while moving yet, but the extra workout added more to his regime. He was yet to create a combat Skill either, but he went over his past, checking all the other times he created Skills on accident. It seemed there needed to be a spike in his emotions to create a new Skill, as well as a genuine reason. He couldn¡¯t, with his affinities at least, sit patiently and create a Skill through willpower alone. Everything was ready. His Skills were as high as he was going to get them for now, and his Physical stat was higher than last time, so he hoped that would translate over to his Projection like he thought it would. He sat down in the center of the room not only ready for a fight, but looking for one this time. He knew from last time that he could push through the barrier with his Projection, so he didn¡¯t risk sticking a finger out this time. When he activated his [Astral Projection], he also pushed more mana into it than necessary, going all the way up to six hundred mana crammed into it, in order to make his projection more sturdy. [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (2) -> (3)] [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (3) -> (4)] He felt overfull from doing so, but succeeded, knowing the description of his Skill had changed once again from ¡°450 mana initial cost¡± to ¡°450 minimum mana initial cost.¡± His Identity split from the rest of his soul, pulling itself from his body and standing up. He glanced at his own face in a peaceful resting position, then turned around and pushed through the barrier into danger. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Spiritual) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 4) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) Soul Strength: 600/600 MP: 44/44 SP: 44/44 Stats: Physical: 22 Mental: 27 Spiritual: 34 Magical: 28 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 57% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 22% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (1377/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (61) Soul: Astral Projection (4), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (14) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (5) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (17), Vigilance (6), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (14)] Chapter 30 He began sprinting at his top speed (as his Spiritual form didn¡¯t tire) towards the microbiome with the creatures he intended to face, but he needed to experiment on the way. He first needed to come up with a way to fight them if he wanted to kill them, and he had a good idea for how he would do that. Firstly, his SP. It served as fuel for his ghostly powers, as he¡¯d seen before, but he couldn¡¯t quite rely on that. He didn¡¯t have enough of it to maintain his form in the physical world, but he did still need to maintain a physical form and use his ghost powers. He would rapidly deplete his SP by doing anything if he had to rely on it, so that got him thinking: what did spirits normally do? How did they normally manifest themselves or do anything at all? His mom said that ghosts existed, but how would one manifest itself in the physical world long enough to make any significant change? He found himself with a different idea. Rather than SP being the main fuel, he thought it would be more of a rapidly regenerating auxiliary fuel, for smaller actions. He found that in his ghost form, he regenerated SP much more rapidly than his physical form, with data taken from his extensive workout sessions. He also learned that SP wasn¡¯t necessary to the basic functions of existing, just the more strenuous ones. If he walked around, his SP would not deplete, but actually regenerate. If he pushed his muscles to the limit though, his SP would go down. When his body moved in non-strenuous ways, it still consumed energy from food in order to simply exist. The same couldn¡¯t be said for his Spiritual form, as it did not eat, but what did it use for energy? It had to use something, some replacement for food, and that got him thinking about what spirits would eat: energy from other spirits, like how the frog had taken some of his Soul Strength. If it was true that Soul Strength worked as a replacement for food to ghosts, and SP worked to do all the ¡°strenuous¡± activities, then it would track that Soul Strength should be used to manifest himself and maintain his form (as that would count as ¡°continued existence¡± so to speak), while SP would be used to do things like flying or phasing through objects. After orienting himself and realizing he was fairly close to his objective, Dei began testing his theory out. He tapped into his [Spiritual Re-Attunement], and felt as it began to draw on his SP. rather than allow it to do so, he redirected some of the energy flowing through his body into the ability, and felt it kick into overdrive. When he used his SP to fuel it, it was like pressing against a wall. He maintained the layer he was on in the spirit world, failing to actually move his entire body into the real world. Now though, it felt so natural, like his body wanted to manifest itself. In seconds, he saw a white light shine upon the stone around him. While he had perfect darkvision in his spirit form, he could still differentiate light levels, and now he saw that he actually was making a difference to the world. He checked his Interface quickly. [Soul Strength: 599/600 MP: 12/44 SP: 44/44] ¡®Just a single point!¡¯ he said to himself, impressed. He also noted that his MP was not fully regenerated. He always tried to lean further into it rather than his saved mana¡¯s in order to make them last longer, and that was still true for when he was using [Astral Projection]. Dei felt solid, more solid than his actual body, and he was full on SP. He lifted himself off the ground, finding that it consumed one SP. Four seconds later, it consumed a second, and he dropped himself to the ground to allow for his SP to regenerate. It seemed that it drained slower than last time, but he wasn¡¯t sure whether that was because he was more solid with a higher Soul Strength, that his body had a higher Physical, or that he was manifested. Probably a combination of the three. Either way, he had a good three minutes of flight worth of SP, or a combination of other ghost abilities. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure what the limits of that were, but he knew that flight, phasing through things, and maybe disappearing into the ghost realm for a second would count. Actually, wait a minute, was that what he was supposed to use SP for when re-attuning? Rather than manifesting himself, he was supposed to use it to flicker in and out of reality so he could dodge better? He smiled, happy to have figured that one out, even if he felt a little silly for not doing so sooner. Everything in motion, he kept an eye on his Soul Strength, trying to see how quickly it would go down, or if it would at all. After a few more minutes of it staying stable, he decided it was most likely negligible, and tried pulling some mana from his soul into his body, trying to repair the projection he was in. Weirdly, the mana didn¡¯t react, doing nothing at all. He was confused, wasn¡¯t this what he pushed into the Skill to make his entire body? Why couldn¡¯t he use it to repair it? He tried running Soul mana from his [Pandora¡¯s Box] into [Astral Projection], but failed at that too, it simply didn¡¯t react. His brow scrunched, trying to activate [Growing Pains] to heal him, but it was fueled by Wrath, and his body was repaired with Soul, so it also did nothing. Trying to feed Soul mana into [Growing Pains] did nothing as well, completely failing to have an effect. Why couldn¡¯t he feed more mana into his body? How would ghosts normally repair themselves? Well, for one, they didn¡¯t have a body to rely on, so no extra Soul mana. They would need to take it from others¡­ but why was that different? The only thing he could think of was that his mana was run through a Skill to create his projected form. Did that add something to it? Some sort of intent that was required to give it life? He only had one way to test it out, so he went off to a corner where a few plants and bugs resided. He looked at some sort of cow ant, except it was brown. He saw how it had a soul, and he realized he¡¯d need to squish it. He didn¡¯t have any shoes on, and he also really didn¡¯t want to hurt the little guy, so he opted for a plant instead. Uprooting the shrub, he noticed that his [Soul Strength] did not decrease, as it would have if he were using SP to manifest his form. He began snapping branches off, thoroughly shredding it. He did feel bad for it, as he could actively see its soul and that it knew it was dying, but not so bad, because it didn¡¯t feel any panic or emotions or anything. It was like watching a computer declare that its motherboard was malfunctioning before shutting off. Some spiritual energy leaked out of it as it died, and he tried pulling that into himself by just thinking about it, same as he would control the other energies in his body. It didn¡¯t respond to him though, and he realized that he didn¡¯t really have any control over it, as he should have expected before. Instead, he waved his hand around the weird spirit-ey smoke, and absorbed it into himself. It was¡­ so negligible that it practically did not exist. He got virtually nothing from that, not even regenerating the one point that was required to create his body. There was some sort of transfer of energy, from ¡°plant soul power¡± to ¡°human soul power¡± that turned it completely useless, like a very low exchange rate He looked at the ant, knowing that it wouldn¡¯t be much different. That did give him a better idea of why spirits acted the way they did, in folklore at least. Rather than killing everything around them, they needed the energy with a better conversion rate. Chances were that the closer something was to his species, the more energy he would get. More than this though, it felt like his body was a very pure form of energy, probably from how much concentrated Soul mana was used to make it, and that made the conversion even worse as his body tried to concentrate it into that familiar level. The frog that attacked him probably had a field day with what kind of energy it got. Now knowing that in order to heal in his spirit form, he would need energy from either living creatures or spirits, he set out again for the cave, also noting that he received no experience points from killing that plant, despite the fact that it had levels. * * * He stood in front of the little entrance to the cave he needed to get into, psyching himself up. He tried to remember all the things he knew of the creatures he was about to attack. They were small rodents, with the older ones being able to fly, while the juveniles climbed along the vines that drooped along the entire room. As far as he knew, the females stayed high up, guarding the babies on top of the carpet of vines by making small openings to hold their children in. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The males on the other hand battled each other closer to the ground, and ate the various bugs that coated the place. He remembered counting how many rodents there were, and saw that there were two hundred and seventeen of them. Only sixty two were adult males, the rest being children or adult females by his last count. It didn¡¯t seem like the males ever killed each other in their confrontations, but they were battle maniacs, always fighting when they could. He suspected they were honing their Skills, trying to get stronger. It was also one of the reasons he even chose this microbiome in the first place: first, he knew they would fight back. As much as he was willing to do, he didn¡¯t want to go around squishing helpless animals. Second, their population wouldn¡¯t suffer if he let loose. The mothers and children were always up in the highest vines, so he didn¡¯t fear sending them to extinction. When the next generation grew up, it would be enough to kickstart their population. He knew this was going to be a gory fight, but he was banking on getting lost in the moment, potentially fearing for his life a bit to distract himself from how gross it was going to be to squish a bunch of flying hamsters. Inhaling deeply despite not really needing to breathe, he psyched himself up. The entrance was too small for him to fit through, so he just walked into the wall and willed himself to phase through, which he luckily did. [SP: 42/44] The sounds of chittering squeaks and the calls of bugs filled his ears. Looking around, he spotted that one of the gerbils was close to him. It was around three times the size of his hand, and only about six or seven feet away on a vine. They stood there, studying each other for a second, before the gerbil let out a high pitched squeak, and lunged for him with its tiny claws outstretched. His [High Mind] kicked into gear to accelerate his thinking and, surprisingly, [Vigilance] too. While he didn¡¯t think he was in too much danger, it was clear that he was in enough danger for the skill to give him a massive boost to his awareness. He swung his arm to try and slap it out of the air, but the gerbil gained a massive boost in speed mid air, causing him to miss. It was closing in on his face so, thinking quickly, he pumped the twenty MP he had regenerated into a single Wrath [Identify]. He blasted its soul, causing it to stutter in its movements for a second, and brought his head forward in a headbut. [Aeroflight Lorpee Screamer - Level 188 The Lorpee are small rodents. This strain utilizes the Wind affinity along with a webbing between their legs to fly, with a minor affinity for Vibration to both communicate and daze enemies] It wasn¡¯t as extensive as most of the times he¡¯d used identify, but the rodent had put up a good fight in protecting its soul. He focused on trying to glean what affinities it had, if any. He realized that he might have legitimately been in trouble if he came here in person, as he had a weakness to Vibration. Seeing the rodent falling towards the ground, he punted the little fucker hard against a tree, hearing a sickening crunch. It was, surprisingly, not dead though. Sitting on the ground, he prepared to put it out of its misery when it let out a loud ¡°SKREE¡± noise, that pierced through the cacophony of sound around them. Immediately, the micro-jungle quieted down, and he noticed that all the rodents were looking straight at him. [EXP gained for killing the Aeroflight Lorpee Screamer (Level 188). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) -> (Level 35)] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 34) -> (Level 36)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] There was a beat of silence as the Lorpee¡¯s all observed the new enemy, then one of them let out a scream similar to the first one he¡¯d just killed. In seconds, all the Lorpee¡¯s had joined the first. At once, they descended upon him ¡®aw ya gotta be shitting me, they work together?¡¯ More prepared for their bursts of power, the first to close in on him was met with a punch straight forward rather than from the side. Weaved around his fist, flying up his arm, but his left arm came up from below and just barely clipped its back legs, sending it careening above him. He didn¡¯t have time to capitalize on that though, as two more descended immediately, one slamming into his side and the other into his back. Both latched on and began tearing into him, so he grabbed the one on his side to rip it off, backing up as hard as he could into a tree to crush the second one on his back. He felt a weird resonance from his back, and drained the now-corpse of the power its soul gave off, marginally healing him. One of the walking Lorpees approached him but instead of kicking it, he used the one he was holding as a baseball, throwing them together and dealing damage to both. More swarmed him from the skies, trying to latch onto any vulnerable or undefended parts of him, but his back was already against a tree, and he could grab them from any other part of his body. They stopped attempting to latch onto him when five were already grabbed and killed that way, instead opting for hit and run tactics that left swipes out of his body. His projection was fairly sturdy, but each swipe took two or three points of Soul Strength. They always managed to dodge the first strike, but the second usually took them off guard enough to get a small graze in, at first. Over time, they began adapting to his tactics, dodging the second strikes, while he adapted to theirs. When the fight first started, they cleanly dodged his first hits, but two minutes in, he was getting closer. He found himself enjoying the fight, a wide grin splitting his face as he focused more and more, falling into a rhythm of just barely blocking the Lorpee¡¯s while dealing small amounts of damage. Neither were scoring large hits anymore as Lorpee¡¯s stopped dying and stopped being able to take full swipes out of him. He felt his mind became noticeably faster, [High Mind] and [Vigilance] both working to accelerate his reaction time. Still, they eventually reached a stalemate as his body could respond no faster, his mind greatly outpacing it. He slowly made his way around the field, stepping on the bodies with his bare feet and absorbing their essence, healing him. When all were collected, he decided it was time to start becoming a bit more slippery. One moved in to swipe at him, and he jumped between the physical realm and the first layer of the spirit world using his SP, gone for just a single second, but enough to dodge the Lorpee perfectly. It had intended for there to be friction with its claws, as well as to leap off him, but its balance was thrown off completely. It slowed itself to redirect, but he was already in motion a half-step out of the spirit world. The moment he phased back into reality, his fist came down, slamming it into the Lorpee. The trick worked two more times, before they wisened up and got more careful, but he¡¯d already done some good damage. Next time, he tried to avoid disappearing, instead becoming intangible in the same way he would move through a wall. He intended to save on SP, but the moment the Lorpee hit him, it dealt significantly more damage to him than they were previously. Becoming intangible while still in reality was a very bad idea, lowering his defenses. He quickly checked what condition he was in. [Soul Strength: 553/600] ¡®Doing great so far.¡¯ It also helped that he couldn¡¯t really feel the pain. He hadn¡¯t felt pain in his Spirit form since the frog had hit him with that special croak. Now, he just detected it as damage, without the need to feel it. More focus was put on deflecting them while he regenerated some SP for the second part of his plan, when he was at [40/44], he tried a second trick. Some of the Lorpee were waiting above, sitting on the vines and resting after committing to strenuous attacks. They couldn¡¯t all swarm him at once or they would lose the space to maneuver, so instead they took turns in doing so, employing rapid-fire swipes and vibrational attacks that failed to really affect him. It had been about fifteen minutes of combat now, and the Lorpee¡¯s were starting to get bogged down. In between launching their ultimate attacks, they would sit around and rest, letting others take over. Now, Dei launched himself up into the vines, grabbing two and crunching them with his bare hands. It felt way too good to do that, but he put it out of his mind for now. Quick as a whip, he darted around the vines nimbly, striking out at any he got close to. His aerial mobility helped keep them off him while he moved faster than they could adjust. None of them ever retreated upwards into the women and children of their society, probably for fear of him going for their young. Instead, they redoubled their efforts. When he got down to [15/44] SP, he stopped flying so much, and instead started swinging himself around like a monkey in the vines. He was, frankly, having a blast. It was a bit cruel of him to take so much enjoyment from hurting some other creatures, but his superhuman reaction speed made crazy maneuvers in the air possible, and fighting as he launched himself off vines a viable tactic. The critters very clearly did not have high Mental stats, even if they were fairly smart, so their reaction speeds were lacking. At one point, two were chasing him, only for him to grab onto a vine above him and swing around, ending up behind them as he reversed their roles. He wasn¡¯t taking the fight seriously anymore. It had been months of nonstop training and stress, so much so that now the slightest taste of being the one ¡°in control¡± made him absolutely hysterical. When he killed around thirty, half their fighting males, they began to pull back, flying upwards. He dropped to the ground with practiced grace, despite the fact that he¡¯d never done this kind of thing before. He just had so much time to think about his actions now, that he could take the time to plan each one out. With the Lorpee¡¯s retreating upwards, he quickly ran around, absorbing all the spiritual energy he could from their bodies. He even collected four of them in his arms. He didn¡¯t bother chasing them upwards, figuring they were retreating to try and get a home field advantage. When he looked up though, he noticed an odd Lorpee, floating above them. The other ones looked like orange-and-white spotted gerbils. This one, however, was blue and white. It floated there in the sky, watching him. It hadn¡¯t extended its webbed arms to glide either, seemingly standing on nothing as it observed his every action. Knowing a boss when he saw one, and to stop while he was ahead, Dei backed away to the exit, passing the Lorpee¡¯s through the hole in the wall before phasing through the wall himself. Once he was on the other side, he picked up the four bodies and took off in a sprint down the corridor leading home. While he could have kept fighting and hadn¡¯t even pulled out all his tricks, he still had much to do. His Physical stat was being far outpaced by all the Mental enhancements he had so far, and he couldn¡¯t properly move his body to his own pace anymore. The excursion had been an incredible success and, while he knew it had only been about an hour since he left his safety, he decided it wouldn¡¯t be such a bad idea to close out the trip on a high note. Chapter 31 When he made it back to the entrance of his cave, he paused a step, not going in just yet, and scratched his head with his non-blood-covered hand. ¡®Why did I take these bodies with me?¡¯ he thought confusedly at the pile of four Lorpee¡¯s he was holding. Honestly, he hadn¡¯t been thinking about it, it just felt like the right thing to do. Getting spoils and all, you know? Now he had four dead gerbils that he was getting uncomfortable holding as the adrenaline began to wear off. He¡¯d never let himself cut his aggression so loose before, always opting to hold it in, but he now realized it felt so satisfying. More than that, he didn¡¯t regret it at all as he hadn¡¯t done so for any horrible reasons. He believed he was completely justified in killing the Lorpee¡¯s, as he really did need to get stronger. Sure, they didn¡¯t do anything to him, but he didn¡¯t have the choice in getting stronger. He had to become more powerful, he had to use all the tools at his disposal, and he would use them unapologetically. There would still be limits of course, as he had specifically chosen a creature to fight that would fight back, but the inhibitions he felt left over from his previous life fell away more easily than he could have imagined. It brought into question how much of ones personality people were born with. He had no doubt that Leven would have taken things much slower and been shocked into silence by all the killing Dei had done, but Dei found it as natural as breathing. Was this something he had gotten from his parents? He¡¯d never really seen his family fight, but if he was born to love fighting, he wouldn¡¯t be surprised. It probably wasn¡¯t just his parents either, people who loved fighting would naturally succeed and create more children in this world, as they would be the more desirable partners in such a brutal society. It wouldn¡¯t be that simple of course, as someone with a shit personality would probably still struggle to find a wife, but he believed ¡°being powerful¡± was like this world''s version of ¡°being rich.¡± Pondering about his personality changing between lives done, he was still faced with the complex problem of ¡°what the hell do I do with my meaty spoils before the meat spoils.¡± He honestly wouldn¡¯t mind eating it, just to taste something. The specks of pure energy were not very satisfying to his taste buds, even though he somehow felt full afterwards like he had eaten a large lunch. Eating the bodies wasn¡¯t an option though, as he knew fuckall about starting a fire, and he wasn¡¯t in the mood for raw gerbil. He had to find something to do with it raw. Could any of his Skills benefit from using raw meat? No. Did he need to study the gerbils to ¡°look for weak points¡± or something? Absolutely not. Could he skin it and use the fur? ¡­actually not a bad idea. He was starting to grow out of the clothes his mom gave him, so he would need a replacement soon. Ok, thats what he would try first. Skinning it. Before he even did that though, he knew it was going to make a right mess everywhere. He couldn¡¯t leave raw meat or stuff like that out, or it could attract other wild animals. He needed to dispose of it in some way, if only he had something that would eat it, but not cause him trouble. Preferably something that wouldn¡¯t attack him, but wouldn¡¯t move around too much either, so he could use it as a garbage disposal if he ever brought other meat back. More than that though: what if it could actually benefit him in some way? So his criteria were as follows: can dispose of bodies, won''t attack him, easily controllable, and beneficial. It would¡¯ve been an outlandish request, if he didn¡¯t already have just the thing. * * * Having never dismissed his Projection, he was now holding his mothers knife that he¡¯d retrieved from her pack, and was surrounded by six gray spikes that were slowly sinking downwards, flattening themselves out and changing color to match that of the stone they sat upon. The six spikes were, of course, half of the [Biting Flesh Trap of Allure bulb]¡¯s he had. He still held six back in the safety of his Garden, but he decided to try and make use of these tall spikes. If there ever came a point when he was being chased by a monster, Dei did not want to lead them right to his house, so he¡¯d set them up in a corridor between the Garden and Bog Cavern, as he¡¯d creatively named it. With his new Physical stat, he could actually lift his moms knife with a semblance of dexterity, and his mental enhancements helped completely remove any shaking of his hand he might have from taking it carefully. That being said, he was by no means an expert at skinning. He tried very, very hard to cut through the skin delicately, but he just kept poking holes in it, utterly ruining what mightve passed for a pelt that he could potentially turn into a loincloth. After utterly annihilating the four bodies, he sighed and turned himself intangible, letting the blood that coated his body fall to the ground. He was able to absolutely coat the Flesh Traps in blood, and he watched as they visibly soaked it all in through both their spikes and the ground. He watched the stone crack as the Flesh Traps spread their roots across it, trying and succeeding to get all that they could from what was left of the Lorpee corpses. Plants were absolutely terrifying in this world. He suspected that the fragility of plants on Earth stemmed from the lack of mana, throwing their inner balance off greatly. Either way, he¡¯d failed to harvest anything useful from the bodies, but boy was it a learning experience. Leaving the Flesh Traps in the tunnel, hoping nothing would come along to eat them, he went back home to finally check on the progress he made fighting the Lorpee¡¯s. * * * Locking back into his body, he sighed in relief that he could sigh in relief again. Not breathing for such a long time felt so weird to him, though he suspected that it was mitigated somewhat by how his Projection was formed. He found himself, weirdly, thinking like a spirit when he was in Spiritual form. He didn¡¯t really crave breathing, and he naturally knew what would and would not be within his power if he tried it, like flying. It didn¡¯t feel jarring, being able to do everything humans could not. Was that what made it so he couldn¡¯t absorb just any source of Soul mana to heal himself? It would make sense if his Skill gave him a sort of ¡°ghost instinct¡± and he needed processed material to actually digest it into a useable form. If Soul mana was like amino acids, he couldn¡¯t just drink a cup of them and hope for the best result. Instead, his Skill provided a framework for his body to use when projecting. The only mystery was: where did this framework come from? Not really a mystery at all, the Soul affinity. The mystery of how Skills processed mana into useable forms aside, he opened his notifications. [EXP gained for killing the Aeroflight Lorpee Screamer (Level 188). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] ¡­ [EXP gained for killing the Aeroflight Lorpee Screamer (Level 145). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 36) -> (Level 37)] ¡­ [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 44) -> (Level 45)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (6) -> (7)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (17) -> (18)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (14) -> (15)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (25) -> (26)] The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. [Achievement Gained! Born for Slaughter] [Achievement Gained! Born for Slaughter Before the first sapient creature learned to wield the axe, before the first fire was ever started and the first morsel of food was ever cooked, there were the Slaughterers. Born to fight. To kill. To Slaughter. There was no one race who became the Slaughterers, no one people from whom they rose, they were merely those who rose to finish the fight. They were the scorned, the ones who lost their families to the unfeeling eyes of beasts, and promised to fight the war they never knew they were a part of. They fought for their people, whoever they might be. They fought because they had nothing left. They fought to feel alive. Only death followed in their wake, their heavy footfalls shaking the earth to its core. The weight of their presence enough to kill weaker men. But as communities banded together, the Slaughterers fell into obscurity. They protected the people, allowing for agriculture, music and arts to flourish where horrible monsters would have torn the beauties of creation apart. By the time sapients had founded the first city, there were no Slaughterers left. They gave their life, blood, bones, and flesh so the support systems that protect sapience today might be given the chance to bear fruit. The Slaughterers knew nothing but war from their first breath to their last. They raged against the horrible cruelty of it all, and died roaring in pain as the hordes of beasts tore them apart one too many times to come back from. Now, in a squalid cave, abandoned by all, you follow in their mountainous footsteps, craters left behind by giants. In time, you too shall grow into them. You shall shake the earth with your every step. You shall Slaughter. Or you shall die in that same squalid cave. You have slain ten enemies over one hundred levels higher than you before the age of one without any community to support you. When he started reading the notifications, he was ecstatic, even more so when he read that he got a new Achievement. The description of it was rather grand, and the story it told drew him in as he garnered some respect for the people put in situations that made them become the Slaughterers. They were those at the beginning of the species, when humans first came into existence, who became the strongest of warriors. It sounded like they gave up everything to fight monsters, becoming monsters in themselves. The second to last paragraph jarred him from the story though. It referenced him specifically. His exact situation. He knew it wasn¡¯t just the System picking favorites with him, trying to send him some message, as it was already proven it wasn¡¯t able to do that. This Achievement was difficult enough to get that any who did get it were going to be noteworthy. Noteworthy, or dead. In order to get it, a child needed to be abandoned by their parents in a dangerous situation, but fight their way out, exactly how he was doing now. He thought back to the description, and imagined that the first Slaughterers were those who were not abandoned by their parents, but had their parents killed in front of them. Still, he didn¡¯t think most would get this specific Achievement. It was so nearly impossible to earn, that there wouldn¡¯t be enough Slaughterers to defend the populace. There had to be more, easier Achievements to get that would dictate what constituted a Slaughterer. No, this one functioned to give people in his situation hope. If he really was a child abandoned at one year old, this Achievement would work to tell him that there were others out there. It would give him hope to keep fighting, and eventually find his people. Someone with no community as young as he was should, by all accounts, not have a single memory of other humans. That was why it gave such a lengthy description where other Achievements did not. That made him think there were more Achievements like this one, a so-called Slaughterer line of Achievements. He also realized that he might be able to upgrade this Achievement if he had enough time, so he used [High Mind] to help him go over all the memories in his soul, calculating the exact day he was born. Luckily, Iora had awoken the memories from before he became conscious, so he could read through them all the way up to his birth. He was shocked when he realized his birthday was in just six days, on [7/15/808]. It was currently [7/9/809], so he just barely made the cut to get this achievement. The question was: could he go out and upgrade it? He didn¡¯t have the Soul mana to use a Projection again. If he¡¯d known he would get such an Achievement, he would have absolutely not dismissed his Projection. The mana used in it was gone, he watched his soul absorb it for some purpose he couldn¡¯t figure out when his Identity clicked back into place. Six days was not enough time to earn the mana and make a new one either. If he wanted to try and upgrade this Achievement, he would need to leave the cave himself. With his own body, and kill those Lorpee¡¯s¡­ He would think about it first. Was it possible? Could he even do it? He searched his soul for the memory of him killing the Lorpee¡¯s, trying to find out how many he¡¯d actually killed that were over 100 levels higher than him. Some were lower level, some were higher. He actually found out that there were two races of Lorpee¡¯s: The [Aeroflight Lorpee Screamer] were those who had surpassed level 100, and undergone an evolution of some kind. Those that were less than level 100 though were called the [Lorpee Screamer]. A small yet notable difference. He had killed thirty three Lorpee¡¯s exactly. Of that number, fifteen were over level one hundred and, of that number, only eleven were one hundred levels higher than him at the moment of their death. He¡¯d killed one more than was necessary to get the Achievement, so there was no way to know how many more he needed to kill to earn an upgrade to it. Now, how many Lorpee¡¯s were there that were eligible to be 100 levels higher than him? While he didn¡¯t know the levels of all the surviving Lorpee¡¯s, it was only the strongest that had survived, with him getting some lucky shots in on a few of them. Those that survived, the remaining twenty nine were bound to be of sturdier stuff. If he assumed that nine of them weren¡¯t high leveled enough, that would still be twenty Lorpee¡¯s of one hundred levels higher than him. Was that enough? Would the Slaughterer title be upgraded every ten kills? He wasn¡¯t sure, but it was technically possible. Now for the real question, was he crazy enough to go there in person, and try to finish off the Lorpee¡¯s? Would it even work? As it was, he¡¯d always used his Projection to fight, and it consumed massive amounts of mana to keep itself stable. It was more durable than his own body, but why was that? Shouldn¡¯t his physical body be more durable? The short of it was, that his physical body didn¡¯t have hundreds of mana pumping through it to keep it stable. His [Astral Projection] worked to boost the strength of his Identity, keeping it strong while detached from his Soul. To strengthen his body to that degree, he would need a boosting ability for himself too. The only affinity he imagined he could do this with was his Wrath affinity. It was not only the perfect ability to work on his body, as it was an affinity natural for Humans and was shown to boost his muscles through [Growing Pain], but he also had a hell of a lot of it. The amount he was earning still rose as well, the simmering fury he felt after his near-death encounter was beginning to abate, but it was still there. He would need to go into battle, with his real body, believing that a boosting ability would come to him mid-fight. Was that something he was willing to risk? No, it was not. He didn¡¯t want to fight with his real body! That sounded painful and dangerous. He was so much weaker than his projection, and he might not even get the chance to boost himself before it was over. He didn¡¯t have six hundred HP, he had forty four. But he looked at the very last line in his new Achievement, and hesitated. Did he have the choice? Could he afford to give up on power? He had nobody else, no one to rely on if he were hunted down, same as he was doing to these Lorpee¡¯s. If he stumbled, he would fall. He was hoping to fix that by reaching someone else, but they felt more desperate than him, and they might not even survive until he got there. Not unless he could fast-track his power. He spent a long moment, re-reading the Achievement over and over again. He sighed, sinking his face into his hands. ¡®I¡¯m going to do it aren¡¯t I? I¡¯m going to go out into that Lorpee cave, with my physical body, and throw myself against them until they¡¯re dead. Or I am. ¡®Yes. Yes, I am.¡¯ At the thought, a tension left his shoulders. He¡¯d made his decision, so he would pour everything he had into following through. Four days. He had just four days worth of training to get himself stronger. On the fifth day, he would fight the Lorpee¡¯s to the death, and on the sixth, he would celebrate his birthday. He began working out immediately. He still had a whole day of training ahead of him, and no [Meditation] or [High Mind] were going to help here. He needed strength. He stopped fighting against the bubbling rage too, instead focusing on it more. He forced himself to relive the fight with the frog in his head, and stopped his [Pandora¡¯s Box] from pulling all of it in. Some, he left in his body as he began to stew in his own hate. The familiar feeling of seething with rage while pushing his body to the limit evoked memories from his previous life, memories that helped him control his body and fall into a repetition. Chapter 32 [Since the Fall: 7/14/809 - 10:22:05] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (61) -> (62)] ¡­ Skill leveled Up: Growing Pains (82) -> (83)] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] ¡­ [Total Stats Gained: +12 Physical] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1572/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 80/2000 Soul.] He trained intensively for three days, then halfway through the fourth, he ate a larger piece of meat than he normally would have in order to give himself a massive burst of energy, putting a large strain on his soul until it faded around nightfall, where he rested deeply. All but last night had been plagued by horrible nightmares, as he was digging up old wounds to fuel his rage. He wanted as much Wrath mana as he could get before the fight, but focusing on all the terrible parts of his situation to make himself angrier while also reliving the torture Iora subjected him to were not healthy coping mechanisms. He promised to work through his issues more thoroughly when he wasn¡¯t perpetually in danger. Waking up late after the hard workout the night before, he felt he was in his best condition, which he supposed he was. Checking his garden again, going through the motions helped him get his emotions under control for the day. He refused to allow all the Wrath mana into his [Pandora¡¯s Box], keeping around forty of it circulating through his body to keep his anger high. After days of nonstop fury, he felt like a bomb ready to go off. He kept his head on his shoulders, but there would be no more guilt in what he was about to do. He¡¯d decided before he began his training regime how far he was willing to go to gain poiwer. He had set himself boundaries when he had a clear head, so he knew he would be acting logically rather than a spur-of-the-moment impulse. The plan he came up with for the Lorpee¡¯s was simple yet gruesome. He needed power, that was a fact, and he could not take half measures. When he went to fight them this time, he would have to kill the stronger females as well. The boundary he had set was to not kill the children, and to at least try and spare some of the weaker Lorpee adults to take care of them if the chance arose, but to go all out if it didn¡¯t look like he had the room to safely spare a few. After taking care of his garden and eating breakfast, he felt prepared enough and had to decide what he was going to bring. While he wanted to bring his moms knife as a weapon, his Mental stat and bonuses were no longer outpacing his Physical ones quite as much, so he wouldn¡¯t have the careful dexterity he¡¯d had last time. He also wanted to try and get the bonus to Physical from his new [Born for Slaughter] Achievement, which only activated when he was ¡°primal fighting.¡± When reviewing his memories, he hadn¡¯t felt it activate in the previous fight. While it was true he had only gained the Achievement at the end, it should have activated for at least a few seconds. He wasn¡¯t sure what the conditions were for activating, but he had some solid guesses. The System didn¡¯t feel the need to clarify what it meant by ¡°primal fighting,¡± so it was likely very literal. He had to fight like some sort of animal, without tools. He wasn¡¯t sure if even his clothes would block it, clothes which were honestly no longer fitting him. They were given to him when he was like, two and a half feet tall. He had grown about a foot and a half since then, standing at four feet tall. While there were seams built into it that could be released to make it larger, supposedly to make it last longer for growing children, all the seams had already snapped. He decided to go without a shirt this time, as the tight fitting fur it was made from was limiting his mobility. His pants were just as tight, and only fit around his shins now, but his legs were strong enough to not be hindered from the tightness, and the pants would just rip if his legs really wanted to go in a direction the pants were stopping them from going. He also really didn¡¯t want to go without pants. He hoped the fact that they were made from animal fur would help with whatever constituted as primal fighting, but he didn¡¯t actually think the clothing would matter, unless it was something enchanted. What he thought was stopping him from earning the bonus last time was the use of his Projection. It was a durable avatar that would keep him safe, even if he lost. That was not how he imagined primal fights would go. No, in order to get the bonus, he would need to bleed and risk his life in person. He would need to fight savagely, the way he had fought when facing Wrath in his soul for the right to his Skills. That was one of the reasons why he was filling himself up with Wrath mana now, so he could lose himself to animalistic rage. He would bring nothing but the pants around his waist and his drive for survival. Decision made, he moved towards the exit. It was beginning to ge a bit cramped when moving through the tunnel now, and he knew that he would need to either find a safe place outside before he got too big, or widen the exit by digging it and risk either breaking the concealment shielding or giving larger beasts the chance to wander in. Carefully checking if there was any large predators close using [Tremor Sense], he confirmed that there were none, and hurried out into the open. He felt more exposed than he ever wanted to, having grown used to the safety behind walls. He pushed through, trying to stealthily run to the Lorpee cavern. For the first time in months, he felt the wind whipping around him as he sprinted down the dark pathway. It was actually difficult to see with the lighting, so he ended up having to activate the infrared portion of his [Darkvision]. ¡®Wait, is my Darkvision different when I¡¯m a spirit?¡¯ He skipped over reading it when he was going over his Racial bonuses in his ghost form, as it had the same name he¡¯d seen in his human form, but now he was regretting it slightly. It seemed there was a difference. Midway through the journey, he saw through his [Tremor Sense] as a giant centipede redirected where it was walking from to intercept him. His heart jumped straight into his throat, as it was four times his size, but he didn¡¯t panic. His anger was helping him keep the fear from paralyzing him, and he actually felt a surge of Wrath mana enter flood through the connection. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. He didn¡¯t know what level it was, but the same was true for the centipede. It wasn¡¯t traveling much faster than him, so their Physical stats had to be similar, but fuck was it big, and he really didn¡¯t want to waste energy crippling it and running away as he was about to enter another fight in a few minutes. Instead of running from it, he stopped abruptly and looked straight at it. Even if he wasn¡¯t in sight of it, it clearly had a way to ¡°see¡± him. The moment he did, the centipede itself paused, facing him through dozens of stone walls. It moved to the left, and he tracked it with his head, then it moved to the right, only for him to repeat the action. He treated it like an animal, and tried to paint himself as a target that was ¡°not worth the risk¡± to kill. Surviving in the wild was risk versus reward betting, with your life as the chips. It hesitated for another second, before turning another direction and walking away from him at a more reasonable pace. The thought occurred to him that nothing in this place had a physical stat as low as he did, and that the centipede probably specialized into durability instead of speed, rather than them being physically similar like he¡¯d thought for a moment. He could have injured it to slow it down before running away, but actively needed to remind himself of a simple fact: everything was higher leveled than him, and he needed to focus on things that were much, much smaller in order to stand a real chance. He shivered, and continued sprinting down the hallways, luckily making it to the wall that led into the Lorpee¡¯s. He stopped in front of it, breathing deeply. He heard the squeaks from inside grow louder at his approach, before tapering off and silence reigning from the cave. They knew he was here, they were just waiting for him to come through the wall. He was also conscious of how their Vibration affinity would not only affect him now, but harder than it would other creatures. Not wasting anymore time, he dug his fingers into the stone, and ripped away massive handfuls. He swung his open palms through it all, digging into the already thin wall until it lost most of its structural integrity, then put his full body into a final punch to knock it down, kicking up a cloud of dust. He saw through his tremor sense, how all of them stood atop the vines, watching the dust settle. He didn''t give it the chance to, launching through the cloud that failed to impede his sight. He leapt up with all his power at the first Lorpee resting on one of the branches, punching out. It practically exploded in gore, but the others did not hesitate, immediately swooping down. His Presence roared out of him, communicating to the Lorpee¡¯s that it would be a true fight to the death this time. They attempted the same tactics as before, whittling him down before letting the boss finish him, but he was almost twice as strong compared to last time. His punches no longer missed their mark, instead catching every single one. By the time he landed back on the ground from the initial leap, six were dead. The boss didn¡¯t wait this time to show himself, instead letting out a piercing screech that ruptured his eardrums, and the Lorpee¡¯s all fled backwards. He completely lost his balance, but managed to stay upright and seem unbothered as he landed, turning the stumble into a careful crouch. Last time, they¡¯d stopped using the Vibrational attacks when they realized it did nothing to him, so he was banking on them avoiding the wastage of mana for as long as he could trick them. Looking back up at what he would call the Alpha Lorpee, it glared back at him. It, too, had a Visible Presence for him to sense. It was weird, knowing that he emitted something similar and how others perceived it. He couldn¡¯t glean much from the presence, merely that the Lorpee felt very authoritative, benevolent, and protective. Dei encroached upon its domain, he felt the Lorpee¡¯s hatred for him, that he would tear down all the effort it had placed into creating safety for its people. Dei sensed the pride of a king from the opposing Lorpee. His [Growing Pains] Skill managed to reheal his ear drums right as the Lorpee descended onto him, faster than any others. He readied to strike out at it, but never got the chance. It danced around in the air, instead firing bullets of water at him that he blocked with his forearms. They pierced his skin, but not much deeper. Death from a thousand cuts. The Storm Lorpee made rapid maneuvers in an attempt to break the line of sight he had on it, constantly making passes at him and firing more bullets. [Fine-Tooth Comb] kept his eyes on it, tracking it no matter where it went. Even when it managed to get behind him, the ability tracked sound enough to tell him exactly where it was. [Vigilance], [High Mind], and [Fine-Tooth Comb] combined to just barely keep his eyes on it, stopping it from hitting any vital organs. When he had a better idea of its attack patterns, he tried chasing it around the jungle, jumping from tree to tree in order to get any cheap shots he could in, for naught. He had to give up after half a minute, as it was becoming too difficult to block the barrage and chase at the same time. Minutes went by as it slowly whittled away at him, [Growin Pains] continuously healing him where it could. He had to be patient. He would only have one shot. This Lorpee was cautious, and the same trick would not work a second time. It wanted to take him out, its pride as the king of its people made it see itself as a protector. The moment it thought it could lose though, survival instincts would take over, and it would call for backup. He did still make swipes at it when it got too close, but the few times he managed to graze it, his fists slid off a water armor it coated itself in. The water it produced and shot at him didn¡¯t fall to the ground once its momentum was lost either, instead floating around him as droplets in the air. Six careful minutes later, the droplets began to spin. While they didn¡¯t converge on him, leaving collateral in the trees and vines around them, he was still caught in the vortex. At first, they did little other than run off his skin, but he could sense the buildup. If he waited too long, it would begin to tear him apart. The Lorpee became confident, seeing clearly that he was coated in his own blood. The entire fight, it had made roundabout passes at him, firing droplets at speeds that made it near impossible to dodge from its underbelly as it remained out of reach. Seven minutes into the fight, right as the tornado of water was building in strength, it made a single mistake: rather than taking a curving flight path at him, it decided to make a straight divebomb, firing a charge-up attack composed of hundreds of the smaller drops of water into a single spot in an attempt to get at his eyes. Each drop individually did less damage than a single of the larger ones, but they drilled through his skin, causing him to clench his teeth hard enough to hear cracks. He did not falter though, never forgetting his plan. Seeing his chance, Dei immediately pumped three hundred Wrath mana into his [Identify], and a visible red needle-sized blast flew straight from his forehead. Too fast for the Lorpee to dodge, it pierced deep into his soul and out the other side, hitting the stone ceiling above in an explosion of mana that drowned out all other types. The Skill was not meant to be an attacking skill, so the most it could do was stun it for a few seconds, but that was enough. The Lorpee did not pull away from its divebomb, flying straight into Dei¡¯s open palm. It tried coating itself in water again to slip out, but Dei flexed all the muscles in his arm to close his hand, and crushed the Lorpee in just half a second. The water from the tornado instantly dropped to the ground, evaporating rapidly as it did so. The cave went from a whistling roar of wind to an eerie stillness in seconds, all the Lorpee¡¯s looking down on him in shock. He let his Presence blast out one more time, making his intentions clear that the fight was not yet over, and they quickly responded. Even if it was jarring to lose their protector, they knew he was currently at the weakest they were going to get him. They needed to attack now, in overwhelming numbers. Hundreds of Lorpee fell from the vines, diving straight down at him. Females and males both began blindly attacking him. He sensed the weaker members staying in the vines above with the children, and knew he could cut loose. He let out a growl and faced the army head on. Chapter 33 [HP: 11/86 MP: 0/86 SP: 0/86] He stood amongst a mountain of bodies, the floor of the microbiome no longer visible. He could sense just nine adult survivors, two weak males and nine weak females. They were those deemed the caretakers of the children, chosen to stay behind while the rest of the Lorpee had thrown themselves at Dei in an endless swarm. He was panting heavily, the nine of them watching him from above in the vines. He could tell they were terrified, their heartbeats faster than normal, even for a Lorpee. All of them wanted to attack, as he appeared weak, but they¡¯d seen him tear through all the others while being in a worse state from his fight with the Storm Lorpee. After the fight, he had actually been fast enough to deflect basically everything they could throw at him. With his higher physicality from the workout binge, his muscles were finally able to catch up to his mind, and he could slap them out of the air with ease. He¡¯d felt, for the first time, what it really meant to use [High Mind]. He hadn¡¯t tried to split his mind yet, but the myriad of swooping Lorpee¡¯s utterly failed to overwhelm him. He wasn¡¯t able to ¡°plan¡± his punches per se, he just had a better reaction time, and no singular stimuli took his attention for more than the moment it took to process it. It was like before, his attention was a river, but in this fight it had become a pool. There was a small area around him that [High Mind] hyper-focused on, cutting the unimportant information out. Once their alpha died, the Lorpee¡¯s no longer cared about running into each other to attack him. He¡¯d kicked a nest of hornets, each Lorpee pushing others out of the way for the chance to get even the smallest swipe from him. The only thing that saved him was mobility. He never stayed in place for a single second, and it was clear he outpaced them mentally. They would frequently lose track of him as he ran around trees and dodged in weird directions. He estimated that each one had about the strength of seven gerbils. While that was a lot, he could fight seven gerbils. Not so easy when their were this many though. He would have died very soon into the fight if not for [Growing Pains]. It healed about 1.4 HP per minute, at least before the fight. It was enough to stave off the blood loss during his fight with the boss, and had actually grown to about 1.7 HP per minute after the boss fight. For the first six or seven minutes of constant Lorpee combat, he was doing really good. None of them could touch him, and he¡¯d killed about half by that point. He was rehealing well from the boss fight, his supernatural regeneration knitting the flesh back together. Then he ran out of Stamina. Rather than the bursts of speed he was doling out with reckless abandon moments before, all his muscles only moved at a walking pace. They quickly tore into him for about a second, but it almost cost him the fight. He immediately started hitting them with blasts of [Identify of the Stoud Protector]¡¯s, just twenty mana each, but he always pulled from his stored Wrath. The identifies made them drop to the ground for multiple seconds, giving him space to breathe. He should have started doing that before he ran out of stamina, but he had been stingy, and still believed he could make due with his body alone. More than that, he wanted to train up some of his Skills, but it backfired completely. If he¡¯d started stunning them at the start of the fight, before he was tired, the army would have been dead in three minutes, tops. Instead, it had been an absolute slog, and he¡¯d wasted almost all the Wrath mana in his [Pandora¡¯s Box]. The three hundred he used against the alpha Lorpee was a necessary expenditure, as it was the strongest variant in the batch, after that though? [Pandora¡¯s Box: 96/2000 Wrath 7/2000 Kindness 80/2000 Soul.] The 1200+ Wrath mana he¡¯d used was just wasteful. He would¡¯ve used perhaps half that if he took it seriously from the start. The air was actually thick with Wrath mana right now, but he had no idea how to pull it back into himself. Not all of it was destroyed upon impact with the Lorpees, some of it always escaping into the air, and now he could taste anger on his tongue. It was weird, tasting his emotions. His Physical stat was leveling up during the fight. It didn¡¯t increase how much ¡°relative¡± health he had, so if he had 70% HP, he would still have 70% after the stat increase, but it did decrease how fast his HP went down. The ¡°primal fighting¡± boost he¡¯d gained from his [Born for Slaughter] Achievement did something similar, not increasing any stats on his interface, but the ¡°durability¡± of each HP and SP was far better than it was before, outputting more before it ticked down. His body was now repairing at a visible rate. Not that fast, it would still be around forty five minutes before his HP was back to full, but it wasn¡¯t slow at all. He had to wait though. He wanted to get back to at least half health before going through the caves. As it was, if a predator came in looking for food, they would be able to take some of the dead Lorpee bodies. He could play dead too, so he didn¡¯t look like free experience points. He was also fairly sad to know that he utterly failed in creating a boosting or attack ability using his Wrath affinity. He told himself he was going to during the fight, but he just didn¡¯t hate the Lorpees, at least not enough to form a new connection to Wrath. The good news, though, was that free-range Wrath mana still strengthened his body while sending him into a berserker state, exactly how he¡¯d assumed it would, just without the Skill to back it up. While he waited, he decided to begin preparing to block up the entrance to the cave. He wasn¡¯t going to lock himself in, but he could at least move the rocks to the outside. That way he could easily move the rocks into the opening he¡¯d created. He genuinely did want the Lorpee¡¯s to continue existing, even if he¡¯d outgrown their power and usefulness to him personally. The rocks weren¡¯t light by any means, but he was glad to note that if he moved slowly, his SP would continue regenerating. After moving all the larger pieces to the outside of the cave, he went back in and started moving all the bodies. One at a time, he moved them all out into the open and scattered them around. If predators smelled blood, they wouldn¡¯t immediately be attracted to the inside of the cave, as the buffet would be out front instead. Once that was done, he washed off as best he could using a crack in the wall that spewed out water from the underground rivers that ran everywhere. He wasn¡¯t clean at all by the end of it and smelled like pennies and mud, but at least he didn¡¯t look like he¡¯d butchered a cow while standing inside it anymore. He intended to go back into his home, and he did not want that smell following him. He took off his pants, soaking them again and again to get the blood out. The dark brown fur actually released the blood very easily, like it was made to do exactly that. Which he supposed it was, as it was created by a society of warriors. Using his pants to scrape even more gunk off him, then washing them again, he felt some semblance of clean, and was now at [HP: 73/86]. The whole thing took longer than he¡¯d intended, but that was okay. He left the cave, and no scavengers had come by yet. He spent the time quickly putting the boulders back in place, using his hands to try and smooth out some of the cracks. His specialized Earth affinity was only meant for digging though, and it didn¡¯t really work that well. ¡®I should try and connect to the Earth affinity. It seems like it would be useful, underground and all. Kindness said it naturally dampened emotions though, and here I am spending time trying to at least marginally help a race of flying rats I doomed myself, so maybe I¡¯m a little too sentimental for it.¡¯ After doing the best he could to fill in the gaps, he decided against digging a hole in the wall for them to escape from. He would come back in a few weeks, after all these bodies were gone, if they hadn¡¯t done it already themselves by that point. In a fairly good condition, he again took off in a sprint down the cave after picking up four new Lorpee bodies, including the Storm Lorpee. He couldn¡¯t exactly be more careful this time around than he was before, as he didn¡¯t know how to do that, but he was more nervous this time around. His backup plan had always been blasting things with Wrath mana until he could either deal a crippling blow or get away. Now, he didn¡¯t have that, so he just tensely watched all the closest monsters he could see. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. He made it back home in record time with his new Physical stat and what felt like new Achievements, but he couldn¡¯t yet be sure. Sighing that his job wasn¡¯t quite done yet, he made a pitstop to the [Biting Flesh Trap of Allure] and dropped off the three regular Lorpee¡¯s. He noticed that the ¡°bulb¡± part had gone away, and they now identified as a single plant. Were they a sort of hive mind when planted near each other? He made it back into the Garden after squeezing through the crack, and collapsed to the ground, sighing. He wanted to take a nap, but not just yet. He still needed to look at his notifications and decide what to do with the special Lorpee. Letting his legs rest for a few more moments, he eventually pushed himself up into a cross legged position and opened the long-awaited notifications. [EXP gained for killing the Alpha Storm Lorpee Screamer (Level 213). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] ¡®May his soul rest in peace.¡¯ [EXP gained for killing the Aeroflight Lorpee Screamer (Level 177). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] ¡­ [EXP gained for killing the Aeroflight Lorpee Screamer (Level 152). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (level 53) -> (Level 54)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] ¡­ [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (level 67) -> (Level 68)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] ¡®What! I killed hundreds of them, and all I get is fifteen levels? Most were a hundred levels over mine!¡¯ he complained in his mind. It was cool and all to level up so much, but why wasn¡¯t it more? Was this why he always noticed so many creatures were stuck around the mid levels of their evolution? Did things get exponentially harder the closer he was to his evolution? That was likely, but he didn¡¯t think it was all. He¡¯d been thinking for a while that it would be far too overpowered if he got experience for creatures that were naturally weaker than him, but much higher level. Like the [Greengrow Beetle] that was almost level two hundred. More than that, he remembered not getting experience for killing a plant that couldn''t fight back. It seemed he earned experience for enemies relative to their power, not levels. The levels did still matter though, in context of the Achievements. He didn¡¯t know why, perhaps because higher level creatures would have more exotic abilities, no matter what their baseline was originally? He side-eye¡¯d the beetle sitting off to the side, wondering what it could do to defend itself. Next were his skill level ups [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (83) -> (84)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (99) -> (100)] [Skill: Growing Pains (100) has reached an evolution threshold] [Total Stats Gained: +7 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (17) -> (18)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (45) -> (46)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (18) -> (19)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (52) -> (53)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (14) -> (15)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (38) -> (39)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (5) -> (6)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (49) -> (50)] The gains were incredible, and he finally had a Skill evolution! Well, the first in this life at least. They were also solid confirmation that levels tapered off around level fifty though, as all of them began to slow down at the mid-range. Except [High Mind], that slowed down immediately. It was a versatile Skill, so it made sense to require more in order to level it up. Last, the Achievements. It was the entire reason he did this at all, as it would grant a boost he would never get the chance to again. [Achievement Gained! Cruelty of the Slaughter (II)] [Achievement Gained! Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Before the first sapient creature learned to wield the axe, before the first fire was ever started and the first morsel of food was ever cooked, there were the Slaughterers. Born to fight. To kill. To Slaughter. There was no one race who became the Slaughterers, no one people from whom they rose, they were merely those who rose to finish the fight. They were the scorned, the ones who lost their families to the unfeeling eyes of beasts, and promised to fight the war they never knew they were a part of. They fought for their people, whoever they might be. They fought because they had nothing left. They fought to feel alive. Only death followed in their wake, their heavy footfalls shaking the earth to its core. The weight of their presence enough to kill weaker men. But as communities banded together, the Slaughterers fell into obscurity. They protected the people, allowing for agriculture, music and arts to flourish where horrible monsters would have torn the beauties of creation apart. By the time sapients had founded the first city, there were no Slaughterers left. They gave their life, blood, bones, and flesh so the support systems that protect sapience today might be given the chance to bear fruit. The Slaughterers knew nothing but war from their first breath to their last. They raged against the horrible cruelty of it all, and died roaring in pain as the hordes of beasts tore them apart one too many times to come back from. Now, in a squalid cave, abandoned by all, you follow in their mountainous footsteps, craters left behind by giants. In time, you too shall grow into them. You shall shake the earth with your every step. You shall Slaughter. Or you shall die in that same squalid cave. The safety of it is fleeting, a sweet lie told by the world that you may gain strength in hiding, that one day you will be ready. You know the truth, you know the Cruelty of it all. The ease of a comfort zone is a most insidious trap in the crucible of legends, the fires slowly growing hotter. The flames will hurt, but you will grow stronger from them. If you wait to forge yourself, they will return you to ash as the safety you fooled yourself into believing you have turns into the smokescreen it has always been. You have taken the first step in leaving the walls that both protect and imprison you, choosing to take the flames into yourself of your own accord. Only now, after placing yourself in calculated danger, have your chances of survival truly increased. More than survival, you represent the sign of an ending to a generational war. Slaughterers are never born alone, the conditions that give rise to them often indicate a sickness within the society as a whole that requires the forceful hand of more to fix. Whether you are the first, fifth, or twentieth Slaughterer born in this era matters not, only that a reign of terror you do not know will soon end. You have slain sixty enemies over one hundred levels higher than you before the age of one without any community to support you It was a simple upgrade to the [Born for Slaughter] Achievement, but provided even more direction for those abandoned children that would soon become Slaughterers. It gave Dei advice on what he needed to do to survive long term, pushing him to continue leaving his cave in excursions in order to grow in power. It described his safety as something fleeting, to not be relied on, and told him that he hadn¡¯t been advancing fast enough to actually live. It was weird how the System was given permission to almost directly advice him through these Achievements, but he wasn¡¯t complaining, and was relieved to have his choices confirmed to be the right ones This Achievement also told him that the world above was a bit fucked up, directly saying that he was pushed into hiding from a series of events that he wasn¡¯t involved in. He already suspected that humans being forced to live underground while there was a brief mention of war would be related, and he now had confirmation that at least something was happening. The Achievement also said something about a generational war, which made him think of another piece of information he already had [Since the Fall: 7/14/809 - 17:43:09] According to the timer, eight hundred years had passed since ¡°the Fall.¡± It might just be his bias, as this was the only indication he had of something generations old, but what if this marked the start of the war? His mom told him that she didn¡¯t know what the Fall was, but would she have told him the truth? She already didn¡¯t want to talk about the war with him, understandably, as he was a child. If he combined the hints given by [Cruelty of the Slaughter], tidbits from his mom, the shape of their society, and the timer, it painted a grim picture of the upper world. He reread his newest Achievement thoughtfully. Somewhere up above, he had to imagine that people needed help. He had the chance to do more, to use his power and potentially end some long conflict. Would he want to though? He didn¡¯t know, but felt like he should. Maybe in the far-flung future, after he found his family, after he felt secure in his position, and when he wasn¡¯t less than a year old, he would think about joining this war. The thoughts of his age brought him back to how his birthday was tomorrow. He would soon turn one, and nothing would change. He would still be here, alone in the cave, with nobody to rely on. He thought about the person, monster, or spirit he was trying to reach on the other side of the cavern, and hoped that next year he could celebrate his birthday with them. He smiled at the thought, and laid down to go to sleep. It was only five in the afternoon, but it had been an exhausting day. Thoughts of friends and family filled his head as he drifted off, imagining the people he would surround himself with in the future. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 68) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 4) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 86/86 MP: 86/86 SP: 86/86 Stats: Physical: 43 Mental: 44 Spiritual: 34 Magical: 45 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 57% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 38% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (201/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (100) Soul: Astral Projection (4), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (14) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (50) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (46), Vigilance (53), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (39)] Chapter 34 [Since the Fall: 7/15/809 - 2:45:31] He woke early the next day, a result of having gone to bed just as early. He sighed, the dark room around him feeling lonelier than ever. He closed his eyes and brought his soul into focus, looking at the various [Connection] strings holding it together, as well as the pink glow that continued to emanate from the cracks. His soul had yet to heal, and it brought him back to all the progress his mom made when she was still here with him. Could he somehow heal his soul? The Kindness affinity mana was a different shade of pink than Love mana that his mom used, but they were similar. Was there some way to heal himself using his own mana? Other than that, he felt like there should be some sort of healing that his Soul affinity could do. Was there some way to use it in a way that could heal him? He sat in bed for a long time thinking of his mom. She¡¯d helped him in so many ways, and he still felt like she knew everything he needed to know. He had the memories of himself as an adult in his previous life, and knew his mom was probably just as unsure as he was, but he couldn¡¯t stop himself from thinking about how she could fix the situation, if only she were here. But she couldn¡¯t. If it was possible for her to fix everything, she would have by now. She would have come back to get him, taken him home, and he could have lived the life of a normal kid in this world. Sure, it would have been a different version of normal than his last, but there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with that. He was thinking himself in circles, getting in his own head and feeling sorry for himself. He decided to stand up and get started early on the day, going through his routine to calm his mind. He checked the outside of the cave, seeing the world asleep as though it were on the surface. Many creatures hid in their dens at night, and some nocturnal beasts he¡¯d never seen out during the ¡°day¡± became active. He watched the main cavern, and looked towards the center of it. His mom said that the Wilderness Convergence was at the center of the red forest, so if there was a convergence in the bog, it would be the same, right? He could see into the center using [Tremor Sense], but he didn¡¯t actually know what to look for. There were some larger sleeping monsters around the center, but what would an Anchor look like for the convergence? The cavern wasn¡¯t an exact circle, but he searched around what he thought was the middle of it. There were some flat fish-like things cutting through the muck, some swarms of snake things skating across the top of the bog, and a thing gangly stick bug creature, the approximate size of a horse. The different creatures moved in purposeful patterns, showing intent in their travels. After watching for a while, he began to see how they avoided certain areas. Unmoving obstacles that none of the creatures ever approached, such as some large boulders or fallen trees. One section that drew his attention didn¡¯t look to have anything at all. It was an open area of peat and water, nothing noteworthy in it, that no creature approached. It was here where he brought his attention, as the natural aversion of the different lives in the bog was weird. [Tremor Sense] wasn¡¯t perfect, as it couldn¡¯t sense the mana in the area or anything that didn¡¯t let out vibrations. Normally, the vibrations produced in the area were enough, but what if something had a cloaking effect on it that helped it hide from him? He wouldn¡¯t know. Speaking of sensing mana, he noticed that he was getting better at it. Initially, he was hopeless for sensing any mana outside of his body, but yesterday he realized that he was able to taste, smell, or something the Wrath mana that was thick in the air. He hadn¡¯t been able to do that before, but maybe it was only an effect possible when there was an excess of affinity mana. The new sensation could be from his body developing though, and he would need to watch out for it. Was his sense of ¡°mana¡± somehow stunted compared to his other senses, leading to him struggling to perceive it? Perhaps his [Growing Pains] Skill knew how to build the mundane aspects of him faster, as it already had experience in doing so from his previous life, but the mana sense aspect had to grow naturally in his body since it couldn¡¯t repeat such a thing. After checking the center of the bog and not noticing anything interesting, he checked on the frog he watched so closely, but it was asleep as well. Satisfied with his search of the world, he stepped back into the Garden and decided to continue training. It felt like he should be doing something on his birthday, but ultimately nothing was special about today. Even if it felt special, it wasn¡¯t really. The world didn¡¯t care that he turned one today, and monsters would kill him all the same today if given the chance. It was a grim thought, but a realistic one. Today, he would try to split his mind into different parts. He¡¯d never done so before, but he felt ready enough. His [High Mind] Skill was moderately leveled, and his thinking had accelerated to unprecedented speeds. It felt like he had all the tools to start actually experimenting with the more intensive parts of the Skill. The description mentioned simulated worlds and perfect memory, along with splitting his mind into pieces, but he didn¡¯t need the other two right now. Currently, he needed better padding to use his Skills more frequently and to avoid further damaging his soul. It could be achieved from more Presence training, but he was still limited to only meditating on a single link to the world. Closing his eyes again, he pictured his mind like some sort of dough to be shaped to his desires. Slowly but surely, he began to separate it into two lumps, just barely connected in the middle. He didn¡¯t want both minds acting completely on their own, just the ability to perfectly multitask without losing efficiency in either. He felt the familiar aching of pressure on his soul build, his Presence quickly overstraining itself in its attempts to handle the skill all on its own. When the pain built to the point he started to fear further damaging his soul, he stopped. The process hadn¡¯t been completed, but he was happy to see that it didn¡¯t need to be done all at once. Waiting until the ache abated, he tried again, making more progress. He repeated this sequence multiple times, each time becoming closer to splitting his mind. He began to notice that his thinking slowed down as his ability to focus his attention on different details increased. [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (39) -> (40)] By the time he succeeded, and his mind had been split in two, he was back to thinking at the speed of a regular human. Trying to move his hand slightly, he found himself drastically overshooting, throwing himself to the side as he jerked all the muscles in his body to the right. He took time to become more acclimated to the new way of thinking, before he slowly reasoned out what the [High Mind] Skill accomplished. Each time the Skill leveled up, it increased his thinking speed. Analogously, it gave him more ¡®processing speed,¡¯ like the RAM to a computer he first imagined it as. Once he split his mind into two pieces, the processing speed became split between these two pieces. Now, it was like running two computers, each with half the resources of the first. There will be times when faster thinking is going to be more beneficial, but right now was not one of those times. He began meditating, and noticed that he could now meditate on two links at once, effectively doubling the speed he could meditate at. While he couldn¡¯t think as quickly any more, faster thinking had never helped to draw Presence into himself. Without anything else to do, he continued meditating and training for the rest of the day. * * * Over the course of the day, he came to appreciate the new ability to split attention. He could work out, train [Fine-Tooth Comb], and practice [Camouflage], all while meditating! He wasn¡¯t as dexterous at each task as he was before, but he didn¡¯t need to be. Overall, he was pretty sure the total efficiency of the training each day had gone up, but only time would tell. He was beginning to make some serious progress on [Camouflage]. It wasn¡¯t as intuitive as any of his other Racial abilities, but it was capable of far more. His skin was a canvas for him to detail in as many ways as he desired, and it didn¡¯t all have to be the same material. He could make some of his skin a fibrous grassy material and another part of his skin resemble dirt. Both options took away the durability of it, but it was possible. The trouble came when it was more than the material he wanted to change. Once the material was in place, he could alter the texture of his skin to an absurd degree, lengthening the grassy fibers into actual grass. This came at the cost of him needing to manually put each vein and ridge of the grass into all the blades. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! It would¡¯ve been impossible with a normal human mind in any reasonable time frame. He could potentially put one of his minds to work continuously examining his skin and detailing it slowly over time, becoming more and more accurate. It would take months at the current pace, but he would have a perfect camouflage¡­ as long as he didn¡¯t move a muscle, and therein was the issue. The [Camouflage] ability could become the perfect defense and stealth. It could copy any material given enough time, creating it from what he assumed was nothing. His skin genuinely did take on all the properties of each material, but that came with issues. Turning his skin to dirt could be painful, as it would easily rub off of him. While it wasn¡¯t as soft as dirt, it was clear to him that was only because his multiplier from the Physical stat increased its durability. He made himself as vulnerable as any material he picked, but that came with positives too. He could turn his skin to stone, which was multiplied in strength from his Physical, but he also couldn¡¯t move if he did so. He found that each material did not mesh well with others, the blood flow changing in pressure as it crossed the boundaries between them. This wasn¡¯t an issue if the material all along his body was the same, but that took away much of the versatility. He could, however, fix the issue with his blood by manually rewriting blood vessels. Simple. And impossible. He was granted a supernatural awareness of his skin once he began working on it as his canvas, but an awareness only brought so much. The dexterity he could exhibit was highly limited, at least until his Mental stat and [High Mind] Skill increased. The [Camouflage] ability was not one to be used as a cheap trick. It wasn¡¯t some one way ticket to power, but the theoretical use of it was close to limitless. It was an ability he would master slowly, and once he did, it would be an invaluable part of his repertoire. He had no doubt though, that this ability was not made for people with his stats. None of his Racial Abilities were. His [Tremor Sense] overwhelmed him easily, his [Darkvision] was more powerful than someone his level should have with how easily it could banish Darkness magic, his [Camouflage] breached far into the realm of requiring superhuman processing power, and his [Digging] while simple, would make him the perfect predator against any earth-based enemies. Okay, [Digging] wasn¡¯t as ground breaking- ahem, as overpowered, as the others, but its utility was incredible, especially underground. These all seemed like high level abilities, like they were made for stronger people. Was it possible to change racial abilities over the course of ones life? Could there be Achievements out there that granted Racial ability upgrades? He had to wait to know more, but for now his uses of [Camouflage] would be limited. He could use it to change the material his skin was composed of, to only a single material, without changing the texture in any reasonable time frame. He would continue to practice with it though. Both because it was amazing for [High Mind] training to have such a complex task to work with, and because he needed to master its usage. The practicality of using it during combat would come later, with better upgrades to his mind, but he still needed practice with it to get the fine details down. The new usage of [High Mind] helped reignite the fire under him to push harder, to push for more training. It re-impressed him with a wonder for everything he was able to do in this new world, and he wanted to do more. When it was time to go to sleep, he was almost disappointed he had to do so. Then he had a thought¡­ what if he could put one mind to sleep, but not the other? * * * [Since the Fall: 7/16/809 - 9:44:27] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (40) -> (41)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (14) -> (15)] He experimented with it all night, and made some strides in sort-of sleeping. He found that if he moved at all or opened his eyes, it would wake up the sleeping half of his mind. Not only this, but the waking half of his mind did still need rest, so it ended up collapsing halfway through the night. Half his mind was awake right now, and he was still sitting with his eyes closed to let the other half finish its rest. [Meditate] was the only Skill he could train with while sleeping, but that was okay. He would need to train his body to sleep while both moving and with his eyes open, which he would probably take the military route in doing so: The waking mind would just not stop moving, while the sleeping mind would eventually collapse and rest anyway. It wasn¡¯t going to be healthy, but he had Skills to help heal him back up. He remembered stories of Levens dad, about how military folks learned how to sleep in creative conditions because of the exhaustion they were subject to. He continued to meditate until around [11:07:25], when the other half of his mind woke up. He began his daily routine a bit late that day, but nothing ultimately changed, and he was about to get back into training, but remembered that [Growing Pains] had hit level 100 the day before. It was supposedly able to evolve now, so he pulled up his Interface and found mental instructions informing him how to open the evolution menu, simply by selecting the Skill. A screen with multiple options appeared before him. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Regenerating Enduring Training] He prompted [Regenerating] to expand, getting a better description [Regenerating: The training you undergo has risks, damaging or potentially crippling you. Upgrades the regenerative aspects of Growing Pains, allowing it to heal at a rate of 2 HP per Skill Level] Simple and effective. This would also be a very combat-oriented upgrade, making it more realistic to use in a one to one fight. WIth the Lorpee¡¯s, his Skill helped him get the edge on the damage he was dealt, but it was just barely not enough to overcome the damage as he was slowly whittled away. This would have been enough to keep him in top condition, with more upgrades in the future to potentially make him some unkillable regenerating machine. He looked at [Enduring] next. [Enduring: Rather than healing damage to you after the fact, assists in maintaining functions during intensive workouts or physical activities. Allows the Skill to rejuvenate SP at a rate of 1SP per Skill Level] Simple and effective, another potential game changer in a drawn out fight to the death. More than that too, he wouldn¡¯t be at risk of running out of Stamina during long workouts. As it was, that had never happened to him, as he took breaks frequently to practice other tasks, but what about when he had a higher level [High Mind]? He would work out constantly while training his other Skills, but would need to stop every time he needed to regenerate his Stamina. More than that, his Stamina and Mana were taking longer and longer to rejuvenate, which would be horribly inefficient in the long run if he had to rest for days on end to wait for his SP to max out again before he was able to fight again. That was a long way away, but he had to prepare for it. [Training] was next, but he had to admit that he was leaning towards [Enduring]. [Training: As your muscles enter new heights, you must find heavier weights to use them with. Your muscle gains never stop, but the availability of such heavy objects does. Gain a new mode to the Skill: Training Mode, where the body becomes weakened, allowing for the Physical stat to increase further and Growing Pains Skill to level up, despite a limited selection of tools to work them with] Aaaaaand he knew which he was picking. It hadn¡¯t even occurred to him that he wouldn¡¯t be able to train himself with his body for much longer. While he hadn¡¯t hit the wall yet, it was very easy to imagine the Skill stagnating because he had almost no training weights to work with at all. He would be able to manage using his rations as weights for a time, as those things were heavy, but for how long? Eventually, he would hit a wall and need to either give up on training his Physical stat, or look for other options. He couldn¡¯t even risk picking one of the other options in the hopes of getting [Training] at the next evolution, because he might not actually reach the next evolution if he ran out of ways to work out. While he felt a bit silly he hadn¡¯t considered the issue before, he was glad it had been pointed out to him by the System. Speaking of, there was one more thing to consider before making his decision: did he want any of these? While it might seem simple to say ¡°yes of course, choosing one can only be a good thing,¡± it wasn¡¯t so. The System had already shown itself to not be some omnipotent force, merely a guide. These weren¡¯t all the options [Growing Pains] could evolve into, only the ones the System knew it could evolve into, and help guide him down such paths. Before he came to the System, he was naturally able to pick his evolutions, so it was clear the System wasn¡¯t necessary for such evolutions. What other options would there be for the Skill though? One such option he could imagine would be one for MP. There was already an evolution for HP and SP, MP was the natural third option for that. The reason the System didn¡¯t consider that an option it could help with, was most likely because the Skill hadn¡¯t been used to regenerate MP in the previous world, and he hadn¡¯t used it long enough in this one to give it such a utility. So, any other options? Realistically, no. It was a very simple Skill, just made for training, and the four options represented everything he could imagine helping him with. The thinking aspect out of the way, he went with his heart in picking [Training], and felt something in him shift. Nothing was railroaded for him, and he knew he could re-pick the option if he wanted to for now, but the moment he took that first step down the path of [Training] and leveled up, he would be locked in. The System had merely removed a blockage in his way, making it easier to advance in a certain direction. He didn¡¯t regret his choice though, and began his daily workout with his shiny new Skill upgrade. Chapter 35 [Since the Fall: 7/17/809 - 8:56:18] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (15) -> (16)] He gained multiple tools to work with yesterday, and had fun using them during his training. His evolution of [Growing Pains] reminded him of his fight with the Storm Lorpee though (with how he earned it during the fight), and he remembered something- when he blasted it with [Identify], there was a massive ripple in its soul. While he hadn¡¯t tried to, he could have pulled information from such a massive crack in the defenses of the soul rather easily. Now that the fight was over though, and the Lorpee was long dead, the chance had passed. Or had it? His new ability to split his mind with [High Mind] made him think of another aspect of the Skill: Eidetic memory, or the ability to perfectly recall events for a short period after the fact. While normally this only applied to sight and sound, he had more senses than that in this world. His well-developed soul sight for one, and to a lesser degree his magic sense. Could it be possible to perfectly relive the memory and scan the Lorpee after the fact? While he could easily relive memories by watching them through his Soul, doing such was a very disconnected way to do so. When he looked at his soul, it was as though he were watching a movie. He couldn¡¯t interact with anything, and there were many senses that didn¡¯t follow through the memories. When he was a kid in his previous life, he didn¡¯t pay attention to background noise, so it wasn¡¯t part of his memory in his soul. Would it be different if he used [High Mind] though? It would be through a different gateway, with different sets of issues and benefits. He decided that, at the very least, it was worth a try. After tending to his garden and having a light breakfast (literally), he decided to merge the two halves of his mind back together. He wanted to have all the processing power he could before trying to use a new ability. After several painful minutes of slowly remerging the two minds, taking breaks frequently to let his soul rest, he began his usage of a new aspect of [High Mind], and activated the Skill while trying to perfectly put himself back within the moment his [Identify] hit the Lorpee. He felt something activate in his mind, and imagined some sort of humming as images flashed across his eyes and sounds played around him, scenes from the last three days played in small flashes before they jumped further back in time. When Iora went through his soul, she played all of it in reverse and watched every single moment. [High Mind] was doing something less intensive, jumping back by an hour and playing the memory forward for a few moments to get its bearings, then jumping backwards by another hour and repeating the process. Each jump placed a bit of pressure on his soul, but it was manageable. It skipped his times asleep, even when one of his minds were awake, to save time. When he felt it overshoot the memory of the lorpee, he felt it jump forward by thirty minutes, then backwards by fifteen, and forward by seven and a half, repeating the process of rebounding in the short time frame repeatedly until it successfully locked on to the right moment: the very instant where the defenses of the Storm Lorpee had been shattered, and it''s souls most vulnerable moment. [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (41) -> (42)] The process had taken around five minutes, and his soul''s presence was only halfway through how much pressure it could take before it needed to dump the effort on the main portion of his soul. While maintaining the image he was currently caught in, the pressure slowly built on him, telling him his time in this memory was limited. On top of that, he was completely unaware of the condition his body was in, as all of his senses had been drawn backwards into the memory with him. He wasn¡¯t sure if danger would shake him from the memory, but he hoped it would. He felt secure in the position his body was in right now though, so he continued with his plan. Looking towards the Lorpee, he tried casting [Identify] and felt like grinning when it worked. The informational screen for the Lorpee appeared before him. [Beebaden the Whirlwind - Alpha Storm Lorpee Screamer - Level 213 Lorpee¡¯s are a small, highly populous species of rodent in the world. They are notoriously adaptive to any situation they find themselves in, have a high rate of affinity mutation, and reproduce faster than they can be killed. The average Lorpee is born, lives, and dies from old age at one year old. Alphas, on the other hand, are functionally immortal. At level one hundred, Lorpee¡¯s attune themselves to their main natural affinity. If a Lorpee reaches level two hundred, they oftentimes evolve into an alpha, and set off in a breakaway group of Lorpee¡¯s to found a new nest. Beebaden is a unique Lorpee in multiple ways. The Storm affinity he was born with provided a much more versatile skill set than the Wind affinity of his brothers and sisters. The Water affinity within the Storm affinity provided a much needed balance in power compared to the already existing Wind affinities of the Lorpee¡¯s. While it was not as focused, he was much more capable of taking on large groups of enemies, as well as creating defenses around himself. He used his unique Skills to take on larger swarms of insects than his siblings, quickly rising in level where they stagnated. Once he surpassed level two hundred, he challenged the alpha of his nest for leadership, as was tradition, and lost terribly. Nonetheless, the leader recognized his prowess, and granted him permission to start a new home somewhere else. Beebaden guided his people from the treetops they were born in, out of the forest and far away from it. He came upon an area in the land filled with crags and rocks, many sapient creatures fighting. The air was charged with mana, yet he did not stop. Only halfway through the battle did he realize his followers were flagging, the charged mana damaging them. It was too late to exit the battlegrounds, so Beebaden guided them down into a hole in the earth he¡¯d seen. The charge of mana in the air abated, so he guided them further and further down, into the safety of the dark caves. His people did not need light, sensing their way through the air flows of the mysterious caves they¡¯d found themselves in, and he continued downward as the mana levels increased, beckoning him further. Eventually, he reached a deep enough level that the mana matched the strength of the forests of his homeland, and he set about finding a new home for them. In his searches, he found a cave rich in soil and slightly heightened concentrations of mana, the walls lined with fine bits of mana stones. He decided that his people would make a nest here, and his followers did not question him. His former alpha told stories of the trees and plants of their homeland following them wherever they went, and he saw it now. He sensed seeds flaking off of his followers fur and growing from their droppings, quickly expanding to fill the cave with greenery. He carefully tended to them, using his Storm affinity to grind away at certain key points in the walls where he sensed the flow of water. Gently, so as not to flood the cavern, he shaped the waterflow to provide for his people. With water, the plants flourished. With plants, various cave bugs came to live in his haven, and his people multiplied endlessly, as was the Lorpee way. The population reached an equilibrium, and generations came and went. He¡¯d fostered two separate Alphas in the time he¡¯d governed, and each time he defeated them in single combat and sent them on their way with a breakaway of Lorpee¡¯s. He hoped for their success, but knew death would be possible. For twenty years, he guarded his people, until finally he was challenged by an outsider to his territory. Physical - 10 Mental - 42 Spiritual - 57 Magical - 166] He was fascinated with the story, and felt regretful knowing that he was the one to end it. He released his hold on the memory, allowing his senses to come back into awareness around his body. Guilt welled up in him, knowing that the few Lorpee¡¯s that had survived were now without a protector. While it was true that another alpha might arise to take the position, he didn¡¯t know how likely or how quickly that would happen. He walked to the exit of the Garden again and peeked out, checking on the Lorpee cavern. Luckily, they seemed to be in good health. There wasn¡¯t any fighting going on in the forested area below, and now he felt horrible for how quiet it was. It was made worse from the fact that he could sense his [Call for Help] Skill notifying him of the despair they felt for the situation they were in. He resolved to keep an eye on them frequently, and defend them if they ever got into trouble before another alpha could be born. Moving back onto the grassy area and sitting down, he tried to think about what to do next. He¡¯d earned a level in [High Mind] when he used the Skill for eidetic memory, did he get more experience for trying out new things with his Skills? The [High Mind] Skill was easily taking the most training to level up, despite it being his most used Skill, should he try pushing the boundaries more to earn a few easy levels? He looked at the description, saying he could simulate a fake world using the Skill, and hesitated. While it was true he could do that, it seemed like it would be a very intensive use of the Skill. He didn¡¯t fear that for eidetic memory, as it just improved something already innate to him: memory. The ¡°simulated world¡± aspect though? That would push hard, and potentially hurt him. He was curious though, how strong did he need his Presence to be to run an entire world off of it? If he went by his experience with splitting his mind into pieces, he didn¡¯t have to do it all at once. If the simulation was too much for him to handle, he could easily stop the experiment. ¡®Ah screw it, where¡¯s the harm in trying?¡¯ He felt like an idiot for thinking that, as it would almost certainly go wrong now, but oh well. Waiting for his soul to rejuvenate from the pressure of his last use, he tried picturing what he wanted. If his Skill could simulate worlds, how would he go about doing so? First, he would need an area to work with. What should the simulated area look like? A gray box with nondescript walls would work, so he started with that. He felt the [High Mind] Skill kick into overdrive for all of two seconds, where he immediately stopped it. The pressure hadn¡¯t reached his main soul yet, but it was quickly tearing through all the Presence he had. [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (42) -> (43)] While his soul rested a bit, he checked on what High Mind had actually done. He found a space in his mind that was always ¡°on his mind,¡± where he knew the condition of it, even when he wasn¡¯t actively thinking about it. All his mind had ¡°rendered¡± though was a flat floor, like a baseplate to work with. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Did he want to continue with the experiment? It would take a while longer, but if he worked with it like splitting his mind, he would slowly generate a room to work with. Against his better judgment, he decided to continue on. He could come up with excuses, such as ¡°working with all the details¡± when it came to his Skills and the off chance that more easy levels would come, but honestly he was just curious, and there was no point in lying to himself. [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 4) -> (Level 5)] [+5 Spiritual] He smiled and shook his head at the notification. The levels were so slow coming from his Profession, but the absurdly high Spiritual stats that came with each level helped keep his build balanced. Most creatures in the wild had a single very high stat, but he thought that was a mistake. His old [Meditation] showed how it left vulnerabilities in the soul to have one stat too topheavy. To back this up, the most threatening creatures and plants he¡¯d met were the ones that had more balanced builds, such as the Alpha Lorpee and the Flesh Trap. to further that point, the Flesh Trap was vulnerable specifically because of the singular imbalance in its build, same as the Alpha Lorpee who died when its magic failed to protect it, and its Physical stat was too low. He attempted to render the room in his head again for another two seconds, getting a wall down, and checked his Interface while he rested his soul. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 68) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 5) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 86/86 MP: 86/86 SP: 86/86 Stats: Physical: 43 Mental: 44 Spiritual: 39 Magical: 45 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 58% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 38% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (348/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (100) Soul: Astral Projection (4), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (15) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (50) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (46), Vigilance (53), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (43)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 182/2000 Wrath 31/2000 Kindness 135/2000 Soul] His Soul mana continued to climb from his constant passive meditation, and his Wrath mana built as well with the simmering anger at having to run from the frog. He¡¯d come a very long way since he started out in this world, but he had so much further to go. He rendered another wall in the room, then sat back and started relaxing. The grass was soft, a natural bed for him to use. He always tried focusing on all the luck he¡¯d had in the world. To be saved by the System and given access to his previous lifes Skills, to be born to parents that loved him, and given the chance to live despite so many trying to kill him. He was lucky to be alive, a series of chances culminating in where he was right now. The luck was limited, though. He was trapped, alone, thousands of miles under the earth, surrounded by monsters and scraping together as much power as he could to grant himself a semblance of safety. He felt naked, and not just from his soon-to-be lack of clothing. When was the last time he actually felt secure? It was the day mom left, before she had to leave him behind. Rendering a third wall of the simulated room, his vision was drawn again towards the pink glow emanating from his soul sight. It had always been a visual effect, changing nothing, but even the placebo helped keep him sane. It reminded him of where he¡¯d come from, and where he needed to get back to. He remembered the way his moms mana flowed into his souls, like kissing a scrape to make it feel better. Except she actually did make him feel better. He stared at the glow for a time before rendering the fourth wall, only the ceiling was left to render. Could he use the glow to heal his soul more? He didn¡¯t really want to. He was managing already, he instead wanted to make it stronger. He wasn¡¯t really doing anything with his Kindness mana either¡­ should he try to give it to this glow? In order to pull the Kindness mana from his [Pandora¡¯s Box], he needed to either open it to release all the mana, or have a Skill extract it from the Box. He felt melancholic when he realized it just wasn¡¯t to be, as he didn¡¯t have a way to pull the mana out without using it, and he couldn¡¯t justify wasting his Wrath and Soul mana. ¡®I¡¯ll make it up to you, mom, one day.¡¯ At the thought, he received another notification. [Skill Gained: Meaningful] [Meaningful - Level 1 - Kindness affinity The most profoundly important of gestures needn¡¯t be complex. They need only have meaning. Coalesces mana into gestures, conveying a chosen meaning. Costs 1 minimum mana per use] His eyebrows raised at the new notification. The creation of Skills were in response to his emotional state at the time, which meant he was lonely enough to make a new Skill in response. He didn¡¯t exactly agree with that, but it was concerning that it had advanced this far. Would this Skill help alleviate that? He tried using it, and felt a singular point of mana be drawn from his [Pandora¡¯s Box] successfully. The small pink ball came into focus, and called out for meaning. What did he want the gesture to be? What did he want to convey? He wanted to talk to his mom, even if he knew it was impossible. Instead, he would talk to the feeling she left behind. He would talk to what she¡¯d left him to remember her by. ¡®I miss you, mom.¡¯ He imbued it with the thought, then sent the little gesture into the darker pink glow. He saw the glow gently take it in its arms, pulling it further into his soul. He might¡¯ve been imagining things, but it seemed to shine a bit brighter afterwards. He felt better after doing so, and finally rendered the ceiling to the gray room he¡¯d made. ¡®Time to get back to work, I suppose.¡¯ * * * Fou Grrata After Fou prevented Oura from finding Dei, an order for a manhunt went out to all surrounding villages. Dei was ranked as a tier seventy threat, society ending. Any higher than that, and the [Gem Dweller] society would be required to bring power in from the surface world, as it would enter apocalyptic threat levels. Multiple mind readers were brought in, attempting to piece together Dei¡¯s location, but nothing was left of it in Fou¡¯s mind. Oura was outraged, telling her how stupid she was, and that she was protecting a mockery. Fou knew it was more complicated than that though. While Oura insisted Dei wasn¡¯t her child, he refused to say what he actually was, and became uncomfortable when she asked when he was replaced. The Shamans were known to be protectors of all [Gem Dwellers]. The more Fou found out about the hunt for her son, the more assured she became that he was genuinely her son, but he was a real threat. The kill order listed a Gem Dweller human with one Amethyst eye and one Ruby. It insisted that the mockery would take the shape of a child who would slowly grow in age, depending on how long the it took to find him. It stated that the creature would grow in strength as time went on, and that the earlier it was found, the weaker it would be. The best estimates for when it reached max strength listed it at five years from the issuing of the order, where outside help would be requested if their society had still yet to find it by that point. Fou knew Oura was lying to her, as the mockery would supposedly stay as her son for the rest of its life, a contradiction for mockeries, and it would build in physical strength enough to become a beast of the highest order. Mockeries were never strong physically. They lost all direct fights, that''s why they were mockeries, they were tricksters. Oura had slipped up when saying Dei himself would kill everyone. There would be no swarm of mockeries, slowly replacing all civilians, it would be one massive enemy to unite against. Everything Fou found out about Dei¡¯s supposed monstrousness reeked of the Shaman ¡°doing-it-for-your-own-good¡± mindset. Her personal theory was that Dei legitimately was a human and her son, but was born with some sort of condition that would take his reasoning from him in exchange for giving him strength. She remembered reading some Godly blessings that did such a thing, to a limited degree. If Fou was correct, Dei might still be saveable. Even if the Shamans considered it ¡°too unlikely to risk,¡± they were not perfect. Fou would bide her time, hoping that Dei would survive long enough for her to reach him, and show the world that he could be reasoned with. She shared her theories with Gor, and he agreed with her. While they could do nothing right now, they would seize the chances they were given. When Gor found that his son might become a natural berserker, he felt both proud and ashamed. Proud of Dei, but Gor was ashamed that he might be responsible for such a condition. Gor always thought his tendency to lose himself in battle was his personality, but now they knew it might be something dormant in him causing it, that was passed down to Dei. Fou insisted it wasn¡¯t his fault, and that he couldn¡¯t have controlled the way he was born, but she could tell he still felt guilty at the trouble he must have caused both her and Dei. Currently, Fou was playing games with Gor and the kids, but not a moment went by where she didn¡¯t think of Dei and pray to all the Gods above that he was healthy. She did not let her fear paralyze her though. While she hoped he was fine, she had two other children she could help, right in front of her. When she was in front of them she would be strong, only collapsing in private where Gor could comfort her. Dei¡¯s birthday was two days ago though, and she couldn¡¯t find it in her to get out of bed. She tried being here for Rena and Ben today, to show them she was okay now, but the despair still ate at the edges of her mind. Something began nagging at her though, a feeling stemming from her affinities. While she wasn¡¯t able to see her soul, she could still feel it when one of them activated, and she now felt how Love pulsed a single time, spitting out a point of mana. Her family stopped the game, noticing the confused look on her face, and waited for her to tell them what she¡¯d seen. Fou couldn¡¯t imagine why Love would bring such attention towards one point of mana, so she tried checking if any passive Skills were telling her something, or if there was a use for the mana. Nothing jumped out to her though, so she tried moving the point of Love mana into her mana storage, choosing to study it later. She refocused on her family for a moment, then felt how the mana ignored her, and sharply brought her attention back to it. The only way it would ignore her, is if the mana was not hers. This was foreign mana, claimed by another. She began studying it, and found it was not love mana, but a shade lighter. This was Kindness mana, and it was imbued with a message. Deciphering it took no effort at all, the mana guiding her on how to read it, and she understood what it wanted to say. ¡®I miss you, mom.¡± Shock overcame her as she understood what this meant, and quickly motioned for Gor to follow her away from the kids. She turned away and calmly walked further into their house, refusing to let Rena and Ben see the tears welling in her eyes. She would tell Gor, then they would never speak of it again, for fear of discovery. She tried sending a message back, but didn¡¯t even know where to start. She couldn¡¯t fathom how it was possible in the first place, as it had been sent through the Conceptual Plane itself, an utterly untraceable and supposedly impossible form of communication. She desperately wanted to speak to her son, to tell him that she loved him, but could find no way to do so. This was a gift from Dei, telling her that he was alive. The small comforting glow might have been the most valuable thing she¡¯d ever received, and her mana cradled it in her body, holding it stable to not let it dissipate. ¡®I love you, baby.¡¯ She thought to the world, hoping that he might find some way to hear her. Chapter 36 Dei finally finished enclosing his imaginary gray room, and began trying to experiment with it. What could he make? First he tried making a blade of grass, and succeeded on the first try: at the cost of it taking his entire presence and some effort from the main soul. When he studied it, he noticed it was an absolute perfect replica of a blade of grass, as far as he could see it. There was a chance it was because he studied them thoroughly a short while ago, for his [Camouflage] training, and the Skill took all the knowledge from that and applied it here. ¡®Okay, so making any form of thinking life is out of the question, it would definitely kill me¡¯ He rested until his soul was normal, then ¡°deleted¡± the grass. It didn¡¯t take as much effort, but a small amount of pressure was yet again exerted on him. His next idea was to try and simulate something easier, a rock maybe. He knew rocks in and out, literally because of his tremor sense, and they were very simple. He pictured a random rock he¡¯d seen before, and rendered it. It popped into existence in the center of the cave, barely taking any effort on his part. He was about to put himself into the simulation, so he could pick up the rock, but he realized how monumentally stupid that would be to try. Instead, he mentally picked it up, and the rock began to float. He shook the rock around, nothing really happening, then he threw the rock hard against the wall. The rock shattered, sending a few shards out and around the room. He noted that breaking the rock didn¡¯t take any extra effort, despite him ¡°creating¡± multiple smaller pieces as it would have worked with an actual computer. He was going to clear the room, but had another idea. What if he could simulate certain conditions? Like wind rushing around the room. He would need something to be in the room so he could see it interact with something, and the rock was conveniently there. Trying to create the wind pattern he¡¯d felt in the caves previously, a light breeze began to pass through his imaginary room. Some of the dust created by the rock was kicked up, and flowed around the room. He also realized the dust was unnecessary to seeing the flow of air, as he was granted a supernatural awareness of the wind currents of the room. And understood exactly where they came from and went. Unlike the rock though, these wind currents took a constant effort to maintain, and he was quickly forced to stop using them. He checked his timer to see how long all of these experiments took. [Since the Fall: 7/17/809 - 15:26:20] ¡®Ah shit¡¯ he thought, realizing that six whole hours passed. He hadn¡¯t felt it at all, but suspected it the entire time. He just didn¡¯t think it would be this extreme. His reasoning stemmed from how if he wasn¡¯t using [High Mind] intensively, his thinking would naturally speed up. The inverse of that would be if he was using [High Mind] intensively, it would cause his thinking to slow down back to human levels. If he pushed it further than that, to the Skills limits in ways he¡¯d never done before, it would slow down so much that his mind would actually begin lagging. He¡¯d intended to check it right after the grass, but hadn¡¯t noticed any difference and figured ¡°one more test couldn¡¯t hurt,¡± because it was just so fascinating watching the fake world interact with physics. It hadn¡¯t been the worst though, as six hours ultimately meant very little when he had more free time than he knew what to do with. His rations had still yet to be dented very severely, although he would admit that it was almost to a point that he¡¯d soon have an estimate for how long he had left in the rations. It had been long enough for him to realize years would go by before he needed to actually hunt for survival though. Putting that aside, he concluded that the ¡°simulated world¡± aspect of [High Mind] was not worth it, and began disassembling the room. One wall at a time, he undid his efforts of the morning, watching the timer as he went. Each time he deleted a wall, the clock would tick forward by seven minutes, which was heavily concerning. Once he was done, he once more checked outside using his [Tremor Sense], and realized he needed to start planning next week''s excursion. The issue with that, though, was how he didn¡¯t know what to attack. The Lorpee¡¯s were the only reasonable low-hanging fruit he could find, and it would be years before their population became strong enough for him to gain noticeable experience from. He started looking towards the different bugs around the area, wondering if it was possible to build up experience from them, and thought back to how the Lorpee¡¯s gave experience based on their power levels. While they were hundreds of levels higher than him, they only posed small threats to him if they were alone. Why would they give Achievements though? If the System didn¡¯t consider them a big enough threat to gain more levels, why would it consider them enough of a threat to take note, and tell him he was on a road of ¡°Slaughter.¡± The best he could think of was intelligence. While it was true Lorpee¡¯s didn¡¯t pose a massive threat, he was physically a year old, and would normally have the judgment of one. Someone his age would supposedly have terrible judgment, and potentially die from picking a fight with the wrong enemy. The System wasn¡¯t just taking note because he was young and killed something higher leveled, it measured how his intelligence was an incredible feat for someone his age. The Achievement was given for picking smart battles, as much as it was about winning. When he put it like that, he felt like he¡¯d picked the hard road when killing Lorpee¡¯s. The System would¡¯ve given him the Achievements if he¡¯d found a nest of bugs instead, and potentially given him something better. Or would it have? He didn¡¯t get a kill notification for that plant he ripped up, but it was harmless to him. Where did the System draw the line in giving experience? It was somewhere between ¡°No threat¡± and ¡°Will kill you.¡± Finding where that line was would be vital, as he needed to kill the weakest things he could. He thought back to the Lorpee¡¯s, and how they likely leveled up quickly from killing bugs; high-leveled bugs would be as much of a threat to them, as the Lorpee¡¯s were to Dei himself. Was it like a food web? Where plants generated experience, then herbivores took experience from plants, and carnivores took experience from herbivores? In other words, Dei needed to become an active participant in the food web. He would need to slay things that were a human''s natural prey, or even kill the plants humans would normally eat. The random weed on the side of the cave probably wasn¡¯t edible, leading to no experience. These rules were likely only for gaining experience from things weaker than Dei, as killing enemies as strong as him would be noteworthy enough alone to grant experience, but in order to build himself up to that level, he needed to focus his efforts into nutritional yet harmless things. If this wasn¡¯t the case, there wouldn¡¯t be any way for experience to enter the ecosystem, as no creatures would generate enough experience to level up other creatures. Assuming experience was granted similar to energy through food, bugs were the only consistent and safe way he could think of to build power. He would try killing plants, but wild plants were notoriously not very nutritious, even if they were technically edible. It would be a path forward though, and any path forward was one he had to take. If any other chances similar to the Lorpee¡¯s appeared, he would take it. Otherwise, it was going to be a slog to level using small pests. The slog would only start when he could use [Astral Projection] again though, so he ate a late lunch, and started his training. * * * [Since the Fall: 8/9/809 - 6:17:57]You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (15) -> (16)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (18) -> (19)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (43) -> (44)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (100) -> (101)] [Total Stats Gained: +3 Physical] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 423/2000 Wrath 30/2000 Kindness 952/2000] A month later, he realized just how much the levels slowed down as they went up. [Fine-Tooth Comb] hadn¡¯t gone up even once! It looked like from this point forward, all significant changes to his Interface would come from active combat, or more danger in general. He needed to leave. His experiments with keeping one mind awake at all times also bore fruit, as it was getting easier. The biggest boost came in the form of more Soul mana, as he earned it even while ¡°sleeping.¡± When he split his mind and drew Visible Presence from the links in [Meditation], the rate at which he earned Soul mana didn¡¯t increase whatsoever. It increased his rate of earning Presence, but Soul mana stayed the same. By continuing to meditate while sleeping, he increased how much Soul mana he could earn by around thirty percent. He also finally tried mapping out how much Soul mana was produced by his Skill day by day, but realized that it wasn¡¯t consistent. Each level in Meditation would earn one to one point five Soul mana per day of meditating. In other words, nineteen levels in [Meditation] would produce either nineteen mana per day, or twenty eight point five mana per day. The variable rate was hard to calculate, but he was pretty sure that was the range. Dei decided to go for a Soul Strength of one thousand this time when forming his Projection. Not for any reason, just to keep it clean on his interface. He also stopped trying to calm himself down at the frustration of being chased by the frog, as he realized he needed all the Mana he could get, especially Wrath. He would eventually need to use it as a boosting Skill, and having an excess could prove lifesaving. The production of Wrath mana was still slowly decreasing, but less so than before. He got up, checking on his plants and eating a small breakfast. He realized that the Hanging Lilies were actually starting to die slowly, their HP decreasing, and he would need to find a way to replant them somewhere healthier soon. As it was, they were perpetually in a state of ¡°drought,¡± as the lilies were always being held up by their steel stalks, and he thought that the damage was from the strain it put on the stalks themselves. Aside from that, everything was in order, and he was ready to use his [Astral Projection] again. He had another idea to try this time, as weeks of doing nothing tended to cause the mind to wander. What if he could leave one of his split minds in his body? If that wasn¡¯t possible, what if he could send one of them back through the connection his [Astral Projection] had to his body? It wouldn¡¯t be a mind to train, merely one to keep him alive. He found it frustrating, having to save up enough mana to make a new body. He always waited a month, even though he knew he could Project at four hundred and fifty mana, because it made him stronger each time. He could keep waiting, becoming more powerful by saving up two or three months worth of mana, but he found that one month was the golden zone of ¡°Im stronger than I was last time I projected¡± and ¡°Holy shit, I need to leave the house now¡± as he progressively got more stir crazy. He considered many times letting his Soul affinity progress more, allowing his mind to cope better with the loneliness, but he didn¡¯t want to let go of who he was as a person unless he truly was becoming mad. Ponderings aside, the mind he would leave in his body wouldn¡¯t require a ¡°full¡± mind, just one that could keep him alive, that way he would be able to Project for days at a time. He¡¯d begun experimenting already, and found that he could imbue a smaller consciousness with ¡°just barely enough¡± to feed his body and meditate, while the rest of his mind went off and did something else. It required around twenty percent of his current processing power, leaving eighty percent to its own devices. He could knock the required processing power down to ten percent total if he didn¡¯t want his body to meditate, but he thought the extra cost would be worth it to passively produce Soul mana while he was away. If he could last a full month outside of his body, he would be able to use another Projection without ever having to wait either. The tactic wouldn¡¯t be perfectly efficient, as the small piece of his mind left in the body wouldn¡¯t be able to meditate while sleeping, but that was a small tradeoff. He finished with his garden, ate his breakfast, sectioned off twenty percent of his mind, and sat down on the grass, doing a quick review of his Interface before beginning. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 68) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 5) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 92/92 MP: 92/92 SP: 92/92 Stats: Physical: 46 Mental: 44 Spiritual: 39 Magical: 45 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 58% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 38% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (1405/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (101) Soul: Astral Projection (4), Connection (1) Mana: Meditation (19) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (50) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (46), Vigilance (53), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (44)] Using the eighty percent he still had to work with, he began casting [Astral Projection], making an effort to keep the twenty/eighty halves of his mind separate. The familiar feeling of Identity empowerment came over him, and he was separated from the main soul. [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (4) -> (5)] [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (5) -> (6)] [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (6) -> (7)] As he separated from his body, he lost connection with his twenty percent mind as well. He was still aware of it, and could send basic messages, but his control over it had been cut off. If he¡¯d left a full mind in his body, he suspected he would actually be able to talk to it, as harrowing an experience as that would be. He resolved immediately to do his best not to find out what that was like, as the copy would likely have an existential crisis. He would leave all his copies with as little processing power as possible, and do everything he could to prevent them from forming ego¡¯s. That being said, he now had much more time to travel around as a spirit without having to worry whether he would remain healthy in his body. On top of that, a new plan opened up before him: reaching the cavern where the [Call for Help] originated from. Originally, he realized that it would simply take too long to reach it in a single day if he didn¡¯t go through the Bog cavern, as his [Fine-Tooth Comb] wouldn¡¯t be able to properly guide him otherwise. Even if it could guide him, the maze of caves surrounding him would take too long to navigate, potentially starving his main body to death. One of those issues had been solved with the new use of [High Mind], as for how he intended to navigate the caves? He realized he was being a total idiot. While it was true his Skill could only find up to two paths for now, there was more than one way to guide it. Before, he¡¯d used broad terms such as ¡°give me the most efficient way while avoiding the main cavern,¡± but that was too much, as there were likely dozens or hundreds of very similar pathways, and the ¡°most efficient¡± would change frequently based on environmental factors. The reason he hadn¡¯t run into such a thing yet while using [Fine-Tooth Comb] was because thus far, it was undoubtable that Bog Cavern would be the most efficient route to reach his destination. Along the shorter routes, Dei expected the path to be obstructed multiple times, where he might have to reroute. Instead of immediately shooting for his endpoint though, he could do something easier: designating spots around the Bog cavern, then requesting a pathway to those spots, rather than just the cavern he intended to reach. In other words, he would say ¡°take me to Spot One along the most efficient path,¡± where his [Fine-Tooth Comb] would find the way, then say ¡°take me to Spot Two,¡± and so on, until he successfully made a semi-circle around the Bog without ever risking losing his way. With his guide taken care of and his body being fed, Dei could take all the time he wanted to make his way along the cave systems. While he was doing this, he would also try to find and kill bugs in order to slowly build up his EXP. He started getting excited, as this trip was shaping up to be an interesting and efficient one. He might not need to wait much longer for a friend he could talk to! ¡®Well, one that would talk back at least¡¯ he thought while looking at the various beetles he¡¯d spent some time occasionally bouncing ideas off of. Finished with the Garden, he went to the edge of the barrier and pushed his way through, feeling with his [Spirit Sense] how a few disconnected places were revealed to him. In those places, he knew there was a single signature he needed to reach. He¡¯d already mapped out the circular path to follow: there were four checkpoints he needed to reach, and the fifth would be the [Call for Help] itself. ¡®Which way to Spot number One in the most efficient route possible¡¯ he directed his [Fine-Tooth Comb], and started walking. Chapter 37 He¡¯d chosen the four checkpoints because they were noteworthy enough in his head to give at least a cursory glance, while also being in the general path he needed to follow. He¡¯d given himself a generous clearance of Bog Cavern, so none of the larger creatures would wander into his path. Despite that, he seriously worried about what kinds of creatures might be able to find him. While it was true that his Spirit form would be much more difficult to track, as proven by how the frog had taken more than a few seconds to catch his scent, it wasn¡¯t impossible. He had to stay on guard for situations where a creature he couldn¡¯t sense might be tracking him. When he was running towards the Lorpee cave, a massive centipede had almost tried hunting him, but decided against it when it realized he could see it. If such a situation repeated itself, he wouldn''t have [Tremor Sense] to rely on, and [Spirit Sense] was proving much less effective at finding creatures. He needed to find a way to block others completely from seeing him. To this, he decided to utilize something he hadn¡¯t tried before: his Visible Presence. His only instance of being found while in Spirit form was when the Frog found him. He believed that it was able to ¡°smell¡± the mana he¡¯d been using on the different bugs, but what exactly was it sensing? Dei was little more than a feeling to the physical world, so how would the frog see him? That''s when he had the idea that it wasn¡¯t sensing him, per se, but his presence. His Visible Presence would be key to this part of his plan. He split his mind in half, as he wasn¡¯t in active combat, so a large portion was being wasted. While it helped him be more cautious, he decided it would be worth the risk giving up some of his reaction time to try and ensure he wasn¡¯t attacked at all. If he came under attack, he¡¯d gotten to the point where he could barely merge his mind back together in a single go, so he wouldn¡¯t be as vulnerable. From there, he would use the quickened reaction time to try and fight using his Physical stat, because his soul would doubtlessly be pushed to the limit already from merging his minds back together. If that didn¡¯t work, he¡¯d dive deeper into the Spirit world. If it was a spirit itself that was chasing him, he had his [Natural Claws (Major)], and if that didn''t work, [Spiritual Re-Attunement (Major)] for a speedy escape. Because he had such an advanced version of it, he suspected that he could either re-attune faster than most spirits, or it was cheaper for him: perhaps both. Either way, he had a leg up when it came to Re-Attuning He idly planned out his interactions, but he never stopped scanning his surroundings with the part of the mind that controlled his Projection. The mind that controlled his Presence started sorting through it, trying to find a way to disguise him, and figure out what it would look like. The presence he wanted to emit was that of the caves, more than that, he wanted to emit a presence of the cave where he currently was. He wanted it to be virtually indistinguishable from the exact point he was in. To accomplish this, he brought up different experiences from the miscellaneous portion of his Presence, experiences involving rock formations, quiet, empty areas, or non-noteworthy moments. He pulled these from deeper in his Presence, organizing them on the surface of his entire soul. He was pretty sure he was now emitting the aura of an empty, inconspicuous rock. That itself would be noteworthy though if it didn¡¯t match with the area around it; if you found a red rock in a gray cave, your eyes would be drawn to it. From here, his passive mind split into two parts again: one to meditate, the other to focus completely on distributing the fog of presence around his soul in such a way that it matched his surroundings. The meditating mind would perpetually meditate on the link he had to the point he was currently at, basically giving a constantly updating snapshot of wherever he was. The primary mind, the last thinking one, was still running, and it realized the meditating mind could be split again even further. Because it didn¡¯t have to worry about basic tasks such as breathing or instinct, it could be broken up again to have two ten-percent minds running meditation to provide twice as much Presence. [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (44) -> (45)] Overall the makeup of his mind looked as such: It felt absurd to split his mind into such small pieces, but he was proud of the versatility he was able to express using [High Mind] rather than only using the generic boosts it provided. Keeping an eye out, he quickly fell into a rhythm of running and scanning his surroundings for bugs to kill. * * * He soon came upon a small crack in the wall with a few bugs crawling in and out of it. While there was nothing of note around the wall, his search for bugs led him to find this hidden pocket anyway, giving him the chance to realize something was up. He looked into the crack with his [Darkvision] and realized that there was an opening some ways inside. While he could start crushing insects out here, he didn¡¯t want to waste [Soul Strength]. Even if he had tons of it for now, it would pay to be frugal with it. He wanted to find a large concentration of bugs, that way he could test out if anything in particular gave him experience by crushing different types. Readying himself, he jumped into the crevice, phasing through the walls as he was much too large to fit though it. After a few seconds, it opened before him. The room he was in looked absolutely rank. There was the corpse of a dead monster, and he could see on the farside of the cave that there was a pile of rubble from the caved-in entrance. Around the crack in the wall, he saw an indent of scratch marks from the creature supposedly trying to dig its way out through the only other opening. It was the general shape of a dog, with a long neck that bent like a swan, and a full maw of teeth. Its whip-like tail ended with three sharp spikes, and the four legs had the typical pads of a dog. It might¡¯ve had fur at some point, or it might not have: he couldn¡¯t tell from the state of rot it was in, absolutely coated in bugs. The room was more of a corridor, with thirty or so feet of clearance to the rubble. He would need to manifest before he could try using [Identify], so he walked over to the pile of rubble. He didn¡¯t want to scare the bugs out, nor did he want to be too close in case there were some seriously dangerous ones Using his [Soul Strength], he found that he could physically manifest in half a second, a far cry from the first time he¡¯d tried where it took him three or four. Not because he improved at all, he was just doing it wrong the entire time. Now he realized he could ¡°bounce¡± off the barrier between the physical and spiritual realms to dodge, providing intangibility for a key second or two. Looking towards the bugs, he tried to see the different types with his eyes before identifying them, as he didn¡¯t know what kind of reaction they would have to the intrusion. It seemed like an overall painful process, so he thought they would react aggressively. He could count three distinct types of bugs: crawling, flying, and hiding. Generally, the crawling ones had longer bodies, like a millipede or a roly poly, but there were a few that were flat, like a sand-dollar.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The flying bugs were a bunch of variations of the insect ¡°fly,¡± which was an optimal decomposer he supposed. The hiding bugs couldn¡¯t be spotted, but he could see their souls all along the body. They were things like larvae and a few that were larger than that. He saw one in particular that was fighting off all the other bugs hiding in the corpse. It looked stringy, like a worm, and was slowly spreading out from the head of the body. What was it doing? He couldn¡¯t see it eating anything as it passed, it was actually stopping the natural decomposition as it worked. While he said it looked like a worm, it was definitely closer to a very thin, gangly octopus. Its main body was in the head, and tons of tinier tendrils were spreading out. It had taken over the head and chest area, but the other bugs were fighting back from it spreading further. He would be here for half an hour if he tried scanning all the different bugs, so he decided to only scan the noteworthy ones: in other words, any that he didn¡¯t recognize. His logic was that any ¡°mundane¡± looking bugs wouldn¡¯t need magic all that much, as a variant of them had evolved on Earth. The ones he didn¡¯t recognize were likely to require magic, thus their nonexistence on Earth. The four bugs he decided to [Identify] were the sand-dollar like bugs, a really big fly, a type of bug that he couldn¡¯t see but whose soul-shape was obvious to him, and the octopus-worm-thing. Starting with the sand dollar, he tried something first. He¡¯d first dedicated a portion of his Presence to ¡°friend of the beetles.¡± Since then, he¡¯d meditated on all the different bugs he could remember meeting in his previous life, as well as the new bugs he met in this life: essentially, he was attempting to create a ¡°friend of the bugs¡± aura. He¡¯d chosen bugs specifically to try this with, as he imagined they were the only creatures in this world whose minds were weak enough to be tricked into giving information about them. He intended to do more things like this later if it worked, but this would be his test. When he went to [Identify] the bug, he chose the Kindness variant first, showing off the Presence he was trying to send, and asking for more information on it. ¡°Only to see what kind of bug you are, not your weaknesses, levels, or stats!¡± was the request he made. The bug didn¡¯t even care, immediately accepting it. Something told him that even the slightest friendly presence would¡¯ve gotten that kind of surface-level information accepted, as the bug had no reason to deny it. If he tried digging deeper though, more trust would be needed. The screen from his [Identify] slowly filled up with the small amount of information the bug was willing to volunteer. [Infant Cophinus The Cophinus is a type of insect that latches on to prey, drawing them into its body and devouring them slowly. The Cophinus family can naturally grow up to five meters tall] ¡®Five meters?! Thats like fifteen feet! This is an infant version of a bug, damn am I glad I don''t have to see the mama bug.¡¯ It was certainly magical, thats for sure. The fly was next, and it reacted similarly to the Kindness [Identify], volunteering a bit of information. [Latching Rotfly The Fly is an insect that consumes decomposing material, waste, or otherwise useless materials] Okay, the fly was something he was familiar with. The name gave him hints as to what it actually did though. If he had to guess, it would attack enemies by latching on to them, and injecting them with some sort of poison to make them rot. Something to do with the Rot affinity, at the very least. The hidden insect was the second most interesting one to him, as his [Identify] came about when piercing the cloak of a creature. His Skill would supposedly deactivate it for a time, and this was the first time he might be conscious enough to see the effects. When he sent out his Kindness [Identify] to this insect, it quickly rejected him, and he saw as it began moving erratically and trying to make its cloaking more effective, shaping it in different ways to more creatively block attempts. Its soul also naturally began to hide itself more, but he knew what to look for and didn¡¯t lose track of it. Before it could shake him, he used his Wrath [Identify], seeing a needle pierce the bug. Normally, the needles of Wrath would create ripples along the souls of whatever it hit, and Dei would glean information from the waves. To him, it looked like broken ice. Once the ice was broken, the needle didn¡¯t interact any further, usually exiting out the back of whatever was hit with the needle. Instead of any of that happening, the needle struck the cloak of the insect and immediately came alive. Rather than the mana just leaving a ripple, Dei watched as it went out of its way to scour the bugs soul, tearing into the connection it had with its cloaking ability. The bug began writhing and squirming, trying to tear at its insides as it looked to be in absolute agony. When he first used it on the [Nightstalking Devourer], it writhed for a second or two. This insect was utterly helpless to fight back though, with Dei being so much stronger than it, and he started genuinely feeling bad for the little guy as over half a minute of pain later had still barely dwindled the Wrath mana. It kept tearing into the connection in the soul between the bug and its cloaking skill, until he saw something snap with the Skill, and the bug suffered a terrible soul wound. Once the Skill was broken, the bug stopped its writhing, simply lying on its back with its legs occasionally twitching. Its soul shape began to undo itself, and Dei gleaned from the sparks information flaking off it easily. [Stalking Centipede - Level 73 Centipedes are long segmented insects, known for their painful bites and aggressive tendencies. The Stalking Centipede has acquired a natural affinity for Shadow, giving it a cloaking effect to help keep it hidden. This particular centipede''s heritage is that of two Stalking Centipedes of Crushing, making their bites physically more dangerous at the cost of decreasing the effectiveness of their poison. Physical: 26 Mental: 14 Spiritual: 23 Magical:14] [EXP Gained for killing the Stalking Centipede - Level 73] With the final scan, the insect''s soul came undone entirely, and it died. Dei grimaced at just how painful such a death was, and understood now why the Nightstalking Devourer reacted the way it did. He also got a momentary flashback when he read that this centipede had ¡°Stalking¡± in the name, but it didn¡¯t appear related to the first cloaking monster he¡¯d encountered. He was starting to realize that the monster names actually meant something, each descriptor giving power. The only repeated example he had to draw from was ¡°Stalking,¡± and both the Devourer and Centipede used cloaks. The alternative he could think of would be something akin to camouflage, where it was not an active process to hide. Did the word ¡°Stalking¡± in a creature''s name indicate magical invisibility? He needed more evidence to be sure. On top of that, he was actually able to glean what this bug''s parents were, indicating that it would be important enough to be information included in its soul. If he had to guess, it was meant to be an indicator of what this Centipede would likely evolve into once it reached level one hundred. It was all useful information, but he felt guilty after doing that to a centipede who¡¯d done nothing to him. That being said, he would try to not beat himself up over it, and decided to move on to the final creature: weird octopus-worm. He sent it a Kindness [Identify] but was immediately shot down, the creature not seeming interested in the slightest. It didn¡¯t care that it was detected, but it also felt greedy. When he scanned the other bugs, they would see his greeting of friendship and accept it, as it cost nothing to do so, and they didn¡¯t care if some information was given. This octopus thing didn¡¯t care if it cost nothing to allow him to identify, it wanted payment. Based on the response, he understood that this creature would be smarter than the other bugs, as it was capable of bargaining. He had no interest in giving it anything though, so he just switched over to Wrath and poured fifteen MP into the [Identify], getting the information anyway. [Trudging Accipere of Dominance Echo - Level 336 The Accipere is a type of hive mind parasitic worm specialized in assimilating foreign flesh into its mass. The Trudging Accipere is a slow, creeping threat, lying dormant for until its host meets certain conditions. The Dominance Accipere has successfully assimilated multiple other Acciperes, granting it the ability to split some of its sub-minds into more mobile forms and fetch more flesh for its mass. This is an Echo, one of the sub-minds that has been disconnected from the main mass, and only has a small selection of the originals abilities Physical:121 Mental:63 Spiritual:87 Magical:92] His nerves spiked at the description, and he kept a close eye on it, but it didn¡¯t react. He could guess that it wasn¡¯t happy with him, but he hadn¡¯t done anything worth hunting him down. From the description, he guessed that it would soon begin dragging the corpse back to its main mass. For now, he would ignore it. While it was true he could likely kill a few of the worms, gaining a good amount of experience, he wasn¡¯t confident enough to risk it. Instead, Dei would focus on the surface level bugs, and hit any of the cloaked ones with his Wrath Identify. He¡¯d gained EXP from a bug already, so he knew it was possible, now he would farm them for it. ¡®Ugh, another disgusting job to earn experience. I should really make some tools or something.¡¯ Chapter 38 Dei decided to start by hitting all the hiding bugs with his [Identify]. His heart ached from how they were going to be killed, but they might otherwise escape if he didn¡¯t. When he chose to fight the Lorpee¡¯s, he did so because he knew they would fight back. Over time, his sense of morals at not killing creatures weaker than him had begun to erode, and now he realized it was either fighting those weaker than him, or those stronger than him, and he didn¡¯t think it was much of a choice at all. After waiting for his MP to regenerate, spending the time locating and mentally numbering as many of the hidden bugs as he could, Dei used his [Fine-Tooth Comb] Skill to locate them all in quick succession without having to find them again. He wanted to kill them all before they realized they were dying. Dei casted eighteen Identifies before he had to resort to using the mana from his [Pandora¡¯s Box], using it another seven times before all the hidden bugs had been hit at least once. [EXP gained for killing the Sneaking Gnat (Level 185). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [EXP gained for killing the Stalking Picrola (Level 127). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] ¡­ [EXP gained for killing the Sneaking Fly (Level 155). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] He started recognizing patterns in their names too, and it was confirmed that any bugs with the word [Stalking] used magical cloaking, while camouflaged bugs didn¡¯t have any special prefix, and [Sneaking] bugs used a more natural Skill to hide themselves, doing things like sticking to shadows and avoiding vision. [Stalking] was magical invisibility, Camouflage was an inborn trait, and [Sneaking] were like rogues using the terrain to obscure themselves. Overall, the [Stalking] creatures fared the worst, dying quickly. Creatures with certain types of Camouflage on the other hand started hopping around like they were in pain, but were still in control enough to run from whatever spot they started in. If it was active camouflage, like an iguana, it began to change colors unnaturally. If it was blended camouflage, like a snow rabbit on snow, the bug was unaffected. [Sneaking] creatures fared somewhere between [Stalking] and active camo, as they died much slower than [Stalking], but they did die. Camo bugs didn¡¯t die at all, the mana abating before it dealt serious damage. Through the process, he noted that when he switched over to using Wrath mana in his Identify, the effects became much stronger. He already knew that spells cast with their affinity mana did more damage, but this confirmed it further. Twenty five bugs were identified, and nineteen died. Most of them were over his level, yet he had not gained enough experience to level up himself. So far, this aligned with how he theorized the EXP system functioning. Now for the harder part, killing the bugs personally. While he was preparing for the fight, Dei tried planning on how he was going to kill them. With his Mental and Physical enhancements, it was possible to slap them out of the air, but he thought that would be inefficient, and most of the bugs would escape. Instead, he wanted to try something he hadn¡¯t before: harnessing his mana directly, unrefined by a Skill. He¡¯d confirmed through [Astral Projection] that Skills imbued mana with some sort of intent, giving them purpose. What he struggled with now was a flexibility issue. He had no medium of crowd control or boosting of his physical body. He had, however, discovered that Wrath mana could boost his physical strength ever so slightly on its own. It was guaranteed to not be as effective as a Skill, but it was a proof of concept. If Dei tried hard enough, he would be able to freestyle mana, giving it purpose. When the idea came to him during planning, he stopped letting his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] take in the Wrath mana he was now continually drawing in. While doing so, he began experimenting with drawing in Wrath mana in a healthy and consistent way. So far, the only two consistent routes he¡¯d found to draw in Wrath mana were to either hold a grudge against something or give himself a mental breakdown. Instead, he tried making himself angry at the injustice of the world in general, a sort of righteous Wrath to draw upon, swearing to never let another child experience what he was right now. He hadn¡¯t succeeded, but he thought the idea had merit. To circle back to the task at hand, Dei needed a way to mass-kill the bugs, and imbuing Wrath mana with his own intent was the path he chose. He only had seven usable Wrath mana on hand, with the rest locked away, and began the process of imbuing them with his intent as he walked towards the swarm of bugs. How he went about doing so was to just¡­ try and force the idea he wanted to instill upon them into each fragment. He didn¡¯t have a way to measure if it was effective or not, but as he approached the swarm of insects, they began to shy away from his glowing form. He outstretched his arm, open palm facing the swarm of insects, and willed the Wrath mana to attack the bugs, shooting them from his hand. The Wrath mana flew forward, and the moment it exited his body, his sense of it became highly muddled. While he could perceive that there was some Wrath mana around him, he didn¡¯t have nearly enough sense to tell where it had gone, and he didn¡¯t have the connection to it he would normally have with mana run through a Skill. The bugs also didn¡¯t have the reaction he was expecting, many of them shooting forward and into the bits of mana he¡¯d fired. Rather than shy away from them, he noticed that many were fighting to get closer to the mana. While he couldn¡¯t see the Wrath mana he¡¯d fired, he could tell where each speck had gone, as there were seven bundles of various bugs trying to force their ways into the center. He was absolutely baffled by the behavior¡­ but also, this worked for crowd control! While it didn¡¯t kill the bugs, it made things a lot easier for him as he swung out his hand, blowing apart the first ball of bugs and getting around twenty kill notifications. The other bundles started dwindling after that, some bugs not quite as excited when they saw what happened to the first, but most of the bugs were still far too dumb to understand what was happening, and stayed packed together. He was disappointed realizing that he gained no physical boost from [Cruelty of the Slaughter] for using his projection, but not surprised. Quickly, he shot through the six remaining swarms, blowing them apart in gory explosions ¡®Yuck, I am incredibly happy that I can''t taste or smell anything with this body.¡¯ It would have been utterly disgusting to carry this job out with his bare hands. Dei was always relieved when he could turn intangible and allow the gore to fall to the ground.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. With seven large swarms of bugs defeated for experience, he went about squashing the rest of them. He noted that the bugs he¡¯d killed, the ones that swarmed to his mana, were all below level one hundred. Those that were already evolved flew around the initial swarms, not pushing to enter the ball but still looking for opportunities to get at the mana themselves. Then there were five or six bugs that hadn¡¯t entered the fray at all. These bugs succeeded at resisting his Wrath [Identify], and he figured they were the strongest of the group. He¡¯d only used the minimum mana required to [Identify], so he could most likely push through their defenses, but he chose to wait on that. He didn¡¯t want to provoke the most powerful players on the field immediately, even if they were just bugs. From this he figured out why the different critters were interested in his mana. Somehow, his unrefined mana would help them in their evolutions. The younger bugs would gain more benefits immediately, as their evolutions happened very soon, so they fought hard. The adult bugs benefitted too, but not as much. They were not willing to throw their lives away at the chance of an upgraded evolution when it would most likely be a long way for them to reach it. The most experienced bugs, the few that reached their third evolution, weren¡¯t interested at all, probably because it was unlikely for them to reach higher than that. Or because they¡¯d already outgrown any benefits the unrestricted mana might give them. He began moving through the scattered swarm, those bugs between levels one and two hundred, backhanding them whenever he could. They caught on quickly, the higher leveled bugs being smarter, and started to act. A few of the stinging ones attacked, while others began to flee for the crack in the wall. The stinging insects were almost all ineffective. Key word, almost. As the swarms attempted to inject him with their venoms, he almost laughed as they did absolutely nothing. After a few seconds though, a searing hot pain erupted from his thigh, and he looked down to see what dealt damage to him. Much to his terror, a hornet was the source of his pain, and he identified it with ten Wrath mana, aiming specifically to glean how it attacked him. [Piercing Decay Hornet - Level 164 Breed of Hornet that specializes its venom into decaying its victims alive, causing rapid necrosis as Decay mana floods into its enemies] Immediately, he pinged that Decay mana interacted with him in some way that others didn¡¯t, and realized that it was because he was a spirit. Spirits were tied closely with death, so it was likely that anything to do with Death would damage him. He squashed the hornet quickly, scanning the bugs to see if there were any more that had affinities tied closely with the concept of Death while he continued swatting them out of the air. The swarm mostly used ineffective venoms to deal damage, so he was unharmed thus far aside from that Decay Hornet. There were more in the air too, but he spotted them and continued batting them away whenever he could. Another two insects that managed to deal damage were, weirdly enough, flies. [Latching Rotfly - Level 122 The Fly is an insect that consumes decomposing material, waste, or otherwise useless materials. This variant has specialized into standing its ground upon living creatures and devouring them alive with swarms of its kin. When latching on to prey, it gains a significant boost to durability and becomes much more difficult to remove] One of the insects that could damage him was one he¡¯d already scanned, a Rotfly. The other looked like an orb with six legs, and he felt a wave of mild damage emanate from it. The other bugs also didn¡¯t like it, but were unwilling to get closer as the strength of the wave was more powerful when near it. [Passing Jinglebug - 138 The Jinglebug emits a high pitched sound when threatened, employing the rare Passing affinity, which specializes in accelerating the ending to all within its vicinity] The Jinglebug wasn¡¯t attacking him, just running, but he was still damaged by its employed self defense. Not for long though, as a few of the braver bugs started making swipes at it. They quickly shriveled, but after ten or so attacked it, the sound slowly abated, before fading entirely as the bug succumbed to the various venoms. Dei had to deal with the first Rotfly that attached itself to him, ripping it out along with a portion of the Soul mana around it. ¡®Holy shit, killing these bugs is not as easy as I thought it was going to be.¡¯ He continued lashing out, doing everything he could to stop any more stings from landing on him as he didn¡¯t want to waste all of his Soul Strength so early into his journey. He was still damaged multiple times, but Dei decided backing away from the swarm was the better idea against pushing further and risking the wrath of the level three hundred bugs. He didn¡¯t drop back down into the Spirit World yet, as he didn¡¯t consider himself truly in danger, and continued to pull in experience. When all the bugs were finally either dead, had fled from the cave, or returned back to the corpse to continue eating, he finally lowered himself back down into the Spirit World. He looked over his notifications, counting one hundred and fifteen total. While it was an immense list, the level ups were not nearly as long. [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 68) -> (Level 69)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (19) -> (20)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (24) -> (25)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (53) -> (54)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (54) -> (55)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (44) -> (45)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (50) -> (51)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (51) -> (52)] Nonetheless, he was glad to see the progression. He decided a tactical retreat was in order, and exited the cave while avoiding the corpse of the dead monster. While doing so, he noted that two of the bugs were still able to perceive him despite being situated in the Spirit World, keeping their bodies facing him. He was almost positive that he saw compound eyes on their head, so facing him was unnecessary, but it was likely an intimidation tactic. The Mental stats of these particular bugs were definitely high enough for abstract thought, so he would have to keep such things in mind when fighting others. He also didn¡¯t discredit the option of potentially conversing with an intelligent monster. While he wanted to find the spirit past the bog cavern, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try and talk to a few of the smarter creatures he ran into¡­ Looking back though, the Frog was likely sentient, so maybe it would hurt. He would have to handle it case by case. Minitask complete, Dei headed back out of the cave and on to the first checkpoint. * * * The first place he noted was because of the way it distorted vibrations that got near it, causing them to become more squiggly for lack of a better term. It wasn¡¯t a cavern, but it was what he would consider a microbiome, as it was a series of long tunnels sectioned off by rocks at every entrance. The rocks looked like cave-ins, but he thought it was too coincidental that every opening was cut off, and decided to investigate. As he approached the first blockage, he saw something interesting. Visually, he could see that the air in front of the pile of rocks that separated him from the cave began to distort. He recognized such an effect as heat on the air, realizing that he simply hadn¡¯t known such heat affected vibrations in a similar way to how he saw using [Tremor Sense]. Closer to the rubble, Dei noted a slight red tint to the rocks, and got a closer look at the hot air escaping from them. He remained unaffected, so he didn¡¯t fear going further in, but decided to prepare further before doing so. He wanted to produce a bit more Wrath mana, just in case he needed some sort of distraction like he¡¯d done with the bugs (albeit unintentionally). Before he could sit though, a familiar signal rang out in his mind. A [Call for Help], stemming from somewhere past the wall and into the hot caves. He didn¡¯t even hesitate, immediately turning intangible and launching himself into the barrier. If he was doing all of this for the chance at reaching a [Call for Help], it made no sense at all to ignore one right in front of him. Chapter 39 Coming out the other side of the rubble, the distortions in the air almost blinded him. There was no fire, but the walls glowed orange in the heat and blackened bodies of animals and monsters dotted the floors. Running through the corridors, guided by his [Call for Help] Skill, he tried planning what his course of action was. Surprisingly, Wrath mana began to flow into him from the connection, and he held it within his Projection rather than sending it to the [Pandora¡¯s Box]. He noted that a red tint began to fill him as large quantities of Wrath diluted his Soul mana. He would need to figure out later what happened, as this was likely a Rule of Wrath at work. Down the tunnels, he passed multiple creatures made of flame, iron, or blackened hide. The heat rose, distorting his vision further as rivers of magma began to flow down the walls around him, running deeper into the cave and following the same path as him. It did not seem a coincidence that the call for help stemmed from the hottest portion of the tunnels, and he prepared for a boss fight. He slowly noticed that, as he moved downwards, he began to somehow feel the heat. It wasn¡¯t sweltering or hurtful yet, but if he could feel it while in the Spirit World, it had to be magical. [You have entered the Convergence of Convection] The moment the notification made itself known, he really started feeling it. Small particles of what he assumed was Convection mana entered him, non harmful at first. It began to flow around him in certain patterns, following each other as he began taking damage. Soul mana began to flake off of him and into the area as he ran, very glad he¡¯d filled this body with more Soul mana than usual. With his higher Physical stat, he was fast, but monsters began trailing behind him and devouring the Soul mana that flaked off. Slowly, a herd built up behind him, chasing the intangible wave of mana that passed by them like ships to a lighthouse. When one got too close, he would fire a small amount of Wrath mana to the side, and they would redirect. The Convection mana continued to build, seeming to never bleed out of him like the other two manas. His body was slowly becoming an oven, cooking the natural defenses of his Projection. Still, either from a sense of duty or madness, Dei never decided to turn back. Down a particularly sharp turn, Dei sensed the signal in front of him. He spotted a humanoid looking thing, hopeful at first that an actual person needed help, but realized it was too bulky to be a human¡­ the arm length claws gave it away too, and it was angrily tearing into the stone wall, a small crack widening under its hands. It was entirely composed of black glass, spikes covering its entire body in an angular nightmarish display. It wasn¡¯t incredibly tall, as he stood at around chest height on it, but its barrel chest, thick arms, and clawed hands promised to tear him to pieces given the chance From this crack in the wall, he sensed the desperate call for help. He noticed small amounts of soul damage permeating it. Using his [Identify] Skill, he was just barely able to read through some of the cracks. While studying it, he sent forth the rest of his stored Wrath mana, causing the swarm of monsters behind him to surge forward into the glassy creature. [Convection Shatterwarmer Obsidian Elemental (Anchor Beast) - Level 271] While it wasn¡¯t a lot of information, that was a long fucking name! If he was right in that monsters'' names gave them power, then this thing was strong. It proved so seconds later when its head whipped towards him and the wave of monsters. He dodged to the side as their snapping jaws passed him by, not interested in seeing if any of them had the affinity to sense him. While they dogpiled onto the Obsidian Elemental, it struck out, shearing through every single one with ease. The quantity of monsters piling onto it though began to overwhelm it, and it was pushed back from the crack in the wall. A wide scale brawl broke out, the high amounts of Wrath mana feeding into anger, Soul mana driving them nuts with greed as they tried to consume it all, and Convection mana that boosted all of their powers. He sensed them draw on the mana in the air, even with his infantile magic sense, and knew it was time to get the hell out of dodge. He flew over the crowd of enemies and towards the crack, peering in with his [Darkvision] and spotting a small black salamander with red glowing cracks along its skin, standing on its hind legs, and clutching a warm orange opal looking stone. He wanted to smile at how cute it was, but they didn¡¯t have the time. Instead, he cast his newest Spell, [Meaningful]. Using a single piece of Kindness mana, he sent towards the salamander ¡°run while it¡¯s distracted.¡± At the same time, he sent an [Identify] towards the salamander, expressing that he¡¯d just given it an opportunity to escape, and hoped it would thank him by allowing him to learn about it. It haphazardly considered the request before accepting it, taking off out of the crack in the wall and running up the path Dei had come from. He didn¡¯t follow immediately, letting more Soul mana saturate the air as it poured off him so the monsters wouldn¡¯t begin to follow again immediately. [Infant Korgonda - Level 23 These clever little amphibians live their lives half on land, half in molten rock. Born with a natural wit and boldness, only the smartest and strongest survive. Mother Korgonda will host hundreds of eggs in their sac¡¯s, moving between various heated areas and releasing swarms of their young to fight their ways to the top of the food chain they find themselves in. Korgonda¡¯s endlessly grow in relation to the environment they find themselves in. When they outgrow the foodweb that sustains them, Korgonda will move downwards into the earth using a natural born Heat Sense (Greater) to seek out the next habitat to conquer. Physical: 18 Mental:19 Spiritual: 13 Magical: 13] The Obsidian Elemental let out a heinous, piercing screech as the Korgonda ran away, and he watched as its soul began to quickly unravel, allowing him to passively glean information. He focused on trying to figure out why it was unraveling, and what the whole deal was between the Elemental and the baby Korgonda [Convection Shatterwarmer Obsidian Elemental (Anchor Beast) - Level 271 An Obsidian Elemental born near a Convection Anchor that chose to tie itself to the anchor. In doing so, it allowed the Anchor to become mobile while risking itself in the process. By tying itself to the Anchor, it began to passively generate EXP, gaining power. It dug tunnels to create an optimal system for the Convection mana to flow through, strengthening it further, then gave up its extra mobility in favor of boosted EXP gain. Not allowed to move the Anchor any longer for fear of weakening its connection to Convection, it instead guarded it from attacks on the Anchor, until a small thief stole it after a particularly difficult battle with one of the denizens within the cave system. Without the Anchor, it will begin to weaken and die at a rate relative to how far away the Anchor is from the Elemental Physical: 95 Mental: 32 Spiritual: 101 Magical: 67] As he looked at its name, he watched the level tick down again, the Elemental releasing another scream, and he decided that there was enough concentrated Soul mana in the air for him to leave. [Convection Shatterwarmer Obsidian Elemental (Anchor Beast) - Level 260] Taking off after the Korgonda, he could still sense the desperation it emitted. It was quickly fading though, as the lava lizard realized it actually escaped the situation it had found itself in. Back up the tunnels he went, following the abating feeling of desperation, when it surged once more. He came upon the little Korgonda, surrounded by five of its kin. They hissed and yipped at it, squeaking in tune with one another, but the Korgonda held its gem closer to it. He was practically a giant to them all, but still couldn¡¯t enter the physical realm, as the heat was too high. He didn¡¯t want to kill any of them anyway, as they were likely all smart, but he figured he¡¯d put his bets on the one he¡¯d saved for which Korgonda would be grateful to him. Once they sensed a wave of Soul mana barreling towards them, the five other thieves whipped around to face him, and the gem-holder made a break for it.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. They hesitated to chase after their kin carrying the Anchor for a moment, before deciding to scatter instead. Dei followed the Korgonda up, eventually receiving a notification [You have exited the Convergence of Convection] And the mana stopped entering him. He quickly checked on his Soul Strength, having dropped a lot of it in his escape. [Soul Strength 382/1000] If this were his first expedition where he had only 450 soul strength, he would still technically be in good condition. This was not, however, his first expedition, and he was dying rapidly. The Convection mana wasn¡¯t building any longer, but was exiting him slowly, escaping through the wounds across his body he¡¯d built up from the bug bites and cracks from Convection damage. On top of that, he noted that it began to escape through his mouth, and he realized he could actually make breathing motions to force it out of him, panting like a dog. After a few seconds of panicked hyperventilating though, he paused. Could he use [Pandora¡¯s Box] to contain it? He tried, but it refused to accept it. The box was only intended for mana he produced himself and, unlike other limitations the System listed, this one was built-in to the Skill by Kindness itself. Continuing with his breathing, he remembered more efficient ways of doing so. He first learned to enter a meditative mindset through breathing techniques, and he began utilizing it more actively now. The breathing techniques were never specifically about bringing in oxygen, but reaching an equilibrium in mind and body. His current brain power was fragmented into a primary, secondary, and two tertiary minds. He merged them all together, then made a secondary mind that focused only on keeping up with the Korgonda. Using the rest of his mental faculties, he fell into a meditative stupor, bringing air in, holding it, and breathing it out. As he went through the motions, falling into a pattern, he felt as the Convection mana built up around his lungs. When he held the breath within him, the mana was pulled in, before being slowly expelled through the nose. Each breath inhale brought fresh air that cooled him, and each exhale pushed massive quantities of heat that turned to fire. The Korgonda he followed jumped as fire appeared out of nowhere behind it, but he didn¡¯t notice, too lost in balancing himself. His mind calmed, and the cracks along his body healed. He was gaining no Soul Strength, but he felt more stable somehow. After five minutes of his body passively running after the Korgonda, his primary mind awoke, and he realized the Korgonda was finally flagging in its sprint. It had gone a long way for such a tiny creature, and the heat was now bearable to him in the Spirit realm, as he could no longer feel it. He watched the salamander-like creature squeeze into a small hole near the ground, just barely fitting the gemstone in behind him. Dei couldn¡¯t sense his desperation anymore, but he was getting better at picking out soul signatures. His Contract gave him a heightened sense for them, but it was hard to perceive them if he wasn¡¯t looking at them with his eyes. Still, he felt that the Korgonda hadn¡¯t gone far into the crevice, and he could comfortably wait out here for a moment. He realized he had never actually identified the Anchor, so he bent down and looked into the crack, seeing the salamander nipping at the edges of the stone. He fired off an [Identify] at the Anchor, but it failed, having no soul signature to read despite once being tied to an entity that did. Standing back up, he decided to go over the notifications he¡¯d received after all the action. It felt weird, but there were no kill notifications. It made sense, as he hadn¡¯t done any killing, it just felt wrong that he¡¯d risked his life without gaining any class experience. The Skill notifications were incredible though. [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (55) -> (56)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (1) -> (2)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (45) -> (46)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (25) -> (26)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (30) -> (31)] [Skill Leveled Up: Call for Help (9) -> (10)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Call for Help (23) -> (24)] [Skill Gained: Homeostasis] [Homeostasis - Level 1 - Health affinity - Passive The world is in a constant state of flux, and the body adjusts itself to account for such changes. Pushed to the absolute brink, the body has forcibly adjusted itself to environmental factors despite taking potentially fatal damage. Through this struggle, it has found within it the strength to fight further Allows the body to return to a state of Homeostasis Heals 0.1 HP per level every hour Regenerates 0.1 MP per level every hour Rejuvinates 0.1 SP per level every hour Body adjusts faster with each successive level] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (1) -> (2)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (12) -> (13)] He¡¯d learned a new Skill, one he thought would be quite useful long term. There were bound to be extreme environments all over the world, and getting an early head start on such a Skill could save his life if he ran into another. If the area was still filled with fire after the Anchor was removed, Dei might come back to train his new [Homeostasis]. Not only that, but passive healing from his [Growing Pains] Skill already showed its usefulness, yet the level-ups after hitting one hundred were coming to him titanically slow, as it had taken him a full month to gain a single level, despite the new training mode. With a newly minted healing Skill, he could increase his survivability quickly again by leveling it up. The MP and SP were just a cherry on top. Sighing, he sat down in front of the crack in the wall, and re-activated the Secondary mind to camouflage him with his two tertiary minds to add more presence to the mix. His Presence was becoming quite formidable, able to handle multiple Skills without strain. When he wasn¡¯t actively in danger, it helped power his [High Mind] too, giving his intensive uses more material to work with. While it didn¡¯t increase flexibility, it was like his mind didn¡¯t lag as much when pushed to the brink. He hadn¡¯t realized that [Meditation] could be sectioned off with only ten percent brain power before, but now that he knew, his presence would skyrocket when he was back to safety. Instead of using fifty percent of his mind to meditate on a single link, he would use it to meditate on five. Sitting there, Dei would occasionally peek into the mousehole that his, hopefully, new friend was hiding in. He watched as it slowly nibbled away at the stone, pieces flaking off under its gnawing. It looked like it was going to take a while, so he decided to use the time to send another gesture of [Meaningful] into the pink glow inside his Soul. He¡¯d gained a lot of Kindness mana from saving the Korgonda, so the price wouldn¡¯t concern him for a long time. Shaping five Kindness mana into this message, he decided to make it longer, giving a rundown of life so far. He still didn¡¯t know if it reached her, but it made him feel better. The sight of the Love mana taking hold of his message, then glowing brighter afterwards comforted him. ¡°Hello Mom! It''s me again. I still miss you, and I love you. I don''t know if these messages will get through, but I hope so. I¡¯m doing well, training where I can, and eating the rations you left me. I definitely wouldn¡¯t have survived if you hadn¡¯t done that, so thank you. ¡°I¡¯m getting stronger too, a lot stronger. You¡¯d be so surprised at how much I can do now! I¡¯m also growing really fast. I think I¡¯d be up to your waist now, but I¡¯m not sure, it''s been a long time since I saw you. Still, its pretty scary how fast I¡¯m growing. I think its because of a Skill I learned after I ate the rations for the first time, it involves using a lot of the extra nutrients to help me grow.¡± A quick lie about [Growing Pains] made him feel a bit guilty, but it was necessary. It would be illogical if he grew too fast naturally, so a Skill was necessary, and that could be the only way he imagined it coming from. ¡°Still, I feel like I¡¯m not growing fast enough. ¡°Don¡¯t be mad at me please, but I¡¯ve been leaving the cave you left me in. I felt like I was going crazy just sitting around, but don¡¯t worry! I¡¯m being super careful, and trying to make some allies down here. I haven¡¯t made any yet, but I think I¡¯m about to now. There was this monster that was in trouble, it was called a Korgonda, and I saved it. Now it''s eating one of those Anchor things you told me about, and I¡¯m pretty sure it''s getting stronger from doing that. Once its done, I¡¯m gonna try to become friends with it. Its just a little baby, about the size of my finger, but one of my Skills tells me that they grow really big when they get older. Oh! I never got the chance to, but the Skill I learned when we were out in that red forest is called Identify, it tells me stuff about things. Either way, I¡¯m doing okay. Eating well, growing super fast, getting stronger, and soon to be friends with a Korgonda! I hope you¡¯re doing okay too. Again, I love you and I¡¯ll try to send messages more often. Talk to you later!¡± He finished, and sent it off. It had taken him quite a while to make it. It was like writing a letter, but he could infuse tones and emotions into it. Once he was done, he sensed the Korgonda moving, and stepped back from the crack in the wall, standing several feet away. He sent a message using [Meaningful], asking it to come out and telling it he was friendly. He materialized himself, and watched as it slowly peeked out at him. ¡®Lets hope this goes well¡¯ he thought, reviewing his Interface one more time. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 69) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 5) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) Soul Strength: 253/253 MP: 92/92 SP: 92/92 Stats: Physical: 46 Mental: 44 Spiritual: 39 Magical: 45 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 68% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 42% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (1075/2000), Call for Help (24), Good Samaritan (1), Meaningful (2) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (101) Soul: Astral Projection (4), Connection (1) Health: Homeostasis: (13) Mana: Meditation (31) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (52) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (46), Vigilance (56), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (46)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 473/2000 Wrath 387/2000 Kindness 215/2000 Soul] Chapter 40 The baby Korgonda peeked its head out, watching him closely. It stared at him for a few minutes, and he slowly sat down on the ground. All around them, the heat from the cave distorted the air, but he continued to not feel any of it in his Projected form. Using [Meaningful], he sent another message. ¡°I want to be friends and work together to survive. I let you keep that Anchor, even though I could have taken it, because I want to be your friend. I was also the one that made the monsters attack that Obsidian Elemental.¡± It continued to eye him suspiciously, but it seemed to recognize the genuine goodwill as it slowly moved out of its cave, towards him. It had a very tiny, yet still visible Presence to it. The Korgonda¡¯s Presence spoke of how the Korgonda would always¡°plan ahead.¡± Simple, unlike Dei¡¯s own convoluted presence, but he figured that the newborn critter hadn¡¯t had much experience with the world. It slowly moved towards him in a half slithering pattern, until it was around a foot away, and kept looking at him. He was finally able to get a closer look at it, and noticed its head was angular, its mouth almost forming a beak of sorts. On top of that, it had tiny frills on the side of its head, like an axolotl. It was terribly cute, but he held back his desire to pick it up, as he didn¡¯t want to scare it. It sat on its hind legs and looked at him, making him smile. It started nodding its head at him, like it was trying to prompt him to do something. Did it want him to explain his plans further? He didn''t really have any plans. Thinking quickly, he worked some out now, and decided that explaining his own situation would be for the best. ¡°I¡¯m pretty young for my race, like you, but those of my own race are usually taken care of by their parents and community until they are older. Without a community, I feel very weak, and want to create one. I can help you now to get stronger, and then you can watch my back as we get older together. I want to be able to trust you and call you a friend, and rely on you to protect me when I am weak, like you are now, or hurt, like I might be in the future. To gain this trust, I will protect you where I can, and help you get stronger.¡± It was a bit cold for what he really wanted, which was the ¡°friend¡± aspect alone, but he thought a monster would appreciate it better. There were tangible benefits to him protecting this Korgonda and allowing it to flourish, so he thought it would be less suspicious if it could understand what Dei wanted. An animal would likely not grasp the concept of a friend, so he would work his way there. Powerful monsters were already proven to be smart, and it seemed like the Korgonda were natural born powerful and intelligent monsters, so his odds of being able to converse with it eventually were high. The Korgonda, still sitting on its hind legs, tilted its head to study him more. ¡®Awwww!¡¯ he thought, resisting the urge to say it aloud. In response to his message, it moved towards him carefully, eventually scaling his leg and putting its nose to him. He hurt a tiny huffing as it sniffed him, then it began crawling all over him, sniffing the entire way. Up and down his body, it quickly moved, and he stayed as still as he could, for fear of squishing it by accident. When it was done, it moved back to its original position on the ground and faced him again. He felt it send a pulse his way, and a notification popped up in front of him [The Korgonda has offered contract of Mutual Respect] [Mutual Respect The Korgonda is grateful for your intervention where it would have either died or been robbed of its spoils by its brethren, while it acknowledges your intentions were not entirely selfless, it respects you for doing so anyway. It has offered you the pact of Mutual Respect, accepting your terms to assist it in exchange for future alliance Weirdly enough, it seemed sentimental about the whole situation too, so it might not have actually been a bad idea to offer it friendship as the first term. Still, he considered it a success, and wouldn¡¯t try and change up the deal, accepting the contract as it was. He felt an intangible bond formed between them, and knew he would be able to get a basic sense for where this Korgonda was, and recognize it among its kin. ¡°Okay, now, I know I promised to protect you, but that last battle dealt significant damage to me, and I need to go back home to hide away and heal. For now, I¡¯m going to feed you some of my mana, so you may become stronger and take care of yourself while I¡¯m not here. I¡¯ll come back in thirty days, so survive until then. Once I¡¯m back, we can work out a better idea together. You cant leave the lava area, can you? Move your head side to side if you can''t leave, up and down if you can.¡± He watched it move its head side to side, proving that he couldn''t just take it back home to hide it there. He intended to feed it some Soul mana to both give it power, and hopefully help it attune to a Soul-derivative affinity, potentially giving it a way to communicate. ¡°Alright, make sure to eat it all so that bigger monsters don''t sense it and come by. Once I¡¯ve given you enough, I¡¯ll leave, and come back later.¡± Not delaying any longer he tried using his hands to cut a small pinprick in his finger and willed it to release mana. While it wasn¡¯t visible, his [Natural Claws] were still sharp against Spiritual entities, of which he was one. Poking the top of his finger and allowing himself to be hurt, a small stream of Soul mana began exiting him. The Korgonda leapt for it instantly, biting the tip of his finger but failing to hurt him, instead allowing the mana to flow through its body. After twenty two Soul mana, it unstuck itself from his finger, and he willed the wound to close. He¡¯d dropped down to [Soul Strength: 231/253], and realized that the spread of Soul mana in his body felt uneven. He sensed how [Homeostasis] didn¡¯t heal him, but brought him back into balance, making his body sturdier than it was before, and his Soul Strength read [231/231]. The Korgonda scurried back into its crevice, and Dei was about to fade back into the Spirit World when he felt a strong response from his [Spirit Sense]. Deeper in the caves, where he¡¯d helped distract the Obsidian Elemental with a cloud of Soul mana, the monsters were still raging against each other. He¡¯d passively kept an eye on the fight, sensing that some would consume large quantities of the mana, only to be ripped apart by others and have the mana re-released into the air. More and more enemies flooded to the growing quantity of Soul mana being released by all the dying monsters, and it began shining like a beacon in his mind''s eye. He watched something within it change, and intent was born into it. The Wrath mana he¡¯d left, the large quantities of Convection mana released from all the dying Convection monsters, and the concentrated cloud of Soul mana began to coalesce. ¡®I can watch this¡­ from afar.¡¯ he thought, and started sprinting as fast as he could, flying when he had the spare SP. He continued watching though, and it looked like how he imagined a star collapsing would. It spread out first, balancing itself as it pulled in all directions, then began to fall inward, compressing itself over and over. The different mana types rolled through each other, merging like taffy through a mixer, slowly blending their colors together through the solid mass. Each color distinct, yet undoubtedly linked to one another. Flying, both literally and metaphorically, down the tunnels, he was half a mile away when a wave of spiritual force rolled over him, and a hollow scream echoed around the edges of his mind, teasing at his [Spirit Sense]. The other Spirits in his senses were indistinct blobs, like flickering candle lights. This one was both brighter and more distinct, a silhouette with a raging inferno as its backdrop. The top portion was angular, shaped like the Obsidian Elemental, while the area below its waist became tattered and discordant, disconnected fragments of crystal. He watched as it got its bearings for a moment, taking in the battlefield around it that suddenly came to a standstill at its birth. He might have been imagining things, as the [Spirit Sense] wasn¡¯t exact from this far away, but the creature seemed to crack a smile moments before it started tearing through all the monsters left alive. Any that were approaching before turned around instantly, having deemed their supposed prizes lost. While it was not quick at killing the monsters by any means, many of them had no ways to fight back. He watched how those few who dealt damage were singled out and killed quickly, the rest falling slowly like fish in a barrel. The Spirit fought enduringly, draining its enemies with a cruel inevitability that left them scrambling. By the time they realized it was hopeless, they were already too weak to run, and died. After slaying the monsters around it, he watched it float ominously in place for a few seconds, before its face snapped towards him, and began chasing. ¡®Fucking what! How can it see me? Wait, I can see it, is it through Spirit Sense?¡¯ If it had [Spirit Sense] too, that had a few implications, and he needed to consider them all now. The first issue: would it go after his new friend, the Korgonda? Reading through his spirit sense, he realized he could, sadly, sense it. If he could, this new spirit would as well. It was chasing Dei because he was the largest portion of spirit energy, and it was trying to build its mass faster, like a regular spirit. If he went back and hid in his cave, he had no doubt this new creature would go around absorbing all the nearest beacons of spiritual energy. In other words, his new friend, and his original target. Perhaps not though? What if it didn¡¯t have [Spirit Sense (Major)], like he did, but a lesser form of it? It might not be able to sense the Korgonda or trapped spirit he intended to help. Back to the original point, why did it have [Spirit Sense]? He felt a little silly for not considering it earlier, but it could probably sense him because he had the generic Racial abilities that all spirits had. If that tracked, this Spirit would also have [Darkvision], [Spiritual Re-Attunement], and [Natural Claws]. Would it have the same advanced level of each though? He had to guess yes, because this Spirit was something of his son. It was made from hundreds of the Soul mana he used to make his body, a highly concentrated source with upgraded racial bonuses. He¡¯d deduced that his [Astral Projection] Skill imbued the mana with some purpose, a natural instinct or life to give him. The spirit that was just born would have that same life, it would duplicate his spiritual abilities. This also brought into question: would spirits upgrade their racial bonuses by absorbing higher quality Spirits? Irrelevant for now, but important later, if he survived.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. So, he decided to assume this spirit would have all of his Racial abilities, meaning to absolutely NOT fight it in his spiritual form, as the [Natural Claws] would rip him apart way too fast. Not to mention, it had around seven to eight hundred [Soul Strength] that it had taken from him, while he only had two hundred. What he¡¯d deduced so far went as follows: If he hid from it, he¡¯d lose all hope of friends, and it had all his Spiritual Racial abilities. More than just his own, it was clearly made from Wrath mana and the Obsidian Elemental¡¯s Convection and Soul mana. Would it be the same level as the Elemental? If it was, he was screwed. He would have to fight it toe to toe with his physical body if he was going to fight it at all. Could he? Running as his mind raced, he was reaching around the halfway point to his house, the spirit still chasing him. He tried calculating exactly how many stats it had, using [High Mind] to pull up the Obsidian Elementals stat block. [Convection Shatterwarmer Obsidian Elemental (Anchor Beast) - Level 271 An Obsidian Elemental born near a Convection Anchor that chose to tie itself to the anchor. In doing so, it allowed the Anchor to become mobile while risking itself in the process. By tying itself to the Anchor, it began to passively generate EXP, gaining power. It dug tunnels to create an optimal system for the Convection mana to flow through, strengthening it further, then gave up its extra mobility in favor of boosted EXP gain. Not allowed to move the Anchor any longer for fear of weakening its connection to Convection, it instead guarded it from attacks on the Anchor, until a small thief stole it after a particularly difficult battle with one of the denizens within the cave system. Without the Anchor, it will begin to weaken and die at a rate relative to how far away the Anchor is from the Elemental Physical: 95 Mental: 32 Spiritual: 101 Magical: 67] The Spirt got its physical body from the Elemental, and its Spiritual Powers from him, so he could only assume it would share more than its looks with the Obsidian Elemental. The appearance was most likely indicative of the main portion of its identity, having essentially become a reincarnated version of the Obsidian Elemental (filing that implication away for later), as its will took charge of the spirit. The elemental was the strongest creature in the fight, so it made sense. Essentially, it would share many features with the Obsidian Elemental, and he could calculate its power based on that. To do that, he looked back on all the different creatures he¡¯d [Identified], as well as his own experience. From what he understood, Common creatures earned fifty stat points per hundred levels, Uncommon creatures earned one hundred stat points per hundred levels, and Rare creatures earned one hundred and fifty stat points per hundred levels. The Obsidian Elemental was born at Common, upgraded to Uncommon at level one hundred, then to rare at level two hundred. It had approximately two hundred and fifty six stat points to work with, and it balanced them into high Physical and Spiritual, middling Magical, and low Mental. {Math Incoming. Skip ahead to designated spot if you want to, only the result is plot relevant.} The spirit chasing him was of equal speed to how fast he was running, so he wanted to say that it had the same Physical as him, but he knew that was a trap. It didn¡¯t. Different baselines would express themselves differently, and an Obsidian Elemental would doubtlessly be both slow and durable. In order to calculate how high the new spirits Physical stat was, he needed to find the Obsidian Elementals baseline speed and divide how fast the spirit of it currently is by that number, in order to get the multiplier it received from its stats. From this multiplier, he would find its approximate Physical stat, then use that to calculate all the rest of its stats. If his physical body''s capabilities exceeded its physical body, he could reasonably fight and survive. If they didn¡¯t, he would have to give up on his friends, which would probably prove lethal in the long run anyway as madness set in. To find its baseline, Dei employed his Eidetic memory for the first time in combat. He re-merged his minds back together, cloaking obviously ineffective in this scenario, then split it into two independent minds of equal size. His [Vigilance] activated the moment this Spirit began chasing him, as his life was in danger, and it now gave him enough mental power to create two fully functioning minds without crippling his thought processes. One mind activated his [High Mind]¡¯s Eidetic memory, the other kept running, keeping a cautious eye out. The event with the Obsidian Elemental just happened, so the memory was fresh. Almost immediately, he was brought back to the moment when the Elementals soul was unraveling, and he Identified it, trying to glean how fast it was relative to his own baseline While he couldn¡¯t get exact measurements, its basline was approximately zero point six times as fast as him, in other words forty percent slower. If it was currently as fast as him, at forty six Physcial, its true Physical stat would be around seventy six, meaning its stats had been stunted by twenty percent. Now, he began calculating the spread of its other stats, if it was the same as the Obsidian Elemental: Physical: 76.66 repeating Mental: 25.6 Spiritual: 80.8 Magical: 53.6 {Math Ended} Once his own Physical stat became boosted with his [Cruelty of the Slaughter] Achievement, it would become eighty three, higher than the Elementals. It would be more durable and stronger than him, but he would be much faster than it. Its Magical stat surpassed his Spiritual, meaning that he would not be able to resist its magic effectively, and its Spiritual greatly surpassed his Magical, so it would be able to resist him. To win, he needed to make it a physical brawl, outspeed it, and move faster than its pitifully low Mental stat could keep up¡­ it was doable though, and he would take that chance. He tried imagining how he intended to hurt it, but thought back to his first Achievement ever earned: [Achievement Gained! Voidwalker You have traveled the void from one plane of existence to the next, without being cleansed Intangible damage. Twenty percent of his physical damage became intangible. It wasn¡¯t much, but he wouldn¡¯t be helpless like the monsters were. ¡®I can beat it. I have to kill it, or I will lose everything I¡¯ve worked towards, and I will not let that happen.¡¯ At his own declaration, Wrath mana began flowing through his connection more freely, giving him one more tool to win with. * * * Untiring in his Spiritual form, Dei made it back to the Garden far ahead of the spirit still chasing him. He waited for it to be only half a mile behind him, then pushed through into his hidden bubble. While it risked revealing his hiding space, Dei was in too deep to back out now. He would either win, or he wouldn¡¯t. Seeing his own body, hale and healthy despite the journey altogether taking around fifteen hours, put his mind at ease slightly. It was well rested and fed, perfect for the upcoming fight. Right before his Identity merged back into the body though, his eyes landed upon a silver spike poking out from his mothers bag. The [Biting Flesh Trap of Allure] was a sharp plant with the Heart affinity, a Soul derivative affinity. Originally, he intended to face the spirit with his bare fists, but wouldn''t it be better with a weapon? It was sharp along the entire spike, like a naturally grown blade of a dagger. The Mind affinity was able to hurt him as a spirit, so Heart attuned wasn¡¯t far off. Deciding he would try, Dei wanted to give the Flesh Trap an even stronger edge. He picked it up by the flat part, glad he couldn¡¯t feel damage in this body from what he was about to do, and stabbed it though his hand. ¡®OH FFFUCK!¡¯ he screamed in his head, groaning outwardly. Well he normally couldn¡¯t feel pain using this body, but he¡¯d forgotten that certain affinities could still inflict it on him, and Heart was now proven to be one such affinity. ¡®At least I now know it can damage spirits. Silver linings I suppose.¡¯ He was about to give all the Soul mana back to his physical body, where it would effectively disappear. He might as well pour a large portion of it into his soon-to-be weapon in order to hopefully strengthen it. This one drank greedily, far more than the Korgonda. He stopped it at drinking one hundred and fifty mana, not wanting his health to go any lower, and placed it back into his moms bag, Identifying it. [Biting Flesh Trap of Allure bulb (Charged) - Level 226 Biting Flesh Traps are plants that slowly compact themselves flat to the ground, blending in with the terrain around them. When animals step on them, they shoot up, biting into the flesh of the creatures, drinking the blood that falls to the ground. If left to fester, fields of Biting Flesh Traps are capable of slaying monsters by impaling them repeatedly. This particular strain has evolved, attuning itself to the Heart affinity. It will use such an affinity to entice animals to walk onto it, then fill them with fear after they are injured so they run away, allowing the Biting Flesh Trap of Allure to drink the blood in peace. This bulb has been highly charged with Mild Concentration Soul Mana] He could keep studying it under Identify, but was already doubtlessly running out of time before the Spirit reached the last place it had sensed him, if it was still searching at all. He plunged back into his own body, finally feeling what the extra Soul mana he normally had left over did as a sort of ¡°rash¡± formed between his Identity and the rest of his soul. It wouldn¡¯t hurt him, but it was very uncomfortable, and he¡¯d try to leave more to help alleviate it next time. He breathed deeply and went to pick up the charged Flesh Trap, but was met with a conundrum: how would he hold it stable? He needed to grip it tightly without cutting himself, and tried thinking about what he could do. Sighing, he realized there was one way to keep it stable, and grimaced. ¡®Do I need it that badly?¡¯ He wanted to wait and see the spirit before making his decision on whether he would use the spike or not. He pushed himself out of the bubble and through the crack in the wall, standing in the empty to the empty corridor with a bone white blade held gingerly in his hands. He faced the way he knew the spirit would come from, and waited. While he didn¡¯t have the [Spirit Sense] Racial ability any longer, his connection to Soul still provided the basic sense, and his Contract increased the sensitivity further. He felt it coming, charging him like a bull. The ground didn¡¯t shake, but a presence began to oppress the area. It was a subtle thing, almost imperceptible, but it begged the attention of all in the area. He heard the bugs growing quieter, the wind calming and the distant drips of water fading into nothing. The monster had yet to appear, but Dei already decided his new weapon would be a comfort to have in this battle. Not bothering to mentally complain, he turned the skin on his hand to dirt, and allowed the roots of the Biting Flesh Trap to burrow into him. The roots of such plants spread eagerly when given the chance to, and it only took a few seconds for it to settle. Finding his blood stream, it attempted to begin draining him, but he pulsed his Soul affinity, commanding it to stop until after the fight. It ignored him, demanding compensation for its part in this battle and the risk it took. ¡®Huh, weirdly smart in a simple way.¡¯ Still, he fed it the information that it would be able to take any of the Mana it could rip from the creature he was soon to fight, and the Flesh Trap calmed. It didn¡¯t like being used as a dagger, but did like the idea of biting into a powerful enemy. He tested with turning his Dirt Skin from [Camouflage] back into flesh, and it hurt like a bitch, but the Flesh Trap stemmed his bleeding. He would cringe at how gruesome it was, but the Spirit finally turned its last corner, laying eyes on him and slowing down. It began to assess him, somehow knowing that he was its target, and he studied it right back. It was exactly how he pictured it to be shaped, taking closely after the Obsidian Elemental that had died once its Anchor was taken away. Its head spikes and claws were oranged tipped, and floating fragments hovered where its legs would normally be. The sharp, angular eyes were pinpoints of white, while the rest of it was a glossy black. He made a quick check of his [Pandora¡¯s Box] to see what mana he was working with, Wrath mana still rapidly being pulled into his body. [638/2000 Wrath 380/2000 Kindness 235/2000 Soul] He focused intensely on the Spirit before him. For some reason, he found himself absolutely hating the thing, furious that it might kill the two beings that kept him sane in this horrible place. The anger simmering within him made him realize that there was never any chance of hiding away. Even if he calculated that it exceeded his stats in every way, he would still have left his cave with a hope to hold on to. The distant Spirit and Korgonda both represented something more to him than safety in numbers. They were ambition for the future, and friends to care for. The longer he survived, the more he became motivated by his loneliness over his will to live. He cared for them, even if he¡¯d never actually spoken to either, and would die swinging if it meant ensuring their safety. His purpose clear, everything fell into place. His focus sharpened, and the reincarnated Obsidian Elemental realized the battle would soon commence. Dei lowered his stance, finding himself growling animalistically, and kicked off the ground. Chapter 41 Moving forward to meet Dei in the middle, the Spirit let out a screeching cry that reverberated through his body harmlessly, until it came into contact with the Soul mana he¡¯d kept outside of his [Pandora¡¯s Box] just in case he needed it. While it didn¡¯t immediately damage him, the cry broke his control over the Soul mana. He realized it was an attack similar to the frog''s croak, that would have destabilized his body if he were still a Projection. He allowed his [Pandora¡¯s Box] to absorb the Soul mana, fearing that the spirit may take control over it while it was still within him. Before their clash, he also Identified it with thirty Wrath mana, hoping to get a name and level from it. The moment it was pierced by his [Identify] it let out a growl, and Dei noticed a small indent where [Identify] hit it. Even with its high Spiritual stat, [Identify] seemed to function well as an attack on spiritual entities. [Convection Wraith of Shattered Obsidian - Level 214] He could have gleaned more, but it wasn¡¯t the time for reading, as him and the Wraith finally clashed. It swung out with its right hand, and he ducked under, swinging with the Flesh trap into its gut. As it approached the Wraiths midsection, it split into two pieces, allowing the blade to pass through harmlessly. Dei jumped back, and they assessed each other again, before moving for another confrontation. This time, it brought its left claw upwards towards his shoulder, and he dodged right, cutting at the arm. Its other claw moved towards him as well, and he deflected with his hand, redirecting it to the side and grabbing its forearm. When the left claw disconnected to dodge his blade, it also swiped at him, raking a deep gash across his back and releasing massive amounts of convection mana into him. In the same moment, he pulled on its right arm, forcing the main body closer and stabbing towards the chest in a lunge In his peripheral vision, he saw the fragments of its legs coalesce into a single sharp point that stood on the ground, then its chest split to dodge the blade. He used the momentum he¡¯d thrown into the swing to shoot past the creature, dodging another swipe of its claws as he passed its main body. [High Mind] kicked into overdrive to process the information he now had. First, it could independently move the parts not attached to it; Second, it could only split itself twice, and the fragments where its legs normally would be counted as a disconnect; Third, it would most likely use its legs as a surprise attack by launching the shards at him when he least expected it, hoping he would forget about them as simply a ¡°feature of its body.¡± The world sped back up as he turned around, facing the Wraith as it again launched itself at him. This time, he tried meeting the claw with his blade, anticipating it to split in half. Midway through the swing, he began to arc his blades curve so it would bite into the separated parts of the Wraiths hand anyway. As expected, the hand split in two down the middle two knuckles, raking his wrist in its passing, but the Wraith disappeared suddenly ¡®Shit, I forgot it could dodge using Spiritual Re-Attunement,¡¯ he thought, redirecting his momentum as he jumped to the side, expecting an attack when it phased back in. He felt a claw open his cheek, realizing it went for his head, but he partially dodged it. Another burst of Convection mana entered his body, and he saw its tactic now. While it could only land glancing blows because of his speed, it released large amounts of convection mana each time. When it released it into his head, it was hoping to give him an artificial heatstroke by cooking his brain. He also sensed a small amount of Soul mana in the air, and saw that there was a hole in its hand where he¡¯d swung. It seemed that he could still cut into it, even if it dropped into the Spirit World, with his blade. Despite the flood of Convection mana and gashes along his body, his regeneration was keeping up with both. The right side of his jaw hung loosely, but he could feel it stitching itself back together already. From experience, he knew that healing as a spirit was not simple. Charging at it again, this time it swung its right arm, and he caught it in his left. He could almost see surprise in its face at his decision as Convection mana began pouring into him. But he swung his blade to cut off its arm. Breaking it off to dodge, he anticipated the maneuver and lunged for its main body again, this time keeping its hand in his own so it wouldn¡¯t be able to score a strike across his back. Its other arm came down on him as his blade missed the midsection, but he dodged under it. Instead of jumping back though, he got even closer, cutting at its shoulder. He¡¯d kept hold of its right arm, and its midsection was still split, so the blade finally found flesh, biting deeply. It let out a scream, and he felt his body get flung back as it launched its right hand away, taking him along for the ride. He would need to either let go, or get slammed into the wall. Rather than give it back to the body, he fed it to his weapon, piercing it at the wrist and through the fingers. The familiar scream rang out as he felt Soul mana rapidly begin draining from the hand that lost its integrity, flickering, before it disappeared entirely as he bounced along the ground, skidding to a stop right before he would have slammed into stone. He was sweating hard, all the Convection mana cooking his organs. He was also surprised to note that fifty or so Soul mana entered him through the roots of the Flesh Trap, the planting sending him a message that it was full. Now, it would pump the rest of the mana into him. The Soul mana he received from the plant could be pulled into his [Pandora¡¯s Box] despite him not producing it, so he allowed it to do so. The Wraith was not looking to be in a good condition, content to take a breather too. A gash nearly separated its left arm entirely, and it had nothing from its right forearm down. While it might¡¯ve been wise to stay back and allow more time to heal, he knew the Wraith would be more unstable if he damaged it without letting it repair, and it was rapidly regenerating. It would be also easier for him to score hits if he didn¡¯t let the Wraith grow its right hand back. Overheating but far from out of the fight, he threw himself back into the fray again. The Wraith tried something different this time. Rather than allow Dei to get closer, the swarm of shards its legs normally split into flew towards him. He began deflecting with his blade or blocking with his arm, taking gashes along the back of his hand he¡¯d used to block with. Two of the shards that were launched at him were cut in half by his blade, becoming fully consumed in their destruction and fed to him through it, bringing forty more mana into his pool of Soul.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Dei watched it draw the cloud of shards back and begin fragmenting its arm in different ways, experimenting with different sizes of shards. It''s learning. I can¡¯t forget that it''s a newborn, and doesn¡¯t yet know its limits. I can''t allow it to test them either.¡¯ It attempted to stave him off again with the cloud of fragments, willing to sacrifice more Soul Strength in return for time to experiment with its limits. It was doubtlessly regretting immediately jumping into a battle without leaving itself more time to figure this all out before. He blocked and parried where he could, but focused more on bull rushing it than defending himself. Several shards bit deeply into his extremities, only taking the time to stop those that would hit vital organs. On top of it in seconds, he began slashing at it. It flickered in and out of the physical world, stopping him from following all of its movements. It made several swipes at him with its reformed claw, and took several more. After one seemingly innocuous phase out of reality, he ducked down quickly as his soul sense pinged him of something behind him. When the Wraith phased back into view, several shards shot over his head. It had quickly broken itself apart mid-intangibility, hoping the rhythm he¡¯d built up would lower his guard behind him. He was faster than it in every way, blocking almost all of its attacks and controlling the flow of battle as they went. While it flooded his body with mana, he never let the Convection aspects of it reach a critical mass, where he would begin slowing down. He would need water soon, as he was dripping with sweat. He¡¯d absorbed around two hundred Soul mana from it at this point, but knew it had more than enough to keep going. Every time he damaged it, there was a flicker in its defenses, and he was able to measure its integrity. Visually it was covered in cuts, but he knew from experience that wasn¡¯t what killed Spirits. It still had around eighty percent soul integrity, so he¡¯d hardly touched it, and expected it to be some long drawn out fight. Which is why he was surprised when something shifted in its stance. Rather than striking out, it began backing away rapidly, firing multiple projectiles from its fragmented limbs, before he felt it activate [Spiritual Re-Attunement], this time using its body as the fuel to move down into the Spiritual layer. It was running away. ¡®No the hell you don''t!¡¯ he thought, splitting his mind into two equally sized parts. One of the parts began casting [Astral Projection], while the other continued controlling his physical body, laying on the heat to try and disrupt its movement downwards. If he let it get away, it might come back stronger than before. He managed to delay it a moment, just long enough for a Projection of himself to split from his body. The Identity in his soul split as well, which was a weird feeling, as his Identity duplicated itself to enter both the [Projection] and his body. His projected self flew downwards, into the Spiritual realm to confront the Wraith. The Wraith, on the other hand, just kept moving down, not stopping at the first layer. Down, and down they both went, the Projection chasing until the Wraith stopped a moment to look around. His projection sensed it too, that they were as deep as the two of them should go. It was the fifth layer, and the spirits were all just barely stronger than both his Projection and the Wraith. It hesitated to keep moving downwards, and that hesitation was all he needed. Dei grabbed the spirit, activating [Spiritual Re-Attunement] and pulling it upwards. He burned through significantly more of his Soul strength than moving alone, each jump taking five mana rather than one, but successfully dragged it kicking back into the physical world, where his body stabbed at it using the blade. The Wraith began getting desperate, pushing its body further than before as the fight recommenced. Dei and his projection danced around it, slashing and hitting at it, overwhelming it quickly. It cast the scream again that disrupted Dei¡¯s spiritual form, but his Physical body pushed the Wraith harder, giving his Spiritual Identity time to recollect the lost Soul mana and reconstitute itself fully. The Wraith started sacrificing copious Soul mana to regenerate its limbs fully, then breaking off larger and larger portions of its body. Rather than a single crack along its arm or midsection, the crack would cause half its body to explode, and it would send swarms of cutting shards around it in a hurricane of glass. It was not limited to breaking itself into three pieces, but limited to shattering itself twice. Two cracks, but those cracks could split its body into multiple pieces. While his Spiritual form didn¡¯t have a blade to strike with, the [Natural Claws] it had were much the same. It was susceptible to significantly more damage though, hiding behind his real form when the Wraith would send out massive area attacks in an attempt to disrupt the Spiritual form. Several times it attempted fleeing downwards, each time interrupted by his Spiritual Identity. When it focused on the Spirit, as that form was more vulnerable to the Wraiths own [Natural Claws], his real form would lay into it. He took more hits, as his mind wasn¡¯t as quick as it was at the start of the battle while being split into two pieces, but the Wraith was dying fast. It had more strength in it than he initially expected, but the two of them worked together to rip into it. He thought it would only have the around eight hundred or so mana he¡¯d sloughed off while in the Convection Convergence, but it still had thirty percent integrity after he¡¯d taken almost a thousand Soul mana from it. He wasn¡¯t sure how much his Flesh Trap had taken, but The Wraith had clearly gained a boost of Soul mana from all the dead monsters it was born from. Time after time, it tried to escape or overwhelm Dei, but it could find no purchase. He danced on a knife''s edge, balanced between giving it no respite and not collapsing on himself. He was the tank, absorbing blow after blow, while his Spirit form was the damage dealer, taking massive chunks out of the Wraith with each swing. The Wraiths Spirit stat helped it resist such attacks, but it could not fend them off entirely. Once it hit ten percent integrity, it let out one more scream and exploded into twenty pieces. Rather than attack though, each piece flew off in another direction. It was another attempt to run. In unison, him and his Spirit form fired off eighteen rapid shot [Identifies] using all of his MP, each one disrupting the shard it hit, causing an explosion of loose Soul mana. His Spirit form flew quickly after one shard, Dei ran after the other, each of them catching their targets. Meeting back in the center of the original battlefield, they smiled at each other, the shards in their hands vibrating and squirming, trying to get away. They could both feel the absolute hatred from the Wraith fragments, a promise that it would find a way to kill him. Dei knew immediately that if he had let it run, he would¡¯ve come to regret it. ¡°Ready?¡± Physical Dei said to Spirit Dei. He¡¯d been afraid to split his mind in half and send one off in a Projection, as he didn¡¯t want to create an identity crisis as one of them tried to kill the other, but he knew that was absurd now. They were not separate Identities, each a fragment of himself, a part of his full Identity. ¡°Ready.¡± Spirit Dei responded, and they crushed their fragments at the same time, finally slaying the Wraith. [EXP gained for killing the Convection Wraith of Shattered Obsidian (Level 214). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] ¡°I wish I could go sit down and rest now. That was fucking exhausting¡± Physical Dei complained. His Spirit form chuckled ¡®If only¡¯ it responded. They¡¯d both seen what monsters resided on the deeper Spiritual layers, and how one such monster was attracted to their fight, hoping to pick off the weakened victor of the battle and take all the spoils for itself. Dei had learned from his battle with the Lorpee¡¯s though, saving the mana in his [Pandora¡¯s Box] for any scavengers that might appear when he was weakened. As one, they turned towards the mass that bubbled mid air, constituting its body using its own [Spiritual Re-Attunement], but neither Dei¡¯s would allow it to do so, charging in for round two. Chapter 42 The bubbling worsened, growing into a ball of flesh as the two Dei¡¯s charged towards it. Spirit Dei Identified it using Wrath mana, both punching a hole into it and getting more information. [Grubbing Body Melder - Level 243 The Melder is a type of Spirit that assimilates different materials or affinities into itself, drawing power from variance with versatile weak attacks. This Melder has chosen Body as its specialized affinity] A large hand made of hands grew from the mass, grabbing towards the two of them. Physical Dei jumped to the side, cutting one of the fingers off in its passing, while Spirit Dei flew over the hand, running along the arm and holding his body low, dragging his claws along its flesh that left deep gouges. It was entering the Physical realm much slower than Dei or the Wraith could, so its [Re-Attunement] was of lower quality. They needed to score as many hits as possible before it stabilized. Rather than saving his Wrath mana, both of them began blasting it out in weak Identifies. Wrath Mana still rapidly flowed into him, while Soul mana was passively absorbed into him from the air, leftover from the battle with the Wraith. When he cut off one of the fingers, it dropped to the ground, and he stabbed it with his Biting Flesh Trap, which delivered more Soul into his body. He leapt backwards a moment to allow his blade to process the mana, when suddenly a crippling pain rang out from his soul. His physical body screamed in agony as multiple cracking sounds echoed across his soul sense. The Spirit Dei felt concerned, but decided that the best he could do to help was hold back the enemy while Physical Dei figured the issue out. Looking within himself, he quickly realized the issue. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (50) (2000/2000)] His [Pandora¡¯s Box] was full, and more mana was quickly pushing its way into him. He communicated this to his Spirit form, and both of them knew they could fix it by just laying on attacks more quickly. At the same time though, they both realized it was an opportunity. Skills leveled up faster during combat, and [Pandora¡¯s Box] in particular was a leftover from his previous life, boosting its growth further. It might be smarter to empty it out, growing the Box in the safety of his Garden, but it was downright fucking agonizing to feel it grow. Instead of just emptying it, the Dei¡¯s chose to allow the box to fill and grow, releasing some of the pressure through rapidfire [Identify]¡¯s when it became too much. His Physical body was out of the fight for now, but the Spirit form would take it from here. Physical Dei leaned against the wall, ready to launch into action if needed or dodge if any stray attacks came his way, but otherwise his task was to just endure the pain. Spirit Dei was not shy in punching holes with [Identify] or clawing at the writhing mass. It continued to grow, and Dei made sure to stay on top of it. Two limbs made from their miniature counterparts came through, a leg made of legs and an arm made of arms. It was horrific and disgusting, but Dei ignored the way it looked, ripping out small chunks when he could. Its Soul integrity had hardly gone down at all, and he was getting worried for how much more would come through. Only a hand and leg were through into the physical world, but it was massive. Dei knew he would need to be more sturdy if he was going to fight this thing without his Physical body. The Projection he piloted was made from the minimum required Soul mana, at a Soul Strength of four hundred and fifty. Soul mana was thick in the air, and something else joined the mix. A new type of mana leaked from the Melder, and it beckoned Dei to absorb it. It felt very natural, like the mana of plants or animals, but something else. He was already full on Soul Strength, but he began absorbing it into his projection nonetheless, preventing it from entering his [Pandora¡¯s Box], Physical Dei was having enough trouble already. Carefully, he dodged whipping limbs while slowly absorbing something from the new mana. Once the first few points were integrated into his body, he understood the new flavor- it was Spirit mana. Until now, he assumed that Spirits would be made from Soul mana, same as his Projection, but that was not the case. This was a natural born Spirit he¡¯d encountered, its Soul had never been alive. Spirits weren¡¯t just dead beings, they were living creatures with their own Souls, and their bodies were held together by Spirit energy. Dei¡¯s Projection was not a true Spirit, held together by Soul. The Wraith as well, for that matter, was more of an undead creature than a spirit- the revived Obsidian Elemental. No, what he encountered now was an intangible animal, and its mana proved immensely useful in giving him information which natural spirits were born with, but created spirits were not, an instinct stronger than that provided by his [Astral Projection] Skill. It gave information on how to absorb Spirit mana from the air, how to use sound waves to disrupt other Spirits as well as how to defend from such things, how to change his own shape, and so much more that he¡¯d never tried. If he pulled enough of this Spirit mana into himself and digested it, his Projection would face a tangible upgrade in versatility. With his mental enhancements, the entire thought took seconds, but he put it aside and refocused on damaging the creature. He had to wound it hard, before it entered the physical realm fully, so he began working to cut off one of its hand-made-of-hands. Rather than scoring small scratches, he focused on its wrist, tearing a hole in it. The hand whipped around, and he jumped off easily before it could build the momentum to send him flying away. Pestering it, he continuously flew back to the same spot, digging deeper with each swipe. When the gash was elbow deep, he dove headfirst into it, pushing his body through as he dug into it hard. Again, it whipped back and forth, but Dei clung to the structure of it, burrowing into it. The flesh around him began vibrating, and he sensed a bellow ability go off in the Spirit realm below the Physical layer he was in. The Melder had tried to destabilize him with an area attack, but it was clearly struggling to launch any Skills at him with less than half its body through the opening it created between realms. Digging harder, he was halfway through the wrist when the Melder slammed its hand into the wall, attempting to crush him. It partially succeeded, finally getting him out of the wound, but his hand mostly came off too, barely held by a thread. He thought such damage would be a critical blow to the Melder, but barely any mana leaked from the wound. Something was off about the creature, and he needed more information. Killing two birds with one stone, he shot off four quick Identifies using Soul mana, which punched cleanly through the last of the skin as the hand was at the apex of a swing, sending it flying down the tunnel. From the disruption to its Soul, Dei tried figuring out why the creature was so fragile, discovering that it was a feature of its constitution. While this being was higher leveled than both Dei and the Obsidian Wraith, it sacrificed its baseline for higher survivability. It was half as strong, about eighty percent as fast, and only twenty percent as durable as Dei. In exchange, it was nigh unkillable, as its body was almost gaseous in nature. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The creature was a scavenger, through and through. The reason it was so big was to take longer strides to escape faster, and it was very fragile because it would readily cut off pieces of itself to distract predators away from the main body. There was hardly any Spirit mana coursing through it, which led to it both being easily torn apart, and almost impossible to pin down. That didn¡¯t mean it was weak to Dei though, just that creatures of its own level wouldn¡¯t have to fear it. It was a small bird, and he was a bug that caught its eye. ¡°Go absorb the hand that was flung away, but don¡¯t store the mana. Send it to me through our connection, I need to use it to reinforce myself¡± he sent to the Physical Dei, hoping he could accomplish it. Physical Dei was the one with the plant after all, and that plant was the only one who was able to easily absorb Soul mana from the Spirits. If Spirit Dei was right, it wouldn¡¯t be like that for much longer though. He just needed enough Spirit mana incorporated into himself to learn how spirits absorbed mana from the air, and he would be able to massively strengthen himself. There was far too much around him to let it go to waste. Physical Dei began limping over to the hand without responding, and Spiritual Dei again focused on the fight. The Melder did not like its hand getting cut off, and began reforming the limbs that were through, splitting them into four smaller tentacles each. The feet began pressing down on the floor, lifting it up through the blob, while the hands started whipping around to defend itself long enough to be lifted through. Dei ran forward carefully. While he had a faster reaction time than the Melder, it did not need to think quickly to whip him using its longer limbs. If he could get closer to its center it wouldn¡¯t be able to properly utilize its reach, but he needed to get past the danger zone to reach it. He would need to trick it somehow to give him an opening. While he could easily run straight through, he didn¡¯t want to leave it to chance. In order to fool it on where he was. He would need something large to distract it. He also knew that it had [Spirit Sense], same as him, though likely lower tier. For [Spirit Sense], he was confident that it was being thrown off. There was far too much Soul and Spirit mana in the air, causing even his own to become blurry and indistinct. In order to distract it, he pulled two hundred and fifty mana from his [Pandora¡¯s Box] using [Meaningful], imbuing it with the message of ¡°I am here you big bastard, and I am going to kill you.¡± He shaped clump of mana into that of his body by using himself as a mold, spreading all the Kindness mana around his Projection equally, then sent it forward. Immediately, he ran diagonally from the fake Dei, aiming to enter the danger zone after putting distance between them. The arms did pause in swinging around when the [Meaningful] message entered its radius, but it didn¡¯t attack immediately, instead sending its four hands to grab onto it and begin feeling around inside its body. It seemed almost curious of it, rather than outraged at the message, but Dei was just glad the distraction worked. While it was playing around with the mana, Dei got close enough to the legs and swung out his claws at the first one, quickly destabilizing it. As he did, the entire mass began to wobble precariously before falling towards him. He flew backwards, the central mass that the legs were pulling through finally came out of the bubbling ball of flesh, taking the shape of multiple eyes and mouths, giving it a spider-like appearance with its four legs and four arms. In the same moment, he felt Spirit mana begin pouring into him from his connection with Physical Dei, and began frantically searching through the information the Spirit mana gave him for ¡°how to make your body more sturdy.¡± To his dread, he realized that it wasn¡¯t as simple as upgrading his projection, requiring time to fully digest the Spirit mana. Despite the setback, though, the fight would not wait for him to be ready. He jumped onto the central mass, ripping out chunks of it and sending more mana into the air. It was far too little mana based on how much damage it was taking, but that was the trade off he knew to expect. He also began trying to learn how to pull in mana directly from the air, when he felt something grab onto his back, prying him away from the orb like center of the creature. He bagan to panic, trying to reach his back to pry the arm off him as he was held up to the creatures face, all eighteen of the eyes on this side of its face staring at him. He saw how some of the eyes on another side of it were looking at his Physical self, who stood like a deer in the headlights at the situation they found themselves in. ¡°What is it doing?!¡± Physical Dei said ¡°I don¡¯t know, what''s the plan? I¡¯ve been focused on fighting.¡± ¡°Well if you lost, I intended to fully open Pandora¡¯s Box, effectively setting off a bomb of Spirit, Soul, and Wrath mana in order to blind it, then to run back into my little hidey hole until it goes away. It doesn¡¯t seem all that mad, so I¡¯m not afraid of it coming back.¡± ¡°Okay, but that involves me most likely dying, and that would deal a big soul wound, yea?¡± ¡°Got a better plan? No! You¡¯re me!¡± The entire conversation took place in a second, quick exchanges of pure meaning boosted by [Vigilance] increasing their thinking speeds, but the Melder had yet to make a move. It just held Spiritual Dei in the air, keeping multiple eyes on both of them. Thirty seconds later, Spiritual Dei felt himself move, and his nerves spiked as he assumed he was about to be eaten. He realized quickly though that he was instead being moved away from the central mass, and placed next to Physical Dei. Both of them were tense and highly confused. Now that they were next to each other, they could potentially fire off multiple [Identify]¡¯s in a concentrated beam to try and blast it away, but Spiritual Dei had already tried that, and it didn¡¯t really care if parts of its body were blown off. At the same time, their attention was drawn to a bulb on the central mass that suddenly began writhing and pulsing, before falling off it and splattering against the ground. They watched as it slowly reshaped itself to the size and shape of a gingerbread man. Much more horrific, but its features were indistinct and it was a tiny figure of a person. It began walking towards them as the larger mass took a few steps back, and both their eyebrows rose at the same time of its mannerisms. When the tiny man was around five feet from them, it looked up towards their heads, and skin pulled back from its lower jaw to reveal shining white teeth. Physical Dei shivered and Spiritual Dei cringed at the sight. It opened its mouth, and a Skill similar to [Meaningful] activated, translating itself into their minds. ¡°Hello! My name is Gargeth, who are you?¡± Both of them were stunned for a moment, but Spirit Dei responded first using [Meaningful]. ¡°We are Dei, parts of the same whole. We are a single person, just split for now.¡± It was weird referring to himself as plural, but not inaccurate. ¡°Ahh yes, swarm mind. I am familiar with the state. Why was there a fight here? Why did you attack me?¡± Again, the questions took them off guard, and Physical Dei decided to let Spirit Dei take the lead from this point forward. Spirit Dei couldn¡¯t get nauseous, so he had the upper hand there. ¡°The Wraith was trying to hunt me down and kill me, so I killed it first. As for why we attacked you¡­ Well, we thought you would try to kill us too? I am glad that you are not, but why are you not?¡± ¡°I am a scavenger, not very good at fighting. Many spirits know my kind, so they do not attack, are you new to the spirit world?¡± ¡°Err, yes. This is our first time talking to a spirit.¡± ¡°Oh! Lucky you! Melders usually do not attack, but are also not as interested in speech as I. I am fascinated with physical beings, a side effect of my affinity. You are spirit and body, like me, but separate, different. Very interesting. You have interesting eyes, unnatural yet¡­ built in. you were born with them, yet your soul shape is edited. Not normally obvious, but I am sensitive to such things. ¡°If you sate my curiosity on the incongruities between what I expected to see from your Soul upon studying it versus what I actually saw, I will answer some questions of your own about the Spirit World. I also promise to not attack you for the duration of our discussion, plus four hours. Once the discussion is over, neither of us will attempt to track or monitor the other in any way until the minimum of four hours is over, after which I will be indifferent to your attempts.¡± It was baffling to hear such a horrific creature use scientific words, but it felt like some sort of researcher based on how it was acting. The Dei¡¯s realized it was most likely there to study their body, its affinity a result of its personality or vice versa. At the end of its sentence, they also received a notification. [Gargeth has offered a Temporary Truce of Discussion] [Temporary Truce of Discussion Gargeth wishes to discuss with you. If you desire, it will answer your own questions. During the discussion, no intentional harm will come from either party towards the other. After the discussion is considered over by both parties, a grace period of four hours will commence, where neither party will make attempts to gain advantage over the other in anticipation of the Truce ending] Chapter 43 The notification for Truce floated in front of them, and they telepathically communicated with one another, considering the option. Both admitted that they really wanted to accept it, as Gargeth had answers they desperately needed, but there was something they needed more. Power. Around them, Spirit and Soul mana tinged the air, all of which would be incredibly useful to them. Now that Spirit Dei realized he could extract information on how to better pilot his form using Spirit Mana, he was reluctant to let it go. Gargeth also revealed that he would be terrible at combat, giving them a good fighting chance. Physical Dei didn¡¯t believe as much. He thought Spirit Dei was letting his greed get the better of him, as he had already been thoroughly defeated once. While it was true that two Dei¡¯s would be better than one, Spirit Dei hadn¡¯t even come close to defeating Gargeth. He believed they should seek a peaceful resolution, perhaps bargaining for part of the mana around them, despite their disadvantaged power. For this reason, Physical Dei took the initiative in speaking to Gargeth this time. ¡°Before we accept this, we need an assurance: Who gets the Spirit and Soul mana in the air? We fought the Wraith, so I believe we should have it¡± While he was willing to compromise, he thought a strong starting position would be best. He sensed a feeling of amusement exit the small ginger-flesh man that Gargeth was using to speak through before any words came out, but he clarified with his speaking Skill too. ¡°I forget that you are young, new to the Spirit World. Melders do not take all of the Spirit mana, we function as filters for it. Our unique constitution allows us to draw all of the wild mana in the air into our bodies, and we take from it the meanings we desire, leaving most of it unchanged. Then, after drawing all of it in, we give the unused mana to the victors of the battle. Like this, most predators allow us to filter through their spoils, as we make it easier for them to collect.¡± Confused, Physical Dei asked ¡°I am not sure I get what you mean, you take some of the meanings from it?¡± He remembered how Spirit Dei said each point of the mana was infused with meaning, so they would only take part of it? The Melder also made it seem like this was a unique thing for them to do though. ¡°Allow me to clarify further, then give an example. Spirit Mana holds the memory of every previous Spirit who held it at some point. By drawing it into your body, you can uncover these secrets and techniques imbued into the mana, strengthening yourself. Essentially, each point of Mana is an infinite encyclopedia of every previous spirit, but you cannot read it endlessly. In order to uncover information from them, you must bind it to your soul in a permanent union. After one point of mana is bound, only then can the next be bound to you, and information must be discovered in linear order. One cannot access the deepest secrets of mana instantly, they must draw Spirit mana into themselves by the tens of thousands, slowly building up the foundation of their knowledge until the latent will of their spiritual ancestors deems them worthy, as one theory posits¡­ although it isn¡¯t fully clear why truths must be uncovered linearly. ¡°The only way to unbind this information is to have the mana torn from you, which will lead to Soul damage as well as a disruption of the Spiritual form. Because each point of mana holds such vast wells of information though, most of it goes unused, and this is where Melders come in. ¡°Melders are born when a Spirit with specialized knowledge dies, and its mana is not fully collected. A Spirit of the affinity Body was killed to create I, and we have the unique ability to permanently siphon knowledge of our domain from Spirit mana without binding the rest of it to ourselves. In my case, I will take all information regarding bodies, before delivering the concentrated Spirit mana to you. ¡°Most Spirits allow this, as they do not have to waste Spirit Mana on figuring out Spirit Collection techniques, which take around five to six hundred Spirit Mana to fully learn. A small amount in the long term, yet many Spirits do not have such mana to spare. If you allow me to take the ambient mana into myself, I will permanently siphon all information on Body away, then give it to you. Unless you desire to learn more about bodies, such a deal would be considered optimal for us both.¡± Dei thought on it, and realized now why the Spirit Mana from the Convection Wraith felt like pure Soul mana, as the Wraith had yet to seriously absorb any Spirit Mana. Since it only had his knowledge, the knowledge of Soul, it was functionally identical. Yet, when this Melder came along, its mana tasted different, as it held true Spirit mana that had passed through many entities. Actually, why did the Spirit Mana feel like it held many meanings? Shouldn¡¯t it only feel like information on Body? ¡°Why does your Spirit mana which we tore from you- sorry about that- feel like true Spirit mana, rather than singularly defined Spirit Mana?¡± ¡°I keep a layer of unbound Spirit Mana around the core of my being, as I do not wish to suffer Soul damage at the lightest scratch.¡± Yea, now that he thought about it, it made some sense to not permanently damage his mind by continuously gaining and losing knowledge. He assumed that his [Astral Projection] didn¡¯t suffer the same issue, as it wasn¡¯t infused with knowledge. It would still damage or kill him if his Identity died, but scratches didn¡¯t cause him to forget things. ¡°Then would you still be willing to give up that Spirit mana, despite it being a cushion?¡± ¡°Yes, your own mana in the air holds a new view on bodies which is hard to come by: the union of Physical and Spiritual bodies. I am one such case, but I struggle to find others to compare myself to.¡± ¡°You have a Physical body, yet you can enter the Spirit realm?¡± Dei questioned. ¡°I suppose you¡¯ll have to accept the truce to find out¡± the Melder said, chuckling ¡°I hope I could assuage your concerns enough to merit a discussion.¡± Both Dei¡¯s began communicating again, agreeing that a discussion on the Spirit World would be worth a small amount of concepts from the mana around them, and accepted the truce. Physical Dei again took the lead in the discussion ¡°what questions about us do you have?¡± ¡°It is that of an inconsistency in your body. I am familiar with your kind, Gem Dweller Humans, as they are quite common belowground in this section of the world. Their racial bonuses normally give them a slight Tremor Sense. Slight Darkvision, and the ability to mimic the color and texture of stone once they press their bodies against it, if it is close enough to their natural skin tone. On top of this, a mild Earth affinity gives them the ability to soften the materials they dig in to. What confuses me about you, is that I detect racial bonuses that are both the same and different. Your organs are un evolved, but they are¡­ more efficient? It is difficult to describe. Would you mind if I Identified the portions of your physical body that confuse me?¡± Dei understood where this was coming from now, his upgraded Racial Abilities from the System. Now that he thought about it, shouldn¡¯t his variant of ¡°Gem Dweller¡± changed? All around him, the titles of the creatures gave away their racial abilities, but his had been changed, so his variant should have as well. Instead, it was the same, most likely because the System didn¡¯t want him to be ostracized by his community as some sort of mutation. ¡®Lot of good that did me¡¯ he thought bitterly. Ultimately, he didn¡¯t mind giving Gargeth access to this information. While it was a secret that he¡¯d reincarnated, he felt that giving away pieces of the secret would be worth it to gain more information. ¡°You can Identify me, and I will tell you how it came to be as well.¡± While he didn¡¯t have to volunteer that he knew where it came from, he wanted to garner enough goodwill for Gargeth to give back as well. ¡°Oh? This seems to be a mutation of your birth, but if you have more information on the circumstances surrounding it, all the better. I am now Identifying.¡± Dei felt a shiver go up his spine as a wave passed over him. While it wasn¡¯t painful, it felt like a doctor inspecting him while he was naked. It was uncomfortable, but the eye scanning him felt professional in every way, alleviating some of the discomfort from the vulnerability. Once it was over, Gargeth began thinking aloud as well ¡°Hmm, yes, you have typical Gem Dweller organs, but their efficiency is supernaturally enhanced. This would doubtlessly come with issues, as they are not fully integrated properly, but well worth it for such abilities. How did such a thing happen to you? It is clearly divine in nature, only Gods or the System would have such fine attention to detail¡± ¡°Well, you aren¡¯t far off. Shortly before I was born, my body was bathed in a massive amount of Human mana, and the System used it to upgrade my racial abilities.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Gargeth sent waves of confusion ¡°are you not a human? Human mana shouldn¡¯t affect you at all.¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not entirely sure on how it works, but apparently if an unborn child somehow comes into contact with large amounts of Human mana, the System can use it to upgrade their Racial Abilities.¡± ¡°That is¡­ weird. I¡¯ve never heard of such a thing. Until now, I suppose, but it makes sense for an event as presented to be rare. A pregnant human would need to walk into a Human Convergence, an unlikely scenario given the rarity of Sapience Convergences. I do not sense any lies either, so I will take your word at face value. Very well, my curiosity is sated, do you have any questions? I will answer as best I can, but please remember that I am a spirit specializing in Body. I can grant basic information in general, but Body is where my specialties lie.¡± ¡°That''s fine, I am sorely lacking in all information, so even basic will be helpful. I guess I should re-ask my previous question. Do you have a physical body? I thought Spirits would be intangible.¡± Gargeth hummed, contemplating the question for a beat before answering ¡°I should start from the beginning: What does the Spirit affinity represent? It¡¯s clear that a Body affinity represents bodies, but a Spirit affinity is a bit deeper of a concept. Spirit is a derivative affinity for Soul, one of the two large aspects of it. Soul is composed of two direct derivative affinities: Structure and Perception. Structure represents how the soul interacts with your body, either physical or intangible. The Spirit affinity appears when Soul is removed from Physical structure. The soul provides its own structure to abide by.¡± Dei thought about it a bit more. Humans, and other animals, didn¡¯t naturally have the Spirit affinity, as the Soul was given structure by their bodies, solid and unchanging. If they lost their body though, and the soul didn¡¯t die, it would create its own body, in the form of a spirit. It reminded him of his own Projection. Was he not a structureless representation of a Soul? But, in that case, why was the Skill part of the Soul affinity, rather than the Spirit affinity. On top of that, what did Gargeth mean by Perception abilities? He thought that Mind and Heart were the two derivative affinities of Soul. ¡°I have a Skill called Astral Projection, which gives me the ability to become a spirit. It is Soul affinity though, why? Also, what do you mean by Perception abilities? Do you mean Mind and Heart?¡± ¡°Ah little one, I see your projection. You are not becoming a spirit, merely something close to spirits. In order for it to be a true Spirit affinity Skill, you would need to be able to survive without your body, but such is not the case. If your body were to die while you projected somewhere else, you would still die. Because you are reliant on a physical body, you are not truly a Spirit, merely Spiritual in nature. ¡°To answer you on perception affinities, yes, Mind and Heart are related to what I mean. There are also more, lesser known perception-related abilities. In order to form a Soul-derivative Perception affinity, you must limit the Soul affinity by linking it to an outside concept. If you link the affinity of Soul to the affinity of Hindsight, it becomes Mind. If you link Soul to Love, it becomes Heart. You can even link specific concepts, creating narrow pathways to power that are terrifying nonetheless. By linking Soul to the Sleep affinity, a subset of Sloth, you can gain the Dream affinity. Soul, by itself, has no control over the outside world. By linking it to something else though, you lose the introspective aspects of it, but gain control over the concept you have linked it to, thus gaining something called a Controller affinity¡± ¡°Wait, Hindsight is a real affinity?¡± ¡°Yes, and devastatingly effective. It¡¯s also referred to as the affinity of ¡®logic.¡¯ I¡¯ve seen a Hindsight fighter, and I know I would not have survived if I¡¯d drawn its ire. They are supernaturally effective at learning from every mistake, even during combat, meaning that the same attack never works twice.¡± Gargeth let him process the information for a beat, before he continued with the lesson. ¡°Now, back to the original question: Do I have a physical body? The answer is yes. Yours is composed of flesh, bones, and blood. My main body is composed of flesh and ectoplasm, causing it to be a bit more malleable than a fully physical body. I¡¯ve surrounded the physical parts in Spirit mana, using pseudo limbs where I believe harm might come to me in order to avoid wounds. ¡°While it may seem like the Spirit World is not physical in nature, this is not true. Instead, each layer is an echo of the last, disconnecting from generic laws of nature the further each echo goes down, becoming more conceptual each step of the way. There are many creatures with flesh and blood bodies that jump between the Spirit and Physical world.¡± Gargeth finished. ¡°Could I take my physical body into the Spirit world?¡± Dei asked. ¡°Not as you are now. Your Spiritual self is different from your Physical self, which allows you to separate in the first place. This is common among beings born with physical bodies, as the Structure aspect of their Soul is disconnected from their bodies. In order to enter the Spirit realm yourself, you must permanently tie your Soul to your Body. this would remove your ability to project, but you would become both Human and Spirit in nature. It is a difficult process, which you will need to learn by absorbing copious amounts of Spirit affinity mana.¡± Hmm, that sounded like it had its ups and downs. That also brought up the question: why did he have such powerful Spirit Racial abilities? The System only upgraded his Human Racial abilities, not the Spiritual Racial abilities. ¡°Do you know why I have such powerful Racial Abilities when in my spirit form? The System only upgraded my Human abilities¡± he asked ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m not telling you. That is far too complicated to get into right now, and you will discover it naturally anyway.¡± Irritating, but he¡¯d learned a lot already, and Gargeth guaranteed that he would figure it out eventually. He knew what spirits were now, but he still wanted to know about their behavior. ¡°Why don¡¯t spirits come to the upper layers more often, like you have?¡± He wanted to find out, as it might be important in avoiding fights in the future. Was there a limit to how high a spirit could go? ¡°The levels of ambient Spirit mana. Have you noticed that it is nearly impossible to heal yourself on the surface? That is not the case further down. Spirits are able to easily absorb Spirit mana from the air to heal themselves, the only downside being that it is meaningless Spirit mana, holding no ancestral knowledge, as it is yet to be absorbed even a single time. ¡°The ambient levels of Spirit mana become more important the stronger one becomes, as Spirits use small amounts to maintain function of their bodies. Larger spirits will slowly lose structure the higher up they are, but they can maintain full strength for a time. A good analogy would be that the Physical world, where we reside currently, is a Spirit desert, while deeper levels become more lush and plentiful, to the point that spiritual plants begin growing around level three. Speaking of, I tire of existing on this plane. I have already finished collecting all ambient Soul and Spirit mana, siphoning my meanings out of it. I will tolerate one more question, but no more.¡± He wanted to sigh, as Gargeth gave him little to no warning at the limit being reached. It felt very arbitrary to Dei, but he supposed he was mostly out of questions anyway. Gargeth openly said that he didn¡¯t really know anything advanced about spirits anyway. ¡°What''s something that you think would be useful for me but am unlikely to already know?¡± Again, Gargeth became slightly contemplative, before answering ¡°I sense that you are young for your kind and lonely, in other words you have no community to warn you of the dangers of growing quickly. I notice that you are stunted in non-mundane aspects of the body. I am guessing that you struggle to sense mana in the air, as well as souls around you, despite your Soul affinity?¡± ¡°What? Stunted? My body just grows quickly, while my other senses are developing slower. I have an ability called Growing Pains that allows my body to grow faster¡± Dei responded. ¡°Yes, and there is the issue. You are not the only social being that has been separated from their community. I¡¯ve found that such beings mature faster, oftentimes forming Skills that assist them in doing so. The drawback to this, though, is that they sacrifice aspects of their bodies that are not needed to boost their survivability. In your case, you have sacrificed your mana pathways and soul sense to grow faster physically, as you need more muscles to fight beings down here.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Dei answered dejectedly. It was true that he couldn''t sense mana very well, and he could only see souls, when he looked at them directly. He guessed that he could see them because the System upgraded his eyes with [Darkvision], allowing his Soul Sight to develop properly, but only in that one organ. He had, unwittingly, been relying on a Racial ability to perceive something he should be specialized in seeing, rather than the very mild sense he currently had. He didn¡¯t even know that he¡¯d sacrificed something to help him grow, he didn¡¯t have a frame of reference before now. ¡°Is there some way to undo it? Could I develop properly somehow?¡± he asked, hopeful. ¡°It isn¡¯t permanent, unless you reach level one hundred in either Class or Profession. Reaching level one hundred is a milestone where your body will cut off what is unneeded in favor of boosting the abilities you rely on for survival. Remember this though, it is not necessarily bad to specialize your constitution. If you reach level one hundred, and make the changes permanent, your MP will decrease by half, and your HP will double, this would be an amazing trade off, if you need to become tougher, which I suspect you do if you are alone in the wild as a human. ¡°If you wish to undo the changes though, simply allow yourself to mature naturally before reaching level one hundred. I would suggest waiting to reach level one hundred in either Class or Profession until after you turn twenty years of age: do this, and your body will rebalance itself. Luckily, your accelerated growth does not coincide with accelerated aging. If you spend twenty years doing nothing, you will physically be twenty years old. Even now, your future lifespan has the potential any other year-old should have. ¡°Now, I hope my guidance has been helpful to you, but the ambient mana irritates the skin, and I must be going. Here are the promised spoils of battle, siphoned of all aspects pertaining to the body.¡± From behind the ginger-flesh creature, Gargeths main body reached out a thin gangly arm to his Projection. His Projection held out its hand, and a small, liquid drop formed on the tip of Gargeths finger. Even with his stunted senses, Dei felt the blazing sun of mana concentrated into a single place as it fell into his Projections hands, and was quickly absorbed into its body. Physical Dei watched as Projection Dei blazed brilliantly, and Gargeth opened another fleshy-blob portal into the Spirit World. He sent one more message from [Meaningful], saying ¡°Thank you! Everything you¡¯ve done for me has been incredibly helpful, and I hope we meet again someday to talk more.¡± ¡°Certainly, human child. I wish you good luck in your endeavors as well. Goodbye¡± With the final message and a quick pop, Gargeth was gone, and Projection Dei was still processing all the information it absorbed. Chapter 44 Spiritual Dei was preoccupied with going through knowledge gifted by the Spirit mana, but Physical Dei set about going over their notifications. A lot had happened, and there were notifications galore to show for it. [Rule of Wrath uncovered: I will allow no harm to come to those under my care.] His eyebrows shot upwards at it, having completely forgotten about the ¡°Rules of Wrath¡± that his affinity mentioned during their meeting. Going over the Interface again, he found that it didn¡¯t appear on his Interface, but he could still read it in his soul, etchings across all his memories that were engraved into his being. He also noted how there were empty spaces between these etchings, room for more rules, and his awareness of his rules was increased. While there was no official screen on his Interface, he¡¯d begun to sense the Rules he¡¯d yet to discover Rules of Wrath: There were five etchings. Five spaces to fill in, and he knew that ¡°I will allow no harm to come to those under my care¡± was the first one, there was no doubt in his mind. Now that he was aware of this new Rule, he could point out several moments in this life and the past where his Rule called out to him, spurring him into action as his affinity exploded with mana. He realized that he¡¯d uncovered this Rule directly before the fight as it shouted in his ear that, if he backed away, it would be the gravest of sins. If he¡¯d hidden, he would have given up on those he considered in ¡°his¡± care, dooming them. He moved on to the next notification [EXP gained for killing the Wraith of Shattered Obsidian (Level 214). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 69) -> (Level 70)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 70) -> (Level 71)] That was a hard fucking fight for two level ups. He sighed, knowing things would only get more difficult with each level. While it was true he¡¯d fought hard, he never got as close to death as some of his previous fights. The enemy was ill-equipped to fight him, and he hadn¡¯t had nearly as much trouble as he would normally have with creatures stronger than him. Still, it was frustrating knowing how steeply EXP gain dropped off. He had to keep in mind that many of these level two hundred beings spent decades honing themselves, and he was a very new player on the field. He needed to give himself time before getting frustrated. Next were the Skill Level ups. [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (2) -> (3)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (32) -> (33)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (101) -> (102)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (105) -> (106)] [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (4) -> (5)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (7) -> (8)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis: (13) -> (14)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis: (25) -> (26)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (52) -> (53)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (55) -> (56)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (46) -> (47)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (56) -> (57)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (62) -> (63)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (46) -> (47)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (51) -> (52)] And, finally, the pi¨¨ce de r¨¦sistance [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (50) -> (51)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (60 -> (61)] ¡°Oof, that is not as high as I thought it was going to go¡± he thought to himself. It had been hours of¡­ okay, minutes of agony to reach sixty one. Even if that was more than reasonable, even incredible time, it just felt like more should have happened. He understood that it was probably just him putting the Skill on an unnecessary pedestal, but still. Nonetheless, the new levels would serve him well, and he would have time later to level up the Skill. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 71) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 5) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 92/92 MP: 92/92 SP: 92/92 Stats: Physical: 46 Mental: 45 Spiritual: 39 Magical: 46 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare, 73% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 67% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (61) (2406/2440), Call for Help (24), Good Samaritan (1), Meaningful (33) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (106) Soul: Astral Projection (8), Connection (1) Health: Homeostasis: (26) Mana: Meditation (31) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (56) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (47), Vigilance (63), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (52)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1423/2000 Wrath 628/2000 Kindness 355/2000 Soul] Caught up with all the updates, Dei turned to look at his projection, seeing that he too was finishing up with his task of absorbing the Spirit mana * * * The first thing to decide was what Projection Dei wanted to learn from the Spirit mana. Gargeth stated that Melders tended to work together with Spirits in collection, so that was no longer as necessary as he thought it had been before. Long term, he could hopefully find a weak melder each time he fought and killed a Spirit. Right now though, what did he want to know? What would be useful for him? As he went through the Spirit mana¡¯s meanings, more than what he expected had been removed. There were certain gaps in the information that Dei could see the outline of, but was unable to learn from. These gaps pertained to possession, tying his Spirit form to his Physical form, how strengthening his Spirit might give strength to his Physical self, and essentially anything to do with the real world. Instead, he needed to learn something from the intangible aspects of it. To him, it was a rather easy choice. Too many times had he faced creatures that were capable of shouting to disrupt his form without even touching him, undodgeable attacks that devastated his Projection. The frog, Wraith, and even Gargeth all held area attacks, but he didn¡¯t Realizing it was such a massive problem, solidifying his form against these attacks was the first thing he did. Focusing on reading this information from the mana, he felt as knowledge flowed into him. Before he could put up defenses, he had to learn what it was doing too. He¡¯d broken off around two hundred Spirit mana from Gargeth, and seven or eight hundred from the Wraith. It felt like a textbook began forming in his head, the Spirit mana writing passages inside of it personalized for him alone. It read like a lecture, but there was no ¡°will¡± behind it that he could sense. To strengthen your form, you must understand your own structure. Why does your particular soul project itself into the form it does? For you, it is that your soul is fitted to the shape of your body. Your physical body gives structure to your soul, rather than the other way around for most spirits. Dei suddenly felt a lot of skipping, as he already knew that the System refitted his soul shape to his body, as he was there for it. He knew what the process was like, so the Spirit mana didn¡¯t need to be wasted by bringing his attention to the limits of its own shape. More skipping when the Spirit mana tried teaching him how to wiggle his Soul Shape free of its apparatus, in the form of his Identity. Finally, it settled on teaching him how to build crystalline walls around his Identity. ¡°Your soul shape is formed by your Identity, a normally very weak aspect of the soul. The Identity is meant to be malleable, changing as the person grows. One can sacrifice this malleability, becoming stunted, to gain immense mental fortitude, but that is not something you want, so instead you will focus on empowering your Identity personally. When you split your Identity and re-merge it, the spare Soul and Spirit mana is used to make for an easier transition between bodies. By sacrificing this convenience, you have decided to instead spend that mana to form a sort of ¡°shielding¡± around your Identity. The wall will grow with your Identity, slowly becoming stronger the more you feed it. This will cause your Identity to become much more resilient to outside manipulation, but it will now become painful when re-merging Identities. In time, you may learn to manually section off some mana to dedicate to making the transition easier, but the simple shield is cheap and effective for your purposes. With that, the lesson was finished, and Dei learned how to make a shield to specifically protect his Identity at the cost of now feeling pain when re-merging his Projection back to his body. Something was odd though, as he still had the seven to eight hundred mana from the Wraith that was untouched. He no longer had enough Spirit mana to improve his shielding, but there was copious left over to do nothing. He realized that the Wraith hadn¡¯t known how to provide shielding to its form, so there was nothing to learn from it. If he wanted to use its mana, he would need to draw from whatever it knew how to do. Its pool of knowledge was limited though, as it was born from his own. Much of what it knew about spirits came from Dei himself, with the exception of that screaming attack it used to destabilize his projection frequently. If he had to guess, it was a racial ability of Wraiths themselves that it learned in its creation. Different spirits were likely to have different Racial abilities, as Gargeth mentioned offhandedly when telling Dei about how Melders helped other spirits by collecting mana for them. Now, did Dei himself want to learn that ability? While it was probably a Racial ability to Wraiths, he thought he should be able to, at the very least, figure out the basic mechanisms for a Skill from it, so he quickly glanced through the Spirit mana¡­ finding that the scream was powered by Spirit mana. Dei couldn''t learn it, as this version of the scream was incompatible with his affinities, unless he wanted to continuously kill spirits to power this specific Skill. Could he even learn a Skill that wasn¡¯t one of his affinities? The Spirit mana implied that he could, but it would still be a huge hassle to power such a thing, needing to keep a constant storage of Spirit mana on him at all times. He decided against learning the scream, as it was not worth the trouble. That thrown out the window, what could Dei even learn from the Wraith? All it had was his knowledge of spirits and¡­ ¡®The Obsidian Elementals knowledge! Of course!¡¯ Similar to how Gargeth specialized in Body affinity mana, the Elemental specialized in Convection affinity mana. Dei could draw on that information, if he wanted to. The question now was: what could knowledge of Convection mana do to help him?Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. His mind went back to one of his previously existing Skills, [Homeostasis]. He first used it to actively expel heat from his body before it collapsed, and he now had a well of knowledge to draw from about the way Convection takes place in the world. Homeostasis was a passive ability, but he had experience in actively using it. Through active breathing techniques, he was able to concentrate and expel the convection mana flowing through him. He now wondered: was there a way to take it a step further? Could he use the knowledge and harness convection within his body? Looking through the spirit mana, he realized he could. While it wasn¡¯t as simple a process as ¡°produce heat and breathe fire,¡± he could learn how to use convection for different purposes. How it would manifest itself, he couldn¡¯t be sure, but he decided it would be a hell of a lot more useful long term. Many creatures could already use screams as area attacks, but few had the expertise of convection that the elemental did. Mind made up, he focused everything into figuring out how to upgrade his usage of [Homeostasis], getting another tailor-made textbook entry. Convection is the process of- Multiple jumps took place, as the mana realized he already knew the basic processes of convection, skipping over what he didn¡¯t need. After a few seconds of reviewing the fundamentals of what it meant for heat to flow in a certain way, giving rise to the process of convection, it finally settled back in. ¡°In order to use the process of Convection actively in your own body, you must first designate your container, then, build heat by trapping it in said container. By preventing the heat from leaving the designated container in the body, it will slowly rise in internal temperature as it absorbs the heat from its surrounding area. ¡°Once enough heat is built up in a particular container, Convection mana will naturally begin forming. By trapping both the existing heat and Convection mana within the container, it will rapidly accelerate in building power as Convection mana produces heat, which further produces more Convection mana, repeatedly until the cycle is broken to release it towards a set goal. ¡°The [Homeostasis] Skill will control where heat and Convection mana builds, so all you must do is choose a container, and manage the fall out of heating up your organs to lethal temperatures. ¡°Which container is chosen will also decide how the heat manifests itself. By choosing to heat the lungs, you may breathe fire after enough mana is assimilated. Choosing the circulatory system, you can heat your body far more effectively in cold environments. If you designate your entire body as the Convection container, it will begin pulling heat from the air, cooking any parasite that invades you. ¡°You must be careful, though, as the heat from such actions WILL harm you, unless you form an affinity to Convection. By breathing fire, you will damage your lungs and trachea. By heating your circulatory system, you begin to suffocate as your body cannot properly deliver oxygen. In choosing your entire body, you suffer from a superhuman level fever, cooking all of your organs at once in the hopes that whatever invader has chosen your body as its target dies faster than you do. ¡°The process of convection takes a long time to build up to any useful amount of mana, but has no upper limit to how hot you can make it somewhere in your body, so long as you can handle the strain. ¡°Use with great caution¡± Dei breathed out a sigh of relief as the information stopped flooding into him. While the process wasn¡¯t painful, it was unpleasant, like studying for multiple weeks straight and stretching his mind too thin. Looking over towards Physical Dei, he saw that he¡¯d finished going over the notifications, conferring with one another, they quickly started sharing all the knowledge they¡¯d gained in their unique perspectives. * * * ¡°Now what?¡± Projection sent towards Physical ¡°What do you mean? Now we go into hiding for like a month or something¡± Physical sent back. ¡°But why? I¡¯m pretty much completely healed up at this point, so we don''t need to regenerate any more Soul mana to make another Projection. You could go back to the cave, while I can go check on the Korgonda¡± Projection said. ¡°I feel like that''s a terrible idea for multiple reasons. First is that the Korgonda is likely not ready to talk yet. It just absorbed two massive wells of power, it needs time to digest them, like that ghost-eating frog did,¡± both Dei¡¯s scowling at the thought of the enemy. ¡°If you go to it now, you¡¯ll just be sitting around anyway. Besides, you¡¯re filled with bound Spirit Mana. If you take damage now, our soul is gonna start hurting, badly. On top of this, our mind is split in two, limiting your thinking speed.¡± Projection deflated ¡°Yea, I guess you¡¯re right. I was so tunnel visioned into seeing the little guy, but it''s for the best that we wait a month, even if we can visit him right now. By then we can send out a bland Soul mana projection, not imbued with Spirit mana. Alright, remerge?¡± ¡°Remerge, yea¡± Physical agreed. They high fived each other, and were quickly joined as one again, sharing in each other''s knowledge and experience. It was excruciatingly painful this time, Dei¡¯s two Identities grinding together as the spare Soul and Spirit mana went into empowering a barrier around his Identity, but such pain faded quickly. He was not far from the Garden, so he quickly walked back and squeezed into the crack in the wall. While the tightness wasn¡¯t at a point where it would become trouble, Dei was still struck by how large he was getting. He was technically a year old, but how tall was he? Four feet tall? More? He didn¡¯t know, but it was scary to think about how fast he grew. Mentally, he had the experiences of an adult to fall back on because of his previous life. Physically, he was probably twelve or thirteen. But for some reason¡­ he still saw himself as a child. It felt like a trick of the mind, but he was unshakably sure that he was only a year old. An ache solidified in him, discomfort gnawing at his mind, but again he chose to ignore it in favor of continuing his training. * * * [Since the Fall: 8/16/809 - 3:23:46] [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (61) -> (62)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (68) -> (69)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (31) -> (32)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (35) -> (36)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (52) -> (53)] [Total Stats Gained: +2 Physical] Dei awoke with a gasp, clutching his chest and waiting for the pain to subside. He groaned and heard another crystalline fracture in his Skill. After thirty or forty seconds, he breathed out a sigh of relief and slumped back down to the ground, panting. One week after he met the Korgonda, Dei continued to train. Now, he was focused on [Pandora¡¯s Box], since it would normally not hold enough mana to help it level up. An issue he¡¯d discovered, though, was that it refused to allow him to focus on anything else. Each time the mana within the box reached its limit, Dei was struck by agony harsh enough to break his flow of training in other Skills. The pain would only subside after his Skill leveled up once again, raising the cap of how much mana it could hold. There were very few Skills he could continue to train during this time. [Growing Pains] was one, as he could easily get back into pushups after the spiritual strain faded. He could also still use [Meditation], but it felt shallow. Normally, he¡¯d be able to slip into a quiet stupor, but now his mind was always slightly in a state of unrest, waiting for the next bout of pain. The Skill still helped calm his mind each time, but it wasn¡¯t as comfortable. He was getting better at it though, the rapid level ups in the Skill proof that the difficulty of quieting his mind each time helped to improve his technique. He now also split his mind in six parts when meditating: 50% of his mind would control everything normally, then five minds of 10% would meditate on five different links to improve his Presence. When Dei got tired of working out, he would use his Primary mind to study the differences in his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] Skill. Normally, he wouldn¡¯t be able to pinpoint where in his Soul his different Skills were located, but there was practically a beacon to the massive concentration of mana in the Skill. When he first started leveling up the Skill, he got nervous, as he would ¡°hear¡± a crack when it got bigger. Initially, he thought he was breaking the Skill, but when he started studying it in his Soul, he noticed something peculiar. The massive music box, a visual representation of [Pandora¡¯s Box] in his soul, was repairing itself somehow. When he looked closely, Dei noticed that there were tiny spider webbing cracks all along the sides of the Skill. When it leveled up, Dei noticed that some of the wood grew over the cracks, healing it. His best guess was that the cracks represented how the Skill was still partially broken, damaged from the change in bodies after he was reincarnated, and him leveling it up continued to repair it. The noise he heard when leveling it up implied that it wasn¡¯t wood he was looking at, but something closer to glass that was colored to look like wood. He didn¡¯t know what that was supposed to represent about the Skill, but it was something to keep in mind. He was learning a lot about the Skill through his current trial with it, but the pain was unbearable at times. With each level up, it was taking longer to reach the next threshold too. When he first started, it only took about twenty five seconds to level up. Now, though, it was around forty. He would push through, he had to eventually, but he wasn¡¯t going to enjoy it. Lying back down, he tried to go back to sleep. It was still only three in the morning, and he had a hard day of training ahead. * * * [Since the Fall: 8/30/809 - 1:35:12] [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (69) -> (70)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (80) -> (81)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (36) -> (37)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (53) -> (54)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (53) -> (54)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (54) -> (55)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (106) -> (107)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (107) -> (108)] [Total Stats Gained: +3 Physical] Again, Dei woke with a start. No pain but he knew it was coming, and he braced himself Seconds later, his [Pandora¡¯s Box] sent waves of fire through his body. He fared better than he had when he first started, able to pull himself into a wobbly meditative stupor that helped the sensations he felt roll off his mind. The pain should have been scarring, he should have flinched away from leveling up his Skill after so much suffering. He knew that, in a way, he was subconsciously training himself to hate his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] Skill, but he couldn¡¯t allow that to happen. For the past two weeks, Dei tried to find a solution, tried to make each level up less painful, but failed to do so. Instead, he focused on preventing mental scarring from taking place. Meditation was the key, somehow. He felt himself step into the metaphorical thickets of the Skill, off the path that [Meditation] laid out for him, using it in a way the System couldn¡¯t account for. He breathed in, body ablaze, and breathed out, the pain exiting him. He pictured the pain as a literal fire in his body, pushing it up, out of him like he did to the Convection mana. It was a placebo effect- he¡¯d studied it with [High Mind] multiple times before- but it helped visualize his goal. He would bring his body into balance through the pain, not allowing it to take hold and damage his mind. The level ups took longer now, minutes at a time, but he weathered it. It was only pain, no damage done to him, and he would control his response to the sensation. [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (81) -> (82)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (54) -> (55)] His muscles relaxed, but he didn¡¯t slump to the ground anymore. He breathed deeply, but they were far more controlled than the gasping breaths he was forced to take two weeks ago. It was over, and he continued to live. The pain was gone, but he remained. Many times, he thought about emptying his [Pandora¡¯s Box], or at least stopping it from filling all the way. He considered taking a break from training it, but refused to do so. He could convince himself it would be temporary, but that wouldn¡¯t be true at all. Once he stopped, Dei couldn¡¯t see himself starting this kind of training again willingly. He needed to make as much progress as he could, and find a way to fare better, before he had to use the mana to leave the cave. His personal goal was to at least reach level one hundred in the Skill before the ninth of next month, where he would then check on his Korgonda friend. ¡®It will pass. I will get through this.¡¯ * * * [Since the Fall: 9/9/809 - 8:00:00] [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (82) -> (83)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (94) -> (95)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (55) -> (56)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (62) -> (63)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (108) -> (109)] [Total Stats Gained: +2 Physical] One month since he killed the Wraith, it was finally time for him to leave again, but he¡¯d yet to reach level one hundred in his Skill. He failed. He now had the perfect excuse to stop, to leave his cave and continue living. He told himself that he would come back to the training eventually, that he would build the mana back up again, and continue next month. He could meet with the Korgonda, potentially continue adventuring a bit further through the checkpoints, and make it back to push through the final five levels. Dei would leave, take a break, and come back to train as he always did. But he couldn¡¯t do that. Even now, even after all the meditation to keep himself sane, he felt himself flinching when he approached the threshold of the next level in [Pandora¡¯s Box]. If he stopped, it would take him a long, long time to mentally heal enough to start training again. Even the thought of continuing to train caused him to shake. He couldn¡¯t keep going. He had to see the world outside of the cave, see other sights, and rest. It didn¡¯t matter if it took months to gain the strength to reach level one hundred, Dei needed to stop. Which is exactly why he couldn¡¯t. While he needed to meet with the Korgonda, it would still be there in a few more days. It was doubtlessly stronger than its brethren after all the valuable resources it consumed, so Dei didn¡¯t need to worry about it dying, at least not any time soon, It was true that he had the perfect excuse to stop training, but he recognized that for what it was: an excuse. He felt his mind calm as his indecisiveness faded away, and a resolve to finish what he started took its place. He closed his eyes, and continued to meditate * * * [Since the Fall: 9/12/809 - 15:31:27] [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (95) -> (96)] ¡­ [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (98) -> (99)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (63) -> (64)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (64) -> (65)] Just three days later, Dei was on the cusp of the final Skill level up. His entire life in this world hadn¡¯t been easy at all, but this felt like the hardest thing he¡¯d ever done. His other decisions were all forced onto him, or he felt an obligation to do certain things, but it was only himself that chose to push to complete his training, despite his failing strength, or perhaps because of his failing strength, he chose to close his eyes and continue limping forward down his path. Something within [Meditation] began to solidify as well, and it became easier to weather the pain [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] forced onto him. He still dreaded every single level up, but he no longer shook in fear when another bout of pain approached. He braced his mind, held on tight, and pushed through. The final point of Soul came through his connection to the affinity, and Dei watched as it pressed into the broken Skill he continued to train. Again, the horrible aching overtook him, but his muscles did not tense. His breathing did not change, continuing its rhythm and grounding him in the moment. His actions would be his own, and an empty pain would not guide him down a path he was not already following. One minute stretched into two, two into five, and five into ten. Even so, he never alleviated the pressure. He never cast [Identify] to give him some breathing room. Still as stone, he no longer even fought the pain, focusing to try and release it from his body. Instead, he simply let it crash into him, unmoving as the cold rock in the walls around him. After twelve minutes, it reached the crescendo of agony, then abruptly ceased. For a time afterwards, Dei continued to meditate, letting his mind center itself. With the final push, a change took place in the Skill, and he broke through a barrier previously holding him back. It felt like he¡¯d stumbled into a clearing after tearing his body thoroughly on the dense foliage, but he¡¯d yet to check his notifications to see what exactly. When he felt he was ready, he finally let himself fall back into his body. On top of [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] hitting level one hundred, Dei felt something reach out to him, connecting to him and respecting the efforts he put himself through. It looked over his entire life, up to the very moment he lived in, and judged him worthy. [Affinity Gained: Fortitude] Chapter 45 Unmoving from his sitting position, Dei closed his eyes and drew his sight close to his soul, finding a new connection. Rather than only the newest moment, his connection to Fortitude drew upon every moment in his life where he showed such resilience. While it was only the most recent of his achievements that garnered its attention, he could see the effects of Fortitude all along his life in a way that was not obvious before. Again, he was reminded of why Natural Affinities were so much more intimate than Unnatural Affinities. The new affinity was also much more personal than his other three, a companion to stand behind him, helping him along the way. Kindness and Wrath were born with him, a part of his very being. Soul was disconnected, closer to a tool than a part of who he was. Fortitude was neither, instead choosing to be a friend and defender of him. While he¡¯d yet to earn any Skills in fortitude, it wrapped his entire being in a warm barrier, defending him from the world. It further suppressed the effects of his connection to Soul and alleviated the onsetting insanity from his loneliness. He also noticed his mind accelerate, taking him off guard. Unbeknownst to him, he was subconsciously dedicating processing power to various useless tasks, such as looking forward to his meeting with the Korgonda, anxiously worrying about whether his enemies would find him, and holding his previous grudges. Fortitude gently pried these thoughts from his grasp, allowing him to rest as it muffled their draw on his mind He shuddered as his muscles fully relaxed, slumped over, and passed out. * * * [Since the Fall: 9/13/809 - 6:07:39] Slowly waking from his dreamless sleep, Dei yawned and sat up. He felt better than he had in a long time, and his new affinity was to thank for it. He¡¯d shown Fortitude ever since his mother was forced to abandon him, and he was now changed from the experience. His connection to Fortitude proved that his mind was irrevocably different, strengthening him for surviving the furnace of living in the cruel caves. He¡¯d slept for around seventeen hours after Fortitude helped to relax his mind, and was ready to tackle the next step: checking his notifications. [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (99) -> (100)] [Skill: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (100) has reached an evolution threshold] [Skill: Meditation has undergone a manual evolution] Three extraordinary notifications, proof of his efforts. He would look at the evolution options for [Pandora¡¯s Box] soon, but he checked on his [Meditation] Skill first [Meditation - Level 65 - Mana Affinity The self, everything that ones identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. The plants, insects, and even microbes experience the same moments as any human, yet ones identity itself is entirely unique. Despite sharing moments with so many others, no entity shares every moment with you. Your identity is the sum of so many parts, yet greater than every single one individually. Even still, there is an unbreakable link between every singular person and the grand cosmos that rotates around their unique perspective. Using that link, draw aspects of yourself into the open, showing all what it means to be you. Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards. Level 65 manual evolutionary upgrade - Cuts appear upon your skin, but you do not flinch. Whips strike you, yet you do not falter. Marching forward endlessly to the future, anything that stands in your way will either move or break, for you will not. Gain the ability to resist all disruptions to your mental faculties. Resistance becomes stronger with each successive level.] He was glad it was only an addition to his already existing Skill, rather than a change to the Skill itself. If it had changed, he would have been slightly screwed, as he needed to earn Presence to make up for his broken soul. Looking back, he might have actually been playing with fire¡­ except he sort of knew it wasn¡¯t that easy to change a Skill. It really wasn¡¯t chance at all, as he felt the change he was pushing into the Skill would not have changed its fundamental abilities. Next, it was time for him to look at how he could evolve his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] ability. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Size Adaptivity Sectioning] He first started with Size [Size: Oceans of mana are channeled through you, affinities granting you more than you can reasonably contain. This evolution doubles the amount of mana per level within the spell] Simple upgrade, and one he¡¯d already chosen in his previous life. He felt there was something wrong with it though, a path thoroughly trodden in his minds eye. He¡¯d already picked this once, and he wasn¡¯t supposed to be able to pick it again¡­ If he did, Dei felt like something bad would happen. The analogy of pathways was not a fully accurate one, and the [Size] upgrade was closer to a portal, straight to the end of the pathway, rather than an upgrade. It felt like if he chose that upgrade, then the Skill would instantly return to its previous, very high level. He now understood what the System meant when it said the wrong upgrade would make him ¡°explode.¡± The individual levels were already painful when the Skill was repairing itself, gaining over a hundred more in a single moment? It would kill him. He also noted that Concentration was not an option with this upgrade. Were some evolutions only eligible at higher tiers? Size and Concentration out, that left [Adaptivity] and [Sectioning]. [Adaptivity: The box was never meant to contain mana that would fight it, any mana that had goals of its own. Your mana enters the box of your accord, but others easily break from its grasp. This evolution gives the box the ability to fight will-imbued mana, pulling it into the box despite its efforts. Strength of pull becomes stronger with each successive level.] He whistled, thinking ¡®that is one nice level up. It would have helped to contain the Convection mana, but thats not all. I could do it to a foreign influence, such as a mind controller, invading my body only to have its mana stolen from it. I might even be able to use that mana, casting tons of different spells for my own purpose¡­ ¡®Wait, is that why its called adaptivity? Because I¡¯ll be able to cast many different types of spells with the foreign mana, but I won''t have a stable source of the mana?¡¯ The text about it ¡°pulling¡± also made him think of how the Melder could pull Spirit and Soul mana from the air. This upgrade never said it could only pull the mana from his body, did that mean he could perhaps learn to take mana from his surroundings? He didn¡¯t even need to wonder, as he could pick this upgrade, test it out, then change paths if he wanted to, as long as he didn¡¯t level up with it. Firing off a few Soul-powered Identifies, just to ensure his box didn¡¯t fill up all the way, he picked Adaptivity. He felt that shift where the blockage in his way was removed, and he gained a new section to his Skill. Activating it, Dei focused on pulling the plant-mana from the grass under him, and found that it could. Now, the mana was putting up a hell of a fight, and he was unlikely to gain anything for a few hours with its current strength, but the option was there; he could genuinely pull any kind of mana straight from the environment around him. Excited about the potential of his new upgrade, Dei wondered what the next one would hold in store. [Sectioning: The box was always intended to either be contained, or used all at once. Never was it meant to be used slowly, in small amounts, but you¡¯ve found a way to do so. This evolution grants the ability for you to form certain sub-boxes within your Skill, allowing for the full release of smaller, pre-designated pools of mana. Accelerates how fast the user can section off portions of their mana with each successive level] His brows scrunched at the description of [Sectioning]. When it said he was supposed to use all of it at once, what did that mean? He¡¯d never drawn mana from the box in his previous life, allowing for it to continuously fill up, but was it a recognition of that fact? While possible, Dei sensed that it wasn¡¯t the case. ¡®Hold on. Hold on. HOLD ON!¡¯ His eyes widened and he turned his soul sight towards the pandora¡¯s box with half his mind. Using the other half, he cast a Soul powered Identify, and watched closely. The mana escaped the box, pulled from the walls¡­ but no, it wasn¡¯t. He focused closer, casting again, and watched as the mana was pulled from the cracks in the box!. ¡®Ah, shit. I¡¯m only able to use the mana because the Skill is slightly broken, allowing a small amount to escape if it is pulled through by an outside force.¡¯ Frowning at the realization, he tried to think of how this would affect the future. If he didn¡¯t have this evolution by the time the Skill was level two hundred and fifty four, his box would fully repair itself, locking him out of its mana completely. Something else to consider was how he might have to specialize his constitution into [HP], like Gargeth said, which would half his [MP]. Once his Skill was rehealed fully, Dei would be relying on his MP for all of his mundane spells, unless he chose [Sectioning] to correct that. If he specialized his constitution, and didn¡¯t evolve [Sectioning], Dei wouldn¡¯t even be able to cast [Astral Projection], as it required four hundred and fifty mana, and he would need four hundred and fifty Physical to go along with that. While it wasn¡¯t impossible to gain that much, how many decades of work would that be? There was still another evolution to go, though, so he might be able to pick it next time. The only thing to ask himself was whether he could pick it next time, or would he be locked out of it as an option. He¡¯d never reached a second evolution in his time spent living under a new System, so the only clue he had was the second evolution to his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] he¡¯d taken last time. In his previous life and first evolution to the Skill, he doubled how much mana it could contain, earning another ten mana per level in the Skill. During the second evolution, he chose to concentrate it down, earning six times the effective capacity of the Skill. It was a further specialization, an increase of how much mana the Skill could contain. Was that the only option in his previous life? Would further evolutions allow for him to pick unused paths, or would he have to pick again which way to specialize the Skill? He had no way to know for sure, but drew comfort from a recent development: His [Meditation] Skill. He¡¯d just proved that the chances for evolution the System gave every hundred levels was not the only option. If he focused hard enough, he could manually evolve himself. While it would not be pleasant, Dei had over a hundred and fifty Skill levels to figure out a solution, some way to draw mana from his Skill without choosing a less-interesting ability. Dei would choose [Adaptivity], as it would increase his chances of survival, and he would just have to live with the consequences later if he never got the chance to change his Skill.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Decision made, Dei still wanted to try out [Sectioning], to see if there was something he was missing. He chose a small piece of Wrath mana, just a single point, and began forming a personal box around it. Slowly but surely, the Wrath mana was encased in the box. It took five minutes, but Dei now had a small, reserved Wrath mana. Looking at his [Pandora¡¯s Box] using soul sight, Dei noticed a small door on the side of the wooden box, representing the segmented piece of Wrath mana. Something else Dei wanted to try involved his [Growing Pains]. When Dei was working out, the Skill would draw Wrath Concentrate from the box, making it a lighter shade. Dei suspected that, when there was no more Wrath mana in it, the mana would turn into MP, but it was difficult to prove. Every time new Wrath mana entered the box, it would further taint the pool. Right now, Dei had the perfect chance to instead use [Growing Pains] and draw from a small, very exclusive pool of Wrath mana in order to test his theory. Putting his conundrum about the evolutions aside Dei decided to use the chance he was given. It was only around six in the morning, but Dei started his daily routing of checking on the plants, eating, drinking, and looking outside of his cave. On top of checking whether the frog who attacked him was still alive, Dei started checking on his Korgonda friend while he was hiding in his Garden too. The Korgonda continued to grow rapidly, emerging as one of the strongest opponents in his particular biosphere. Dei noticed two other Korgonda¡¯s that were growing as fast as his was, but they didn''t have an anchor and concentrated Soul mana to back them, so he doubted they were as strong. Morning routine done, Dei activated training mode and began working out, focusing his Skill into drawing Wrath Concentration from the singular point of mana. Immediately, he felt the Skill kick into overdrive, straining hard. When Dei overused a Skill, it always put the extra effort on his soul, leading to the pressure he felt. Normally, Dei wouldn¡¯t feel the effort from [Growing Pains] at all, but he sure was feeling it now. Quickly, the sectioned off Wrath mana turned from a light red to almost clear, getting exponentially harder to pull from as time went on. ¡®There was no way I could do this without the Sectioning ability¡¯ he thought to himself. * * * [Since the Fall: 9/13/809 - 8:42:19] A little over two hours later, Dei felt his Skill hit a brick wall, completely unable to pull any more concentration from the singular point of mana. He was drenched in sweat at this point, despite the fact that his workout was the lightest he¡¯d done in months. He wasn¡¯t used to how many breaks were needed when he wasn¡¯t constantly regenerating, and regularly overextended his body in a single go. [Growing Pains] just didn¡¯t heal very well without a larger pool of Wrath mana to draw on. At long last, though, he was done. He¡¯d successfully pulled all the Wrath Concentration from a point of Wrath mana, and opened his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] summary, expecting to see Neutral Mana or MP as a new section in the menu. [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1669/4000 Wrath 628/4000 Kindness 1636/4000 Soul 4/4000 Fortitude 1/4000 [NULL] ] ¡®Woah woah woah, hold on a second!¡¯ he thought excitedly, ¡®Null mana? I like the sound of that!¡¯ He was proven wrong, and clear mana was not MP, but something else entirely. He released it from its box, allowing the latch to open and feeling a clear ball of energy come out. ¡®Huh, at least with this Sectioning thing, I don''t need to do something special to retrieve mana from my box.¡¯ Taking hold of it, he moved it around, seeing if it would do anything special, but it just kinda¡­ existed. Floating around, doing nothing much. Could he turn it into another type of mana? Using Sectioning, he was able to single out and remove a point of Soul mana from his box. Controlling the Soul and Null mana, he moved them towards each other, hoping to somehow gain two Soul mana, each with half concentration. ¡®Now kiss.¡¯ When they touched though, the Soul mana was pushed far back, almost flying from his control. It wasn¡¯t that the Null mana forced it away, Dei sensed that the Null mana took on the role of ¡°Immovable Object¡± in this scenario, the malleable nature of Soul mana causing it to act as a sort of bouncy ball. Since the Null mana resisted absorbing any of the force of impact, the Soul mana went flying. He likened it to a rubber ball hitting concrete, where it would bounce much higher than if it hit something soft, like grass, that would absorb the impact. The Null mana didn¡¯t turn into Soul mana, it rejected the very existence of affinity mana entirely. Dei suddenly had a much different idea to what he could use Sectioning for. What if he managed to flood an area with Null mana, which would cause any affinity mana to go haywire? Normally, he noticed that different affinities would just pass through one another harmlessly; with Null mana though, simply existing in the area would shield him from all incoming spells, as it would push out everything else, same as it did with Soul mana. Imagination running wild now, he thought of all the possibilities of mana rejection tactics, perhaps producing a shield of null mana that would perfectly resist all spells. Dei first thought that Sectioning would be the only way to cast spells if he specialized his Constitution, a stopgap measure that would be worse than what he already had. He considered it a total downgrade to the current condition of his [Pandora¡¯s Box], allowing only for less flexibility in his spell usage. Now, he realized that it provided a new, very interesting tactic. If Dei couldn¡¯t use any spells, Null mana would ensure that nobody else could either! Groaning, he realized that his decision of where to evolve his Skills to wasn¡¯t so clear cut anymore. [Adaptivity] and [Sectioning] both had incredible uses, but if he was being honest, [Sectioning] suddenly outclassed [Adaptivity] by a lot. Initially, he thought it was as simple as ¡°Adaptivity grants better short term survival, Sectioning is the long term solution,¡± except Sectioning now gives both. By instantly providing a new tool and being the smart option that would ensure he could continue his chosen path of casting, Sectioning was just the smart option. Adaptivity would be useful and help him in endless situations, but there were too many counters to every affinity. It was a complicated evolution that promised success if he carefully crafted different spells for all his weaknesses. Adaptivity was a chess grandmaster''s tool, endlessly preparing for the future, accounting for every interaction, while Null mana let him lunge across the board. Null mana wouldn¡¯t ensure victory in every situation, but neither would a better adaptability. Both had their ups and downs, but Dei thought Sectioning would have both short and long term benefits. After he chose [Sectioning], Dei closed the screens and prepared to use [Astral Projection], finally ready to leave his Garden. * * * POV: The Korgonda The Korgonda was never named, but he called himself ¡°the Clever!¡± Because he was clever indeed! When he hatched, his mother dropped him and his brood mates here, in these hot tunnels, so they would fight and grow stronger. While they didn¡¯t need to kill each other to succeed, the Clever oftentimes found himself fighting those he¡¯d come here with. For resources, the best heating spots, or just to hone his Skills, the Clever fought much with his siblings. Heat was the lifeblood of all things, the Clever knew that. His heat sense allowed him to see the biggest heat in these tunnels when he first got here, an Anchor. His siblings saw this too, this big heat, and all of them wanted it. They knew, instinctually, that the one to reach it would have their heat become better, so they all rushed forwards from their mother to be the first to reach it. The Clever was smart though. He suspected it would not be so easy. He was not the fastest, and for that he was lucky. Him and his siblings sensed the heat of the first batch of Korgonda¡¯s quickly snuffed out, and many began re-thinking their strategies. They all sensed the guardian, that which they first thought was a big hot rock, and tried finding ways to get around it. The Clever worried at first, his sneaky siblings getting closer than all the rest, but they too were snuffed out. Some tried to swarm the prize, yet the numbers never mattered. Only those who didn¡¯t attack survived for longer, and there were many who gave up on the prize. Not the Clever though, he was determined. For a time he thought it was foolish of him to waste time in trying to gain access to something that would maybe kill him, but by the time he realized it wasn¡¯t very smart, his siblings were too strong for him to catch up. He needed this big heat if he was going to get stronger than them all. So he planned. He chose a place with little heat, so his siblings wouldn¡¯t find it. He would hide the big heat here when he got it. Then, he noticed that the guardian stopped watching the big heat when it was fighting, because another of his brothers got very very close when it was distracted, but came from the wrong angle, not waiting for the perfect time. He would wait. He would wait for the perfect time. Finding a hole near the big heat filled with magma, he drank it to stay fed, and waited. And waited. And waited. * * * Three weeks went by since his mother left him and his siblings here. [Affinity Gained: Patience] There were many fights, the guardian constantly becoming distracted, but it was never perfect. It was either just a little too angled, or the monster was just a little too weak to distract it for as long as the Clever wanted. So he continued to wait. Until¡­ ¡®Here! Its perfect!¡¯ the Clever thought. The guardian was perfectly facing away from him, fighting a monster with BIG heat to it. Clever could hardly stand near its presence, too hot for even him behind a stone wall! It would distract the guardian for long enough! Watching through his heat sense, the Clever watched the guardian strike first, tearing at the challenger, but he ignored them. Quickly, he darted from his hiding spot, snatching the big heat prize. The guardian let out an ear splitting scream the moment he touched the anchor, but the Clever ignored it, running as fast as he could through the crack in the wall. In his heat sense, the Clever watched the guardian expend a massive amount of heat to instantly vaporize its enemy. ¡®Oh, I didn¡¯t know it could do that!¡¯ the Clever started to panic. He¡¯d watched it for so long! But he¡¯d never seen it react like that. Through the walls, he saw his siblings watching him, learning from his mistakes, planning the next attempt to take it when he failed. But he wouldn¡¯t fail! He would not be snuffed out like the others, he would live. Despite his desires, the guardian quickly gained on him. Seeing a crack deeper than the others, the Clever quickly scaled the wall, hiding. The guardian found him immediately, tearing into the wall with ferocity he¡¯d never seen it express, quickly digging him out. The Clever began to panic, what could he do? He tried digging through the stone as well, but his hands were made for sticking, not digging. He quickly looked over his Interface [Nickname: The Clever Race: Korgonda (Level 23) Titles: N/A HP: 36/36 MP: 36/36 SP: 32/36 Stats: Physical: 18 Mental:19 Spiritual: 13 Magical: 13 Affinities: Heat: Low-Treasured: 12% Patience: Low-Uncommon: 5% Inner Skills: Heat: Channel Heat (17), Flesh to Rock (5), Patience: Poised to Strike (12) Outer Skills: None] No no no! Nothing there! [Racial Bonuses: Heat Sense (Greater) Adaptable Body (Greater) Sticky Grasp] Nothing? The Clever started to panic, squishing himself as far back into the cave as possible. Terror overcame his being as he realized that he was going to die. Even if he gave the stone back, the Clever realized this guardian was not going to let him live, so he was forced to wait, feeling the stone around him crack and constrict, jostling and crushing his tiny body. He despaired, knowing that it would soon be his turn to be snuffed out, when there was suddenly a commotion in front of the cave. The Clever watched his hunter turn to look at something beside him, before suddenly disappearing as a massive form rammed into him. Many massive forms rammed into him. Suddenly, something spoke to him in a way he could understand ¡°Run quickly before it''s too late,¡± and he did not hesitate to do so. It requested some information from him too and he quickly accepted, not caring about it, as long as he could live. A ways from the guardian, though, his traitorous brothers surrounded him. They promised to share it among the six of them, so all six could get a good evolution, but it was his. The Clever was the one that almost died! He was the one that risked his life! He was not going to give it up, he was not going to give them a single bite! Right as they started getting braver, closing in and barking at him to surrender it, the Clever felt a massive wave of Convection and Soul mana approaching behind him. The Convection mana was in the shape of a giant, but the Soul mana flaking off that giant screamed of a powerful monster. Such pure mana could only be found deep, deep below. His brothers feared, scattering before the wave, and the Clever again thanked his protector. He sensed it follow behind him, slowly expelling Convection mana and slowing the leak of Soul mana, before it was made to be absent entirely. Despite the lack of Convection mana and Soul cloud, the Clever could still clearly see his protector in the form of absent heat. The caves around them were hot, comfortable. But his protector was cold, a perfect blindspot in his [Heat Sense (Greater)]. His brothers and sisters sensed this as well, seeing how he was protected by the cold guardian! They feared to get close, and the Clever knew that he would be able to consume his anchor in peace. Making it back to his hiding spot, he traveled deep within. He noticed now that many of his kin were gathered close by, having followed him from the anchor. He¡¯d chosen this place to hide, but realized now that it would have failed without the cold protector following behind. Happily, he noticed that it waited outside for him, not beckoning him to come back out, and set about consuming his anchor quickly so he could meet his new friend. ¡®Friends! Mother told us of those.¡¯ Chapter 46 POV: The Clever, after meeting with Dei He¡¯d just met with his first friend! Well, now he understood that his new friend was only an ally, but he seemed so cool! Despite being cold, his new friend was very strong! He could smell it on him. The Clever was even allowed to absorb some of his new friend''s strength in the form of a pure version of foreign mana, and he quickly retreated into his cave to digest everything he¡¯d eaten. He only had so much room in his body after all. He sensed his siblings around him, retreating after they realized all their potential prizes were gone, and knew that he would be able to rest in peace. Lying down, he closed his eyes and sensed all the mana inside of him. The new mana inside of him was foreign to Korgonda¡¯s, and he could not connect to it properly. Instead, he would use it to find a connection he could use. It was a very pure form of mana, so he knew he would be able to learn much about his affinities from it. The Clever first had to decide which of his affinities to focus his efforts of learning on: Heat or Patience. When he brought the foreign mana close to Heat, it didn¡¯t react, but when he brought it close to Patience, it quickly latched onto it. He felt that he would learn faster if he used it on Patience, so he was happy to do so. Gathering all the pure foreign mana and slowly feeding it to his Patience affinity, the Clever felt the connection begin to change, linking more to his¡­ his something. Patience was being drawn to a deeper part of himself, and he was beginning to gain control over his Patience. More than his Patience, he was starting to learn about the world''s Patience. How the world would always wait, and wait, eternally, never stopping, never slowing down. It was an endless march of waiting, everything was waiting and waiting, always. Grasping forward at the new connection before him, the Clever felt his Patience affinity finally really changed. [Affinity Evolved: Patience has evolved into Time] Time! That''s what the world''s Patience was called! He became acutely aware of every passing moment around him, of the endless march of time, and how he might change it. [Skill: Poised to Strike (12) has transferred into Time affinity] [Skill Changed: Poised to Strike: (12) -> Past the Strike (1)] ¡®Yay! A new Skill!¡¯ [Past the Strike - Level 1 - Time Affinity The shaded hunter strikes first, critically injuring its prey and winning the fight before it is even started. During combat, an unexpected burst of speed can turn the tables immediately, crippling the opponent. In a fight to the death, only one will truly emerge victorious, while the other is snuffed out. But what if one could avoid the lethal strike before it ever occurred? Gain an awareness of immediate possibilities, potentially trading places with a self in the splinter timeline] It squeaked happily, jumping around in its little cave, as it knew this Skill was strong. Somewhere in the back of its mind, the Clever was suddenly aware of all the moments in every direction, even those it didn¡¯t know about before. There were so many, but he also saw that they were limited. A lot of the moments were the same, only changing just a little bit. Deciding to test it out, he decided to trade places with himself where he was just a little bit to his left. [Skill Leveled Up: Past the Strike (1) -> (2)] A sense of having always been where he was overcame him, and he was somewhere else. If he hadn¡¯t remembered his other self, the Clever would have thought he really had always been to the left. The only problem was that it felt very difficult to do the thing that he did: the Clever knew that he would not be able to do that more than once in a while, or he would hurt himself really badly. Nonetheless! It would help him a lot! Again he had a fit of squeaking at his new power, and was ready to take on all his siblings! Not only was there his new Time affinity, but the Clever felt a strong heat within his core from the anchor that he¡¯d eaten. He didn¡¯t know what it would do, but he felt it slowly growing. * * * Scurrying back and forth along the cave floors, the Clever peeked out, looking at a big bright crystal that released white light. He licked it a few times, but it was not very good. * * * The Clever saw how one of his siblings struggled to fight a centipede. The Centipede continuously spewed lava over his sibling, but the heat was nothing to a Korgonda! The rapidly drying nature of it was though, and his sister was quickly trapped. Though they all competed for the same spot, the Clever decided to help her. Running in, peeking on the other timelines around him, the Clever noticed a future where he, too, was covered in magma. He chose to swap with a version of himself that was further ahead than he actually was, effectively teleporting forwards as the lava landed behind him. He lunged for the centipedes head, grasping it and whipping it about. His sister heated her body, glowing brightly under the stone as it started to loosen and melt off. While he wrestled with the centipede, careful to bite it by the neck to keep its mouth away from him, she finally freed herself and helped him kill it, breaking its legs off while the Clever held it down. In no time, they were victorious. His sister chirped a thank you, they shared the dinner, and went their separate ways. * * * The Clever was charging up for something big now. The glowing within him slowly grew at all times, but it was boosted by eating other hot creatures. He felt it, and knew something was coming. * * * The Clever ran, ducking through cracks and dodging under falling stones. Behind him, a wave of magma approached, slowly gaining on him. He¡¯d first thought it was a harmless pool of molten rock, and took a sip. His sense for Time warned him though, a splinter timeline seconds into the future having been snatched up. He transported himself backwards at the same time as he lunged backwards, narrowly dodging the grasping liquid. The glow within him shone brighter than ever before, but he didn¡¯t know what to do. Nothing stopped the wave, always closing in. His body ached from using his [Past the Strike] two times since the fight started, and it was all he could do to stop from collapsing under the weight of his own body. A humming was released from him, his body heating from the exertion as he pushed it. The cracks along his skin glowed brighter and brighter, becoming a blinding sun from how hot he was becoming. He noticed quickly that something else added heat to him, and the humming near the base of his neck grew louder. Understanding that the glow within him was finally ready to be used, he whipped around, opening his mouth. A beam, bright and hot, shot forward in a cone. The creature chasing him was made of thick magma, which was then superheated into the consistency of water. The beam lasted for only two seconds, but by the end of it, the entire tunnel was melting, the ceiling dripping to the ground. [Skill Gained: Blazing Breath] [Title Gained: Molten Core] [EXP gained for killing the Greater Magma Slime (Level 128). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] The Clever dropped to the ground, panting and cold. The stone was hot, helping him, but the glow within him had died completely, and he no longer felt that inner heat he had before. He sensed something approaching him in his vulnerable state, but was unable to move, unable to defend himself. Instead of attacking him though, he heard sad squeaks, and felt a nudging of his body. ¡®My sister. The one I helped¡¯ he realized, chirping weakly back ¡°Cold¡± he signaled to her, and felt her press her head into his belly, lifting him onto her back. He realized she was nearly triple his size ¡®when did she grow so much?¡¯ She carried him a long distance, eventually pushing him into a very hot hole in the wall before it closed behind them. She curled around him, and he felt pulses of heat enter him, helping him recover. Every few minutes, she would squeak at him, and he would respond that he was okay. They communicated about their struggles with living, and he realized that his sister focused much on survivability with her powers. She¡¯d gained an Earth affinity to match her heat, and was almost impossible to pin down. Despite the fact that she had little attack options, she¡¯d never lost, as she would harry her opponents. After talking for a while, the Clever realized that it was likely this sister that was going to win the top spot in this cave system, not him. Despite all his bonuses, his powers were simply too exotic, not stable enough to be an independent strength. He thought back to the cold friend he¡¯d made so long ago, who talked about a ¡°community.¡± The clever knew what this thing was, as his cold friend¡¯s way of messaging explained it to him. The Clever¡¯s abilities were more suited for this ¡°community¡± thing, needing others, like his sister, to cover for his weaknesses. He expressed these thoughts to her, telling her about the idea of many Korgonda coming together to help each other. He told her that he knew she would win the top spot, and would concede from the race entirely if it meant ever facing her. Proud of herself, she still promised him that she would never attack him, so he would win against her in combat, but he promised the same to her, so they would never fight at all. He told her that she should get the weaker Korgonda to help her, commanding them to concede to her so they could all help each other survive. They talked about it over the course of several days, slowly coming to understand each other using their very simple language. Once this was achieved, she said she would think about it, but was more eager to help him train, as she realized he was woefully underprepared for surviving the world, and she was still grateful of the time when he¡¯d saved her. Much later, the Clever had a new nifty Skill under his belt that his sister helped him get [Skill Gained: Heat Scan] It helped him assess how strong enemies were by how efficiently the heat traveled through their bodies, telling him when to pick a fight and when to run away. Not only this, but she helped him train up his [Channel Heat] Skill, teaching him about the different ways it flowed. The mana around them was Convection, so it was not truly how heat functioned, but only a single part of it. She also helped with his [Flesh to Rock] Skill, one he¡¯d developed to suppress his heat in order to hide from the anchor Guardian. She showed that it could instead seal in the heat, not suppress it, which would help warm him up in cold environments. At the end of her lessons, his Interface looked much different. [Nickname: The Clever Race: Molten Korgonda (Level 79) Titles: Molten Core HP: 74/74 MP: 74/74 SP: 74/74 Stats: Physical: 37 Mental:36 Spiritual: 20 Magical: 26 Affinities: Heat: Low-Treasured: 63% Time: Mid-Uncommon: 92% Inner Skills: Heat: Channel Heat (52), Flesh to Rock (20), Blazing Breath (5) Time: Past the Strike (29) Outer Skills: None]If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. [Title: Molten Core Within you is a flame that never dies, only growing hotter with each breath you focus through it. The longer it stays hidden, the hotter it grows. Ready to take on the world, he stepped out of his sister''s den with his head held high. * * * POV: Dei Grrata The first thing he had to decide before going out would be how much Soul mana to charge his Projection with. While it might seem like ¡°just pour all of it¡± would be a good idea, he found that there were times when he needed to use his body too, then immediately start a projection again. Instead of spending all of his Soul mana, Dei decided to have a reserve of five hundred, in case of an emergency. The next change he decided on was to leave an entire mind in his main body, just staying in communication with it. This mind, which only required 40% of his available processing power to be fully conscious, would work towards training physically and creating more Null mana. Dei was incredibly excited at the prospect of having something that could so thoroughly cancel out spells, and he needed to get on that immediately. The cost of this was that he could not safely keep his cloaking up, but that was a cost he was willing to pay. Dei was starting to learn more about the world, and he was confident in his survivability in his Projection form. So far, almost nothing could have either touched him or kept up with his speed if he ran. The only issues he¡¯d had so far were when he intentionally didn¡¯t run, or involved himself in something that wasn¡¯t his problem. Decision made, Dei decided to use his new Sectioning upgrade for this [Astral Projection] to test it. Closing his eyes, he focused on pulling eleven hundred Soul mana into its own box. The mana slowly congregated into its own section, squishing together as a wall formed around it. Thirty minutes later, a door appeared on the side of his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)], and the process of sectioning his mana was finished. Now, he tried to cast [Astral Projection] while flipping the latch to open the door, releasing the Soul mana. Quickly, the Skill pulled all the Soul mana out, feeding it into his Identity and empowering it. Sixty percent of his Identity split off from the main portion of the soul, and Dei was ejected forward in his glowing white body. [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (8) -> (9)] [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (9) -> (10)] Quickly balancing himself to stand on his feet, Spiritual Dei turned to look at Physical Dei, who waved him away, telling him to shoo. Making his way through the crack in the wall to let Physical Dei begin producing Null Mana, Dei checked his Interface. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Spiritual) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 71) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 5) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) Soul Strength: 1100/1100 MP: 106/106 SP: 106/106 Stats: Physical: 53 Mental: 45 Spiritual: 39 Magical: 46 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare: 73% Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 67% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Fortitude: Low-Common: 0% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (100) (2210/4000), Call for Help (24), Good Samaritan (1), Meaningful (33) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (109) Soul: Astral Projection (10), Connection (1) Health: Homeostasis: (26) Mana: Meditation (65) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (56) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (47), Vigilance (63), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (55)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1669/4000 Wrath 628/4000 Kindness 536/4000 Soul 4/4000 Fortitude 1/4000 [NULL] ] As ready as he was going to get, he finally got to begin his Journey to check on his Korgonda friend. * * * Traveling quickly through the Spirit World, he didn¡¯t take any detours like he had last time, instead shooting straight for checkpoint one. When he passed by bugs or small vermin, he would quickly kill them for experience, but there were no levels yet. Reaching the rubble he had before, he wasted no time in jumping through to checkpoint one. Quickly, he moved through the systems to the point where he¡¯d last seen the Korgonda. Dei didn¡¯t really have a plan for how he was going to find the little guy, but saw that he did spend much of his time in the home cavern Dei first talked to him in front of. For a while, he rested in another den with another Korgonda, but he¡¯d returned to his own several days ago. Now, Dei sat in front of his Korgonda friends little hole in the wall, and couldn¡¯t sense him inside. ¡®Well what now?¡¯ he asked himself, scratching his head. He really didn¡¯t have a plan for whether it would be in its cave or not. It left frequently, fighting and surviving, then would come back to rest for a few hours, before repeating the process. Settling down to wait for the Korgonda to get back, he was surprised to find that it returned only minutes later. ¡®Huh, that was lucky¡¯ he thought to himself. Instead of luck though, the Korgonda went straight towards him, ignoring the cave completely. He wasn¡¯t manifested in the physical world, how could it see him? Or was it a coincidence? When it started running circles around him and yipping, Dei knew it wasn¡¯t a coincidence, and phased back into the physical world. Bending down and holding his hand out, the Korgonda scurried up his arm, to his shoulders, and sat down on him. Turning his head to the side, Dei smiled brightly at the antics. He felt such¡­ relief. Relief to have something in this world that liked him. He slowly brought his hand up to it, petting it gently. His friend was a bit bigger than a finger now, about as large as his full hand, but still quite small. Dei also noticed that the glowing red cracks in its skin dimmed greatly before it climbed onto him, most likely to stop itself from burning him. He again used [Identify] on his friend, looking to see what sort of changes took place . [Molten Infant Korgonda - Level 83 These clever little amphibians live their lives half on land, half in molten rock. Born with a natural wit and boldness, only the smartest and strongest survive. Mother Korgonda will host hundreds of eggs in their sac¡¯s, moving between various heated areas and releasing swarms of their young to fight their way to the top of the food chain they find themselves in. Korgonda¡¯s endlessly grow in relation to the environment they find themselves in. When they outgrow the food web that sustains them, Korgonda will move downwards into the earth using a natural born Heat Sense (Greater) to seek out the next habitat to conquer. This particular Korgonda has developed its Heat affinity further, managing to gain a core that continuously produces heat for it, removing its dependence on the environment to keep it alive. Physical: 39 Mental:36 Spiritual: 22 Magical: 26] His eyebrows raised in surprise, not only at the new ¡°Molten¡± in its name, but also the fact that it was higher level than him. Dei had tried for months, and struggled to level up at all, yet his new friend was having no issues in doing so. Thinking about it though, this Korgonda was likely to gain much more EXP from killing insects, as it was almost equal to them with its physical body, giving it more of a challenge. Dei was railroaded into either killing insects, which gave almost no EXP, or killing higher level creatures, which was a potential death sentence. Again, he was reminded of how ¡°playing the part¡± in an ecosystem would grant EXP, and how this Korgonda was likely going to quickly hit the correct range of levels for the area, which was around one hundred and fifty. Not only was it a part of the ecosystem though, but it was in a constant battle for life and death. This Korgonda didn¡¯t have a guaranteed safe place to go back to, everyday being a challenge. While Dei would go into battle maybe once a month, this little critter battled every single day. Despite it surpassing him in level, Dei felt no jealousy for it, only happiness that it continued to survive in his absence. ¡°Are you doing okay? I¡¯m sorry I was gone so long, I needed a while to get better¡± he sent to it using [Meaningful]. The Korgonda nodded its head, a signal he¡¯d taught it last time they¡¯d met, and Dei was surprised to get emotional feedback straight from the creature. He realized that his Kindness [Identify] was still running, still reading its soul, and the creature offered up meaning through the connection. While it couldn¡¯t think in words, the Korgonda felt much, and it sent an ¡®affirmative¡¯ to him. He hadn¡¯t even thought to try and give it a path to communication through [Identify]! That would make things so much easier! ¡°I can understand you through the connection, that was very smart of you!¡± he sent it, and it puffed out its chest in response, causing him to laugh. ¡°Okay, is there anything you need from me? I still have a lot of journeying to do, but I¡¯ll need to leave the cave to do it.¡± While he would like to sit around with his little friend and play, he did need to reach that trapped spirit, as his most recent encounter with the Wraith cemented that he had no idea how long the spirit would last before something less friendly got to it. The Korgonda sent back a negative, that it didn¡¯t need anything, but also that it wanted to come with him. He was going to protest, saying that it couldn¡¯t survive outside of the heat, then remembered the new clause to its name that let it produce its own heat. Had it chosen such a thing so it could follow him out? He asked, and it said no, it was just a coincidence. ¡°What about reaching the top of the food chain? I thought Korgonda¡¯s did that?¡± he asked, referring to a part of its description. It sent back feelings of exasperation, of how its sister was much stronger than he was, and that she was going to be the winner of this food chain. Dei was shocked that another powerful Korgonda, one stronger than his friend, emerged from this brood. He was so sure that the rare opportunities afforded to it would make it much stronger, but perhaps the opposing sister had run into rare opportunities as well? There was so much about the world he didn¡¯t know, so it was possible. ¡°Are you sure? I might not come back to this cave again. If you can thrive outside of it though, I would love to have you along.¡± Again, it sent affirmatives, and a thought about how it wanted to be a part of his ¡°community,¡± its understanding of the word shallow. A new companion to take along with him, Dei asked if it needed anything before they left, or if they could set out right away. It said it wanted to say goodbye to its sister, and scurried back down his body before running off down the caves. Dei was tempted to follow it, but chose to give it some privacy in the affair. Ten minutes later, it returned with a big Korgonda in tow. While his friend was about the size of his hand, this new Korgonda was as long as his full forearm. He wasn¡¯t sure what this was about, so he remained still, watching them approach ¡®I really need to name the little guy, I can¡¯t keep calling him ¡°my friend¡± or ¡°little guy.¡±¡¯ Once they got closer, the smaller Korgonda started nodding at him then nodding at the bigger Korgonda, motioning for him to do something. Following what he wanted, Dei cast a Kindness [Identify] on the larger Korgonda, and it accepted the identify, but only for communication. It did not allow him to see anything else about it. The new Korgonda him meanings of ¡°friendly towards brother?¡± To which he sent back an affirmative. ¡°Protect little brother?¡± it asked, getting another affirmative from him. ¡°Good. If you hurt brother, I will grow and find you.¡± The message was less meant as a threat, and more as a guarantee. Dei didn¡¯t think it had a way to track him, but he wasn¡¯t going to risk it, as he realized this was the ¡°more powerful sister¡± his Korgonda friend was telling him about, the one likely to win the arms race against all the other Korgonda¡¯s in the cave. He wasn¡¯t worried though, as he genuinely had no ill intentions for his new friend. Her message made clear, the sister turned and walked back the way she¡¯d come. Dei looked to his new friend, opening a path of communication to him, the Korgonda climbed to his shoulder yet again, telling Dei to carry them both. He didn¡¯t mind, so he just set out towards the opposite side of the hot caves, in the direction of checkpoint two. * * * Once they reached a wall of rubble, Dei was able to phase through and his new companion slipped through the cracks in the rock. When he was out, Dei let him back onto his shoulder and took off in a jog down the tunnels. First he asked his friend ¡°how did you know where I was?¡± because he¡¯d immediately been spotted, and if there was a way to track him, Dei wanted to know. The Korgonda sent back feelings of heat, and how Dei was the only cold spot in the entire cave system, so it was easy to see him. ¡®Huh¡¯ he thought to himself. ¡®When I¡¯m in the first layer of the spirit realm, I release a presence of cold in the physical world. That would explain why people get shivers when ghosts walk through them in stories, and something else to watch out for. How many ways are there to detect things that I just don''t know about?¡¯ Next, he asked whether it had anything it thought he should know, to which he was bombarded with various images. The first involved dozens of the same Korgonda, the one right on his shoulder, that were outside of reality. Dei couldn¡¯t make heads or tails about it, but the next image involved his new friend absolutely blasting a big lava slime, then falling over afterwards. From the sensations, Dei guessed that it expended all of his inner heat, and the Korgonda needed a long time to rest after that. The last thing to come through was a feeling of ¡°wittiness,¡± directed at the Korgonda. The first memory felt like a long conversation to try and figure out its meaning, so he started with memory number three, asking what it meant. Dei quickly figured out that the Korgonda was trying to tell Dei its name, but its name was a feeling of outsmarting its opponents. Dei focused on the feeling, trying to more thoroughly identify what meaning was imbued in it, allowing his Skill to translate it into more human thoughts. After a few seconds, he received feedback that, in human language, the Korgonda would be called ¡°Clever¡± or ¡°The Clever.¡± ¡°Clever, huh?¡± he said aloud, thinking about the Korgonda¡¯s name. ¡°Well, at least I have a way to refer to you.¡± Next, he got to work trying to understand the first memory of several more Clevers, all around the original * * * Hours later, Dei finally understood the meaning of everything Clever was trying to tell him. Firstly, it was confirmed that Clever was a male. Second, he realized that Clever had gained Time abilities. Dei initially thought it was overpowered, but found that Clever struggled against most direct combat. While his ability was quite handy, and he was getting better at using it, manipulating time was very taxing on the soul. This also informed him of why many creatures tried desperately to eat his concentrated mana. With the small amount Clever had been gifted, he was able to upgrade his Patience affinity to a Time affinity. While it was exotic, though, Dei saw how taxing it was, and knew that Clever would be strong against powerful enemies, but weak to armies of weaker targets. With everything Clever told Dei, Dei suggested a new tactic: what if Clever blasted enemies with his heat beam, then swapped places with a Clever several seconds earlier, allowing for him to undo the beam, gaining the heat back. Clever was so excited at the prospect of doing so that he nearly blasted the wall just to test it, but Dei insisted that he wait, as Dei had no way to warm Clever back up afterwards. Dei¡¯s projection was quite cold, according to Clever, so he insisted that Clever wait for Dei¡¯s real body to come out, that way he could both protect him and warm him up afterwards. Clever was shocked at the revelation that Dei was not actually a cold white ghost, but accepted it readily enough. He was also content to wait, as that meant the beam would be hotter when he used it. Dei smiled, a real, happy smile, for the first time in months. Already he felt hundreds of times better with a companion that not only liked him, but could communicate back. ¡®It will only get better. I¡¯ve been to my lowest, I will claw my way back up, even if I have to fight for every step I take.¡¯ * * * Seventeen hours later, Dei was finally approaching the new checkpoint. Clever went to sleep long ago, and Dei was gently holding him as he ran. Now that they closed in on it though, Dei carefully began to wake him up. Groggily, Clever asked if they were close to where Dei wanted to go, and Dei gave him an affirmative. After a yawn and a stretch, Clever perked up and was ready to take on their next challenge. This new area would be a bit more dangerous than Dei initially expected, as he now had Clever with him, and it was not a place friendly to such a heat-based monster. They¡¯d arrived at the second step of the journey, a massive intersection between the wet and dry cave systems. Chapter 47 Dei explained to Clever how water might sap the heat from him, and Clever understood to be careful where they were going. Initially, Dei wanted to explore around a bit, but he decided that this one was perhaps going to be skipped. He didn¡¯t really know what to expect from it, as the rushing water completely blinded his [Tremor Sense] when he was in his physical body, but Dei didn¡¯t think it was too dangerous. Many creatures, big and small, visited the area every day. When he watched them with his [Tremor Sense], most came back out eventually. Dei suspected that there was aquatic life, though, and those animals that didn¡¯t come out were probably snatched up by something they didn¡¯t expect or see. He wanted to take more precautions as well, so Dei communicated back with his physical self. ¡®Hey¡± Projection opened a link to Physical. ¡°Yea?¡± Physical responded. ¡°Could you use Tremor Sense on the area around checkpoint two and see if any large monsters will be approaching any time soon? Me and Clever are about to get there, and I want an eye in the sky. Or ground. Whatever.¡± ¡°Already watching, I¡¯ve been watching for a while. Not really much else to do here, so I¡¯m keeping updated on your journey. I started watching Checkpoint Two an hour ago, and no big animals have gone in or out. I think the coast is clear, but there should be a few smaller creatures in there. By smaller, I mean knee-height by the way, so watch out. Your first batch of Null mana is ready too, by the way. A clean one hundred Null mana, easy to use.¡± ¡°Got it, thanks.¡± Better assured with a watcher to inform him of any incoming threats and Null mana to block any spells, Dei continued closer to the cave. He started hearing the roaring sound of a waterfall from ahead, and slowed. As soon as he entered the intersection between the two cave systems, Physical would lose eyes on them as the loud tremors blinded him. ¡°Hey, there are going to be monsters here that are potentially hostile. If we run into something that we can¡¯t fight and is faster than us, I need you to run while I distract it. I can get away easily by going into the Spirit World, but I can''t take you with me, okay?¡± Clever nodded to him, and they started creeping forward together. Dei carefully peeked around every corner, until he was finally able to see what he was working with. A cavern, smaller than the bog, opened before him. Walls of water fell from the ceiling, hitting the ground with enough force to shake everything in the area. Boardwalks made of stone ran between each of the waterfalls, glowing blue mushrooms providing an eerie lighting. It was beautiful, but he noticed several issues. The stone boardwalks were not perfectly flat, instead they curved slightly and went up or down at angles. They were wide, around twenty to thirty feet each, but it would be in their best interest to not go anywhere near the edges, for fear of slipping on the wet stone. On top of this, multiple monsters prowled the stone platforms, eyeing each other, but not attacking. Dei figured it was ¡°watering hole rules,¡± like he¡¯d seen in a nature documentary. If they didn¡¯t attack, and stayed away from the others, he thought they¡¯d be fairly safe. He didn¡¯t bother trying to [Identify] any of the monsters though, as he didn¡¯t want to draw attention to him and Clever. ¡°What do you think Clever, should we leave it behind without looking around, or explore to see what''s in the area?¡± he asked his new companion. Clever would be taking most of the risk, so it was only fair to give him the final say in whether to explore or not. Clever thought on it for a while, looking between Dei and the misty room, before sending through their link that he wanted to go see. Clever said that he would test whether the water could take his heat away, and if it could, then they would leave. Otherwise, he was very curious, saying that the place was both beautiful and wildly different than anything he¡¯d ever seen. Dei likened it to a human from earth visiting a dangerous alien world. Sure, it might kill them, but even human curiosity took them places they were better kept out of. Dei felt an excitement bleeding through his [Identify] with Clever, and acquiesced to carefully test the waters. He set Clever down on the ground and told him to stay close behind, then led them both forward. Inching forward, Dei kept a close eye on Clever as the environment became more and more frigid from the icy mist. Through the link, Dei felt Clever focus on retaining the heat in his body. Slowly, the glowing cracks began to dim along the little salamander. When they finally crossed into the open cavern, the glow along Clever was all but gone. Instead, it looked like a beautiful red pattern all along his skin, without the magical aspect to back it up. ¡°Are you okay? Still want to keep going?¡± he asked. Clever responded with a feeling of determination and wonder, as one of his Skills worked together with one of his Racial abilities to trap every speck of heat in his body. Clever was already glad he¡¯d come here, as he now knew that Korgonda¡¯s had a natural resistance to cold and other environmental factors. He wanted to see if there was some secret to be found by facing lower temperatures. Nodding to him, Dei continued leading them forward along the boardwalks. Some animals glanced at them, but none made any moves to kill them. Dei saw many different walks of life, such as furry four legged animals or shelled beasts that looked like armadillos on stilts. Other times there were creatures he¡¯d never seen before, like purple feathered birds who walked on their wings, akin to small wyverns. In one instance, he saw a tumbleweed looking plant, except it was very clearly steering where it wanted to go as it avoided the edges of the stone pathway. Eventually, they came upon a crossroads. One leading up, the other down. ¡°Where to?¡± he asked Clever. Clever sent feelings of wanting to go downwards, as that was where the more powerful Korgonda went, and Dei smiled before continuing their descent. Carefully making their way deeper, they came upon many crossroads, always taking the way further down. Closer and closer they moved to the floor of the caves, the roaring growing louder with each step. Dei cautiously watched every angle, afraid of anything that might jump out of the murky water. At the same time, he was enamored by the beauty of it all. While his Darkvision in his Spiritual form didn¡¯t need to use light to see, Dei allowed himself to fall back into his usual vision, appreciating the azure glow released by the mushrooms everywhere. As they got lower, the mushrooms began to become less frequent, but the glow never abated. Instead, he noticed the water taking on a light blue hue, creating a more evenly lit environment. Clever kept his head on a swivel, but Dei had the feeling that it was less ¡°caution¡± and more ¡°appreciation.¡± The wild animals became more and more scarce, before disappearing almost entirely. Occasionally, they would see one or two, but they were as neutral as the animals further up. Dei also noticed other vegetation growing in place of the mushrooms, a sparse green grass broken up by taller green flowers. Normally, a green flower wouldn¡¯t stand out on a green plant, but the neon coloration against the blue ambience drew the eye. When next they reached the typical crossroads, Dei noticed one path going further down, while the other stretched into a more narrow tunnel in the wall, multiple streams of glowing liquid running down the walls to join the falling rivers. Clever wanted to go further down, but Dei said they¡¯d gone far enough already. The cave was beginning to curve, leading him to believe it ran as an underground river with half aboveground and half below. If they reached a plateau, Dei worried that river monsters would soon begin jumping at them. Instead, he wanted to explore the passage to the side. He wanted to see whether it would link back to the dry cave systems, or if it was a closed pocket only accessible through this one passageway. Clever was a little sad that they¡¯d gone as far as they were going to go, but relented nonetheless. As they began walking down the side pathway, Dei almost lost his footing as he was so used to the gradual slope, but he quickly regained it and continued forward. The grass underfoot felt soft to him, and he wondered how it was able to pierce through solid stone. He hadn¡¯t Identified anything though, as he didn¡¯t want to let his guard down in such an unfamiliar place far deeper down than he¡¯d been. He didn¡¯t forget that monsters became stronger when he and his mom journeyed through the earth. Nothing attacked them, though. No matter how far they walked, nothing halted their progress, The hard boardwalk ended at the mouth of a tunnel, the green grass becoming even more abundant. When he took a step over the lip of the cave, he noticed that the earth softened as well, and the ground of the corridor was made from dirt instead of stone. Dei lamented that he couldn¡¯t feel sensations in this Projection, and promised to return here with his Physical body at a later date. A small distance into the cave, Dei bent down to one of the glowing streams that ran along the sides of the cave, slowly sticking a finger in. No damage came to his body, and he didn¡¯t sense anything enter his projection, so he carefully cupped his hands, letting the water run into it before lifting it out and looking closely at it. Dei remembered a phenomena in his last world where algae would saturate waves in the ocean, and release a short burst of glowing light anytime it would be disturbed by either currents or creatures moving through them. When he saw the water glowing, that''s what he assumed was happening here as well. Looking at the water though, it continued to glow, even while it was still. The light caused the water to blur slightly, not giving him a clear view of what caused it. When he let the water slip through his fingers back into the stream, no sign of the glow remained on his hands. Dei would think it was the water itself that glowed, except for the fact that the residue left on his body looked as clear as any other generic water source. When he let it drip from his fingertips, it was crystal clear. Standing back up and reassessing the cave again, just to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them, Dei saw that Clever, too, was messing with the water. Dipping his tiny hands in before bringing it out and inspecting it. Dei¡¯s attention was brought to the fact that Clever looked closer to a lizard than a salamander, his body now far more rigid than it was before. To Dei, it looked like an armor of scales across Clevers body, while before he was shiny and smooth in the Convection biosphere. It was such a drastic change that he was genuinely surprised he hadn¡¯t noticed before, but guessed it was very gradual.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Lets go buddy, we still have a distance to travel, not to mention the journey back.¡± Clever looked up at him, then backed away from the water and positioned himself behind Dei again. ¡®Even his gait is different. He doesn''t scurry from side to side, he runs in a straight line now, closer to a gallop.¡¯ He kept in mind to watch for future changes in his Korgonda friend, before continuing to lead the way. For minutes they traveled in silence, the foliage becoming more diverse along the way. Rather than only grass, gangly shrubs and thin sprouts began to block their view. Dei had to pick up Clever at some point, as the grass grew up to Dei¡¯s shins, and Clever was too short to travel any further on his own. The roar of the waterfall was long behind them, replaced by a tinkling as the small creeks carved their way through the stone. Twenty minutes later, Dei saw that the foliage was growing more sparse, and raised his guard yet again. The grass grew low and thin plants disappeared. From ahead, Dei once again heard the roar of a waterfall. ¡®Did we somehow turn around? I thought we were walking in a straight line this whole time¡­¡¯ Except it sounded different from before. Rather than a deafening, earth-shattering force, this was closer to what river rapids would sound like. The cave began to widen again, and the grass was barely above his toes. Dei let Clever down, telling him to stay careful as they went forward. Along with the change in plants, Dei saw that the blue light was fading away, replaced by a white light from further in. An abrupt angle let the area open fully, and Dei saw the new enclosed space he was in. It reminded him of his garden, if it was the size of a house and didn¡¯t have a cloaking sphere. Dei couldn¡¯t see any animals, only a few insects. The short, uniform red grass barely broke the monotony, and the gray uneven walls were completely unnoteworthy. There was a single bright stone in the middle of the ceiling, the type he¡¯d seen in many other caves to give them light. The only feature that drew the eye was to his right, a crystal clear pond with a column of water pushing through the stone ceiling. In the pond, there was diversity and life. A layer of seagrass and several types of small fish darted around the space. He could see a gentle lapping along where the water met shore, and saw how one indent was filled with calm, clear water. He moved closer, curious to see what this even smaller body of water held, but nothing popped out at him. The entire time, he was watching for any large soul signatures, but couldn¡¯t see anything. Even with [Fine-Tooth Comb], nothing was obvious. Instead, he assumed he would have to watch out for venomous animals, like snakes, but couldn¡¯t see any of those either. It was just a pond. A regular, harmless pond, deep under the earth. He neared the calm puddle, seeing nothing in it except the reflection of the ceiling, when a strange thought occurred to him¡­ ¡®I¡¯ve never seen my own face.¡¯ He stopped walking, and Clever sent a feeling of curiosity towards him, asking if there was any danger. He sent back a negative, and told Clever that the area was safe, just that he didn¡¯t want to go further. Clever, far braver, went around him and continued forward. Dei kept a close watch on him as he went to the puddle, looking at himself. Clever inspected his own face for a while, feelings of elation coming through to Dei. He wanted Dei to see himself, to inspect his face too, but Dei couldn¡¯t bring himself to take another step. A sense of dread filled him, and a maddening thought whispered into his ear. ¡®Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?¡¯ He gulped, steeling his mind as his Fortitude affinity worked to quiet the voice, but it merely changed shape. ¡®What are you? Are you a child? An adult? Are you really a human with how fast you¡¯re growing, or are you an imposter?¡¯ Insecurities bubbled from deep within him. He didn¡¯t know who he was anymore. His body grew quickly, too quickly, but his mind still hadn¡¯t adjusted. When he was first born into this world, his consciousness coalesced much faster than natural to fit his soul, but stopped its rapid advancement when the pain did. It still felt malleable though, easily manipulated by the environment. How tall was he? Too tall. He had to at least be the height of a teenager at this point, but in his mind, he was so young. Looking at his hand, Dei felt a weight settle on his shoulders as he realized it was just too big. He fell to his knees, holding his head as static drowned out the noise. His physical self back in the Garden was trying to tell him something, and Clever was sending waves of fear through their connection, asking what was happening. Dei¡¯s ragged breaths broke the peace of the cave as his mind continued to spiral, until a sense of stability began to force itself onto him. A connection strengthened, and his Presence grew. He calmed, and realized that his Physical self was trying to meditate fitfully, but the chaos bled through to the rest of the soul. Spiritual Dei used the grip he now had on sanity to meditate as well, synchronizing with Physical, and working together to quiet his mind. His Fortitude affinity began weaving between his two bodies, tying them together in a stable union that provided security to both. The sense of dysmorphia lessened greatly, and he felt his projection firm into a more rigid figure. The whispers quieted, the shaking calmed, and Dei felt control over his body return once again. [Skill Gained: Solidity] [Solidity - Level 1 - Fortitude Affinity - Passive Soul, Mind, and Body walk parallel paths, yet are interconnected impossibly. When one is thrown out of balance of the others, the knots that tie them together seem to be impossibly thin, far too fragile for such paramount facets of one''s life. By strengthening these bonds, you repair the rifts found between them. Creates a bond between your Mind, Body, and Soul that draws them towards one another. Strength of bond increases with each successive level] * * * POV: Justin Tabrey Justin was pissed. Again, Oura blew off the meeting he¡¯d set up between them. Again, Oura refused to explain himself any further. Justin was the newest member of the Shamanic Council, having ascended to his position only five years ago after the previous holder of his spot stepped down. He was sixty, practically a baby compared to the other Council members, all centuries-old wise men. Because he was so much younger than them, and he was not of the [Gem Dweller] variant, they underestimated him. Growing up, Justin always wanted to be a Shaman, but quickly found during the training that preferential treatment was given to those who were not the Prime variant. He fought tooth and nail, every step of the way, and finally received his own Shamanic staff. It was the worst they could find, the very lowest tier staff stored, but he was immensely proud that he was finally recognized. Years went by, and he proved his own competence time and time again. Underestimated and judged by his peers, he forced them to recognize how great he was at his job before he could find even the slightest respect in their eyes. But respect him they did! Over time, people came to learn that he couldn¡¯t be matched in his assessment capabilities. Nobody was even shocked when finally it was leaked that he¡¯d gained a Foresight affinity, his supernatural ability to plan ahead manifesting itself. After decades of effort he was finally promoted to the Shamanic Council, only to find that he was right back at the start of his career! They did not respect his words, did not listen to his voice. During the council meeting, it felt like he screamed into an empty room as they made ridiculous decision after RIDICULOUS decision! To top it all off, the most recent council meeting was the crowning jewel of insanity! Almost five months ago, Oura called the meeting to frantically tell everyone that a new threat was on the horizon, in the shape of a one year old boy. He stated that the boy must be found and killed immediately. Why, one might ask? Justin''s blood still boiled at the answer given: ¡°I cannot explain, he simply must die.¡± And the other members all accepted it! Just like that. He¡¯d done everything he could to get an answer, but none was forthcoming. Oura blew him off every time, so he tried getting the other council members to stand with him. They deserved to know why Oura was so adamant about the death of a child. Yet, the answers they gave were equally as unsatisfying. ¡°Just trust his judgment. Oura is the oldest of us all, born before even the Fall. His experience is unmatched. If he says it is for the greater good, then it is.¡± They played up their task as though they were forced to take the moral high ground. They hemmed and hawed, pretending to debate the issue of whether they should listen to Oura before ¡°deciding it would be wise,¡± ignoring his further pleas. They played their parts well, seeming to fall into inaction against Oura ¡°for the greater good.¡± Justin saw their inaction for what it really was. Laziness. So set in their ways, the old giants never considered secondary options. Justin did not doubt that, over the centuries, Oura had diverted many crises. He¡¯d most likely seen visions Justin could never fathom, but this led to the typical issues that came with the old powers: a disconnect. Old powers always drew upon their experience rather than their logic. For this reason, many surrounded themselves with advisors, to point out the obvious solutions to problems they¡¯d never considered. It was the Shamanic Council for a reason. It wasn¡¯t called ¡°Oura¡¯s Little Followers!¡± Yet, despite his advice being the purpose of his membership in the council, he was ignored. Oura was free to mobilize every Shaman he wanted with eight council members behind him. He was free to use the Seer¡¯s Rest, a rare artifact, to conduct his search. He drew upon every resource, funneling public funds into this project, and nobody said a word. Every time he thought of the situation, Justin turned red in the face with how angry it made him. While it would be easier to simply allow the slight to pass, Justin couldn¡¯t find it in him to do so. He needed to get to the bottom of it all, even if he had to go against the council to do so. He began forming a plan in his head. The first stop would be the parents. If he could get the Grrata¡¯s to tell him their side, he might be able to figure out what the next step would be. If he drew on his own resources and connections, Justin might be able to find Dei before the rest of the council. It was not his own hubris that gave him the thought, but the nature of the world. The Seer¡¯s Rest artifact read the karmic bonds of the world, tracing the pathways to give its user knowledge. This reading of karma was not unique to the one artifact, but the artifact greatly amplified the effectiveness of this method. There was a massive flaw in this though: karmic bonds were elusive when they wanted to be. If Dei did not want to be found by his killers, and his parents did not want him to be found, then the karmic bond between the parents and Dei would try to evade all attempts at scrying it. The opposite, however, was true. If Justin truly wanted to help Dei, Dei wanted help, and he got the permission of Dei¡¯s parents to search for him, the karmic bond would almost throw itself at Justin. It wouldn¡¯t be easy, but if Justin spent months getting the right tools and reading karmic bonds, he would be able to find Dei. That wasn¡¯t where the main issue in such a plan would be found though. First, he didn¡¯t know when Oura would have a breakthrough using the Seer¡¯s Rest. Even if the karmic bonds wanted to be elusive, such powerful attempts at finding it would eventually bear fruit. Second, while Justin couldn¡¯t sense anyone watching him, he didn¡¯t doubt spies could be found in every nook and cranny in the area around him. He sat in his home, stewing over the issues, but he could almost feel the gazes on him. Oura and the other council members knew how karma worked as well, they wanted Justin to look for Dei, so they could find him as well. Justin wouldn¡¯t be able to do this alone. He needed someone else. Someone more powerful than him, with more skill, and who wanted to help Dei. It would need to be someone who could evade the council spies, taking Justin along as well, and help him search for Dei before their invisible deadline of Oura catching the right scent of karma came to pass. He grinned, realizing that he knew the perfect person to contact. She was high leveled, elusive, amazing at tracking, and best of all? She was a Slaughterer. Chapter 48 As the Skill formed, Dei felt an imbalance begin to correct itself in his head. While he was still in a horribly unhealthy state of mind, it was no longer catastrophic, and he could feel the schism between his mind and body no longer widened. It would take time to fix itself, but it was on a road to correction. Dei quickly expressed to Clever that he was okay, the poor Korgonda terribly afraid that Dei was under attack. He stood back up, blowing out a lungful of air and re-inspecting his surroundings. Still, nothing jumped to eat him. At this point, Dei was almost positive that the cave was safe. Deciding it would be best to wait until later to see his reflection, Dei carefully put Clever on his shoulder, then began the long trek back up to where they first entered Checkpoint Two. * * * As they traveled upwards, Dei contemplated everything so far. He¡¯d always known that there was something happening under the surface, issues that would arise later. Frequently, Dei found himself stepping out of the natural order of the world. When he avoided a soul cleansing, then again as his fully formed mind tried to inhabit a childs, and most recently as his body developed faster than it should. In each scenario, he was given the opportunity to reach for more power, but was also forced to recognize that strength came at a cost. It was true that he¡¯d been granted opportunities, but there was give and take. Sometimes, the cost advertised was not the only one. When he¡¯d spoken to Gargeth, the Melder stated that his body would cut off his non-mundane senses and half his MP pool to grant him power, but that wasn¡¯t exactly true. Those were the costs that Gargeth knew about, because he specialized in Body. Gargeth had no way to know that mental changes were equally as, if not more important than the physical ones. With each barrier Dei ran into though, he succeeded and was stronger for it. He was beginning to learn, really learn how the world worked. He realized now that Skills were a confluence between emotion, will, and magic. In each instance of a Skill formation, Dei was faced with a harsh situation and only formed the Skill when he refused to give up. During the panic attack, his Fortitude affinity didn¡¯t just form the Skill. Only when he began wrestling with it himself did it finally step in. Dei had no doubt that if he¡¯d given up to the fear, allowing it control over his faculties and waiting it out rather than fighting against it, he would not have formed the new Skill. Dei hadn¡¯t survived this far only because he needed to, but because he wanted to. From the very start, Dei refused to surrender, fighting against his fate time and time again. Desire was integral in the building of strength. He¡¯d noticed it first when he didn''t want to strengthen his connection to Soul, so it simply stopped happening. There would never come a time when he made a Skill he absolutely did not want, as his body would fight against it. Dei¡¯s body would resist magical changes forced on to it, which brought up a peculiar thought: Gargeth was wrong about specializing his constitution. Gargeth stated that, if he reached level one hundred before he let his magical senses catch up, then he would be permanently locked out of them. While Dei didn¡¯t doubt that level one hundred would be an important cornerstone of power, the change being forced onto him would go against what Dei was learning about how the world worked. Instead, Dei thought that people who were forced to grow quickly, like him, would be happy to trade in certain senses for a better chance at survival. That brought up his next point: was Dei one such person? Did Dei want to double his HP at the cost of his MP, lock himself out of magical senses, and begin relying on his eyes alone to see souls? The fact that he could see souls at all was incredible. Only because the System developed his eyes for him in the womb to help accept the new Racial ability upgrades was he able to do so. Dei started looking back over his life, realizing that he¡¯d not only survived without these advanced senses, but thrived. He didn¡¯t need to sense magic or see what souls were behind him to grow more powerful. The only useful instance of his Soul Sense without using his eyes was when the Wraith tried to sneak attack him from behind while in the spirit world, and Dei felt the attack coming. If he¡¯d specialized his constitution, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to sense it. Even then, would he have needed to? If he¡¯d gained more HP, would his skin have toughened up to the point where the Wraith couldn¡¯t just assassinate him? More than that, Dei saw a path ahead for himself. Over and over, his way forward continued to overlap with the Spirit realm. In the future, he could only imagine himself becoming more active with the spirits, not less. Gargeth told him of a way to enter the Spirit Realm with his physical body too by tying it to his Projection. If Dei did this, he wouldn¡¯t need his Soul Sense anymore, as his Spirit Sense would detect all creatures in the area. It felt like a massive puzzle he was slowly forming in his head. The Sectioning upgrade for [Pandora¡¯s Box] covered the MP weakness of a specialized HP Constitution, while becoming a half-spirit would cover the others. He felt like he¡¯d already taken the first step as well, his new [Solidity] Skill forming a bond between his Body and Soul. If he could get it to level one hundred, would there be an option to unite the two? It all felt so¡­ converging? He had incomplete parts of a whole, but if he played his cards right, he could carefully slot them together. The only thing he could think of that he would miss, would be his Projection. Gargeth said that he wouldn¡¯t be able to do that anymore if he tied it to his body. It was useful to be in multiple places at once, and he¡¯d dreamed of becoming a literal one-man army in the future. Thinking about it more though, that path wasn¡¯t discarded yet, was it? Gargeth was able to split his body into multiple parts. If Dei tied his soul''s Structure to his body, he wouldn¡¯t be able to project anymore, but that ability would turn into something similar to what Gargeth could do: a second, fully formed body. What did he call it? Swarm mind? Dei found himself¡­ excited for the future. He wanted to specialize his Constitution now, he didn¡¯t dread it. He wanted to become a half-spirit and dive into a deep mysterious world of ghosts and other sorts of creatures. He looked around as he and Clever made their way up, beautiful glowing waterfalls, soft grass and interesting creatures all around him. Despite the brutality of nature, the risk he took in simply existing away from civilization, he found that he wasn¡¯t ready to return. He didn¡¯t want to stop just yet. He loved his mom and missed her, true, but he wished she could be here with him, rather than go back with her. He didn¡¯t want to go home yet. He felt melancholic when such a thought occurred to him, but Dei found himself appreciating the changes he underwent. He wanted to become something more, live his life, and find happiness through it all. Dei found the walk back up to be a relaxing stroll. Mind clearer than ever, he was ready to face checkpoint three. * * * The roar of water grew quieter behind them, and Dei finally breathed a sigh of relief. Not only because there would be fewer animals from this point forward, but because he grew tired of such loud noises. Clever stated that he¡¯d quickly begun filtering it out at the start of their journey, and the noise grew quieter over time. He could still perfectly hear his surroundings, it was only the roar of water that was muffled. ¡®Is this another change to his body?¡¯ Dei wondered. He kept finding that Clevers body would rapidly change to help him survive, depending on the environment. Rather than wondering quietly, Dei simply asked Clever about it. Clever sent back feelings of confusion, as he hadn¡¯t recognized such changes. After a few seconds though, Clever said that it had a Racial ability called [Adaptable Body] which, as expected, allowed his body to adapt. Clever was happy Dei pointed it out, as he hadn¡¯t tested the limits of the Racial ability, and he was curious as to how it affected his biology in different situations. Clever sent that he was going to try and change himself, if given the chance to do so. For the next few hours on Dei¡¯s shoulder, Clever focused on bringing active changes to his body, but couldn¡¯t spot any. After a while, he grew tired, so Dei held him as he took a nap. Dei¡¯s physical body also went to sleep eventually, stating that he was far too exhausted to keep watching, and he¡¯d need to train more tomorrow, so he went to bed. Alone with himself, Spiritual Dei jogged down the cave, quietly scanning for threats. * * * Multiple times, Dei was forced to hide Clever somewhere and drop down into the Spirit Realm, but all of the monsters were either incapable of sensing them, or didn¡¯t care enough to hunt them. Twelve hours later, Dei finally reached checkpoint three His Physical body continued to train, and Dei felt a few notifications, but didn¡¯t particularly care to go over all of them. His other self was telling him all of the important ones, and he found that he wasn¡¯t curious as long as one of his Identities knew the information. The only noteworthy levels were that his [Pondering Sage] Profession finally hit level six, giving him another plus five to his Spiritual stat, and that his new [Solidity] Skill was rapidly leveling up. Already, it was at level seventeen, and his mental state continued to improve as it did so.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. It didn¡¯t necessarily make him happier, it simply stabilized his mind, letting him think more clearly as his Mind, Body, and Soul were all brought into balance. Focusing back on what was ahead of him, Dei slowed his jog to a walk. Clever was alert as well, but Dei ultimately was not afraid of the new Checkpoint. When Dei first became a projection, he was able to sense multiple very weak signatures on the first level of the Spirit Realm. What he now approached was one such signature. He¡¯d chosen this one out of all the others because, when viewed under his [Tremor Sense], Dei could see the broken fragments of something that interested him. He couldn¡¯t make out what it was in detail, but there were twenty or thirty pieces of something that were a vibrational deadzone, completely invisible to him. He could make out the shape of shattered glass, but couldn¡¯t fathom what the shards were actually made of. Multiple monsters passed through the area, so he didn¡¯t think the shards were deadly, but none of the creatures took any interest in them. The overlap between a physical object and weak spirit gave Dei the sense that this could be some sort of possessed item, and if he could collect the pieces together, he might gain another companion along his journey. It wasn¡¯t even in a noteworthy cave. Just¡­ a random section, of a random corridor. As Dei turned the corner, he finally laid eyes on what he was working with. On the ground, scattered about, were broken red shards. In the center of them all, the handle to a sword was halfway buried into the ground. Instead of approaching, Dei set Clever down and told him to wait a second, before phasing into the first layer of the Spirit Realm. Rather than broken shards, the glowing afterimage of a handle overlapped exactly with where the physical handle was buried. From what he could see of the two mirrored blades though, the Spiritual one was unbroken, while the Physical was completely destroyed. Phasing back into the physical world, Dei told Clever what he¡¯d seen, and began walking forward to the broken fragments, Identifying the handle and what was left of the blade attached to it. [Sword of the Shattered Refuge - Artifact Once a mighty spirit blade, it was shattered in its final confrontation. Forgotten to time, its wielder never returned. The memories stored within the blade are discordant and unreadable, but there is one truth that permeates them all: The blade''s purpose was to provide a bastion for the weak] Careful to not step on any of the smaller pieces, Dei made his way to the handle. He gently reached for it, brushing the back of his hand against the dark brown leather, pristine in nature despite how it was doubtlessly ages old. The moment his skin touched it, he felt a presence invade his mind, broken and confused. It attempted to communicate something to Dei, but utterly failed, instead sending a chaotic mental message. His hand jerked back as he closed his eyes, brows scrunching. The message felt like it should mean something, so he began trying to parse through it. No matter how he looked at it though, there was no angle he could see that made sense. Giving up on understanding it for now, he tried to communicate with it using [Meaningful], telling it to quiet down. He let it touch the back of his hand again, but no jolt of information entered his mind, so he wrapped his hand around the handle, carefully trying to pick it up¡­ This time, he did understand an aspect of what it tried to tell him, as pure fury rushed into him. The blade hated that he tried to use it, sending a pulse of mental anguish at Dei, forming a link between the two of them. Screaming out in pain, Dei reeled back, feeling something not only tear into his mind, but shoot for a soul attack as well. It would not be so easy though, as the main portion of his soul was protected by the mysterious concealing bubble. The attack rushed down an invisible tether, back to his Garden, but was stopped dead by an indomitable barrier. The two forces clashed, sparking along the connection and releasing waves of power into Dei¡¯s soulscape. The furious blade struck hundreds, thousands, millions of times in seconds, but the barrier reacted just as quickly, blocking every single strike with uncanny prediction. Both Dei¡¯s were brought to their knees at the force of blows being exchanged within them. Projection Dei saw as golden sparks glowed brightly deep within him, all along his organs, each spark contained entirely within his body. ¡°That cant be good¡± he managed to groan out as the stress of the battle took its toll on him. Seconds passed slowly, and a turn in the battle took place that Dei was completely unequipped to measure. Rather than simply defend, the barrier around his Garden began to move, pushing down the connection between his Body and Projection. The Spirit Sword continued its strikes, but they seemed less organized, instead becoming a panicked flailing. Animalistic instinct guided the blade as it was quickly outmatched and pushed back. With a final rush, the barrier completely expelled the Spirit Swords influence over Dei, cutting the connection. Instead of stopping there, Dei sensed a will behind the barrier, screaming at him to force his way forward again and grab the blade. Dei froze for a second when he realized there was a mind behind the concealment array that guarded his body, but quickly complied, grabbing at the blade again. A second confrontation took place, a far more evenly matched one. His barrier crept along the handle and down the red blade, the will behind the sword screaming unintelligibly as its soul was invaded. Like an unstoppable march, his barrier slowly enclosed the sword''s will in its own personal containment, completely sealing it. Feelings of reminiscence and nostalgia emanated from the barrier that guarded him, before it quickly retracted, sending one final clear message in a deep booming voice. ¡°Collect her shards.¡± It commanded, and the presence disappeared entirely. ¡®What the fuck¡­¡¯ Dei thought to himself, as the entire confrontation took place over the course of twelve seconds. So much happened, and he could hardly make sense of it all. He understood that the weapon tried to invade his soul to kill him, but was stopped by the barrier. When the barrier went on the attack though, that was unexpected. And finally, the voice said to ¡°collect her shards.¡± It referred to the sword as a her, making Dei think that whatever will was behind his safety, was somehow related to the sword. Looking at the broken red blade, Dei read the name again ¡®sword of shattered refuge¡­ the barrier gives me ¡°refuge¡± as well, are they twin artifacts? Is there some object in my garden, buried, that creates a concealing barrier?¡¯ he wondered, but no answer was forthcoming. Dei¡¯s physical body genuinely could not sense anything that powered the barrier¡­ but he already couldn¡¯t see through the barrier when he was outside of it, so perhaps it was hiding itself from him. If they were related too, Dei didn¡¯t think it would be coincidence that this was the spirit he chose to mark as Checkpoint Three. There were other pathways that crossed with other weak spirits, but him choosing the one that was related to his hiding place? Unlikely. Unless the others were related to it as well¡­ ¡®That would be quite interesting¡­ did something happen a long time ago that involved a refuge?¡¯ He would have to visit the different points to find out, but he chose to save that for later. He still had to complete the request given to him by the barrier, so he went about doing so. Reaching for the blade again and wrapping his hand around the handle, he felt a sort of¡­ thumping push against his form. The blade pushed over and over to escape its physical form and strike at him, but a miniature version of what guarded him worked to contain it. It felt like he was holding an active bomb that was perfectly sealed. He didn¡¯t think it would hurt him, but it still made him nervous. Nonetheless, he lifted the handle and inspected it. The first thing he noticed was that the handle was big. Whoever wielded it originally had to be supernaturally large. Dei estimated his own height at around five and a half feet, but he could barely get his finders halfway around it. The handle too was incredibly thick, closer to the width of a claymore than just a sword. Hefting it up, he realized just how heavy it was, despite most of the blade being broken away. The jagged edge of the break still looked viciously dangerous, and Dei didn¡¯t doubt that he¡¯d have no trouble piercing enemies if he tried to do so. Only around a foot of the red metal was still attached to the handle, closer to a dagger in its current state. Clever inspected their new tool as well, glowing brighter so he could see it better in the darkness around them. When his light reflected off it, Dei noticed a polished sheen across its length, the dirt left on it visibly sliding away to reveal the metal beneath. ¡°Incredible¡­¡± Dei whispered quietly. He didn¡¯t know of a single metal on earth that had the properties of what was left scattered around him. If he had to guess, it was one that required high concentrations of magic to form, and Earth didn¡¯t provide that. Holding the handle in front of him like a knight, Dei noticed that the spiritual version of the blade, the one that looked undamaged, followed the handle perfectly. He wanted to touch it to see if it could still harm him¡­ but felt like it would be a bad idea. Instead, he stopped stalling and finally picked up the first fragmented piece, but quickly ran into an issue. ¡®How the hell am I going to carry all of these?¡¯ he wondered, as he could only confidently carry two. He did not want to stack impossibly sharp objects along his arm. Looking at the handle and broken sword with the spirit trapped inside, he wondered if the Will of the Barrier meant for him to put the sword back together. What if the barrier could act as an adhesive, holding the pieces in place? He placed the shard to the tip of the blade, trying to see if this was the piece that was attached next. Before he could even react, Dei saw the part of the spirit imbued into the loose fragment suddenly get pulled into the barrier that contained the main portion of the spirit. As it did, the red fragment quickly turned to dust, falling through his fingers. Eyebrows raising, Dei saw how the barrier was more full than before. The Spiritual version of the blade also began to flake away slightly. Before, the mirror image of the blade was a pristine replica of what it should have looked like in life, a massive claymore. Now, the replica was chipped in certain areas, cracks running along it. ¡®I think I¡¯m supposed to pull it all into the barrier¡¯ Dei thought, and went about his task with a new understanding. Instead of picking up the shards, he poked the main portion into them, watching as they turned to dust. Each time he did so, the spiritual version of the blade became slightly more damaged, breaking down as it was pulled more fully into the barrier. When the last shard finally disintegrated, the spiritual version of the sword shattered almost entirely, except for the section that was a perfect mirror of the physical version. With his Spirit Sense, he could still see that there was a spirit, it simply contained perfectly in the handle and red blade, rather than an intangible projection. The broken sword now thrummed with contained power, and he felt its mind quiet down. It no longer pressed against the barrier, and its presence slowly receded. While before it raged against its confines, it now felt to Dei like it was going to sleep, falling dormant. Half a minute passed while Dei and Clever watched the blade, feeling it retract into itself, before its spiritual signature disappeared entirely. Dei couldn¡¯t sense it, even with his high level [Spirit Sense], but he doubted it was dead. Instead, it was perfectly contained within the barrier, no energy leaking out at all. Jaw hung open, Dei continued to study the strange tool he¡¯d suddenly gained. The implication of everything setting in slowly. He resolved to consider it on the way to the fourth and final checkpoint¡­ one he suspected would be even more dangerous than he initially assumed, if his train of thought was correct. Chapter 49 Dei continued to jog, piecing together the evidence he was given thus far. There were various weak spiritual signatures in the area. He knew that spirits could be born from dead creatures, such as the case with the Wraith. There was a shattered Sword of Shattered Refuge laying about, and a hidden pocket of protection somewhere in the wall. Most importantly, something he hadn¡¯t considered relevant so far: the bog. Dei long suspected that it was no coincidence how Convergences formed in large caverns. Instead, certain environments gave rise to a particular type of mana that formed the Convergence. This was partially proven by the Convection Convergence. Dei asked Clever if, at any point, the Convection mana in the area began to lower. Clever responded with feelings of confusion, denying that such an event happened. His [Heat Sense] could tell that the entire ecosystem still lived on, without the Convergence. Weirdly, he did detect that the existing Convergence mana became less¡­ hostile, after the Anchor was destroyed. Clever stated that the mana stopped digging into creatures as much, trying to build up heat in them as quickly as possible. Dei remembered how his mom stated that Anchors all had magical effects, such as how the Wilderness Convergence would likely make plants grow faster. From Clevers knowledge, Dei suspected that the Anchor would make the Convection mana in the area far more aggressive, a mirror of the Obsidian Elementals intent. The Bog in the middle of it all was likely the focal point of all the oddities in the area, which made sense when Dei considered that all the other spiritual signatures surrounded that bog. Why were there no such signatures in the bog? Because of creatures like the Spirit Frog. In a large congregation of life, stronger creatures would emerge. Creatures with more tools in their skillset, able to better take advantage of easy options, such as vulnerable spirit signatures. What would the Spirit Frog have done if it met a helpless fractured spirit sword? Absorb it. Working off the assumption that the bog was the center made things clearer and more¡­ grim. Bogs were places of death, composed of decaying plant material. If it was previously a massive refuge, was there a former city there? Dei¡¯s tremor sense wasn¡¯t the most descript when it came to things that were far away, but he couldn¡¯t sense any standing buildings. At the same time, there were rocks near the surface of the murky water, which Dei initially assumed were natural formations. What if the buildings were buried under layers of rot? If it was a dead refuge¡­ Dei could see a Decay convergence forming from its ashes. When he last visited, there was a plant called a ¡°Growberry Bramble of Decay,¡± which feasted on Decay mana in the area. Such a Decay Convergence could form a magical effect similar to the Convection or Wilderness, where it made things decay faster. It could further accelerate the destruction of whatever remained of the remnants of a city¡­ Dei looked at the broken sword in his hand again. He considered the spiritual signatures around him, and to the one he was already traveling towards. Was there a ghost of a survivor ahead? Were they alone for hundreds of years, trapped in a room with nobody to help? Dei didn¡¯t know how long ago, if at all, such destruction would have happened, but that would be awfully lonely. He hoped that the spirit he was walking towards was merely a victim of coincidence, trapped somewhere in an area that happened to have other spirits, a more recent development. Speaking of other spirits, were all the rest tools? Dei sensed no desperation from the sword, not even the slightest hint of loneliness. What if all the spirits with a mind quickly went insane or killed themselves, leaving only the simple or weak ones to wait out eternity¡­ Dei frowned deeply. What was the barrier that protected his physical body? Was it a machine of sorts, a technology of this civilization? Or was it truly a ghost with history and memory? Dei had no way to find out, as he didn¡¯t even know how to contact it. If the civilization could conceal itself so thoroughly using the barrier, and had such strong weapons as the shining blade he¡¯d just picked up, what killed them all? What brought about such ruin? Dei feared that very soon¡­ he would find out. Because checkpoint four, the final checkpoint, was two beings that hadn¡¯t moved in the entire time Dei had watched them. No creatures approached the cavern they sat in, they simply stared at the wall endlessly for the past five months. He was tempted to go around them, but he had ways to escape, and wanted to see his enemy. He didn¡¯t sense even the slightest bit of Spirituality from them, and he could quickly dive deeper down if needed. He¡¯d tested with Clever, and found that he stopped giving off a cold aura in the Physical world when he dove down to the second layer of the spirit realm- for only a few seconds of course. From this, Dei assumed that the physical world could barely interact with spirits on the first layer, but any deeper would become too disconnected for there to be an overlap. Still, he wanted to avoid being discovered. He set up a mind to manage his Presence in an inconspicuous way in order to avoid being discovered, like he¡¯d done before, but he wasn¡¯t able to set a mind to meditate on the current moment. He didn¡¯t have the mental resources to spare, and didn¡¯t want to risk having a slow reaction time. As ready as he was going to get, Dei dropped down into the first layer of the spirit realm and began stalking forward. * * * Dei left Clever behind far before he reached Checkpoint Four, as he wanted no chance of them seeing him. Clever was about half a mile from checkpoint four, if he took a straight line and shattered every wall in the cave systems between them. It was closer to five or six miles when traveling normally. Dei didn¡¯t need to worry about that though, phasing through one wall at a time while taking frequent breaks. He made sure to always be full on SP before making the next jump, so he was ready to run away if the two creatures in Checkpoint Four managed to see him. He had the Physical Dei watching him now as well, ready to communicate any changes if needed. Both of them were tense, knowing that these two creatures could have taken part in the downfall of a civilization, if they weren¡¯t responsible for it directly. What if they were so powerful, that it was these two creatures alone that ended it? Dei doubted it, apocalyptic creatures like that were most likely hard to come by, and would be carefully managed by whatever force they belonged to. Instead, he imagined that these two creatures would be scouts left by the force to search around the area, removing life forms that survived. If he looked at it from this point of view, then it would make sense for them to eventually go dormant. If you found nothing for hundreds of years, why keep searching? A lot of this was assumption though, and there were holes to his logic. Mainly that these creatures would have to be machines to do such a task, unthinking, for so long, but they appeared biological in nature when his vibrations scanned them. Second, how would they survive for so long? Surely they would die of old age or starvation if they just stopped moving. His desire for answers drove him forward. He¡¯d made too many assumptions, it was time to find a truth. * * * Step by step, he got closer. Dei located the longest tunnel that gave him a clear view of the creatures, aiming to look around a corner and barely get a visual on them. He¡¯d chosen one that was a bit more above the creatures, giving him an elevated position to look at them from. Just around the corner now, waiting for the Physical Dei¡¯s confirmation that they weren¡¯t reacting, he crouched low and kept his guard up. Only when he stopped moving and sat in silence, did he realize that some sort of outward emotion slowly crept into his mind. It didn¡¯t come from him, instead pressing against the skin and fighting to burrow itself deeper. At first, he thought it was some sort of ¡°aura of fear¡± that the two creatures had, but it felt more¡­ personal. Searching his soul, he found the emotion pressing through his connection to his affinities. Even Soul, a normally neutral affinity, was pushing him towards acting a certain way. When he realized where the pressure came form, he allowed some of it in, and the emotion his affinities wanted him to feel took him off guard. It was nor hate, fear, or perseverance. His affinities felt pure disgust against whatever sat just around the corner. ¡®Damn, what the fuck is wrong with these things? Who did they piss off to have forces of nature hate them?¡¯ More importantly though, how were they alive? Dei wanted to get far away from them if they continued to live despite affinities hating them. Just as he was getting ready to quietly book it out of there, his Physical self gave him the all clear that they were still not moving. He would have sighed, but that required him to relax a few muscles. Instead, he carefully peeked around the corner. The long straight tunnel provided a clear view of the creatures. If he had to describe them in a single word, it would be ¡°intimidating.¡± The first thing he noticed were dark scales along their entire body. They stood on hind legs with backwards knees, like that of a dog, and four-fingered hands with long claws sat loosely at their sides. His point of view didn¡¯t show their entire faces, but he noticed that they had snouts covered in teeth on the outside. They looked like sleek lizard people, probably closer to velociraptors than an iguana. The final feature that drew his eye though were their long, trunk-like tails, each with a bulb at the end. ¡®Wait. That''s not a bulb, its a¡­ cone? Or some sort of bell?¡¯ He leaned forward and squinted, trying to get a better view, when a screen popped up in front of him, causing him to jerk back slightly as his [Identify] responded. For a panicked moment, Dei thought he¡¯d somehow accidentally fired off a Wrath Identify, but sighed in relief when he realized it was just his Skills and affinities acting weird around the creatures. [Demon-Kin Demons are a scourge on all life in the multiverse. Wanting nothing more than the destruction of all, they seek final entropy in the form of draining all energy and using it to fuel their endless expansion. Time and time again, they are pushed back, but never destroyed. They are locusts, devouring everything in their path to create their armies. A single demon is a planetary conqueror. They are immortal in every way, with unkillable souls that always reconstitute their bodies with time. The only small mercy that life is granted in the face of demons, is that they are incredibly rare, and cannot multiply. The ritual to create one is nearly impossible, leading to a very finite amount of demons, but such a limitation does not stop their march of death. While a demon cannot create more demons, it can bear offspring in the form of demon-kin. Unthinking flesh in the shape of a creature, demon-kin serve as the armies to carry out their parent demons will: pain and suffering across whatever planet they find. Neither demons nor demon-kin hold access to the System, completely rejected by Gods and affinities alike, they gain power by stealing it from the affinities of those they¡¯ve slain, devouring portions of their victims souls to take into themselves. Such a process is limited though, each affinity fighting its containment within their bodies, allowing only a limited number of Skills to each demon or demon-kin] When he realized what the screen was, he moved back around the corner to read it. He went through it quickly and saw that it was a ¡°freebie¡± of sorts granted to him by his Skill. It wasn¡¯t necessarily an Identify of the creature in front of him, as that did require him to gain access to the information in their soul, but the Skill gave him a brief history of what demons and demon-kin were, so he could get some context for why the affinities did not like this thing. They took affinities for their own, without being given permission, so the affinities probably felt scandalized. He was getting ready to peek around the corner one more time and get a clear view again, when his physical self quickly said ¡°Muscle twitch, get out of there.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Immediately, he was down the way he came without ever looking back as his other self explained further. ¡°Neither were moving for a while, but I still watched closely. I was barely able to catch the moment when their left pinkies twitched slightly at the same time. I might be paranoid, but I didn¡¯t want to risk it, so I thought it would be best for you to retreat.¡± ¡°Got it, thanks. That''s the exact call I would have made too.¡± ¡°I know.¡± * * * As Dei came from the wall, Clevers eyes snapped onto him, a reminder that he was not truly invisible in the realm of spirits. Manifesting himself physically once again, Dei picked up the red blade from where he¡¯d dropped it before as he explained to Clever everything that happened. While he couldn''t get him to understand it all, Clever eventually got that he needed to watch out for anything with ¡°demon¡± in its name, and run away if he could. While Dei could fight the demons and potentially gauge their strength, he had literally no reason to do so. They also gave him the heebie jeebies, so this would be the one checkpoint he skipped. Confirming that the demon-kin stayed dormant, Dei began the final leg of the journey: the very last path to the trapped spirit. Months ago, when he set this goal for himself, he was in desperate need for help, guidance, and companionship. Now, he had power and a path forward. The spirit was no longer necessary for him to reach¡­ but he was not so selfish as to immediately give up on doing so. Even if he no longer needed them, they still needed him. For that, he would fight. * * * Unknown to either Dei¡¯s, the demon-kin spoke to each other in an untraceable way, in an unrecognizable language. ¡°The Spirit. Designated enemy?¡± One said. ¡°Unlikely. It has been two hundred and twenty seven years since the fall of the last human. Likely a wandering scavenger.¡± Two responded. ¡°Are they marked?¡± One asked. ¡°Yes. The mark tells that they are human, not spirit.¡± ¡°So we will kill them.¡± ¡°Yes. The mark will lead them back, and we will kill them.¡± Information exchanged, the two fell silent once again. Waiting. * * * POV: Justin Tabrey After quickly accessing the records of the case to find the village of the original incident, Justin immediately set out, traveling all through the night. For someone of his level, a few sleepless weeks was nothing. One night? Child''s play. Arriving at the gate, Justin felt his staff begin the proper greeting towards the village Shaman, Iora. She was the very one that started the entire debacle, a paragon of bias and rage, throwing every protocol out the window. She was a representation of all the taint that infected their society. He canceled the signal his staff attempted to send. This would be no polite visit, and he was not here as a councilman. She had no right to know anything. Quietly, he slipped through the conjured stone, phasing through like water and bypassing all the set defenses. A subtle manipulation of Mind and Heart made the guards forget he ever existed, and he continued inward. Once he hit the main road, Justin quickly made his way into a butcher''s shop, pushing aside rattling ropes of bead and bone. ¡°I¡¯ll be out in a second!¡± he heard a woman''s voice say from the back, so he made his way to the stone counter to wait, disguising his Shaman''s Staff as a common cain. He normally looked about twenty, the youth granted by his attempts at increasing his lifespan wildly successful. Quickly, he cast an illusion over himself to look a bit more grisled. A scruffy beard, slightly wrinkled face, and worn clothing fit the look. He changed his heat signature, lowering it to match that of someone getting on in their years. His scent marked him as someone who¡¯d just stepped off the road after a long trip, not dirty as that would not be befitting of a government worker, but a bit¡­ dusty. A million little tweaks made the perfect disguise, senses humans didn¡¯t have and colors they couldn¡¯t perceive were all accounted for, every single change taking hundredths of a second. In a single moment, he was someone else entirely. The woman walked out from the back, greeting him ¡°Hello there! Is there anything I could get for you?¡± she asked, and he was already subtly changing her emotions to make her more compliant. ¡°Yea, nothing much. I¡¯m here on a follow up of the investigation that happened a while back, involving a few Grrata¡¯s. I¡¯m not here to investigate you, I just need to ask them a few questions. Where could I find their home?¡± he asked in a monotone and dreary voice. The woman looked a bit sad at the mention of the family names, and Justin understood why. The official story was that a mothers child was killed and replaced, but she just couldn¡¯t accept it. She still didn¡¯t accept it, which gave Justin some hope that they knew something the council didn¡¯t. Or she¡¯d truly lost her mind. The father agreeing with her spoke of something different. He was a known player, his personality being that of a realist. From the documents, Justin doubted he¡¯d lose his way, even if he was consumed by grief. After a beat of silence, the woman gave him a few directions involving turns, counting the door flaps, and what layer of the wall their home would be on. Thanking her, he turned around and walked out. The moment he¡¯d closed the beads, the woman forgot their entire meeting, returning to butchering a fresh Canidae. Closing in on the home quickly, Justin spotted the less skilled spies that watched the house, likely Iora¡¯s personally planted ones rather than a councilmembers watch. Again, he blocked their perceptions of his existence. Iora had no right to know he was here, and the council member''s subordinates would not tell her, as information on every council member was on a ¡°need to know¡± basis. Flying up to the door flap, Justin sensed that the father walked towards the entrance before he¡¯d announced his presence. Just as he landed on the ground, the flap of the door was pulled to the side, and two furious eyes locked on to him. The man was tall, Justin estimated around eight feet tall. While he had the skin color of a surface dweller, Justin could almost see the word ¡°goliath¡± in his Racial tag. ¡°What?¡± Gor Grrata asked him. ¡°My names Justin, I want to prove your son''s innocence¡± Justin stated his tweaked purpose. While he would still kill the son if Oura proved correct, Justin knew that the Grrata¡¯s needed some support, and he would be on their side until proven otherwise. The fathers body stayed tense, but Justin could see an unintentional relaxing in his expression. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Shamanic Council member. The others are disregarding protocol, which subjects your family to abuse. It is wrong, and I oppose it.¡± He tried to keep it simple. He had no doubt that the Grrata¡¯s were tired of hearing people either sympathizing with them without offering real support, or throwing abuse their way. Justin sensed Gor¡¯s short fuse in how ready he was to punch Justin square in the jaw if he said the wrong thing, even if he was a council member¡­ perhaps especially if he was a council member. Gor continued to study him for a time, trying to read any sign of lie. Justin wasn¡¯t, but even if he was, Gor wouldn¡¯t be able to tell. Gor grunted, then said ¡°Wait here, see what my wife says¡± before ducking back into his house. * * * It was later in the day by this point, so Justin saw the parents put the kids to bed, despite the dimming still being around twenty minutes away. The kids hemmed and hawed, but the parents were firm. Without any tantrums or tears, the daughter and¡­ present son laid down, and were left by their parents. Justin watched with truesight as the son got out of bed almost instantly when the parents walked away, starting a whispered conversation with his sister about why they were going to bed early, but he didn¡¯t mention it. He didn¡¯t doubt the parents could hear it too, but neither put a stop to it. The parents led him further back into the house, into their room, where there were some basic privacy wards. They were about to start talking when he held up a finger, telling them to give him a moment, then began casting his privacy sphere. The first layer was a total silence sphere, blocking all sound. If they got past that, there was a false layer with a fake conversation taking place. If they got past that, there was a second, stronger sound blocking barrier. More and more past even the third layer, far too many for most to ever penetrate entirely. Fifty seven layers of traps, feints, false conversations and barriers were quickly erected. The kicker? The real conversation wasn¡¯t even at the center. Justin hid the real conversation around layer forty three, where any spies digging would overshoot. ¡°A ward to block the spies is erected, let¡¯s get straight into it. First, ask your questions, then I¡¯ll ask mine.¡± * * * Half an hour later, they were still in deep discussion, Justin sensed as multiple of his wards were compromised, but was still confident in their integrity. Hardly even five were pierced. The parents gave him a rundown of the situation, before they began their theorizing of what it was. They raised a point he hadn¡¯t considered yet: Dei might have some sort of in-born blessing passed down to him from his father, potentially a dormant berserker-like affinity based on an incredibly deep concept. Justin leaned back in his conjured chair, staring at the ceiling as he considered it. That would make sense, wouldn¡¯t it? While he¡¯d never heard of such a thing as a ¡®hidden berserker affinity,¡¯ Justin hadn¡¯t made it this far in life by not believing in unknown dangers. Some children were born with unnatural affinities, and these changed their personalities drastically compared to others of their species, sometimes even changing the species entirely. They told Justin of how neither knew where Dei was even dropped off, the mother tearing out a large quantity of her own memories to hide the location. He respected the dedication, nodding in recognition when she stated as much. He finally found out what started it all as well: the boy inflicted soul damage on himself to hit a cloaked enemy. A full evolution above him, this ¡°Dei¡± managed to puncture its hiding Skill and make it clear to the other Hunters. Without a mana storage Skill, Dei would have needed to draw large amounts of mana through the connection to his affinities all at once, a task which should have shattered the soul¡­ except his parents told him of how Dei was born with an unnaturally strong soul, leading to months of pain in the earliest portions of his life. The more they talked, the more Justin found out about the earliest parts of Dei¡¯s life, the more he agreed with their theory: Dei was born with a dangerous unnatural affinity that would endlessly empower the strength of his soul and cause him to lose his mind. Something didn¡¯t fit to Justin though¡­ Why would Oura kill such an asset? Even if Dei lost his mind, they could just release him on the legions of demon-kin, an untiring combatant against an untiring army. What did Oura know? Was this something that had happened before, a known condition that previous generations completely failed to contain, leading to cities being annihilated? No¡­ the Elites would kill such a person. This had to be something that surpassed human limitations. Humans could not level up past five hundred, but they could change their species to continue growing. The only path Justin could see would be if Dei¡¯s dormant affinity would change him into an uncontainable beast. His eyes widened when something Fou said came back to him, his head whipping back down from the random part of the ceiling he was staring at. ¡°Wait, did you say there were white lines criss-crossing his skin after his meeting with Iora?¡± Both Gor and Fou leaned forward, sensing that Justin was on to something, and Fou nodded. ¡°Did it look something like this?¡± he summoned a thin wire of pure white fifty-times concentrated Soul mana. While it didn¡¯t have the same concepts imbued into it, the wire should look the same. Fou nodded again ¡°Yes, but it was far thicker than that, closer to half the diameter of a rope, not the fishing line you have there.¡± Justin again began thinking on her response. The only Skill Justin knew of that could hold a soul together had horrific implications. If it was thick as a rope, the boy still did not have the dexterity to control it, which was bad news. It was a Skill called [Connection], a fragment of a Primordial Child''s Rights. The Primordial Children were dangerous entities with immense pride. They didn¡¯t care if others used fragments of their power, but it was known that they hated when they used it badly. Many years ago, there was a wizard who managed to figure out a small glimpse of Dragon Fire, and he used it to burn down all of his enemies. The city he lived in was unceremoniously annihilated by The Champion. Not because The Champion didn¡¯t want the man to use it, but because ¡°It hurt to watch that stupid man bring shame to the power of our Skill. It could have done so much more than what he used it for.¡± If Dei was somehow born with [Connection], but couldn¡¯t use it properly¡­ he could bring down calamity upon all Gem Dwellers. ¡°Oura you fucking idiot¡­ has your hubris doomed us?¡± Justin whispered to himself. Oura didn¡¯t like threats to his power. If this boy managed to master Connection, integrating it into himself, they could have a Reaper that helped humans! Did Oura think that he wouldn¡¯t be able to contain the Reaper somehow? But wait¡­ If Dei was on the path to becoming a Reaper, a proper user of [Connection], where did the mindlessness come in? Justin ran hundreds of calculations in his head, linking and unlinking different theories and ideas. How would Iora have known about the dormant connection until after she¡¯d almost killed the child? Why did Oura agree with her? He was missing too much information. He needed to wait for his friend to come, and they would figure out what to do next. ¡®One step at a time, Justin, one step at a time.¡¯ Foresight users tended to plan too far ahead, losing themselves in their convoluted plans until they disconnected from reality entirely. He needed to keep himself grounded. Taking a deep breath, Justin explained his own theory for what happened, and asked if he could see the cradle they kept Dei in when he was younger. Justin needed to start the process of forming a karmic bond to the boy, so he could be ready when backup arrived. ¡®Just a few days. Whisper was always quick, she¡¯ll be even faster with what I¡¯ve told her so far. I just need to keep the eyes on me, so the council member spies don''t suspect I have ulterior methods.¡¯ * * * Justin sat on the floor of the Grrata¡¯s guest room as the mother walked in, looking mournfully at the crib of her lost boy. ¡®Fuck, I¡¯ve been too emotionless this visit. I can¡¯t forget that these parents lost their son. The mother especially, her Love affinity must make it difficult¡­ the soul damage from the situation must take its toll, but she puts on a strong front.¡¯ Justin inwardly grimaced at how ¡°business-like¡± he¡¯d been all visit. He didn¡¯t want to be Oura. He had to be better, right now. ¡°We¡¯ll find him¡± Justin assured her ¡°and he will get his justice.¡± Fou nodded to him, saying nothing, and left. Wasting no more time, Justin activated one of his Skills that tapped into karma, and began searching. Chapter 50 Chapter 50: [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 71) -> (Level 72)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (33) -> (35)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (109) -> (110)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (17) -> (19)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (65) -> (66)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (56) -> (57)] Finally, after months of preparation and retrying his trips, Dei closed in on the spirits abode. It felt almost anticlimactic. He¡¯d struggled so many times, completely failing to make progress, and now he¡¯d suddenly skipped right to the end. The entire trip, Dei waited for some monster to jump out at him, for something to be tracking him, yet nothing happened. He had to think back and remind himself that the fault of his difficulty was his alone. In all his delays, he made himself known. When he visited the bog, he spent too long making a racket in the exact same spot, until a monster came to kill him. When he stopped by the Convection biome, he¡¯d intentionally thrown himself into the fray. The only time a monster ever actively hunted him was the giant centipede that took an interest in him while he was between the Garden and Lorpee cavern, but it was easily scared off. The one time he genuinely tried to be as stealthy as possible and make his way to his end goal¡­ it just worked. Based on his previous trips, he thought it¡¯d be years before he ended up finishing the journey. Yet here he was, two days since the start of the trip, right where he¡¯d intended to be. He was tempted to stop and think about it more, but he let the momentum of his jog take him around the final corner. The spirit itself was at the end of a long, straight, tunnel, and it was the entrance to this tunnel that he now sensed the oddest signal from. Dei was faced with some sort of invisible wall he hadn¡¯t seen using [Tremor Sense]. To the naked eye, Dei couldn¡¯t see it either. Instead, it pulsed across his Soul affinity, sending a message he couldn¡¯t differentiate. The wall stretched across the entire entrance of the cave, leaving no room to slip through As he drew closer, the message became clearer. ¡°This place is dangerous. Leave. This place is dangerous. Leave.¡± Words came through his connection to Soul, the opening to the cave warded with a solid wall of Soul mana that sent a message to any who came across it. Dei was reminded of the way Iora used to talk to the crowds of people when they lined up at the gate, sending a message to everyone that would come through as words to Dei. Clever, on his shoulder, began to freak out slightly. He expressed feelings of being uncomfortable with the cave in front of them, saying that he didn¡¯t want to go in, and that they should leave. He was afraid for Dei as well, asking him to turn around, saying that it would be best to go somewhere else. ¡®It never occurred to me, but how do others hear these soul words?¡¯ Dei thought ¡®Right now, it¡¯s like Clever can''t hear the message, but he understands the meaning.¡¯ Dei told Clever that he was being manipulated by some invisible force, sending Clever what he saw when he looked towards the cave. When Clever realized it was some sort of manipulating spell, he started trying to work through it. Nonetheless, Dei believed Clever had a good point: they might want to leave. The spirit was trapped, and he now knew that was intentional. Someone came upon the spirit, and found a way to imprison it. What if it was an evil spirit, and this was its sentence? What if it did horrible things, and would kill him if given the chance? Dei was tempted to turn around, but he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to. To his [Spirit Sense], he saw the flickering nature of its life. Since he first sensed it, Dei realized how weak this spirit was. It remained on the verge of death through all of his adventures, but it continued to cling to life. He continued to feel its desperate calls for help, even now, as it refused to give in and die. He looked towards Clever, and chose to give him an option. ¡°This might be dangerous. You don''t need to come with me. If you want to turn back, I¡¯ll take you back to the Convection biome, and you can join your sister''s community.¡± Before he¡¯d finished the message, though, Clever was already adamantly rejecting it. He wanted to explore with Dei, and he wasn¡¯t as interested in sitting in the hottest area¡¯s anymore like most Korgonda. Clever expressed how he¡¯d earned tons of ¡°Titles¡± already from their ventures, even though Dei didn¡¯t know what that meant, and he wanted to keep pushing himself to be the strongest he could be, with Dei. Smiling at him, Dei sent back feelings of gratitude. He wanted Clever to be here with him, but he didn¡¯t want him to feel obligated in doing so. With a friend at his side, Dei found his decision to continue forward much easier. ¡°Prepare yourself¡± he sent to Clever, then started walking forward. He sensed tiny claws grab at his body from his shoulder, and the message of ¡°danger¡± grew louder as they got closer. He reached out, pressing his hand against the barrier, but it went straight through. The invisible wall didn¡¯t slow him down at all, not meant to do so. It served only to carry the message that danger existed beyond its bounds. In no time at all, he and Clever made a final push, and came out the other side to an eerie quiet. No message played now, left behind them at the door. In front of them, Dei heard none of the usual ambience of a cave. He hadn¡¯t realized it until it was gone, but the dripping of water on stone and distant echoes of movements or calls around the cave provided a low white noise to listen to. Now that it was gone, the silence deafened him. Taking one step after the other, he crept slowly, cautious of any traps or hidden beasts. If this was a prison, there was bound to be a guard. Instead, all that greeted them was an absolute silence like none other. Dei felt that it was almost purposeful, as nothing echoed around them, sound left near the start of the cave. The further they went into the cave, the more¡­ intentional the structure grew. The crooked edges of the stone walls smoothed into a polished material. The floor, too, polished further and further, until the stone took on a glassy texture. Some sort of magic was worked into the stone that dampened sound, and the perfect nature of it all made it uncomfortable to look at. His mind was so used to seeing differences in things, that an absolute absence of them started to shake him. The only break in stillness was the tiny breaths and rhythm of the heartbeat on his shoulder in the form of Clever. At a time like this, it was particularly obvious to Dei that he had no functions of his own. He found himself breathing, despite the nature of his Projection, to simply have something loud to help stave off the silence. On top of the eerie quiet, darkness began to press into them. Because of his [Darkvision], Dei quickly noticed that it was magically enhanced, and paused for a second to see whether it was going to attack them or not. ¡®Fuck, its times like this where I cant properly sense magic that I realize how important such a sense is. If I could, then I would be able to read whether there''s intent behind the darkness.¡¯ Regretting his situation would fix nothing, which led to him asking Clever instead. Clever stated that he didn¡¯t sense any abnormal heat around them, and that the darkness didn¡¯t feel like it was closing in on them. After Dei brought his attention to it, Clever was able to see the Dark magic, and said that he would watch it. Not only this, but Clever began shining much brighter, and Dei saw how the magical darkness receded under the glow. His Projection body didn¡¯t have the ability to fire infrared light like his Physical body did, otherwise he would be able to banish the dark on his own instantly, but he was glad that Clever could. Dei realized he would have genuinely been hard-pressed to find a light source bright enough to show the way forward if Clever had turned back. Deeper they ventured, the dark and silence growing more oppressive with each step. Before he knew it, he¡¯d reached the end of the long tunnel. Clever buried himself in Dei¡¯s neck, obviously afraid yet sending none of it through the connection between them. This time, an actual wall stood before them, composed of the same perfect stone as all the rest. the only difference being a simple wooden oak door with an iron lock on it. Dei studied the door, seeing its medieval-esque style as odd but in-tune with his supposed time period. It had a small ring that acted as a handle, but Dei guessed that it was not going to open without a key. He tried anyway, but found that he was right. He didn¡¯t want to simply phase through it, as that would involve leaving Clever and the red blade behind. ¡®Okay. what now?¡¯ First, he tried just punching it, but several points of Soul mana were blown out of him as the damage to his arm was fairly extreme. After quickly recollecting it, he went over his other tools. He was obviously of superhuman strength, so the door had to be magically reinforced. For a second, he considered pulling Null mana through his connection to fire at it, and see if he could disrupt is magical properties, but hesitated as he too was made of magic. On top of this, he was hesitant to use the broken sword as a chopping instrument. It would get him through the door, but he didn¡¯t want to aggravate the spirit inside it any more than he already had.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Instead, he saw that it was a wooden door and he had a fire lizard. Clever could easily blast a hole in it, but that would leave him cold and weak. Dei didn¡¯t want Clever expending all his heat in some place like this, but he didn¡¯t think Clever could control the blast enough to be okay afterwards. ¡°Clever, can you crawl against the door and become as hot as possible?¡± Dei asked him, getting a hesitant affirmative. Clever didn¡¯t want to leave Dei¡¯s shoulder, but he also didn¡¯t see another way forward. Sitting against the door, Dei saw how Clevers bright glow shifted from white to red, dimming significantly as he tried to focus everything on heat. After a few minutes, Clever moved to measure his progress. Hardly even a smudge was left after all the effort he poured in. Sending an apologetic feeling, Dei reassured him that it was okay, and that Dei himself wouldn¡¯t have been able to do any better. While Clever was very hot, he could only increase his body temperature by so much. ¡®What if me and Clever combine our abilities? I can store heat because of the knowledge on convection that I learned from that Wraith, and Clever can be the source of warmth to power it as I don''t have my own body heat to draw from.¡¯ Posing the idea to Clever, he seemed to like it because it would involve both of them working together. Climbing onto Dei¡¯s hand, he again began to grow hot. Dei drew the heat from Clever as best he could, spreading it out evenly across his body. It was much easier for him to do than with the Convection mana, as bare heat wasn¡¯t naturally imbued with meaning. Slowly but surely, the heat throughout his projection began to produce its own mana. It wasn¡¯t Convection alone, but several mixed together. Pressure, Heat, Convection, Light, and dozens of other types of mana he couldn¡¯t place started naturally forming within his body, much easier for him to sense because they were inside him. Dei realized that the Convection Convergence was not only aggressive against life forms, but other Mana¡¯s as well, drowning out the natural balance of them. Searching through the wavelengths, he found one mana type that stood out to him as a perfect catalyst, one that he was actually familiar with. The mana represented rapid movement from one place to another, quickly displaced material, or the lighting punches of a professional fighter. After studying it for a time, getting a feel for it and what it meant, the mana presented its name: Snap mana. He remembered feeling this as his mother fought to escape the people chasing them, using it to teleport around the battlefield and tear apart the stone gate for them to escape through. Dei wanted to use this mana to cause an eruption of heat out a particular part of his body. The small amounts of snap mana he could sense had an anticipatory feel to them, ready for what was to come. The Snap mana appeared in response to the ¡°potential snap energy¡± in his body, ready to kick off the process. All the Snap mana he could, he gathered together, seeing the heat that came into contact with it become more excitable and aggressive for a few moments. Gathering the snap mana in his middle finger and thumb, pressing them together as he held his hand out towards the door. ¡°Get back for a moment Clever, this might get dangerous.¡± Dei sent, and readied himself. When Clever was a small distance away, Dei moved all the miscellaneous swirling mana and heat forward, focusing it into the two focused points of Snap mana as he actually snapped his fingers together. Like signal, the gesture of snapping accelerated the process to speeds he couldn¡¯t follow, causing all the heat and mana to instantly eject from his body. A bright, radiant spark flew from his fingertips towards the door, a raging inferno concentrated into a single point. ¡®I should have backed up too¡¯ he thought far too late as the spark collided with the door, and the explosion went off. Exactly two feet from said explosion, Dei was sent flying backwards down the corridor, hundreds of Soul mana knocked out of him as he skidded along the ground. The length of the tunnel worked in his favor, as he didn¡¯t slam into a wall, but he was fifty feet back towards the entrance by the time he came to a tumbling stop. [Soul Strength: 723/1100] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (26) -> (32)] He felt like groaning would be appropriate, but he didn¡¯t actually hurt at all. Instead, he just sighed at his own stupidity as he quickly stood back up and looked towards the site of the explosion. Clever was, luckily, completely unharmed, but Dei¡¯s ego was in shambles. The door itself was weirdly intact. While there was still a hole in the center, Dei expected the entire thing to be dust at this point. Walking towards it, he received a message from Clever that he was sensing an odd flow of the Soul mana in the air. Clever said that the loose Soul mana was flowing into the hole in the wall, and Dei began to panic slightly. If the spirit truly was a dangerous prisoner, he didn¡¯t want to empower it back to full strength. Throwing his body in the gap of the door, most of the Soul mana flowed into him, being reintegrated into his body with little difficulty. After a few seconds, he felt the flow stop, and Clever said the air was clear of Soul mana, [Soul Strength: 923/1100] While he wasn¡¯t full on Soul Strength before, that still left around one hundred fifty concentrated mana to the spirit¡­ around nine hundred mana if it was unconcentrated. With his [Spirit Sense], Dei felt the flicker of strength left within the trapped spirit grow to a roaring explosion. ¡°Clever, we¡¯re out of here!¡± Dei sent to him. It was one thing to meet with a criminal behind glass, it was another to face that criminal head-on without any protection, unknowing of how strong it was. Quickly swiping him up, he took off down the tunnel when Clever sent a picture of his future to him, showing Dei being struck with a force from behind. Dodging to the side, something brushed his arm before grabbing it, wrapping itself around the limb. ¡°WAIT¡± he heard in his head ¡°WAIT WAIT. PLEASE! PLEASE DON¡¯T LEAVE ME!¡± it screamed through the connection with his limb. Quickly looking down, Dei saw a watery tentacle wrapped around it, pulling him backwards. He pressed forward with all his might, but he could barely stop himself from losing his balance. It was holding the arm that held the red blade, and he didn¡¯t want to shift his weight enough to grab it with his free hand. He couldn¡¯t cut it, he would have to pull away. ¡°I MEAN YOU NO HARM! I BEG YOU, RETURN!" The screaming plea¡¯s continued, and Dei was more hesitant to break the connection. ¡°Let go of my arm!¡± he sent back ¡°You will leave! You will run!¡± ¡°Yes, and I am allowed to do so! How do I know you are not going to attack me?¡± ¡°Please¡­ Don¡¯t leave me down here¡­¡± it came to him, quieter now. He didn¡¯t know if it was merely playing at his heart strings, but the tactic was starting to work. Clever was frantically sending through their connection that he vehemently disagreed with returning to the room, saying that the monster was large now that he got a good look at its shape with his [Heat Sense] Dei tried thinking of a way to read its emotions in an unfiltered manner, one where it couldn¡¯t lie, and came upon the same way he read Clever. ¡°Allow me to Identify you, what you are, and all your intentions. If you are truly not going to harm us, then I will come back. Do NOT resist the Identify at all. You will have NO secrets, or I am leaving¡± he gave it the ultimatum. ¡°Yes! Yes! No secrets at all, please scan me! Just don¡¯t leave!¡± it excitedly sent back, the vague sense of hope filling its hysterical voice. Firing a Kindness [Identify] at it, there wasn¡¯t even the slightest resistance in its soul as it latched onto everything Dei wanted to know. First, he scanned its intentions, sensing that it was in desperate need of companionship, and already considered him the closest thing to a friend it had. ¡®Thats incredibly sad¡¯ he thought. Next, he got the information on what kind of creature it was [Corrupted Damaged Crippled Embodiment of the Flow - Level 1 Embodiments are elementals which have chosen to boost the effectiveness of their Mental stat at the cost of Physical, Spiritual, and Magical stat effectiveness. The formation of an Embodiment indicates that the original Elemental was already an incredibly skilled and intelligent combatant, guaranteeing that meeting any Embodiment on the battlefield is a near-guaranteed death sentence for the unprepared. The Flow affinity involves both the flow of rivers and the change of all things. Everything flows from one form to another, and the Flow Embodiment encapsulates this perfectly. Always seeking out new experiences and a willingness to change the world, creatures of Flow are never content to sit still, always moving forward. This particular Embodiment lost a battle nearly one year ago, but was not killed by its opponent. Instead, the opponent decided to seal it for an unknown purpose. The seal prevented the Embodiment of the Flow from exploring or changing its environment. Over time, the absolute lack of change in scenery began to damage the Flow Embodiments connection to the Flow, causing it to drop in levels and begin taking damage. Every time it dropped below an evolutionary threshold, one of its buffing adjectives were replaced with a debuffing adjective. Originally level three hundred and eighty two, the Embodiment of the Flow gained the Corrupted adjective once its level decayed to 299, the Damaged adjective once its level decayed to 199, then the Crippled adjective once its level decayed to 99. The Corrupted adjective indicates that its connection to the flow was temporarily severed, preventing it from producing Flow mana. The Damaged adjective indicates that its form is easily disrupted, making it very fragile. The Crippled adjective indicates that the disconnect from the Flow element has reached critical levels, preventing it from naturally changing its scenery without a specialized container. Physical: 5 Mental: 5 Spiritual: 5 Magical: 5] Dei winced when he read each adjective in its name, already sorry for it before even reading the full description, Once he¡¯d finished though, he really felt sorry for it, and understood why this prison was unnaturally devoid of ambience or detail in the stone. It was intentionally created to torture an Embodiment of the Flow, something that lived for change. Clever saw the change in his expression and realized Dei was genuinely about to walk back into the lion''s den, and asked him to reconsider. Dei sent back the full description he¡¯d gleaned from the Embodiment of the Flow, and Clever froze. Getting feelings of exasperation from the connection between them, Clever agreed that he, too, felt sorry for the spirit, and supposed that they should give it a shot. He also sent that Dei needed to be ready to carry Clever away while running, as Clever would be ready to blast this Embodiment to smithereens if it tried anything. Dei sent to the Embodiment ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll come back, but you have to let go of my arm.¡± Slowly, the watery tendril unwrapped itself and pulled back down into the darkness. Dei, with his [Spirit Sense], saw that it was just out of sight though. The Embodiment was ready to try and drag them back again if they attempted to run away. It was off putting how much this thing was fighting to get them into its cell, but he continued to scan its intentions using Identify, and it continued to wish only good things on them, as it wanted their help to escape its cell. Hoping he wouldn¡¯t regret this, Dei walked back into the clutches of a powerful monster. Chapter 51 While Dei could sense the monster lurking just out of sight, coated in Darkness mana, the trip back to its den was actually less tense than the first time. It was true that they were in more danger now, with it supposedly partially unsealed, but he now knew what danger to expect, and it gave him a sense of security to understand where the threat came from. Eventually, Clever and Dei made it back to the broken wooden door, spotting the edge of a blue tendril as it was pulled through. Placing Clever on the edge of the hole, he phased through and picked him back up on the other side. In front of them, Dei could see nothing. The absolute pitch black darkness was strongest in this room, and they could hardly see a few feet in front of them. Despite that, both him and Clever had a solid visual on what they were working with, using their respective detection abilities and sharing their findings with one another. It was a perfect semi-sphere of a room, the floor absolutely flat while the walls were evenly curved. Nothing caught his eye, except the large indent in the middle of the room, filled with enough water to fill a pond. Dei saw more than that though. The water in the pond was chock-full of spiritual energy, and so close he realized that all the water was the Embodiment of the Flow. Several tentacles of water rose up from its depths, wrapping around one another in the center as a knot of Spiritual mana coalesced into a vaguely humanoid shape. ¡°Please do not be afraid, I mean you no harm¡± it sent to both him and Clever. Looking closer, Dei saw how the Spiritual energy in the creature was wildly uneven. Certain parts were reinforced to absurd degrees, such as the limb that grabbed onto him earlier, but most of it was almost devoid of Spiritual energy entirely. In these parts, Dei was absolutely positive he could tear through it, dealing significant damage to its soul shape as he disrupted it. At full strength, Dei imagined it would be like fighting Gargeth. The strongest concentrations of Spiritual energy hidden deep within it, while you fight off its weaker limbs that it can stand to lose. It would steamroll him every day of the week, if it was back to full strength. Now though? It could hardly form its own shape, drawing on every bit of strength it had left to give him something to look at. After studying it in silence for a few seconds, he responded. ¡°Yea, I can sense that. Thanks for not attacking so far. I suppose we should start at the beginning. I¡¯m Dei, a human using a projection. This is my friend¡± he said, motioning towards Clever. Clever introduced himself as an emotion involving triumph through intelligence by outwitting his enemies. ¡°I am Fendrascora, an Embodiment of the Flow.¡± Dei nodded at their words. ¡°The first thing we need to discuss is how you ended up here. I got the general idea from reading your soul, that you were defeated and sealed, but I want to learn more than that. I will read the memory of how it all happened, send it to Clever here, and then we can talk from there. While it¡¯s true you can tell us it on your own, I would like to have the factual story, taken straight from your memories. Not only this, but it would be much faster to just get the entire memory in seconds.¡± Fendrascora sent back a reluctant agreement. It didn¡¯t want him to get the unfiltered story, but it wouldn¡¯t stop him. ¡°Please just continue listening to the story, even after you see my mistake. At least until the moment I am fully imprisoned¡± it requested of him. ¡°I will see when I¡¯ve read it¡± he said. He didn¡¯t want to agree to anything before getting all the information. Privately, he messaged Clever ¡°Keep an eye out, I might be vulnerable for a few seconds as I process all this information.¡± Then, without further adieu, he scanned Fendrascora¡¯s memories, jumping to where it all began * * * Darkness. Flowing riptides pull at my form, but I fight. The rival elemental attempts to disrupt me, but I stay defensive. Time after time, it releases attacks that I deflect into the water around us. I am pushed back again, and again, but I do not panic. It is older than me, but I have a plan. When everything is in position, I deflect one of its blows into the riverbed. The resting monster awakens, severely harmed yet enraged. It tasts the mana that hit it, and locks onto my enemy. Quickly, I hide myself as the monstrous fish surges forward, snapping at the other elementals loose form. Taking its attention away from me, the elemental and monster fight until they both tire and prepare to escape from the other, but I catch both off guard with well-placed, full strength blasts. Both enemies are extinguished, and I collect my spoils. From the elemental, I take its essence, far more concentrated than mine, boosted by treasures over time. Its strength is now mine. From the fish, I take the treasure it guarded, one that helps it command the lesser of its kin. The plan has worked well, I can now become greater, and control my lessers. But I am not content, not yet. * * * Three subordinate elementals stand behind me. Two of water, one of darkness. The darkness hides us from our target. Humans. The clever landwalkers carry treasures, time and time again they pass these waters with their incredible valuables, yet they never get close. Hesitant are they to garner the attention of the depths, but I keep all other beasts away. It is not the treasures they carry now that interest me, but those they might bring. Over time, they learn that these waters are safe. They swim and drink, no monsters attacking any of them. They build up their village around the safe waters, a rare commodity, and do what I have always wanted them to: grow their crystals. Long ago, I sensed the power emanating from these human villages, and I wanted that for myself. The issue, however, is that these humans are cautious. They will not make the crystals that give off power if there is danger, and they only grow the crystals after their villages are impossibly defensible. I must already be inside the village, after it is sealed, to take their crystals. So I wait. Under these waterways, I hide and protect them from the larger threats. Over time, a long time, they fortify it. They seal the underwater ways, preventing others from getting in, and my quiet job of defending is done. Instead, I only hide with my expendable siblings. A long, long time goes by, and the crystals begin to grow beautifully. I see them, so close, yet still I wait. There are more, more crystals the humans can make. * * * Eventually, a powerful one appears. The man, old and carrying a staff, glows with magic. I know I would struggle to fight him in my form. After I absorb the crystals, he will be no match, but for now I must evade him. He casts spells on the water, scanning it for threats, but I have always lived in the water of their village, it feels too close to mine and my siblings'' bodies. The spell fails, and he does not know it. I continue to wait. * * * Hundreds. Thousands of glittering treasures in the shape of these magical crystals grow above me. The ¡°Shaman¡± as I have learned from their language is constantly on the watch for monster signatures, but he never spots me. My energy in the water is detected, but attributed to a phenomena that keeps other beasts away. It is considered a blessing, and I grow fond of these humans. Long ago, when the journey started, I had intended to kill the vulnerable humans for experience. With my new perspective, however, I will choose to spare them and merely harvest their crystals. Once I consume a hundred, my power will surpass even that of the shaman. At two hundred, I will rocket out of the imaginations of any puny creatures. If I consume them all? Only the deepest of beasts will slow my strength.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. * * * The time has come. The humans have completely stopped growing crystals, and the energy emitted from them is now the purest I have ever seen. I wait, patiently, as night falls. The crystals dim, and the humans sleep. Tonight is a night when even the shaman rests his eyes, lowering his guard slightly. Under the guise of my darkness subordinate, I creep around the cave, taking the crystals, one by one. Through my willpower, I skip those that still glow slightly, and I take until I am saturated with magical energies. Finally, I consume the last vulnerable crystal, and I slip back into the waters. With my subordinates. The plan is finished, I am done, and it has worked better than I have ever imagined. I did not need to sacrifice my subordinates to escape, and the humans are none the wiser. Uncaring of tripping their alarms, I quickly break through the underwater wards, never meant to repel an attack from the inside, and slip away. * * * A time goes by, and I believe I am safe¡­ but enraged humans begin to seek me out. At first, I believed it was because I took their crystals, yet I visited the cave again¡­ and saw only destruction. The houses are flattened, the shore is pulled deeper into the water systems, and many human bodies litter the area. Shame fills me as I realize that, once I left, monsters sensed the residual magic of the crystals and came to search for them. They found nothing but an easy meal, and massacred them. I run away, deeper, and hide. * * * Another batch of humans find me, but I run away. Never do I kill them, not since the first batch, as the shame I feel for hurting those that once praised my efforts to keep monsters away. I run, and run, and run. I cannot go too deep, or even my strength will fail. I realize now that the crystals were not worth it. They boosted my power to a certain level. I have risen above all my siblings I know of, but only to the third evolution. My body requires more and more energy as it grows stronger, and this I did not account for. I cannot go deeper, but still I run from the scorned humans. * * * I sense an incredible treasure above me, with a strong connection to the Flow. I pull myself up through the opening, into the waters of a still lake. I see a smooth riverstone, floating on the surface of the water, and leap for it- But it disappears from my grasp. Sensing the trap, I turn around, but the ground beneath me is sealed completely. I am cut off from the Great River. Ready to fight my way out, I spot a familiar figure above the water. The old Shaman that once guarded my village. Our village. ¡°You are a monument to my greatest failure.¡± he declares in my mind ¡°Understand my pain.¡± Launching a psychic attack, images flash past my eyes of monsters storming from the supposedly safe river. Of innocent, weak, humans being ripped to shreds. Not even the smallest are spared of the monster''s wrath. It does not end there though¡­ days, weeks, months of shame pass as the humans I once guarded spit in my face, cursing me in the name of the dead. I cannot argue with their rage, as I agree that the failure falls entirely upon my shoulders. If only I was more cautious, if only I was better, the humans would have been spared. Something clicks in my mind, and the world begins to fall into place. My body weakens, yet my ability to think has become stronger than ever before. I understand now that I once took the place of this Shaman. That I was the protector, and my greed caused me to throw caution to the wind. I am a monster no longer, yet I know I will never become a human. The human senses this change in me, and scoffs. ¡°Now, for the first time, you become introspective of your actions. It is too late. You will suffer for all eternity in this stillness. I know your kind, I know that you despise stagnating. This will be your torture. For the rest of your life, until you choose to kill yourself, you will sit in absolute darkness and silence, completely stagnant. Goodbye. The walls close in around me as the excess water is drained, only my body remaining. The stone becomes perfectly smooth, and the world is plunged into darkness. I sense the human leave, and I am forced to contemplate. * * * For earning my sapience, I am granted knowledge of the world. A being, higher than anything I understand, calls itself ¡°The Mother.¡± It grants me a name, ¡°Fendrascora.¡± It says that I have grown close to humans, and will have a slight natural affinity for them. It changes some of my ways of thinking, making me better suited for human societies. I learn their mannerisms and am granted knowledge of their thought processes. The Mother tells me that, should I choose to take a human form, I will be a female. It all hurts. The more I learn of these humans, the more I come to regret my actions. I wish I was only an elemental now, so I would not have to spend this time lonely. Yet my innate human affinity yearns to rejoin a society I¡¯ve never been a part of. I curse The Mother, I beg her to take the knowledge from me and return me to a simple water elemental, yet she ignores my pleas. She no longer has her attention on me, and in the darkness, I sit. Thinking. * * * Dei gasps as the memories abruptly stop coming. There were many more, a long time spent in solitude, but he chose to leave those alone. The memories, being in Fendrascora¡¯s shoes, were already painful. It- No, she, spent a long time alone. Fendrascora wants only to escape. Sighing, Dei sends a summary of it all to Clever, who takes it much better than Dei; most likely because he didn¡¯t have to live through it all. He looks back to Fendrascora, who wilts slightly under his gaze. While she is around the size of four buildings, she looks like a beat dog to Dei, and it only increases his desire to help her. She killed a lot of humans, but he couldn¡¯t find any anger within him. She was only a simple monster at the time, not understanding of her own actions, yet she still regretted it. The moment she gained sapience, a proper thinking mind, the shame was almost too much for her to bear. There were times in his previous life when he¡¯d said things he couldn¡¯t take back. Done things that drove others away from him as he proved to be too unstable. His hadn¡¯t led to anybody dying, or any overall harm, but that didn¡¯t mean it was better, just that the stakes were higher in this world. If he¡¯d lost his cool in his previous life, what would happen? He¡¯d hurt some people, but others would stop him. What happened when, say, a level three hundred Shaman lost their cool? Death in the hundreds. Fendrascora was a big monster at the time, unknowing that she could deal that much damage to such a supposedly secure barrier. In her mind, there was no future of the town being raided, as she¡¯d never looked outside of the scope of herself. Instead, she acted on instinct. ¡°What you did wasn¡¯t okay, and it resulted in uncountable deaths, but you should be forgiven for it. You never intended to hurt so many, and it''s clear that you¡¯ve suffered for a long time because of your decision. I know it''s not up to only me, but as a human, I forgive you.¡± He felt sadness and relief flood through his Identify as an immense weight on her mind was relieved, if only slightly. On top of that, a second feeling came through that was hard to describe. It wasn¡¯t an emotion per-se, just a need for contact. Fendrascora was horribly touch-starved, and wanted a hug. Dei almost laughed at the request, especially with how embarrassed she was about asking, but agreed, flying over the water to meet with the main collection of spiritual energy, the humanoid shape of water in the center. It was almost completely featureless, almost like a mannequin, but he could see that she¡¯d fallen to her knees. He just wrapped his arms around her as she buried her head into his neck. Her body felt cold and rubbery, but he didn¡¯t mention anything about it. He quickly felt tears falling onto his knees, and resolved to sit here with her for a while. * * * POV: The Biting Flesh Trap of Allure that Dei Used to Kill the Wraith A long time ago, the Flesh Trap came to possess a large amount of high quality Soul and Spirit mana. Using that, it had to pick which of its affinities to resonate that Soul mana to: Heart, Blood, Bulb, or Sloth. She could not resonate to Heart, as there was no affinity between Soul and Heart. Bulb and Sloth did not interest it either. She resonated with both, but it was Blood where her interest grew. She felt blood all around her, she lived off of it, she needed it. What if she could do¡­ more with it. The concept she wanted to reach was distant, but she already made significant progress. The Soul mana was all but dry now though, and she needed more. The deep, hidden affinity between Blood and Soul would become her affinity. The vessel for precious Soul mana sat close by. The Flesh Trap monitored its emotions using Heart, sensing that it was feeling distress. She could sense the vessels link to somewhere far away, outside of the barrier that guarded them, but the barrier blocked her view from what the vessel saw. Now would not be the time to request a trade, but the Flesh Trap could prepare. It was clear that the vessel required a weapon, and was willing to pay the Flesh Trap in Soul mana to become its weapon. The Flesh Trap began her work of manipulating herself using the Bulb affinity. It decided that its future would not be among her siblings, but in the hands of its vessel until she garnered enough Soul to reach the hidden concept. She would transcend her siblings, she would be better. To ensure she would become a better tool, and to make it easier for the vessel to wield, she began to manipulate her body with its Bulb affinity, growing her roots and tying them together. If she did it right, the structure of the roots would become strong enough for the vessel to wield her blade without harming itself. The Flesh Trap sensed the vessels displeasure at their previous agreement, and seeked to rectify that in her plan to earn more Soul mana. The handle would take a long time to create, and she would expend much energy to do so, but she was overfull from her previous dinner anyway, and the goal was greater than any expense. She would get her Soul mana. Chapter 52 [Skill Leveled Up: Call for Help (24) -> (53)] For a while, Dei comforted the Embodiment of the Flow as it cried silently. Early on, Clever felt excluded so Dei quickly went to get him too, carrying him to Fendrascora¡¯s main body so he, too, could comfort her. Over time though, a nagging feeling started to ache in his chest. Initially, he ignored it, but after twenty minutes, it grew painful. Searching inwards, he realized it was his Soul affinity beginning to decay. It happened slowly, because he didn¡¯t distrust Fendrascora, but he still didn¡¯t trust her yet, and the clause of his Soul Contract stated that he had to trust anyone he socialized with, or his connection to the affinity would take damage. He didn¡¯t want to rush her, but he was now on a very short clock, so he communicated this with her. They¡¯d been silent since he began comforting her, so she startled slightly when he spoke. ¡°Hey, I don''t want you to think I intend to leave you or anything, but I¡¯m attuned to the Soul affinity, so I start taking damage when socializing for longer periods of time. I need to leave soon, but I will come back to free you, and we need to start planning that before I go.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t stay? Even if we stop socializing, can¡¯t you just sit around the corner, just outside the door?¡± She pleaded with him. Truly, his heart was breaking at the entire situation, but he would need to return to his body eventually. ¡°I don¡¯t know if that would help with my attunement, but I¡¯ll need to get back to my physical body. It would likely be able to help you out of this cell. My physical body can dig through stone very quickly, and it can use a powerful version of Darkvision to banish Darkness and Shadow mana. If I can get here, I can begin dismantling your prison, but I need to get back to my body first.¡± She wanted to argue, but she also wanted to escape, and she knew it would not be so easy as him immediately breaking down all the walls to release her. ¡°We must consider how to get me out too¡­ I cannot rejoin the Great River. My Crippled adjective means that I cannot leave this container, or the natural rivers will destroy me. I must rebuild my strength to leave, or find something specially made to hold me in order to move.¡± ¡°Yes, but none of that can be done with my Projection. It is too weak, too limited in its tools. Once I¡¯m here, we can start experimenting, trying different ways to either move you or strengthen you. How are we going to strengthen you though? Do you need experience? Do we need to bring monsters to you to kill?¡± Dei asked ¡°No, nothing like that. Embodiments of the Flow can gain strength from new experiences. While its true killing things would heal me, it would be far more dangerous than simply having a change of scenery. My meeting with you has already healed me greatly¡± she told him, causing him to quickly glance at his Identify. [Corrupted Damaged Crippled Embodiment of the Flow - Level 17] ¡°Experiences alone aren¡¯t enough to heal me fully though,¡± she said quietly, clearly uncomfortable. ¡°I need energy too, Spirit mana. You gave me a lot of that. Even though yours is technically Soul mana, it¡¯s imbued in such a way that makes it very closely resemble Spirit mana. I was able to absorb it and transform it all the way into Spirit mana easily enough, without losing too much in the conversion. I¡­ don''t necessarily need any right away, but if you have any more to spare, it would help me a lot.¡± She didn¡¯t want to take from him, but it was clear that she also didn¡¯t have a better idea for where to get Spirit mana from. Dei knew that there was a sort of ¡°conversion¡± rate between Spirit and Soul mana, as one could turn into the other, so he was the only consistent source of Spirit mana around. ¡°Hmm. give me a moment to try something¡± he said, and began using Sectioning to enclose Soul mana. He realized it would take a few minutes though, and his Soul affinity was starting to hurt badly. ¡°Ill stay around a bit longer, but let me sit around the corner. My affinity is really making some noise.¡± he told her, then took Clever and flew through the door, just out of view of her. He could see, using his Spirit Sense, as she slumped a bit. Without her in sight, his connection to Soul stopped degrading, but he felt that it would continue where it left off if he went back now, decaying at the same rate it was before rather than starting from the beginning at a very slow pace. It would need some time to heal if he wanted more time socializing without hurting himself. It worked for now though. He hadn¡¯t even lost a single percentage, and he was willing to lose a few to help Fendrascora. Once he had his ten Soul mana in a mini-box, he popped back into Fendrascora¡¯s room, saying ¡°Okay, can you consume this just as well as you did my other Soul mana?¡± and sent it the spare mana forward. He vaguely felt as it was pulled from the air, and she said ¡°I can absorb it, but much of it is lost. Before, I kept around ninety percent of it. With this new Soul mana though, I keep only twenty. It is much further away from Spirit mana.¡± Dei thought on the issue. He needed to use [Astral Projection] mana to keep it as a reasonable conversion, but to do that he would need to project from his projection, and that wasn''t possible. Was it? He¡¯d never tried, but hey, no time like the present? He sectioned off four hundred and fifty Soul mana, as well as barely enough mental power to keep this thing alive, then began casting projection. To his absolute shock, a duplicate was created. It looked almost like him, except it was a bit¡­ blurry. Fuzzy around the edges, it stood silently in front of him. He Identified it [Spiritual Human Echo Echo - Level 72] His eyebrows raised at that. He¡¯d never Identified his own projection, but he recognized the Echo adjective. When he ran into that Accipere, a sub-body of the full one, it was called an ¡°Accipere Echo.¡± Dei now realized that it indicated the creature was a smaller part of a whole. If his current projection was Identified, it would most likely indicate that he was a ¡°Spiritual Human Echo.¡± Not thinking about it any longer, he contemplated what to do now. This mindless projection was filled with four hundred and fifty Soul mana, so he got to work, poking a hole in the palm of its hand. He wouldn¡¯t let it die, as he thought that might lead to soul damage, but Soul mana that filled it was now imbued with the intent that caused it to nearly cross into Spirit mana territory. Fendrascora indicated that this new Soul mana was much easier to digest, and gratefully drank all that he allowed her to. Once the ¡°Echo¡± reached around fifty Soul Strength, Dei reabsorbed it into himself. Along with the grating pain of reintroducing the small section of his Identity, he felt his form strengthen as the spare mana was used to help create a barrier around him that would block damage, just as he¡¯d previously learned from the Spirit mana. Fendrascora¡¯s form glowed much brighter in his vision. His mana was highly concentrated, but he learned that hers was too, just not as much as him. Her mana was around two times more concentrated then regular mana, so where he gave her four hundred Soul mana, she received ninety percent of it, then broke that mana down into three mana each for herself. It was complicated, but he basically gave her one thousand eight hundred Spirit mana to work with. ¡°Thank you, Dei.¡± She said genuinely ¡°I¡¯ve been sapped of my Spirit mana over time as I was unable to get more, but a Spirit cannot quite starve. Instead, we remain incredibly weak and fragile, unless we give up and dissipate ourselves. I, in particular, was rapidly drained of my Spirit mana as my flow affinity started to decay. This will hold me over for a long time, but please. Please return as soon as you can. The darkness and silence, it is almost too much to bear.¡± ¡°I will, and next time I¡¯m here, I¡¯ll start working to break down your cell. You won''t have to deal with it for much longer¡± he told her genuinely. While it was true that she couldn¡¯t leave the cell just yet, there were things Dei could do to improve her quality of life. Still, it all started with getting himself here.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. After months of hiding, Dei realized it was finally time. It was time for him to move out of the Garden. * * * After they got a distance away from Fendrascora¡¯s cave, Clever started up a conversation with him, asking why he hadn¡¯t offered to let Clever stay behind. He didn¡¯t want to bring it up in front of Fendrascora because he ¡°Figured Dei had a reason, and didn¡¯t want to counter it.¡± ¡°I appreciate you not going against what I said. Honestly, I had two reasons for not letting you stay. The first is that, while I dont think she would hurt you, I don''t want to risk it. I don''t trust her enough to leave you alone with her, especially seeing as she just spent over a year in isolation, and might be slightly unstable. The second reason is that I need your help to get my real body here. I¡¯m now strong enough to at least put up a fight against most things but I¡¯m still terribly scared when moving about without any way to hide myself. Your fire blast would help ensure I don''t get ripped apart if a stronger enemy comes to kill me.¡± Clever thought about what Dei said, and deemed that it was reasonable. Valuing his life over Fendrascora¡¯s comfort was a smart decision, especially seeing that she needed Dei¡¯s real body to actually improve her situation, as Clever wouldn¡¯t be able to do it alone. Clevers curiosity sated, they fell back into silence, and Dei continued to think about how everything would play out. He truly did not like the Garden, its claustrophobic walls both giving him protection and cutting off his senses, isolating him from everything else. By moving in with Fendrascora, he could have a protector of his body when he decided to use [Astral Projection], but not be so confined. The issue with not trusting her would only take time. Right now, talking to her damaged his connection to Soul, but it would go away. He already knew, consciously, that she wouldn¡¯t harm him, but he¡¯d yet to actually internalize that fact. It was much easier to accept something tiny and cute, like Clever, wouldn¡¯t hurt him. A water Kraken after sitting in darkness for a year? He¡¯d have to mull on it. There was a long road ahead of him, and it wasn¡¯t going to be easy, but he looked at Clever. Clever was a lower level than him, smaller than him, and far weaker (with the exception of a one-time blast); at the same time, he showed unbelievable fearlessness to the situation around him. He didn¡¯t avoid going anywhere because he was afraid of being hurt, but he didn¡¯t throw himself into danger either. Clever was always exactly where he wanted to be, taking it all in stride. Dei wanted to be a bit more like that. No more hiding, he needed to face a bit of danger. He needed to fight with his body, especially since he already intended to one day merge his projection with himself. He wouldn¡¯t be able to sit back and kill things from a distance forever. He felt nervous at the decision to expose himself more personally to the world, but that was okay. He let himself be nervous, knowing it was a natural response to such a massive life change. He acknowledged that he was fraying his nerves unnecessarily, and told himself to live more in the moment, like Clever. Looking around, he started appreciating some of the natural beauty of the environment, distracting him for a moment from the heavy decisions ahead. * * * The walk back was just as uneventful as the journey to Fendrascora. It was shocking to Dei how little happened when he wasn¡¯t searching for trouble. True, his Spiritual form was also much more difficult to track as it released less heat, sound, and vibrations with every step, but it wasn¡¯t impossible. He expected more pushback when he was physically present, but until then, Dei continued to enjoy his quiet. * * * [Since the Fall: 9/17/809 - 18:25:50] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (66) -> (67)] [+1 Physical] At long last, he was back at his Garden. Nearly five days later, Dei returned with two add-ons: Clever, and the remnants of a broken red blade. Looking at the sword, he wondered what would happen when it came into contact with the hidden barrier. It was true it might be that nothing would happen, but he wouldn¡¯t know until he¡¯d brought it in. Looking at the crack in the wall, he messaged Clever that they were going to his haven through a hidden entrance, and to not panic, before squeezing through through the walls. Again, he was reminded how much tighter the walls were around him. He still had a good foot or two before he wasn¡¯t able to fit anymore, but the time would come when he was locked out of his Garden. Pushing through the hidden barrier, he finally saw the bright light of his abode, seeing his cross-legged body staring back at him. Physical Dei was meditating, but stopped when he sensed Spiritual Dei finally closing in. Spiritual Dei set down Clever and the sword, reached out, and re-merged into Dei. He put his hands against temples as a splitting migraine overtook him, releasing a grunt as the first-person memories were fully shared between the two Identities. Two streams of thought, both Dei, coexisting with one another before rejoining. Without the extra Soul mana to make that transition easier, it was painful and took a few seconds for him to get his bearings enough to speak again. ¡°Hey, Clever. Nice to finally meet you face to face¡± he sent to his little lizard buddy. Clever sent back feelings of awe that Dei was a real, living person, and that he liked how Dei wasn¡¯t cold anymore. Dei held his hand out, and Clever again crawled onto it, up his arm, and onto his shoulder. Dei was happy he could finally pet Clever and get feedback from doing so, feeling how rough his skin was now. It was incredible, watching Clever change over time. The pseudo-scales and small rough hands changed and refined themselves. The scales became more defined and organized, making Clever a full-on lizard at this point. Clevers hands, formerly rather dull, had sharpened into sharp claws that he had to be careful about, for fear of cutting Dei on them. His body was still very warm to the touch, but the glow was much dimmer as he adjusted to pulling as much heat as he could into himself. Before Dei¡¯s very eyes, Clever evolved to better suit the environment. After appreciating Clever, he started planning on what to take. The first thing to consider was weight. He still wasn¡¯t strong enough to confidently carry all the rations, his moms pack, and all the plants that his mom came down with, so he would need to choose what to bring. The sword would, of course, come with him, but it would take up a full hand until further notice. He thought it would cut up the satchel if he just placed in in there, so he would have to actually carry it the entire way. The main issue for this trip would be his exhaustion. He did not have endless endurance like his Projected form, so what should he do? Dei resolved to take the pack itself, but leave most of the rations. The satchel wasn¡¯t very heavy, but the rations were denser than bricks, and he still had about eight or nine of them. Instead, he would take one of the two vegetable rations, then get his meat from wild creatures. The vegetable ration would be his attempt at balancing his diet, and help stave him over until he secured a more stable food source. The next thing he took was his moms tools that she left. Not only was there the knife he¡¯d used, but also a small pickaxe, a metal cup, a tiny stone skillet, the watering skin, and an odd gray rock. ¡°Wait. was that rock flint this entire time?!¡± he wondered in his head, pulling it out suddenly. Taking the broken sword, he made the two collide together, and an explosion of sparks flew outward, landing on the grass. Chastising himself for his recklessness, he was relieved to see that none of the sparks caught, and was now positive that he¡¯d had flint this entire time. A while back, he¡¯d needed a way to start a fire and cook a Lorpee, but thought he didn¡¯t have a way to do so. Now, his [Homeostasis] Skill could make any fire he wanted, but he had a flint. It soured him that he only had the tools he needed after it was too late to use them. Still, he packed the rock up in the bag. For those things he wasn¡¯t taking, he wrapped them in the massive tarp his mom left with her bag. The bugs around the cave never ate the rations, so he didn¡¯t need to worry about that, but he didn¡¯t want to just let the rations sit on the ground. Dei was most excited about the plants. His Floating Lilies began wilting a while back, and he knew he needed to get them to a body of water soon. What better to spruce up Fendrascora¡¯s cell than some lilies in the water? Not only that, but the grass and tree seeds would help make things a bit prettier. Carefully, he packaged all the plants up. For the lilies, he found that if he lifted them up by the bulbs on top, the roots automatically retracted themselves. He washe all the mud off of the firmroot grass, and gently dug up the small tree sprouts that had began growing so long ago, His mom liked to wrap each of her tools in individual coatings of leather, so he used this spare leather to keep the plants supported. Two glowfruit saplings, and two rubbergum saplings. He did keep his moms knife wrapped up though. He didn¡¯t want to let that poke a hole in anything else. As for the flesh-traps, Dei decided to just plant them with the rest. He had a few left over that he hadn¡¯t touched, along with the one he¡¯d used against the Wraith, but they could go into the wild along with their family. He¡¯d never actually taken them out of the bag, for fear that they would plant themselves by digging their roots while he wasn¡¯t looking, so he just took one more look around the cave. It was the same as always¡­ a beautiful pocket oasis, his first safe haven, but something he never recognized as a home. It was the last place he saw his mom, and the only place he felt secure. He was walking headfirst into danger, but he¡¯d grown enough to get his feet under him. Without this little green paradise, Dei would have died long ago. ¡°Th-¡± he tried speaking, but started coughing after a few words. He hadn¡¯t said anything verbally in months, speaking only telepathically. Clearing his throat, he tried again. ¡°Thank you. For giving me a place to live, and protecting me¡± he said aloud, speaking to that will he sensed behind the barrier. ¡°You¡¯re welcome¡± he heard back in his mind, surprising him as it spoke in the language of Gem Dwellers. ¡°I know I am not a replacement for your mother, but I am proud of how far I¡¯ve seen you come, and I know you will go so much further. Live well, Dei. I did not, and I sometimes regret that. Protecting you, if only for a little bit, eased the burden on my mind. Thank you.¡± Its words struck a chord in his heart. Through all his adventures, he only wanted someone to recognize his efforts. Even if it was silly, as the recognition from another wouldn¡¯t change anything, he wiped tears from his face as his actions felt validated. He would always push forward, always do what he could to survive, but having someone to understand the pain he went through¡­ he didn¡¯t know how to put it into words, but it overwhelmed him. Turning around, he said quietly ¡°I¡¯ll come visit¡­¡± before walking out. ¡°I know, and I will be here for you. Always.¡± Was the last thing he heard before he crossed out of the concealment array, and readied himself for the dangers of the wider world. Chapter 53 [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (19) -> (21)] Shaking off the emotions, Dei straightened his back as he emerged from the tunnel. He needed a clear head from this point forward, as he was in real danger now. There was no escaping into the Spirit World like he¡¯d done so many times on the venture to Fendrascora. At the same time, he had more tools to work with. High risk, high reward was the name of this game. Before he left though, he needed to drop off the six [Biting Flesh Trap of Allure]¡¯s he had left in the bag. He finally had enough mental power to set up a cloak for his presence again, by dedicating twenty percent of his mind to shifting the fog of Visible Presence in his soul, then another twenty percent for meditating on the current moment, thought he began to give off the feel of an unnoteworthy piece of stone. Now that he had Clever here with him, he could actually ask another creature, too. ¡°Hey Clever, do I seem less noteworthy to you?¡± Dei asked as they walked to where he remembered placing the other six Flesh Traps. Confused, Clever began studying him more closely. After a few seconds, he sent back that Dei seemed a bit ¡°unremarkable¡± and that he was ¡°easily ignored.¡± He also said that it wasn¡¯t how Dei usually appeared, so it wasn¡¯t just Clevers bias about Dei speaking. Happy to have it confirmed, he hurried his steps, making them as gentle as possible. * * * Many times throughout the trip, Dei had the satchel slip down, and it was starting to annoy him, so he was about to change the tightness of the adjustable strap, when a thought occurred to him. The last person to use this satchel was his mother, meaning that it was currently built for her height. Dei could use this to measure how tall he was, compared to his mom. Studying the strap closer, he saw that he was still a long way away from reaching his mom. She was on the fourth notch out of six, fairly loose. After noting that she was on the forth, he started to adjust it to his height. He had to bring it down to the second before he was comfortable. When he was comfortably on the fourth notch, he would know that he was the same height as his mom. ¡®Still¡¯ he thought ¡®I think I¡¯m over five feet tall. How tall is mom?¡¯ * * * Making it to his weird little circle of Flesh Traps, Dei began sensing the resonance between him and the plants, telling him exactly where they were. Getting as close as he dared, because he couldn''t see them with his eyes or [Tremor Sense], Dei set his bag down next to him and opened the latch, pulling out the horizontal Flesh Traps carefully, one by one. On the fourth though, he noticed something odd¡­ the roots were intertwining into one another, and weirdly thick. Normally Flesh Traps roots were an off-white color, but these were darker brown. Touching them, he realized that they were sturdy. After he felt the roots, the mind within the Flesh Trap reached out to him, rather than the other way around, giving him the feelings of negotiation. Confused, he used Identify to open a clearer channel of communication for it to talk through, finding that its primitive mind was far more advanced than it had been before, somehow changed from the rest of its siblings. ¡°Vessel¡± it said to him ¡°I want more Soul mana, like you gave me, but I will not ask for it for free. I will become your blade to fight more monsters, as you are in need of one, and in exchange, you will give me more Soul mana. All that you have to spare.¡± Dei¡¯s eyebrows rose at its demand. This was the Flesh Trap that he¡¯d used to kill the wraith, and it now wanted to become his permanent sword? All in exchange for his Soul mana? He looked at the red fragments of a sword he¡¯d placed on the ground, almost rejecting the plants deal out of hand because he didn¡¯t need it, but something made him think it over a bit more. True, he didn¡¯t need another blade. If he wanted to cut something, he could just use the Spirit Sword that he¡¯d picked up. At the same time, the Flesh Trap was a sword made from his mana. That was cool as hell. It was a sword that would grow with him as he got stronger, drinking from his strength in turn. True, he didn¡¯t need a second blade, but would it hurt to have one? He could duel wield! Normally, that wasn¡¯t a viable tactic for humans, as they are usually bad at multitasking, but with [High Mind], moving my two arms independently would be child''s play. ¡°Alright. I will take you along on my Journey and give you my spare Soul mana, but that may not be for a while. I just used a lot of it, so I don''t have any extra right now.¡± ¡°Okay¡± was all it responded with. He waited a few seconds more for something else, but nothing was forthcoming. Shrugging, he planted the last two Flesh Traps, then packed everything up and continued his journey to Fendrascora. * * * Trying to make his steps as light as possible, Dei thought about forming a sort of footwear at some point. His pant¡¯s would not last much longer, but he thought he would soon come to possess the materials for some rather exotic clothing. To his Tremor Sense, everything was crystal clear to him. His footsteps were far too loud, and he knew he would attract more than one beast eventually. Knowing his luck, sooner rather than later. * * * He paused mid step. The wall, forward and to the right, was different this time around. He wouldn¡¯t have noticed if his [Vigilance] hadn¡¯t kicked in, making him immediately scan his memories for what set it off. It wasn¡¯t much, just a part of the cave wall that was now bending outwards slightly, rather than than flat like it was before, but it was an obvious tell considering his memory was perfect. Knowing exactly where to look, Dei used the chance to study the predator. He didn¡¯t know what it was, but based on the shape of the wall, it was fairly flat, like a flounder, but wide and tall. He estimated it at around seven feet tall, but only a foot or two thick. He needed to figure out a way to scan it now, just in case he ran into another of its species. It couldn''t be a coincidence that it appeared the one time he was making the journey towards Checkpoint One in his real body. Whatever this creature was, it had a strong tremor sense as well, and purposefully placed itself in his pathway to snatch him up when he walked by. So, he looked for any way to read it. Nudging Clever, he warned him silently of the hidden predator, and asked if he would try and find a way to point it out too, both of them quietly studying it, hoping to not tip it off to their knowing of its existence. His idea that it had a strong [Tremor Sense] as well gave him an idea though. His own gave him a weakness to vibrations, so it only followed that another creature with the same Racial Ability would have the same weakness. He began storing heat in his body using [Homeostasis], charging it up in his right limb. Now that he wasn¡¯t a spirit, he genuinely had to worry about roasting his organs, so an extremity would be the safest to experiment on. His plan would be to use the same explosion he had before, from a safer distance. The pulse of vibrations from being so close would hopefully blind the creature, where he could then attack. Until then, he really needed to find a way to pinpoint the creature. Using his Soul Sight, he could barely make out the vague shape of something living in that point of the wall, but he considered it far too difficult to spot as a viable finding strategy.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Clevers heat sense was in an even worse spot, as he couldn¡¯t detect even the slightest escape of heat from the creature''s body. Clever wilted when he realized that he would have been completely fooled, if he was the one leading them. Dei didn¡¯t give up though, going down through the list of all his Skills and Racial abilities. ¡®I could potentially use a Projection to scan the route ahead, but that would be a stopgap measure, and I¡¯d still be in trouble if it died and I began suffering from lethal soul damage. When I Meditate on the current moment, can I search for other perspectives in my area?¡¯ Trying the most recent idea, he went through each of the links that journeyed outwards. There were uncountable connections, and he tried looking through all of them. While it was true that he eventually found the hidden creatures link, and might be able to glean some information from said link given time, he put it off for later. Finding it took too much time, and he didn¡¯t consider it a viable tactic. ¡®Identify¡­ I made it when I was trying to discover a hidden enemy, can I do something with that?¡¯ If it would be any Skill, it would be Identify. Trying something new, he used his Kindness version. His Wrath version fired like a needle, but the Kindness version spread outwards like a cloud, or a net. He didn¡¯t fire the Identify in any particular direction, simply focusing on pushing it outwards from his body After the initial cost to his MP in order to cast the spell, it took only a small amount to keep it running, and he was able to push it out further. His Identify crept outwards in all directions, passing over the stone and marking it as unnoteworthy. It moved outwards more, and more, and he felt his awareness of his surroundings grow as the cloud of invisible Kindness mana moved over it all. The feeling reminded him of a second version of his Tremor Sense, except it couldn¡¯t actually see anything yet. When it finally passed over the hidden creature though, the reaction was instantaneous. His Identify brought his attention to it, specifically focusing on the hidden aspect of its being. It felt like the Skill was an antithesis of hidden creatures, and really did not like them. As a result, it specifically searched for anything that cloaked itself in any way. While the hidden beast was barely found, it was found by his Identify. Knowing instantly that it was discovered, it whipped towards Dei, almost faster than he could react. Almost. He immediately hit it with a Wrath powered Identify, causing it to wince, and its attack to go wide. He realized that it swung a long limb at him, which missed and hit the wall. Wasting no time, he used the heat in his arm, harnessing Snap magic to press it all forward. With a single motion from his hand, the spark shot outward as he jumped back and threw himself against the ground. An explosion washed over Dei, the vibrations aching his entire body and deafening him for a second. His balance was thrown off, and he struggled to understand up from down. Shakily, he stood back up as his body slowly recalibrated itself, and he started hearing a faint screeching noise as the sound around him slowly faded back in. He saw the creature squirming and contorting its body around on the ground like a fish out of water. Lying on its back, the bottom of the creature looked like a crab with twelve legs, and two large pincers on its front. Panting, trying desperately to regain his bearings, he scanned its still-disrupted soul for any information on it he could get, as the defenses were healing fast [Cophinus - Level 134] The name rang a bell, and he remembered seeing an infant version earlier, saying they pull prey into their bodies and eat them. He had to focus on killing this thing now, while it was dazed. His equilibrium was returning to him faster than its own, so he was almost back into top shape. He was afraid. Afraid of getting close, afraid of dying. But nothing else in this world would care about his fear, so he had to overcome it. He kept his body low, and moved forward, trying to avoid the flailing legs. He¡¯d already deactivated his cloaking presence, so with his full focus, he started ripping it apart. Darting in, he would cut off a leg with either his broken blade, Flesh Trap, or both at the same time. It quickly caught on and started fighting back in its own way. First, it quickly flipped itself back over, cutting off his easy access to damage, but he¡¯d already cut off four legs on its left side. It still had both its pincers though, and that was what he needed to watch for. Now that it was upright, it reminded him of a horseshoe crab, but he didn¡¯t have time to mull on it, jumping on its back. His left arm plunged the Flesh Trap through its skin, giving him a grip as it began trying to buck him off, while his right started to cut into its shell. He hadn¡¯t thought about how this was exactly the position it wanted its prey to be in. Normally, it would be attached to a wall, and they would walk too close behind it. This time, he got to watch what it did when given such an option. Its two front pincers shot through previously unseen holes at the front of its shell, going for his head. Rolling off, he dragged the flesh trap out with him, seeing a new geisering of blood from its deep wound. All his other swipes hadn¡¯t led to blood, so he would heave to pierce deeply to reach the vulnerable parts underneath. It turned to face him as he carefully kept himself back. At some point, Clever went to hide somewhere after jumping off his shoulder while he was focused on killing this thing. He felt a pulse shoot outwards from the creature, and a command screamed in his mind. ¡°SLEEP¡± His Soul affinity translated the command into words, letting him resist it more easily, but the creature was not waiting for him to resist it, striking at him instantly while he was distracted. He split his mind in two, letting one bear the brunt of the spell as the other controlled his body. Barely able to become conscious fast enough, he held up the red blade to deflect its pincer, when a second pulse came. Rather than at him, his Flesh Trap shot one at the Cophinus. ¡°MISS¡± it screamed at it, knocking the aim off ever so slightly. The Cophinus resisted well, but the flesh trap had over one hundred and twenty in its Magical stat, and would not be denied. Rather than taking the blow head on, the claw skidded along the red blade being deflected to the side. Thinking quickly once it was past his head, he turned his sword and swung at the joint of its claw, cutting it off instantly, the shall put up mild resistance, but the joints were ever vulnerable against his supernaturally sharp blade. It pulled its clawless arm back with another scream, and paused a second, backing away slightly. He advanced in it, knowing exactly what it was doing now. It realized it was outmatched, and was ready to run. His full mind was awake now, and ready. The Flesh Trap in his hand reached out, opening a communication with him. It wanted to launch a full-attack on it, but would be vulnerable to retaliation, as its kind were never meant to actually be spotted until it was too late. If it launched the attack, it needed him to capitalize on it. He agreed, and got ready to move. When he felt it ready its mental strike, he shot forward a moment before it attacked, firing a Wrath Identifier at the Cophenus to disrupt its soul further before the strike. The Wrath mana dug into the portion of its soul dictating its camouflage abilities, and he saw that it was an active camo. It could change its shape and color, but it wasn¡¯t supernatural, so it was only a mild irritant to creature of its size. The crack in its spiritual defenses, though, were immediately dug into by a second mind attack, forcing it to freeze for a second. Not wasting the chance given, he cut off its second claw and kept his body moving forward. Using [Fine-Tooth Comb], he spotted the two tiny dots on its head that were its eyes, almost invisible if not for his Skill. It flailed its arms, trying to push him back as it scurried backwards, but he weaved through its stikes, making one final lunge forward and pushing the bone white plant between its eyes, all the way down to the handle. Its body stiffened for a second. Then two. Before going limp and collapsing. Its two main arms dropped to the ground, while the camouflaged shell softened and melted as its form was no longer being held together. Over time, it returned to its natural color, a reddish brown, rather than the gray coloration it¡¯d given itself. Through all the changes, he simply stood over it, panting. Slowly, he pulled out his living weapon, dropping his metal weapon to the ground as its weight strained his tired muscles. He looked at the Flesh Trap, watching it absorb the blood of his enemy through the sharp alabaster material. In half a minute, it was clean again, and content with its meal. [EXP gained for killing the Armored Cophinus (Level 134). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 72) -> (Level 74)] [+1 Mental, +1 Magical] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (110) -> (117)] [+1 Physical] [+1 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (21) -> (22)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (32) -> (38)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (57) -> (58)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (47) -> (48)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (63) -> (68)] [Skill Leveled Up: In Tune (1) -> (14)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (55) -> (62)] Breathing deeply, he centered himself, calming his heart. Clever scurried towards him, the lizard ready to jump in and blast the Cophinus if it seemed like Dei was losing. Dei was about to hold his hand out for Clever to crawl on, when he saw just how much blood he was coated in, and pulled his arm back. His mind stuttered for a moment, the slick red layer on his body turning his stomach slightly. Clever, uncaring of his inner turmoil, climbed up his leg and onto his bloody shoulder. It helped ground Dei enough to shake off the panic, enough to get him moving again. [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (22) -> (23)] He had to be mindful of his still-fragile mental state. When he¡¯d first been coated in blood, way back in the Lorpee cavern, he hadn¡¯t panicked. It had hardly bothered him at all. Now, he was almost continuously overwhelmed as he struggled to stay on top of his bubbling insecurities. ¡®Better¡¯ he thought to himself ¡®acknowledge the panic, but keep moving. Don''t let it boil until it''s too much. It¡¯s okay to feel overwhelmed in the moment, but make sure to leave your fears in the past, where they belong. Be better than you were the day before.¡¯ His quiet steps echoed in the cave around him as he left the monster behind him, mentally and physically. Chapter 54 He¡¯d won, but there were still lessons to learn. Mistakes to fix in his next battle. The first thing he did was keep his [Identify] up perpetually. It moved around him like an expanding cloud, tied to him at the center. Anything that came within contact of it would be, at least in passing, scanned or acknowledged. If it was attempting to hide in any way, the Skill would really bring his attention to it. Next, he had to look into how he¡¯d started the battle, with the vibrational explosion. Despite it working out, that could have gone better. From experience with the vibrational attacks from the Lorpees, and now a loud explosion, Dei knew that his ¡°Greater Weakness to Vibrations¡± applied to his entire body, not just the organ in his body that used Tremor Sense. When he used the explosion, he thought his [Homeostasis] Skill would give him an edge to work with, helping him recover faster. While it did do that, Dei noticed an issue: It didn¡¯t work as well as it should have. The re-balancing it gave him from vibrations was barely faster than when he was facing the Lorpee¡¯s, which made him realize that the Skill didn¡¯t just fix everything more quickly as it leveled up, but it needed time to build up a resistance to those things, kind of like an immune system needing to face a bacteria before it can properly protect against it. When he worded it like an immune system, it made sense, as it was an HP affinity Skill. It functioned off of his body. There was no magical force of nature to tell it how to work or what to do, Homeostasis increased the rate and capacity of his adjustment to the environment and his weaknesses. Functionally, this meant that he¡¯d need to expose himself to more vibrations if he wanted to use his [Homeostasis] Skill to counteract this weakness. While on the topic, he¡¯d need to do the same for light sources and Light mana. The next few issues to raise would be with his plant sword. First, he had to name it. Second, he needed a way to protect it. From his experience, many creatures in this world had ways of controlling others, and his plant sword had a very low Spiritual stat. If an enemy gained control over it mid combat, making it retract as the enemy swung at him, he could be in some serious danger. Both issues required him to talk to the weapon itself, so he did so. Opening a connection of [Identify] to it so it could communicate easier, he asked the weapon if it had a name. ¡°I need no name, vessel. I want no name. Call me what you will¡± While its words were neutral, it gave off a feeling of snobbishness, so he wanted to mess with it. ¡°How about Chewer? You¡¯re called a Biting flesh trap, right?¡± ¡°Do not call me ¡®Chewer¡¯ vessel. I don''t chew¡± it said, irritated. ¡°But I thought you didn¡¯t care about your name?¡± ¡°No, I said ¡®call me what you will,¡¯ which is different. Call me something accurate. Bite, or something. Don''t call me Bite.¡± ¡°Call you Bite or not?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± ¡°But you just said to.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like it anymore. It¡¯s not befitting of my glory.¡± ¡°Glory? What glory? I¡¯m not saying that I¡¯m a lot to look at, but I feel like we¡¯re both average.¡± ¡°YOU are average for your kind. I am a queen among Flesh Traps, stronger than the rest. I am better.¡± ¡°How about ¡®Prissy?¡¯ also, that word translated as a girl ruler, not a guy ruler, are you a woman plant?¡± ¡°I sense that name is an insult. No. and yes, I am a female of my kind.¡± Dei was having fun with this, but he did need to move the conversation to more productive things, so he legitimately thought about what a good name would be. Firstly, it was the same color as a bone, and sharp, like a tooth. She didn¡¯t like the name Bite, but it was a stupid name. ¡°What about Fang? It¡¯s accurate, as you¡¯re cutting into things and look like a tooth, but it also sounds cool in the language I¡¯m using.¡± She thought it over for a bit longer before responding ¡°Very well, but if I learn that the name is not fitting of my glory, I will find a way to do something.¡± Ominous and funny, but whatever. He wasn¡¯t trying to trick her anyway. She would be called Fang. ¡°The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is your Spiritual stat. Your defenses against manipulation are far too weak, so we need to find a way to fix that. Its honestly absurd that it¡¯s gotten out of hand to this degree. What is it now? Nine? Ten? If anything tries to control you, you wont be able to properly resist. At the same time, we can¡¯t just level you up more and have you put all your points into Spiritual, that would take too long. We need an immediate defense for you.¡± Again, he sensed irritation radiating off Fang, but she didn¡¯t deny it. Her previous path, which required her to hide away before striking decisively, wouldn¡¯t allow the enemies to attack back. Now, though, she was facing everything head on, and needed to withstand a few magical strikes. Thinking about it for a bit longer, she presented an unusual idea. ¡°Would there be a way for me to benefit from your defenses? When I dug into your hand with my roots, I found that my body was physically strengthened as it combined with your stats slightly. Not enough to make a difference in larger confrontations, but enough to tell me that adding stats together is possible.¡± He hadn¡¯t realized that she benefited from being attached to him, but was it like when he used [Camouflage] to harden his skin into stone, which was further hardened by his Physical stat? When she connected to him, becoming an extension of his self, she benefitted from doing so. Now that she brought it up, he also likely benefited from the arrangement, siphoning some of her, much higher, Physical stat into his own. If connecting physically to her shared their Physical stats, would he have to connect spiritually to her to share their Spiritual stat? He shivered at the thought. Letting another being into his soul? Especially a blood drinking one? No way. Luckily, there was a conveniently expendable portion of himself that was considered part of his soul, but was made to be shared with others. His Visible Presence. He created his Presence when connecting to an outside perspective, something which shared a moment in his life with him. He knew it was a part of his soul though, as it could bear the brunt of running Skills when he over-strained them. Could he, potentially, Meditate on the connection between him and Fang, forming a link between them strong enough to share in Spiritual stats? It was worth a shot, so he told Fang as much. ¡°I¡¯m going to try and link an outer portion of my soul to you. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll have to be prompted for this, but I¡¯m just giving you a heads up.¡± He started up his cloaking presence again, with a slight change. Twenty percent to re-arrange his presence, ten percent to meditate on the current moment, ten percent to meditate on his link to Fang. He was starting to notice that, as he meditated more in the caves, it was easier to disguise himself as he had more to work with in his Visible Presence. There were only so many variations of rock, so he didn¡¯t always need an updated moment to work with. There weren¡¯t many ways to link souls together that weren''t wildly personal, so Dei chose to drop the issue here, and see where it went. After addressing his Homeostasis and Fang issues, there was exactly one more problem with the fight he needed to fix next time¡­ The grumbling korgonda on his shoulder. Clever was irritated that he¡¯d been left out, but he didn¡¯t know how he could help in the battle. His attacking capabilities were limited to ¡°Destroy everything and pass out¡± or ¡°Do nothing,¡± so he felt useless, and was mad about it.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He hadn¡¯t said anything to Dei, but it wasn¡¯t hard to figure out either based on the emotions coming through their connection, so Dei began brainstorming something Clever could actually do in the next fight. Not just something to keep him occupied, a real way to be useful. It wasn¡¯t hard to think up either, as Clever himself showed the ability once before when he thought Dei was about to be attacked by Fendrascora. Clever showed Dei a future version of himself. If Clever could give Dei a heads up during a battle of unexpected attacks, Dei would literally be one step ahead of his opponents at all times, so he raised the issue with Clever. ¡°Hey, Clever, remember that time when you showed me a future where I would have been unexpectedly struck by Fendrascora? Next time we fight, do you think you could watch out for future timelines, and tell me of any unexpected or dangerous attacks coming my way?¡± Clever perked up at the start of his sentence, but slumped near the end. He told Dei that seeing future timelines was already taxing on him, and including Dei in that timeline took a lot out of him. Normally, the ability was meant to see Clevers future alone, but in the moment, Clever had a sudden inspiration as his future self initiated the contact backwards, as well as his attempts to communicate forwards. He didn¡¯t know how to repeat such an ability again. ¡°Its okay¡± Dei assured him ¡°You wont get it on the first try, but if you ever want to do it at all, you need to practice. I¡¯ve found that Skills level up faster during combat, and one of my most advanced skills (referring to his Identify) even came to me during a dangerous fight. It might be easier for you to master the ability, potentially turning it into a real Skill, if you push yourself while fighting an enemy. ¡°I know you¡¯ll be distracted when you attempt to form the Skill, but trust me. Cling to the nape of my neck during combat, and I¡¯ll protect you from harm while you focus. It¡¯ll keep you out of the way when my arms move in unexpected directions, and you¡¯ll directly be able to use my body as a shield.¡± Clever, unlike Fang, didn¡¯t need to think the decision over. He was immediately excited for the potential of being useful, and promised he would throw himself fully into the training, the moment another creature came by to hurt them. * * * Before long, they made it back to Checkpoint One, and Clever wanted to visit his sister while he was here. Dei would not be going in this time though, because the heat would harm his current body a lot more. Not only that, but Fang was ultimately a plant, and she wouldn¡¯t fare well in fire. Clever understood, and made his way through alone. Dei kept an eye on his with [Tremor Sense], but he made it all the way to his sister''s cave without being harassed, and they went about talking to one another. Something Dei noticed was that there were many smaller korgonda surrounding Clevers big sister. Counting them, seventeen in total made their homes around her den. ¡®I¡¯ve never seen them congregating like that before now. I wonder what that''s about¡¯ * * * POV: The Clever Meeting up with his sister, they caught up on their adventures together. The Clever told The Leader about the discoveries he¡¯d made into their Racial abilities. His sister was shocked that he was able to hold in his heat so well, as The Clever quickly pulled in all the different kinds of manas around him, managing it well. After facing the colder climates, pulling in heat here? It was easier than ever! He outclassed his sister''s natural talents in doing so by a lot. Not only this, but he¡¯d earned titles in the small amount of time he¡¯d gone out into the world. None of them gave him an adjective, but they gave him many bonuses. He pridefully sent her his Interface to look over [Nickname: The Clever Race: Molten Korgonda (Level 80) Titles: Molten Core, Explorer, Resistor of Water, Friend of Humans, Trustworthy HP: 74/74 MP: 74/74 SP: 74/74 Stats: Physical: 37 Mental:40 Spiritual: 22 Magical: 26 Affinities: Heat: Low-Treasured: 85% Time: High-Uncommon: 16% Enhancement: Mid-Common: 62% Inner Skills: Heat: Channel Heat (78), Flesh to Rock (26), Blazing Breath (5) Time: Past the Strike (32) Enhancement: Whetstone of the Mind (19) Outer Skills: None] On top of all the titles, he¡¯d gained a new affinity and Skill. Clever knew that he wasn¡¯t the most creative, but that''s what he had Dei for. Instead, he had Dei guide him, and threw himself into Dei¡¯s suggestions with a wild fervor. The absolute determination to improve eventually brought out a connection to Enhancement, a natural affinity for korgonda¡¯s. With that, he¡¯d earned a Skill that allowed him to improve his Mental stat more than his levels would allow. The revelation that you could earn more stats surprised his sister, and she immediately set about questioning him as to the conditions he¡¯d undergone to unlock such a Skill. When he and Dei were walking down the dark cave, Clever tested hundreds of different ways to use his Time affinity in a useful way. To Dei, it looked like Clever wasn¡¯t doing anything, but to Clever, he was manipulating the timeline in small ways, observing the changes to the splinter timelines, and trying again. His endless experimentation caused him to stumble upon a tether to the future, an uncertain future, that proved useful as it allowed Dei mostly dodge a grasp from Fendrascora. Once used to solidify, predict, and change a future scenario though, the tether became slippery, and he lost his grasp on it. He¡¯d yet to find that tether again, but he continued to try. What was important, though, was that the repetitive and mentally intensive task of experimenting gently with time and observing hundreds of different outcomes strained him enough to become a tipping point of training his mind, earning him both the Enhancement affinity, and the [Whetstone of the Mind] Skill. His sister soaked in his words, coming up with her own training. She was more interested in earning more Physical stats with it, so she thought a more physical repetitive regime would be required to earn her own Skill. After the Clever finished the tales of his story, it was his sisters turn to tell him of her success in recruiting other korgonda. Many had given up the position already, and were fully willing to bend to her will in exchange for protection. She found herself falling into the role naturally, and expected some sort of affinity to emerge soon that would help her in leading and protecting her pack. They talked for a time of all the specifics of each of their adventures, and she said she was interested in visiting this ¡°Cold, watery place¡± if it was able to give Clever not one, but two titles, on top of helping him learn to maintain his heat. Clever told her to be more careful about her heat than he was, as he could produce his own, while she had only a reserve to rely on. She was not dissuaded though, telling him that the adversity would only push her harder, and make her stronger. She promised him that the next time they met, she would be better than him at holding in her heat, because she wouldn¡¯t have the internal heat to rely on. He let out squeaks of amusement at her declaration, saying that he would still be better than her next time, and that she wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up to his lead in heat-holding. They chased each other, playing and taunting, declaring their strength over the other. After a while though, they agreed that it was time to part ways again, and Clever promised to try and visit again before she outgrew the habitat. His sister said that he might not need to, because she would be so good at holding in heat, that she would visit him. Chittering in delight, he said he looked forward to it, and made his way back to Dei. * * * Standing back up as he sensed Clevers approach, Dei was ready to go when he saw the korgonda slip through the rubble, walking with his chest puffed out in a silly display of pride. ¡°Whats got you all happy?¡± He asked Clever sent that his meeting with his sister was funny, but he needed to show his sister how much better he was. Dei asked a few more questions, eventually figuring out that Clever was now in a competition to see who could hold in their body heat better. Shrugging, he let Clever climb up onto his shoulder, before continuing to the second checkpoint: the water caves. * * * ¡®I really should have found a way to bring something softer. Maybe that moss I hid in the wall would have worked as a pillow¡¯ he thought as he prepared to lay down on the stone floor. He felt so much more vulnerable as he prepared to sleep somewhere other than the Garden, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. This would be his sleeping situation for the entire trip, and he would have to sleep in the caves quite a few times before reaching Fendrascora. The sleep would delay his journey, which would lead to him sleeping even more before reaching the Embodiment of the Flow. Putting it aside for a second, he widened the inside of the small crevice he¡¯d found using his [Digging] Racial ability. It would still be a tight fit, but he could lean against the wall now and not immediately slide to the floor at least. Clever had slept while Dei carried him, so he would take the watch. Fang also said that she would look out for any emotional signatures that would indicate living creatures. Dei needed to learn to sift through [Tremor Sense] in his sleep later, but for now, he would rely on his companions. Finally getting comfortable enough, he slowly fell asleep. * * * Dei was surprised to find that between Clevers home and the crossroad of aquatic and dry life, he wasn¡¯t attacked, managing to make it all the way to the entrance of checkpoint two undisturbed. Now that he was here, he had a choice to make. He could either continue on his way, ignoring this one entirely, or he could finally do something that he¡¯d never done in this life. See his own reflection. It wasn¡¯t required to continue his journey, and he thought he should keep the delays to a minimum now that he knew Fendrascora was in desperate need of help, but he had to face himself eventually. He needed to see his own face, and reconcile that look with what he expected to see. He needed to know, who is Dei? Question in mind, he began his walk between the misty waterfalls. Chapter 55 The second trip through was much different than the first, but not in a bad way. The mist washing over him chilled him, but it felt good after so much exertion in the past two days. The water running along his body finally began to wash away the blood from his battle with the cophinus, and he took a new, fresh breath as the pervading scent of iron finally went away. He¡¯d gotten used to it after so long, but he would occasionally become aware of it at random moments. The moderate cleanliness and relaxing cold made this trip worth it already. Still, he kept an eye out for any monsters who might attack him, despite the peaceful nature of the area. He noticed more creatures glancing at him this time around. Either because he was an actual animal that they could eat, the blood that fell away from him, or that they simply did not know what a spirit was before and decided to ignore it before, he wasn¡¯t sure. It didn¡¯t matter, as long as none tried to take a bite. Down and down he went again, feeling the slick stone beneath his feet. He stayed aware of his balance, not wanting to fall. After a long walk, he finally made it to the section where blue grass grew from the stone, and the sensation of walking on it felt good after stepping on only hard rock for the last two days. He wasn¡¯t as afraid to let his guard down to Identify it this time, but he resisted the temptation to do so. It was illogical, but Dei wanted to leave the why of everything being blue in this area as a mystery. It was already proven to be non-lethal, so he would have his moments of wonder. Something he hadn¡¯t considered before was the feeling of wet grass. It was familiar to him, and nice. He didn¡¯t stop to admire the sensation, but he acknowledged it. * * * At last, the intersection to the watery cave where he could find his reflection was before him. Walking along the final stone boardwalk, he thought about what he expected to see. Would he find a semblance of Leven in his reflection, an echo of his former self? Or would he be someone completely new? Would he recognize features from his parents? He still dreaded it. Knowing. If he didn¡¯t look at himself, he could forever deny an unnatural change to his body. But was that what he wanted? To eternally hate who he was? To have that sword hanging over his head, ready to drop if he glimpsed a reflection from the corner of his eye somewhere? The cold of the area and grass under each step was nice, and he stopped thinking too deeply, living in the moment and appreciating where he was. When he stepped onto the soft earth, he was almost weary enough to lie down here and handle the issue in the morning, but he still moved on. The tall blue weeds pulled at his legs, slowing his walk to a snail''s pace until they finally receded, shifting to red as he got closer to the white light of the cave in front of him. Coming out into the open area, he blinked away spots and squinted as he looked around. Like last time, there still wasn¡¯t much to see. Now, he had [Tremor Sense] to use as a searching tool, and did so immediately. The close proximity to all of the waterfalls still nearly blinded him with the vibrations they gave off, but such a small area could be searched using [Fine-Tooth Comb], and he did so now. Again, he did not sense any large predators. Clever disliked being back here, but hadn¡¯t opposed Dei when he asked if they could revisit here again. Clever remembered what happened last time, and didn¡¯t want a repeat, but Dei managed to convey that it was important to him. Dei wanted to inspect his reflection alone, so he asked Clever to stay back a bit with Fang and the red sword, before dropping them all off at the opening to the cave. He walked towards the pool without fanfare, and he found that it didn¡¯t scare him as much as last time. He was still afraid, but he felt a bit more prepared. More braced for what he would find. Now, the fear made room for his curiosity. His heart quickened from both dread and excitement, but he easily made it to the pool without breaking down. Finally he dropped to his knees in front of it, ignoring the feeling of mud on his legs, and leaned over, looking at himself. He let out a quiet gasp as the first thing he saw was his eyes. So long ago, he¡¯d asked the System to give him heterochromia, but forgotten about it in lieu of everything else. Now, he saw the results of this decision, and a jumbled mix of emotions rose within him. His left eye was amethyst, while his right eye was ruby. The right eye was what he focused on right now, seeing a familiar feature in it. His mom had ruby red eyes, and he was deeply reminded of her now. He could picture her face in his mind, looking at him with the brilliant sparkling red as she made him laugh just by playing with him. He could feel the fur between his hands as he clung to her in the market, the sound of her voice, and the secure hand on is back holding him to her hip. Looking at his left eye, he regretted his decision slightly to not pick the color brown. While it was generic, it was his fathers eye, and he would have given much to have a reminder of him now. The past was the past, though, and he inspected the amethyst color, trying to suppress his regret and find an unbiased opinion on it. The amethyst, like his ruby eye, had small glittering specks in the iris. They both had jagged edges, ending in the pupil, that gave them the look of cut gems. The purple also provided a beautiful contrast to the rubies red and, taken together, Dei felt some of the remorse about his hasty decision recede. It was weird, complimenting the look of his own eyes, but he couldn¡¯t exactly help it. Looking at them both, he felt a wave of relief. It was confirmed that this truly was him. He made the decision to have these two eyes, and he could see the result of that decision now. Whatever the rest of his body looked like, Dei could be sure that it was his. The rest of his face was both expected and not. He could finally see that he had the white hair and skin of other gem dwellers. The skin, he knew about from just looking at the rest of his body, but it looked a bit odd after having memories of seeing Leven in the mirror of his past life. It made sense, and he knew that his face and hair would be paper-white, but it was interesting to see. The next, and most surprising feature on his face, was a massive scar along his right cheek. It startled him at first to see, because it was something he didn''t expect. Thinking back, though, he remembered where he¡¯d gotten it. During his fight with the Wraith, its claw pierced his right cheek, completely tearing all the muscles in that side out, and causing it to hang limply. Now, the perfectly white smooth skin was interrupted by an uneven, discolored pink-ish gash. He¡¯d never seen scars on anyone back home, but he was sure they¡¯d been injured before, meaning that there was a way to remove them. If he wanted to though, he would decide later. He didn¡¯t like the look of it, if he was being honest with himself, but he thought it was a more accurate representation of how he saw himself. He didn¡¯t exactly like who he was at times, or how his situation made him act. When he decimated the Lorpee population, he felt hideous at the pain he caused them. How could people look at him, and not see that? His mind wasn¡¯t perfectly unblemished. It had hurt and healed, but the damage left marks. He would never be able to let his guard down like he had in his previous life, just relaxing without fear of attack. That wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad trait to have in this dangerous new world, but it was a scar. It was a result of all the danger he¡¯d faced and the defense of more to come. How could he look inward, seeing the overgrown remains of an abandoned battlefield, and have no way to show that physically? To have his body be completely unblemished? The scar was ugly, but it wasn¡¯t bad. It was a feature of him, and it was accurate. He stopped looking too closely at his features, just taking a moment to see himself in the reflection. He memorized his own face, so he wouldn¡¯t forget it. The way his bone structure shaped it, the slight puff to his cheeks and the definition to his jawline¡­Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡®Wait a minute¡¯ he thought to himself, and squinted as he looked close ¡®I look like my dad!¡¯ he realized, and laughed. Here he was, worried about not having a part of his father in his reflection, but he¡¯d glossed over how the entire reflection looked like his dad. Even the scar didn¡¯t look out of place when he imagined it like that. Dei was an almost exact replica of a slightly younger version of his dad. Even though his dad never had scars on his face, Dei wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he had them along his body, and he looked like someone who should have scars. The resemblance even helped him reconcile the look of his own ugly mark. While he didn¡¯t like the look of it on his face, he thought it wouldn¡¯t look bad on his father. People always saw themselves differently than others, so would people say the same thing about him? Would people say that his scar fit him well? He took a deep breath and sighed as he stood up, finally ready to move on. He was glad he¡¯d come all the way here, finally feeling peace at reconciling his mind and body. He wasn¡¯t okay yet, but he was getting better. * * * [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (23) -> (66)] [Affinity Strengthened: [Fortitude: Low-Common 73%] has strengthened into [Fortitude: High-Common: 28%]] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (38) -> (46)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (66) -> (67)] Again leaving the waterfalls behind him, Dei thought of how he had some sort of spiritual journey during both instances of venturing here. If this happened every time, he¡¯d need to come here more often. He found himself humming a tune as he continued on to checkpoint three. * * * The caves were quiet yet again as he ventured forward. It made sense that he wouldn¡¯t be attacked constantly, as if everything was in a constant cycle of fighting, there probably wouldn¡¯t be as many strong creatures. He was also faced with a new interesting fact, that animals leveled up naturally from just living. Clever was telling him about it, and apparently, Clever was already level eighty one. He thought on how this would affect the ecosystem, and saw that some animals might avoid fighting all together, in favor of endlessly leveling up. Even if it was slow, there had to be some that became strong enough. There were also a few types of animals, in his previous world, that were functionally immortal. In a world of magic? He would bet everything that immortality was much easier to achieve. Were there some old giants out there who¡¯d never fought anything, but were crazy high levels? Like an immortal jellyfish which managed to reach level two thousand because it¡¯d been growing since the beginning of time, or something? That particular situation was funny, but it did have dangerous implications on old beasts. More directly relevant to him, monsters wouldn¡¯t risk fighting him if they didn¡¯t believe they could win. Why take a dangerous shortcut when just waiting would get you to the same place? It was getting later in the day, so Dei stopped thinking about monsters, and started looking for a good area to set up a camp for the night. ¡°Camp¡± was a loose term in his case, closer to ¡°a place to lie down.¡± Unless he intended to sit around Clever for a little bit, he wasn¡¯t going to have a fire. His naturally high Physical stat helped protect him against the harmful effects of the cold, and his [Homeostasis] Skill was more than enough to retain heat in order to get comfortable. Finally coming upon a moderately-sized crack in the wall, he set about digging away the sharper stones before squeezing himself in,then widening an area for himself and using the extra rocks he dug out to block up the entrance a bit. He would still let air through, it would just be harder for monsters to immediately attack him if he was found. * * * Jolting awake shortly after he¡¯d drifted off, Dei immediately had his hand on both Fang and the red sword, raising them as he squished himself further back into the crevice he¡¯d dug into. [Vigilance] was in overdrive, and he didn¡¯t know why. Clever stood guard near the entrance, startled by Dei¡¯s quick movements, but Dei snatched him up, putting himself between Clever and the entrance. After Dei opened a line of communication, Clever sent back feelings of alarm and confusion. He could not sense any monsters close to them, and was concerned for Dei. Dei sent back that he did sense something, even if he didn¡¯t know what. Vigilance was a Skill that took advantage of his subconscious mind. Even if he didn¡¯t see anything or know what was out there, an unnatural sense told him that he was in danger. Heart pounding in his ears, they sat in silence, waiting. Dei started saving up heat using his Homeostasis Skill the moment his eyes opened, and it was reaching a critical mass now. Instead of continuing to build it, he held the heat steady, ready to explode anything around them at a moment''s notice. Sweating from both the heat and nervousness, Dei carefully scanned everything with his Tremor Sense. Fine-Tooth Comb found nothing, and he didn¡¯t see anything, but there was something there. Not even High Mind could piece together what Vigilance saw, yet everything else missed. He was reminded again that, even if he had a high tier Racial ability, some creatures had higher tier Racial abilities. His Tremor Sense was not infallible. Sitting in the silence for the next six minutes, Vigilance finally relaxed, allowing him to release a breath he¡¯d held. He didn¡¯t even know he could hold his breath for so long, until now. He gave Clever the all-clear, that they were safe for now, and said they would be moving places. They could either go back the way they came, or continue forward to checkpoint three. If Dei chose wrong, would he run into the creature again? Would it take the chance to attack him while he was more vulnerable, not protected by three walls? He couldn¡¯t risk it. Instead of exiting his small camp, he turned to the walla opposite of the entrance, and started digging as fast as he could. It would take time, but there were other cave systems that would not be as easy to reach from the place he¡¯d come. The only way to follow him would be to either take a winding path, break a wall themselves, or go through the crack he was digging. He was using the dirt to block the path behind him, so his entrance wouldn¡¯t be an option, and breaking through the wall would be much easier to spot. No matter how stealthy, digging a hole in the stone would always result in a hole that could be spotted. Almost naturally, he slipped into the motions of digging through the dirt, lying on his belly and pushing forward. The stone was easier than mud to move, and he¡¯d taken another deep breath before enclosing himself in the stone . Clever clung to his neck, protected from the falling rock by Dei¡¯s body. Any time Clever said that he needed to take a breath, Dei would release some air from his lungs into the korgonda¡¯s face. It wasn¡¯t a perfect solution, but it only needed to work for half a minute, until he successfully came out the other end. Bursting through the wall into an almost disconnected section of the cave system, Dei got back into his feet and broke into a full-tilt sprint. He couldn¡¯t let himself be caught. What was one night without sleeping in favor of survival? * * * Panting as he came to a stop, Dei finally slipped back into another hole, hiding. He¡¯d sprinted, ran, jogged, and walked in equal measure for the last twelve hours, and he had to sit and take a break. He¡¯d emptied his waterskin and filled it twice on springs coming from random points in the walls, and he emptied it again now, drinking greedily. When he was done, he asked Clever and Fang to watch out, before falling into a fitful slumber. * * * Two more hours later, he awoke. Again, the situation played out where Vigilance spotted something nothing else could, and they tensely watched for enemies. Again, it went away after a few minutes. Dei realized that it would not be so easy to escape whatever it was chasing them, and he would need the rest. It would be a risk, but he had to be in a better shape if he was going to face something with a high-tier stealth ability. Making sure entrance was still blocked with enough holes for air, Dei made the executive decision to go back to sleep. An hour later, the situation repeated. Thirty minutes later, again. This time, he didn¡¯t risk falling asleep, digging through the stone and running again. Three and a half hours of rest would have to do. * * * Only running for three hours this time before finding a place to sleep, he was ready when it happened again, two hours after he closed his eyes. He wondered if, whatever it was that tracked him, was trying to triangulate his location, pinging him them closing in, getting closer with each scan. If that was true, the pattern would repeat. In one hour, it would find him again. Sure enough, one hour after he¡¯d gone back to sleep, he felt his Vigilance wake him, and he was ready. He didn¡¯t wait the extra thirty minutes, not worth the risk for the rest. He broke through the stone once more, and set out running. During his runs, he was safe. Vigilance never acted out. But when he stopped to sleep, it always found him. Only when he stopped to sleep as well¡­ exactly one hour after he closed he started drifting off, it found him. Was it reliant on sleeping? Or¡­ Dreaming. Gargeth warned him that there was a Dream affinity, he was potentially being tracked by one such creature. He also realized two things. One, it had to be immune to sleeping itself, or he would have left it behind when he ran for twelve hours straight. Instead, it still closed in on him. Two, it had to have some way to either phase through walls, dig, or travel a lot faster than him, since it was always the same interval of time before the next mental ping. But what? What was it? He looked back over the route he¡¯d taken to reach his current sleeping spot, and there was something odd about the caves he¡¯d taken, but he couldn¡¯t spot what. He kept running. He was well rested enough to be confident in taking something on, and he planned to begin resting in naps, rather than full rests, to help keep him running. As the thought occurred to him, though, something else appeared in front of him. He ground to a halt, nearly tripping, as his Tremor sense detected a figure just around the corner. Somehow, without his noticing, a familiar form got very close to him. He wasn¡¯t sure if he should laugh, cry, or scream, as the figure could only be described as a human. Chapter 56 Panting, Dei stood still as he saw the figure of a human walking towards him with his [Tremor Sense]. It was tall, about a foot taller than him, and muscular. He would assume that they were male because they had a beard, and they wore armor. At their hip was clearly what appeared to be a sword, and a fabric-like texture under it all. Whoever this was, they were well-equipped. The question he had now was if they were a friend or foe? It wasn¡¯t a coincidence they appeared now, after he¡¯d been chased by something for the last day, but he couldn¡¯t jump to conclusions. It wasn¡¯t a coincidence, but whoever this was, might be here to kill the monster, rather than to kill the prey. The other option was that they were here to kill him. Either because he was a fugitive from Gem Dweller society, or for some other reason, such as simply sadistic pleasure. Serial killers didn¡¯t exactly need reasons. He stood his ground, unwilling to run now that he was finally faced with a threat. He¡¯d already started producing Wrath mana at the start of his escape, and it was coming to a head now. He hated running, and always would. Survival instincts trumped his anger in most situations though. Now that he could see a potential threat, he wouldn¡¯t have to run. He was most afraid of a dagger in the dark, catching him unprepared and dying before he realized what was happening. Either in response to his thoughts on the fight to come, or because the person in front of him was a real danger, Vigilance again boosted his mental capacity. Meditating to center himself, he dropped low, holding his daggers forward, and told Clever to get ready. As the person rounded the corner, Dei finally got a look at who he was dealing with. The man was clearly not of the Gem-Dweller variety, with tan skin and blonde hair, his brown eyes told of a surface dweller. His armor was a well polished dark blue color, and the sword''s scabbard was a light brown leather. ¡°Dont walk any closer!¡± Dei shouted at the man, and he stopped. He wore an easy smile, and held his hands up in a placating gesture. ¡°Hold! The hunter greets the traveler!¡± Dei didn¡¯t respond for a moment, using High Mind to study his pronunciations of each word. Iora gave him a large packet of information on the gem-dweller language, and its contents had contents regarding inflections in words. This man was attempting to be non-threatening, but Dei was still not trusting of him. ¡°Why are you here?¡± he asked. If it was a few months ago, before he was a bit more seasoned, he likely would have asked for help, now he was just focused on escape. His brows scrunched at Dei¡¯s response, but the smile didn¡¯t leave his face ¡°Err, I apologize if my greeting is improper. I¡¯ve just ventured down from the surface world on a monster hunt in the area. There is supposedly a Prime Synjer in the area, and I was sent to kill it.¡± ¡°What is a Prime Synjer?¡± he asked. The undercurrent of distrust was clear in the way he spoke. The mans smile widened a bit more, showing his white teeth before he spoke again. ¡°Syngers are sneaky reptiles that chase their prey down through a test of endurance and tracking. They hunt much like Prime Hum- err, surface humans, through endurance. Prime means that something is of the main strain of creature, so a Prime Synjer is not a variant Synger, but part of the main family. Please, come with me, the area is dangerous, and you won''t know you are about to be struck down before it is too late if a Synjer finds you!¡± As he man spoke, Dei found himself trusting his words. It made sense that a creature would be running him down through endurance, trying to whittle away his energy before striking. He¡¯d already proven that he couldn¡¯t find it, the Synjer probably realized by now that Dei was only putting up a front of knowing where it was. Something started to nag at him though, a detail he was forgetting. He stayed silent for a second as his face contorted with focus, putting all his mind into remembering what detail didn¡¯t fit. It kept slipping away, running from his grasp. It was on the top of his tongue, at the edge of his memory, teasing at him, but what¡­ was it? Activating High Mind to stimulate his eidetic memory, felt the sensation of breaking through a barrier as a thought came to him. He was being hunted in his dreams. Surely, Synjers could hunt in their dreams, right? He hadn¡¯t asked, but the stranger would tell him. He activated the eidetic memory again, replaying the last few moments, studying it. And seeing the barrier in his mind break down. Something was trying to block him from remembering that he was being tracked through dreams. Something was messing with his mind. With that thought, he knew the man in front of him was an enemy. The Synjer might be real, or it might not, but the man was invading his mind to hide facts. He probably wasn¡¯t sure if Dei knew that Synjers didn¡¯t hunt through dreams, so he used a preemptive mental block to hide his own realization from him. The man was an enemy, but there was more than that. More pieces to put together before he attacked. Dei thought back to how the route he¡¯d taken was odd before, but couldn¡¯t piece why. Using eidetic memory to sift through the sensations of Tremor Sense, broke through another barrier, allowing him to scan over his own route in a way he couldn¡¯t before. After the first time Dei was awoken in the night, and when he started running, Dei changed course. It hadn¡¯t even occurred to him to continue on to checkpoint three, instead taking an ¡°evasive¡± route that led in a completely different direction. He took a ninety degree angle, running straight away from the Bog. That wasn¡¯t what he meant to do¡­ and he was not days further away from home, much closer to the surface. Why would he do that? It was now clear to him that he was being manipulated from the very start. There was no monster ever chasing him, he was running into the gullet of a monster. This man, if he was human, had the ability to track him through dreams from tens of miles away, and control him remotely. The man had to die. Now that he knew the man specialized in controlling his opponent, he could get a bead on his abilities. He likely had a high Magical stat to help pierce through the defenses of others, so Dei needed to avoid attacks if at all possible. He would have no chance of tanking the mans magical abilities.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. That being said, his new Null mana would be his friend. Dei now had four hundred, earning one hundred during all the running he¡¯d been doing, and he was going to use it to cancel this mans hold on him. The moment he did, the man would know that Dei was aware. Dei also needed to worry about Fang and Clever, to ensure they would not be controlled, and for that he had a plan. The Null mana was already in its own sectioned off boxes in batches of one hundred, as was required to make it, so it was ready to go. Releasing the latch of the first one, he flooded his entire body with it, focusing mainly on his head. He felt multiple magical structures breaking throughout his body, finding that there was a fucking LOT of them. Dei was infested with odd ethereal magic pathways, but they didn¡¯t permeate his mind, they permeated his soul. Soul mana, imbued with an intent to ¡°control,¡± began flying out from his body as Dei kicked off the ground as hard as he could, sending himself towards the man. The next thing he did was release a second latch, getting another two hundred Null mana, and exploding it outwards from his body, sending it all into the area. Using Soul Sight, he watched as structures built into Clever and Fang were also disrupted, breaking his hold on them. The smile on the mans face widened to an impossible degree, and Dei watched as hundreds of threads composed of Soul mana shot towards him. Most of the threads bounced off the cloud of Null mana, but when one did, no other Soul mana would run into that particular piece of Null mana. The man had such a high Mental stat, that he was tracking where every point of Null mana on the battlefield was, despite them being invisible. Dei swatted the threads that closed in on him, glaring at the man as the Null mana permeating Dei¡¯s body formed a barrier just below the surface of his skin. While Dei was completely unable to control mana outside of his body, he found a supernatural control and awareness for any mana inside his body. The tendrils continued to rain down upon him though, digging deeper into his body. They did not physically hurt him, but seeked to disable. Clever and Fang were also coming out of their stupors, finding that they were under attack and completely unprepared. Dei tried telling Clever to not use his beam attack, as it would refract off all the Null mana in the air and probably blow everyone to bits, but the message was also torn apart by Null mana. He would have to trust Clevers judgement. A second footstep carried him over halfway to the man, and Dei was beginning to leave the cloud of Null mana, more Soul mana was making its way into him, digging deeper. He went to release a second latch, when a strong memory was retrieved, from deep within his soul. * * * Dei sat on the couch, his mother in the kitchen, humming a happy tune- * * * A desperate pulse of mana from Fang broke the spell over him, and he gasped as he was halfway fallen to the ground. Her pulse wasn¡¯t able to break the connection fully, much of her own spell was shredded from Null mana, but it gave him the autonomy of his actions to flip the second latch on his Pandora¡¯s Box, releasing another flood of one hundred Null mana that fully shook off all the structured Soul mana. Dei was beginning to sense a shaking pain throughout his soul, and he noticed that the strands of [Connection] that held it together were being pressed against by Null mana. The Null mana wasn¡¯t strong enough to break the white strands, but the pull against his iron stitches hurt like fucking crazy. His third step cracked the ground as he pulled everything he could into going just a bit further. Every foot would count, as he needed this thing dead before his Null mana ran out. Close enough now, he released the final latch of his Null mana, but didn¡¯t fire it into the environment, keeping it contained within his body. If he shot it outwards now, he wouldn¡¯t be able to coat the man in Null mana, which was Dei¡¯s plan to counter any magical barriers he potentially had. The man thought quickly as well, though, and Dei saw Clever charging up a beam. The Null mana was thin enough in the air for Dei¡¯s message to carry over, telling him dont fire! But Clever acted like he didn¡¯t hear him, opening his mouth as a red hot glow became brighter and brighter. Dei wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think that the beam was headed for their enemy though. Clever didn¡¯t have any Null mana in him anymore. If he did, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to charge the beam. The man was puppeteering Clever, and Dei expected the korgonda to turn at the last second, firing it at Dei. When Dei was almost on top of the man, the expected happened. Clever turned towards Dei¡¯s head, and fired his beam. Dei was ready. A wall of one hundred concentrated Null mana focused onto the half of his head where the beam would have struck him. He held it with all his might, pushing the Null mana to the edge of his skin as he tilted his head at the perfect angle. The beam struck the entire right side of his head¡­ and ricocheted. The angle carried the beam straight into the center mass of the man. It only lasted a single second, but Clevers beam was not to be trifled with. Dei ignored the after-effects of the man,confident enough that he would at least be stunned, as he sent one command to Clever. ¡°Reverse yourself by two seconds, NOW!¡± Confused but trusting, Dei watched the cooling form of Clever flicker for a second, before his usual glow returned, and he slumped in exhaustion. Foremost, Dei wanted to make sure Clever was in top shape if they needed that beam again. Winning this fight was important, but he could not forget the next fight. He couldn¡¯t risk being attacked with an injured Clever, so he needed him to reverse time and earn his heat back. He wasn¡¯t even sure if it would have worked, but Clever looked to be his glowing self again, so he put it aside and scanned the man. Or at least, what remained of him. The beam became wider as it traveled, so by the time it hit him, it obliterated his entire body from the stomach down. Dei was aiming for his chest so he wouldn¡¯t miss, and hoping to encompass the man''s head, but it seemed he was slightly off. The man hadn¡¯t even finished falling, the look of clear shock in his eyes as the top half of his body fell onto the molten ground. Despite it all, the creepy smile never left the man''s face. The entire fight took only seconds. From the time when Dei first kicked off the ground to the moment that the beam shredded the man, was only about six and a half seconds. Dei breathed deeply, smelling charred flesh as he brought in air and tried to calm the pounding of his heart. His teeth were clenched so tightly that he was sure a few would be cracked when he relaxed them, but he didn¡¯t not yet. Dei wasn¡¯t going to wait for the man to catch his bearings. He knew how effective healing passives in this world could be, and didn¡¯t know if this man had some sort of super regenerating ability. Using the two hundred remaining Null mana in his body, Dei blasted the man, watching the remnants of multiple Skills stop working as the Null mana canceled them all. It was both shocking and not surprising to see he had over five Soul-based Skills working to repair his broken body. Dei let out a shout, bringing the red blade down on the mans head and slicing between the eyes. Still, he did not get a kill notification, so he stabbed Fang into the mans chest, where it started pulling his Soul mana away. Next, he brought the flat part of the red blade down on the mans skull, feeling the bones cave him. Again and again Dei brought the flat of the red blade down, turning the man''s head into paste. But he still didn¡¯t get a kill notification. Pulling Fang out of the body, he went about carving the man up into smaller chunks, tearing him apart piece by piece, while also saving up heat in his body. When he was full of heat, Dei jumped back and sent a spark of Snap and Heat mana at the body. The Null mana in the area was finally dissipating, and the spark made it to the body unhindered. He didn¡¯t even realize that it was more heat than he¡¯d ever saved up until the explosion rocked the entire cave system and, finally, Dei felt a notification sound in his head. His entire body hurt as he slowly picked himself back up, checking the notifications just to be sure. [EXP gained for killing the Smiler (Level 352). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] Sweat, dirt, blood, and guts caked his skin as he realized it was finally over. Dei had never fought anything so fucking resilient before. He had to get away from the explosion, it was sure to attract scavengers, and he didn¡¯t think he was in a condition to fight. The vibrations from the explosion dazed him heavily, but he had to run. Stumbling away, he desperately searched for a safe place to rest. Chapter 57 When his Tremor Sense was working again, he scanned the area for any threats, seeing none. Behind him, multiple monsters were carefully approaching the body of the Smiler. They saw each other, but didn¡¯t attack, trying to figure out who among them was the injured link. At least, that''s what he thought was happening. They might simply be looking to eat the body left behind. Still, that explosion was fierce enough to attract creatures from all over. He was closer to the surface than before so he thought they would be weaker than usual, and he ultimately wasn¡¯t in a bad shape. It was the mental shock that kept him running now, avoiding any monsters he saw. He didn¡¯t want to fight before he¡¯d processed the previous one. * * * Finally coming upon a suitable place to rest, Dei quickly tore out the stone blocking him, digging his way deeper and making an area to lie down in while blocking up the entrance with extra rocks. He was tired, but he wasn¡¯t going to sleep. He¡¯d rested a lot already, and the adrenaline from the fight kept him up. Now that he thought about it, he realized that he was falling asleep way too fast before, when he knew he was being tracked. His frayed nerves should have kept him awake, but he found himself slipping in and out of dreams, much to the Smilers benefit. He¡¯d won though. He was lured into a trap by an enemy far stronger than him, outwitted it, and won. He let out a relieved laugh as the weight of how close he¡¯d come to death hit him. He rested, slumped against the stone behind him, mind blank, for thirty minutes before drawing himself together, and preparing to move forward. First, he had to communicate with his two companions. Clever was devastated and felt terrible that he¡¯d almost killed Dei, but Dei told him that he almost fell for the spell, and that Clever shouldn¡¯t feel bad about it. It worked out in the end, and it was Clevers blast that ended up turning the tables. Still, Dei sensed Clevers jumbled emotions, and knew the little korgonda wouldn¡¯t forget about the close call any time soon. It was also nice to have confirmation that Clever could regain his heat by reversing time on himself, but Clever was in no state of mind to celebrate the new powerful tool in their repertoire. It would be an incredible backup plan, because Clever could reverse time at least once without straining himself. Dei knew that Clever would be upset for a long while as the guilt weighed on him, and there was nothing he could do to prevent that. He just hoped that the korgonda would use it as motivation to push himself harder, rather than collapsing and giving up. He had faith in his companion, Clever only needed time to process everything. Next, he opened a line of communication to Fang, thanking her profusely for breaking him out of the first spell when he was hit, just long enough to let him open the second latch of Nullify. She said they were equal, because she too performed shamefully. Immediately after she stopped the Smiler from taking over Dei, she was taken over herself, trapped in a realm of her own fantasies and either unable or unwilling to break herself out. Overall, it could have gone better, but they were all alive, and that''s what mattered. Communication complete, Dei took the time to finally go over his notifications. The Smiler was, easily, the strongest monster he¡¯d ever fought. Not just the highest level, but the most powerful. [EXP gained for killing the Prime Smiler (Level 352). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 73) -> (Level 87)] [Total Stats Gained: +7 Mental, +7 Magical] [Affinity Strengthened: [Wrath: Mid-Uncommon 70%] has strengthened into [Wrath: High-Uncommon: 9%]] [Affinity Strengthened: [Fortitude: High-Common: 88% has strengthened into [Fortitude: Mid-Uncommon 35%]] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (110) -> (116)] [Total Stats Gained: +2 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (66) -> (80)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (46) -> (58)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (67) -> (76)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (68) -> (82)] [Skill Leveled Up: In Tune (14) -> (29)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (62) -> (70)] The risk was great, but so too were the rewards. He was closing in on the level 100 evolution for a lot of his Skills, as well as his Class. He realized he hadn¡¯t looked over his entire Interface in a long time, and brought it up now. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 87) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 6) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 118/118 MP: 118/118 SP: 118/118 Stats: Physical: 59 Mental: 54 Spiritual: 44 Magical: 55 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare: 79% Wrath: High-Uncommon: 9% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Fortitude: Mid-Uncommon 35% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (100) (3320/4000), Call for Help (53), Good Samaritan (1), Meaningful (36) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (116) Soul: Astral Projection (10), Connection (1) Fortitude: Solidity (80) Health: Homeostasis (46) Mana: Meditation (67) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (58) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (48), Vigilance (68), In Tune (14), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (62)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1739/4000 Wrath 628/4000 Kindness 833/4000 Soul 120/4000 Fortitude 0/4000 [NULL] ] He found that he kept looking at the Achievement list. When he was first reborn, Achievements rained down like water, and he thought they would have continued to come to him. Now? He hadn¡¯t gotten one in a long time. It seemed that Achievements were only given out to objectively impressive things, outliers to the population. Being reborn made him a massive outlier, resulting in a lot of Achievements. Now, he was only living his life as a local, he would need to do more impressive things. The catch in this was that doing ¡°more impressive¡± things would likely lead to his death, such as fighting far more powerful monsters. Not even killing the Prime Smiler gave an Achievement, and he¡¯d come very close to death. Now that he was a bit older, his ¡°Born for Slaughter¡± Achievement was locked out too, but that didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t others along the Slaughterer path. If there was an achievement for killing monsters before one year old, he could bet there were some for killing them before three years old, like a ¡°Children of the Slaughter¡± Achievement. If he was going to grow at a more rapid pace now, that kind of Achievement would be easier to earn.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Now calm enough to keep going, Dei got ready to actually head towards checkpoint three. The silver lining of this was that he figured out a safer way to travel through the cave system to make himself less of a target by never staying in one place at a time. If Dei continuously took short naps, it would be harder for monsters who tracked him using physical senses to pinpoint him. * * * Far more careful, slowly making his way back, Dei realized that he now had a tool to help protect Fang. If Fang could control the Null mana in its body to protect itself, same as Dei, then she would be able to shield herself from outside influence. The Null mana would stop her own spells too, but if she learned to navigate her spells around the null mana, Fang would be guarded by what was effectively a small fortress, shooting her spells through tiny gaps in the walls. He would still do his presence training, just in case the Null mana didn¡¯t work, but was determined to try it out when he got the chance. * * * For days they backtracked, going deeper into the earth and closing back in on where they were before. Dei saw a lot of very interesting structures, but he didn¡¯t have time to explore. Fendrascora was still trapped, still in trouble, and he needed to help her before all else. Clever continued to train with his Time affinity, more fervently than ever. The training was supposedly quite mentally intensive, and Dei noticed that Clevers thoughts were becoming clearer, more focused. He thought in words more often than concepts now, which helped Dei to understand him, and Clever to understand what he was doing. Dei was trying to find a way to give the packet of knowledge on language that Iora planted into his head to Clever, but it was not easy. His [Meaningful] Skill could contain all the information if he put enough Kindness mana into it, but Clever could only process small pieces of that before the message was broken down by the natural mana of their surroundings. Instead, Dei was teaching Clever everything he knew about language slowly, and Clevers mind pushed itself to both piece through Dei¡¯s lessons, and navigate the timestream to figure out his future seeing Skill. Dei was proud of him, and Dei himself continued to push his physical abilities to the limit, While he couldn¡¯t practice most of his Skills properly, he could strain his muscles and push his body further. Since he¡¯s started using Sectioning to make more Null mana, Dei found that he wasn¡¯t regenerating as quickly nor was his Physical stat going up, but he was becoming stronger anyway. He thought his muscles were growing naturally, a hidden benefit of his Pandora¡¯s Box evolution. He also tried pushing himself through sleep deprivation more, finding that his Homeostasis was starting to adjust to the exhaustion. There might come a time when he would have to go weeks without sleeping, so it would be useful to train that early on. The Skill didn¡¯t decrease his exhaustion, it just let him push through it easier. * * * Two days later at a much more sedated, yet still intensive, pace, Dei was finally back to checkpoint three. Now that he was sleeping for two or three hours, moving for eight, then napping again, he was getting a better read on what kinds of creatures were up at different times, and why. The village he was born in was filled with glowing crystals that dimmed during the nighttime hours. There were many variants of this, as he¡¯d seen around the cave systems. There were many random crystals interspersed in the cave systems that provided lighting. Clever also said that a few of them, rarely, gave off aura¡¯s of weak magical power. He always wanted Dei to pick those for him to eat, and Dei complied. Dei tried Identifying them multiple times, but none had a Soul Signature, so it failed. Fang tried as well, finding the same problem as Dei, and Clever¡¯s scanning abilities relied on an organism''s heat, which had nothing to do with the crystals. * * * When Dei finally pushed his [Growing Pains] Skill to get another batch of one hundred Null mana, he proposed his idea to Fang, who was willing to experiment. The very first issue they ran into, though, was that Fang could not even remotely manipulate the Null mana. Dei described his own process of doing so, by holding it in his body. He said it was much easier to manipulate mana when it was in his body, but Fang was utterly baffled, saying that it took the same amount of effort to move mana outside its body as it was in its body, up to a certain distance. Its control slowly tapered off, but it was certainly not such a steep drop in control. That''s when Dei discovered a second benefit to his specializing constitution While it wasn¡¯t yet specialized, it was slowly working its way there. He¡¯d thought that his lacking magical senses were because they hadn¡¯t developed yet, and they probably were, but he was already halfway benefitting from specializing his constitution. He now had a greater control and awareness of his body, including magic. He couldn''t sense environmental changes, but his body? That was his domain, giving him a glimpse into the fully permanent change that would take place if he continued down his current path, and it looked promising. Fang said that the Null mana resisted every attempt at moving it, but Dei didn¡¯t have that at all. Realistically, it should have bent to Fang just as easily as it bent to Dei because the Null mana wasn¡¯t imbued with meaning, but if it had, then the Smiler should have been able manipulate the Null mana as well. Luckily, it couldn¡¯t, but they¡¯d now run into the issue that Fang had no control over it. Fang proposed that she didn¡¯t have a ¡°right¡± to the mana that Dei did. Dei faced similar problems with outside mana before, mana that wasn¡¯t created with his affinities. He¡¯d assumed it was because each point of mana was imbued with a meaning, but that might not be the case. The only other instance of mana bending to his will, despite him not being the source of it, was when Fang stole Spirit mana from the Wraith, delivering it to Dei. Thinking back, wasn¡¯t that Spirit mana imbued with meanings, such as the Wraiths knowledge, since it was Spirit mana? But he¡¯d had no trouble in pulling that into his box. Fang was right, this wasn¡¯t a meaning issue, each point of mana belonged to someone, and only that person could control that mana, unless they lost control of it to someone else. Instead, he proposed a new idea. Fang had given him a burst of Spirit mana that he was able to manipulate before, turning it into Soul mana before using it in a projection. She¡¯d done this by sending it down the connection they shared, so Dei thought the reverse of the process would be possible as well. If her roots connected to him, he might be able to send her Null mana, which she would have the ability to control. A little too enthusiastically, she accepted the idea of digging into him again, and he felt the roots try and pierce his skin. He held up slightly better this time, but not that much better, and the handle of his blade soon sent waves of pain up his arm. ¡°Slow down!¡± he sent to her, but received only a ravenous feeling of hunger in return. When she connected to his blood stream, he felt a pull, and immediately felt a spike of insatiable rage pour into him. Imbuing a message with every bit of anger, he commanded Fang. ¡°STOP¡± The roots ceased immediately, and he felt Fangs mind reel back, before going quiet a moment. ¡°I am¡­ sorry¡± it apologized shamefully, but Dei didn¡¯t respond, collecting himself. His Pandora¡¯s Box worked overtime to pull all the Wrath mana in, stopping it from clouding his judgement. Now that Fang apologized, the Wrath mana pouring into him began to slow down, but it was difficult to stop, so he simply let his mind calm, occasionally sending Fang a message imbued with the emotions he was currently feeling, keeping her in line and ensuring that she would hesitate to do something like that again. He didn¡¯t want her thinking he was vulnerable for even a second, he was instead trying to not start pouring convection mana into her in an insatiable rage. It was odd, how quickly the situation had turned. They were conversing well enough, when they¡¯d both suddenly been consumed by waves of emotion. While he hadn¡¯t uncovered it, Dei could tell that he had a ¡°Rule of Wrath¡± involving betrayal. When he was calm enough, he sent an accusatory message to Fang ¡°What the fuck was that!? You were absolutely about to try and drain my blood!¡± ¡°I am sorry! It is in my nature. I have not drank blood in so long¡­ it was too much, I could hardly stop myself.¡± ¡°You drank blood just a few days ago! Do you have so little self control? Are you that fucking primitive?!¡± She sent back a mental scoff ¡°Just a few days ago. Normally, Flesh Traps eat every day! We can go dormant to store blood, but I have not gone dormant. I remain active with you, frequently talking, and become hungry between fights. I should have asked for more blood, not less! I am not fed enough!¡± Initially, it was apologetic, but quickly devolved into accusing him as well. He was about to send another angry message, when he took a deep breath, calming himself. It was true that Flesh Traps needed blood to survive, but she had given him no warning! Still, he needed to be more mindful of other peoples needs. She was doubtlessly holding back her craving for blood because she could sense he was uncomfortable with it. It was partially on him for being inconsiderate, and partially on her for not telling him. When he was calm enough, he sent a mental message. ¡°It is true that I did not think of your needs, but you did not communicate them either. If you had told me when you were becoming hungry, I would have fed you blood. Would something like this happen if you¡¯d not gone so long without it?¡± ¡°No, I would have easily been able to control myself! But instead, you pushed me this far.¡± He could tell now that her shame had transformed into anger, and she hated that he¡¯d accused her so aggressively. It was a mistake on his part made in anger to belittle her. While his Pandora¡¯s Box helped him get control over his supernatural anger, it didn¡¯t control the mundane emotion. That was up to him. ¡°I know, but you still needed to tell me before. If I¡¯d known it was this bad, it wouldn¡¯t have gotten so far. Just tell me things sooner, and we can work together to fix them. I¡¯m sorry for insulting you.¡± She mentally harrumphed, but said ¡°Fine. I am sorry as well for losing myself and not telling you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re forgiven. We can delay training for a bit, and you can drink some of my blood, slowly. Let my body heal back as you drink, so I¡¯m not passing out from blood loss.¡± She sent back a quiet agreement, and an awkward tension still persisted between them. They were both apologetic and a little angry at the other, but it wasn¡¯t extreme, and would fade with time. His regenerating Skills would help recover his blood, and it might potentially prove useful in the future. His [Homeostasis] Skill would slowly adjust to such a condition, meaning that he would recover from blood loss faster next time. In the meantime, he needed to find an actual animal to kill. He had a vegetable ration in his bag, but if he was going to be losing a lot of blood, he thought it might not be enough, and would need some protein. The ration might have protein built into it, but he didn¡¯t want to wait until he was dizzy to find out. Scanning the environment, he tried finding something that would work well as a meal. Chapter 58 Rather quickly, due to his [Tremor Sense] and [Fine-Tooth Comb], Dei found a suitable meal. He wanted something that was smaller than him but still medium-sized, a lot of meat on it, and was trying to hide. He wanted it to be hiding, that way he could know that it was a prey animal. It took a lot of requests and specifying with his [Fine-Tooth Comb] while he ran, but he eventually knocked it down to two creatures, both of which were the same type of animal, so he picked the closer one and started running towards it. He had conflicting emotions on how it looked to his Tremor Sense, because it didn¡¯t look particularly appetizing, but beggars couldn¡¯t be choosers. Several side passageways and hidden entrances later, he soon came upon a dark, damp tunnel, far too small for him to enter standing up. While he could crawl in, he didn¡¯t know the level of the creature, or if it had any defense mechanisms, so he would rather dig most of the way through and see how it reacted. Setting Fang, the red sword (which he also needed to name), and Clever a few feet away, Dei began tearing into the hole, sending sprays of dirt to the left and right. The stone in this area was softer than most, and he found that it was more mud than stone. It was already quite easy for him to dig stone, so mud was nothing. After a few seconds though, he stopped, finding a nearby stream of water and thoroughly washing his hands. It felt awful as dirt got caked under his fingernails, but he didnt really have a nail file. Instead, he used Fang to quickly cut the excess nail off. He felt exasperation from their bond, but he wasn¡¯t willing to let the cracked red blade anywhere close to his hand, and fang was the only other sharp thing nearby. After cutting his nails, he got back to work digging, and it went much faster. He dug a human-sized hole out of the wall, fully expecting the creature to move, run, fight, or do something as he dug, but it didn''t. Instead, he saw it just sit there unmoving. He could see its slow heartbeat, so he knew it wasn¡¯t dead. Was it hibernating or something? He didn¡¯t know what season it was, but also, seasons shouldn¡¯t even affect anything so deep in caves. To be fair, neither should daylight cycles, so he didn¡¯t discredit the theory either. The entire time he dug, it just¡­ sat there. He was starting to hesitate a bit more, but kept digging. When he was getting really close to it, around three fourths of the way to it, he decided the suspense was too much. Any closer, and he was afraid it would launch a sneak attack, killing him or something. Instead, he would smoke it out. Charging up a weak pulse of heat in his lungs, he breathed in deeply, exhaling fire straight into the tunnel. Quickly, the air around him heated up, but he ignored it. It was nothing to scoff at, but a high Physical stat made it tolerable. What was the heat of an oven compared to magical abilities? Still, the creature did not move. It did not flinch, and when Clever told him the heat reached it, and it still didn¡¯t move, not even from sitting in the heat for several minutes, he turned to start running, when he got a notification. [EXP gained for killing the Mud-Murker (Level 42). EXP gain lowered due to level disparity] He stumbled in his step, flabbergasted. There was no way the creature just¡­ died. No way it just sat there and let him cook it. It had to be a parasite on the creature instead, like a bug attached to it. Actually was there a limit to how small something could be before it got the System? Did germs have the System? If they did, why didn¡¯t he ever get notifications for them? In response, a second notification window opened, for only a few seconds. The title of it, located at the top of the tab, was called ¡°Experimental Full Kill Display,¡± filled with hundreds of thousands of kill notifications flying by every second. [EXP gained for killing the Microbe (Level 13). EXP gain lowered due to level disparity] [EXP gained for killing the Microbe (Level 82)] [EXP gained for killing the Microbe (Level 192). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] ¡­ Before he could process what he was seeing, the display disappeared, leaving him stunned. The System still watched him, and showed him that as a response. It likely only showed him because he already knew about germs, and exactly what they were. He felt comforted for some reason, knowing that there was something out there watching him succeed. He smiled when he realized the System was probably jumping for joy with his every success too, as it needed him to live if it wanted any hope of resurrecting its love. Shaking off the burst of emotions and refocusing, he realized that the creature was actually dead. Its heartbeat had stopped along with its breathing, and he didn¡¯t know what else to do. He just waited it out as the heat slowly dissipated from the narrow cave. When it was finally cool enough, he got back to digging up the tunnel, finally laying eyes on the creature. On the outside, it looked like a curled up roly poly the size of his head, but on the inside he knew it looked like the most disgusting bug ever. It was also very meaty, with only the outer shell being very thick. Now that he had eyes on it, he hit it with an Identify. While he couldn¡¯t read anything about this specific creature because it was dead, animals tended to have information on their species, even if they were dead. He was pretty sure that this was what his Identify meant when it mentioned a ¡°soul signature¡± rather than just ¡°soul¡± [Mud-Murker - (Level 42) Mud-Murkers are large crustaceans that filter-feed on small creatures in muddy, watery environments. Once a Mud-Murker has had its fill, it will immediately drop into a dormant state, releasing very few life signatures to hide itself. Mud-Murkers rely on sheer chance to survive the first few months of their lives, resulting in a rare innate Luck affinity. Mud-Murkers almost never fight, nor do they form ways to attack. They simply improve their hiding and escape abilities as they grow older, while also further relying on chance to prevent them from being found, hoping that no predator is around during one of the few times they wake up to feed.] ¡®Huh¡­ its a crustacean? Like lobster or shrimp?¡¯ Much more willing to eat it now, he studied it again. He tried picking it up, but it was still a bit hot, so he waited a few more minutes. It seemed he¡¯d accidentally boiled it in the muddy pool it lived in. When Clever said that it should be cool enough for him to touch, He picked it up and moved out of its den. It looked like a balled up armadillo, and he found where it would naturally uncurl itself, were it still alive. Carefully, he slowly pried it open, feeling three latches crack. When they did, the Mud-Murker finally opened up. ¡®Nope. still looks disgusting¡¯ he thought to himself, sighing. It looked like an upside down roach with thicker legs. ¡®Ugh.¡¯ Bringing it to a nearby stream that flowed from the wall, he washed all the mud he could get off of it. When he was done, he broke one of its legs off, and it did come off like a crab leg, easily cracking. His ¡°cooking¡± accidentally boiled it perfectly. He didn¡¯t have any seasonings or butters, but the meat was very fatty, and it didn¡¯t bleed as he cracked the leg off. Breaking it more until the meat was loose, he finally ate his first bite of real food since he¡¯d been forced to live down in the caves. It wasn¡¯t extraordinary or delicious, the taste of mud somehow built-in slightly to the meat, but it brought him satisfaction to be chewing something again. It was flakey, and the Mud-Murker was naturally very fatty, so it wasn¡¯t dry at all. It wasn¡¯t very noteworthy, but it was a step towards freedom. He was becoming more independent, able to survive outside of all the gifts his mother gave him. Sitting on the ground with Fang on his left, the red blade on his right, and Clever curled up in his neck, he appreciated the moment of peace. * * * Eating slowly, he finished his meal in around half an hour. He realized that his body was probably digesting it as fast as he was eating it, with the efficiency and effectiveness of his stomach acid increased in proportion to his Physical stat. ¡®I wonder if I¡¯ll have to use the bathroom now. The rations were pure energy, but this meat isn¡¯t. Future problem I suppose.¡¯ He still didn¡¯t really know if it was necessary to eat real meat to compensate with the vegetable ration he had, but it was a good experience * * * Getting back to traveling, Dei was a bit more comfortable letting Fang attach itself to his bloodstream. She¡¯d eaten her fill already, now it was only going to be a small continuous drain on him, which would help his Homeostasis Skill build up a resistance to blood loss, especially with how his Growing Pains Skill was being limited in its regeneration, slowed as he forced it to pull from a smaller pool. Without his second regeneration Skill to rely on, Homeostasis would take care of all the healing itself. * * * He was still a good distance from checkpoint four, but stopped using [Tremor Sense] to guide him. While it might be safe to get closer, he wouldn''t risk it. He¡¯d rather manually find his way around the demon-kin.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It would add a few days, but that was okay. Slow and steady would win this, rushing into danger was an unnecessary risk. Still¡­ something goaded him into approaching them¡­ for just a second, he was tempted to test himself against them. He shook himself from the absurd thought, and started taking his roundabout pathway, making his way through the caves without a guide temporarily. He still had [Tremor Sense], so he wasn¡¯t lost, it would just take a bit longer. * * * It wasn¡¯t as quick as he¡¯d hoped, but the detour wasn¡¯t as long as he¡¯d feared either. Adding over a week to their travel time. Once past that, it was smooth sailing, but still multiple days until he was finally back to the entrance to Fendrascora¡¯s prison. He¡¯d made it though. After significant effort, and a much harsher trip than what his Spiritual form had, he¡¯d made it. He checked his timer to see how long it¡¯d been since he first started [Since the Fall: 10/12/809 - 14:52:46] Twenty five days. It took him two days on his first go around, and now it took twenty five. Fights, stopping to sleep or recover, detours and hiding from monsters took their toll on his pace. Still, he¡¯d made it to Fendrascora, and it was time to see what he could do with all of his abilities to tear down her prison. * * * POV: George Gladen George was about to have an awful day. If he survived, it would be an awful month. ¡®You signed up for this¡¯ he told himself ¡®One thousand gold per month. One thousand gold to sit around and do nothing, until the order that it''s time to get to work.¡¯ He was disgustingly rich at this point, and should have quit months ago, but the money was so tempting. He was the advisor of a Slaughterer, in name. Functionally, he was a scapegoat. Slaughterers tended to be an independent bunch, they didn¡¯t rely on anyone, so scarred from their experiences, but they occasionally needed help. When they had no other options, they would ask the advisor. It was rare, but it did happen, which was justification enough for the Slaughterer themselves to believe it. Really, though, kings, queens, and councils just needed someone to blame if something in the Slaughterers life went wrong. Slaughterers were strong, independent, and aggressively unstable. They didn¡¯t take bad news well, but a Slaughterer throwing a tantrum was a dangerous thing. It was hard to explain things such as ¡°Societal Burden¡± or ¡°Duty¡± to a Slaughterer, and when one of the more feral Slaughterers got angry, they needed someone to vent their anger out on. If they didn¡¯t have that, there was a chance the Slaughterer would take it out on the leaders of the civilization which ¡°wronged¡± them, as the figurehead to their problems. Thats where the advisors came in. The position was simple: Become a liaison between the Slaughterer and society, get paid a lot, do nothing until it was time to break some bad news to the Slaughterer. When it was time to break the news, you volunteered that it was your idea. It was your idea to send the Slaughterer somewhere dangerous, somewhere they might lose one of the friends they brought along. If one of their friends died? It was on you. It was your idea to pardon the rich noble who assaulted the Slaughterer. The noble isn¡¯t properly punished by those around them? Well, the advisor thought it was an accident, it was the advisor''s idea! In George''s case, it was now his idea to withhold urgent mail from the Slaughterer under his care, for the greater good. A month ago, his Slaughterer, codenamed ¡°Whisper,¡± was about to be sent on a vitally important reconnaissance mission. She was stealthy and fast, one of the only high-level entities within sapient society that could give them information on the demon-kin armies without being discovered. She was tracking their movements in real time, returning across the border, telling the sapient race armies what she¡¯d found, then going back out to do it all again. Tens of times per week. She was fast, stealthy, and the only one who could complete the job. That''s why when urgent mail came in through a cargo teleporter, an executive decision was made to withhold it from her. While they could not decrypt the magical seal on it without breaking it, and tipping her off to them potentially meddling with the letter, they could guess that the letter would pull her from the front lines. Slaughterers played a vital part in holding off and, occasionally, pushing back the tides of demon-kin. Slaughterers had high-level, niche specialties that helped very specific scenarios, if the Slaughterers were compensated properly. Whenever a new Slaughterer was discovered, they were gently introduced to the concept of ¡°society,¡± given an advisor, and asked to stay near the frontlines just in case their strength was needed. Many, upon hearing that there was an objectively evil, endless army to fight, were overjoyed. Society was complicated, but most had lived their lives to that point simply fighting, and if they could be praised for doing so? They were happy to. Those that didn¡¯t enjoy fighting, though, had to be paid well, and in their own currency. To date, there has not been a single Slaughterer that asked for only money for its services. Some tacked on a fee, on top of the actual request, but none were interested in money, far too animalistic to understand how to spend or bargain gold coins. Instead, they each asked for something they loved. Something they wanted that money could not buy. Whisper, his advisee, was no different. He looked down at her file now, which he¡¯d been holding for the last two hours. ¡°Slaughterer File - Slaughterer 263 Code Name: Whisper Race: Voiceless Crier (Formerly: Elf) Location and Window of Survival: Screaming Abyss for three years, from the age of two to the age of five Estimated Level: 400-700 Estimated power: It is estimated that Whisper has a fighting strength of around 250, but her survivability and tracking level approximates 600. Whisper''s stealth abilities are unsurpassed, estimated to be in the 800-900 range. Appearance: Voiceless Criers are a previously undiscovered race of sapients, and Whisper is assumed to be the only one of her kind, though she refuses to reveal whether she had the ¡°Matriarch¡± Achievement. They consist of a soul tied to a large body of air, estimated to be around six kilometers in diameter in Whisper''s case. When Whisper''s mind focuses on a particular area and she wants her presence to be known, a gentle breeze can be felt. Threat level: 7/100 Whisper was first discovered in the Screaming Abyss on 18/3/756 when an expedition was launched in search of Terrapain Bells. Slaughterer 185 headed the expedition and, on the way back, declared that they were being tracked. For fear of leading a native to the Screaming Abyss out, the party delayed their exit and took evasive maneuvers, activating every stealth ability in their repertoire, but could not find an escape from the one following them. After giving the ones guarding the entrance to the Screaming Abyss time to prepare, as was the protocol if the party was late, they exited, leading the enemy out of the Screaming Abyss. Multiple sensitive detection devices activated, locking the area down and preventing the escape of the invisible enemy. After many tense minutes, Whisper finally made her presence known, to tell everyone to release her or die. Slaughterer 185 pridefully told her that he would ¡°enjoy dragging you to hell, monstrous bastard. Slaughterers dont die to whispers¡± (in reference to her means of communication, whispering in the ears of every guard at once). Whisper, surprisingly, stated that it too was a Slaughterer, kicking off a conversation on who and what she was, resulting in the reveal of her true identity, as well as a fight between Slaughterer 185 and Whisper, which ended in Slaughterer 185¡¯s demise and a crippling wound to Whisper, incapacitating her for two years. Specialized healers needed to be brought in to revive her, as it was thought that she did not physically exist, and was instead a spirit. When Soul and Spirit specialists could not find her focused body, the guards around the gate to the Screaming Abyss had to wait for her to make her presence known. After a month, where she was presumed dead, she finally recovered enough to reveal that she simply needed basic healing magic to be present in the area for her to siphon off of. Twelve healers were brought in to cast their magic to the open air, and the energy was, as stated, siphoned away to somewhere unknown. Grateful for the help, she revealed some information about her race and the physical makeup of her body. She also revealed that she used to be a Prime Elf, but gave up both her name and body in the Screaming Abyss to transform into a Voiceless Crier, a species better suited to surviving in the Screaming Abyss. She claimed the name ¡°Whisper¡± in mockery of Slaughterer 185 as, despite his declaration, he did in fact die to a whisper. Under no circumstance should one suggest that her name is anything other than Whisper and, if one finds out her true name from when she was a Prime Elf, absolutely do not use it. See file ¡®Slaughterer 263 - Nameless Erasure¡¯ for more information regarding the last person to use her Elven name in her presence. For all intents and purposes, Whisper is both her codename and real name. Once she was recovered, negotiations were made to find what she could offer to the war effort, as well as the price on her compliance with elven society- as she insisted on living with other elves, despite no longer being one herself. She stated that she would comply with the laws for free, but would require criminals for every job. Like other Slaughterers who spent their windows of survival in places that caused perpetual pain, she wishes to inflict this upon others. Luckily, only those who deserve such a fate, so the order for her execution has not gone out. When given criminals, it is assumed that she subjects them to maddening sensory overload until their identities become forfeit, and she takes their name (See file ¡®Wild Magics - Fae¡¯ for more information on such a process). Whisper has proven to be reliable, stable (for a Slaughterer) and kind in many cases. She does, however, have the tendency to flay those who even mildly wrong her alive. Because of this, it is assumed she has a Wrath affinity, and one should be wary about violating her Rules.¡± It was the last few lines that got to him, that made him panic. Today was the day her mission would be over, and she would soon be in his office for a meeting he called her to. It was in this meeting that he would reveal that he¡¯d withheld an urgent letter so her mission would not be interrupted, and it was here where he knew she was going to, at the very least, skin him. If he was lucky, his physical stats would keep him alive long enough for her to leave and healers part of the Elite to mobilize and save him. If he survived, he would go through the lengthy process of entering the Advisors Survival program, which would fake his death and let him live out a perpetual vacation on the money he¡¯d made over the course of his career. If he survived. If. Finally, after so much tense waiting, he felt it, a light breeze through his office. He¡¯d already put away any loose papers, so there was nothing to stop from falling to the floor, but he did put the file on Whisper away. Slaughterers were able to see their own public files, but he wanted to get this over with already. ¡°Ah, welcome Whisper. I called you here to talk about something important. I know you appreciate brevity, so I¡¯ll keep it short. A letter came in one month ago marked as urgent, but I thought the mission you were on was too important to stop at the time. I am sorry, this is it.¡± As he said that, he unlatched a box specialized in hiding things specifically from Whisper, revealing a small envelope of paper within. It was in the air, seal open, in a single heartbeat, In the second heartbeat, he floated in the air as his arms and legs were held by invisible chains, pulling him. He tried to say something, but his voice never left his throat. Sadly, his high Mental stat let him feel and process what happened next, without letting him do anything about it. She took all of his skin off, then the muscles on his limbs. Then, she ripped the tendons holding his bones together in his arms and legs, and lastly, she removed his rib cage one piece at a time, dropping what was left of him on the floor, when her presence finally disappeared. It was absolute agony, over the course of a few seconds. She no doubt took his Mental stat into account when calculating how quickly she could torture him without delaying her departure to wherever the letter called her towards. Despite her desire to torture him though, he was alive, if barely, and only for the next few seconds as his heart no longer had the structure needed to beat. Before he could die, though, the healers standing ready had begun the process of reconstituting his body. Lying in a puddle of his own viscera, he could only think ¡°Oh, thank every fucking God there ever was. She let me live.¡± Chapter 59 Walking down the passageway this time was much different than the last. Firstly, he didn¡¯t hesitate at the wall of Soul mana, but Fang freaked the fuck out when they were in range of it. Apparently, a wildly low Spiritual stat made for easy manipulation. Who knew? After that initial roadblock, it was much less eerie this time around. He easily dispelled almost all the Darkness mana by full-blasting infrared light down the tunnel. Clever noted that Dei¡¯s eyes started glowing when he did that, and it was much easier for him to dispel the now-mundane darkness. Halfway down the tunnel, Dei could see watery tendrils feeling their way out through the hole in the door, and he guessed that Fendrascora could now sense them, so he sped up his pace. Finally he was back, and stronger than ever. Fang had been updated about the situation a long time ago and, while she was irritated that she¡¯d have to share the Soul mana, there was a whole lot of nothing she could do about it, so she was forced to deal with it. She couldn¡¯t even process the Soul mana he was giving her right now faster than he could make it as she could only eat around five per day, and he could make twenty per day, but for some reason she wanted more. ¡®Greedy plant,¡¯ he thought. Standing before the hole in the door, Fendrascora¡¯s limbs retracted when he was close enough to look through. He couldn¡¯t phase through the door this time, so he¡¯d have to widen the hole, but he could at least look and see Fendrascora this time. Popping his head through, he saw how she was much more active than last time. She¡¯d spread out the Soul mana he¡¯d given her much more throughout her body, leading to her being more stable, and was now actively feeling around her room. Dei guessed that she could actually see now, as she¡¯d lived most of her life in darkness anyway, and would have formed a type of Darkvision. The only thing holding her back from seeing before was the Darkness mana which blocked sight. Now that he was dispelling it, her old sight was kicking back in, and she was no longer blinded. She looked almost exactly like how he¡¯d sensed with his Spirit Sense, but he looked over her again now in more detail. For one, the base of her body, the pool of water at the bottom, was not a still pond. Instead, it was composed of hundreds of overlapping tendrils that looked like a pit of snakes, all moving and writhing. There was also her main body in the center, a humanoid-esque figure, again composed of roiling water, sitting atop a raised hill in the center of the lake. She was mostly clear, but the orange light from Clevers glow bounced off her slightly, showing moving reflections that resembled sparks flying around in the air. Clever wanted to leave Dei behind to check it out immediately, but Dei insisted he wait until Dei could find a way through the door. Clever sent back something along the lines of ¡°I need to practice my beam anyway¡± before jumping to the ground and opening his mouth. Dei sent a [Meaningful] to Fendrascora, telling her to get down, before taking a few steps back himself. Clever was conscious of his surroundings though, and only fired into it at an angle. The beam itself was also slightly smaller than before, and Dei thought Clever might have tried to legitimately hold back, saving some of the heat for himself. Before Clever had a chance to cool, he¡¯d already reversed time on his body, the door now gone and a gouged out line of stone red-hot and melting to the floor. Dei initially wanted to say something about Clever being reckless, or that he should¡¯ve asked Dei first, but realized he was just being demanding. Clever didn¡¯t really have to answer to Dei, and he was conscious enough of his surroundings to wait for them all to get back. If they weren¡¯t far enough away, Clever would likely not have even fired in the first place. Besides, it got the job done faster than whatever Dei might¡¯ve come up with, so he shrugged instead. He glimpsed Clever escaping around the door frame right before Dei lost sight of him, and caught up quickly. Clevers small galloping form approached the edge of the pool with Dei right behind him, and Clever studied the lights refracting off of Fendrascora¡¯s twisting body. Clever sat down at the edge of the pool, observing the glow bouncing through Fendrascora. While he did that, Dei greeted her with a message from [Meaningful], opening a line of communication with [Identify] too. ¡°It took me a lot longer this time around, but I made it. How are you holding up?¡± He asked, though he could sense some of her emotions through the link. She was slowly losing hope that he¡¯d return when he wasn¡¯t here, but was now more sure than ever that he wouldn¡¯t leave. If he came back once, he¡¯d return again. ¡°Better than before¡± she responded ¡°Balancing the Spirit mana in my body gave me something to do, and it was a new experience, so I am stronger again.¡± Upon saying so, she gave him access to seeing her level. He didn¡¯t forcibly Identify much this time, as he wanted to respect her privacy more, but the checkup on her recovery was good to know. [Corrupted Damaged Crippled Embodiment of the Flow - Level 22] ¡°It was not much for a month, but any power is good. I do not want to be level one again, it feels so fragile.¡± She said, pausing a second to remember it. ¡°Well, lets work on fixing that. You need a lot of new experiences, and you¡¯ve just happened to run into a rather unusual human that has all you need to restore your body. I can supply you with both Spirit mana and new experiences, starting with your pool¡± He told her as he took his moms satchel off and started rummaging through it, pulling out a familiar plant which he was utterly unequipped to take care of [Floating Lily Sprout - Level 119] They¡¯d leveled up slightly during the time he had them, but were ultimately in quite an unhealthy condition. He had to keep them in a perpetual state of drought with the water he had for them, which put too much stress on their stems. After explaining what they were and how they worked, he asked if she wanted them. ¡°I won''t lie, I didn¡¯t think about how it would be your body in the lake, so I might have to bring in some water. Do you want them?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± she said enthusiastically ¡°They are wonderful flowers, and they have a connection to the Flow! Because they need constant change to thrive, they resonate with me greatly! I am tempted to surrender some of my body for them to live off of¡­ It would help them too, yes? To have a more magically concentrated source of water to draw from?¡± It sounded to Dei like she was trying to justify it to herself, but he didn¡¯t say that ¡°Err¡­ I¡¯m not sure? But I mean, Fang drinks from my blood here, so you wouldn¡¯t be the first in the group to have a plant living off of you. If you want to, go for it, but it won''t be necessary if you don''t. I¡¯m going to be bringing more water anyway.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve decided. They will live in the pool with me.¡± ¡°Well, whatever makes you happy and gets you more experiences,¡± he told her. There was a bit of a pause in the conversation after that. Dei gave her the lily sprouts, and she became focused on studying them. He saw that a portion of her body turned more fluid, and let her do her own thing.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Instead, he studied the surroundings. Clever was still looking at the reflecting glow of his orange skin bouncing off Fendrascora, Fang and the red blade sat next to his satchel a few feet from the edge of the water, and the rest of the room was bare. He found that he wasn¡¯t as afraid of Fendrascora anymore. Now that he¡¯d risked his life a few times, a completely crippled Embodiment was not all that scary. Without the fear to block the way, it was a lot easier for him to trust her, if only a little. His connection to Soul still wasn¡¯t perfectly happy, but its decay slowed. Right now, he wasn¡¯t talking to Fendrascora either, so it wasn¡¯t getting any worse. It appeared that only directly socializing with someone counted against his contract. He wanted to study the room''s magic a bit more, but he¡¯d need a hand for this. Clever seemed preoccupied, so he picked up Fang instead. ¡°Hey, I want you to tell me about the magic levels and different types of magic in the area while I mess with them. Could you?¡± ¡°Hmmm¡± Fang replied ¡°Maybe. I want something out of it though.¡± Irritated, he said ¡°What else could you even want? I¡¯m literally giving you everything a Flesh Trap could ever desire. I didn¡¯t ask anything for my blood, should I have charged you for it?¡± ¡°...I will help.¡± ¡®Greedy plant.¡¯ ¡°Thank you. Now, let''s study the mana in the area. Its pretty clear that Darkness mana is coming from somewhere, but where?¡± Fang went quiet for a bit, and he assumed she was studying the room around her. WIth her high Magical and Mental stat, she¡¯d be perfect for looking through everything. Magical stats supposedly helped pierce the defenses of others, so she would be able to more easily pierce any cloaking mechanisms too. ¡°It''s a feature built into the walls and stone, I believe. It is odd, I¡¯ve never seen anything like it. It reminds me of one massive organism, drawing magic from its soul and using it in a Skill. Except¡­ it has no soul, and no Skills. It emulates them, though. Peculiar. Either way, Darkness mana is flowing through the walls. It''s being vaporized rather quickly from your Light mana, but it''s there.¡± He suspected she was, for the first time, running into enchantments. Dei himself had never seen anything like that, but he knew what they were from stories from earth, and they clearly existed in this world, as Shaman staffs were powerful artifacts that granted power. Was the stone potentially enchanted to produce Darkness magic? Looking at it a bit closer with his Tremor Sense, it was making it a bit fuzzier, harder to see. It wasn¡¯t at the level of Darkness mana where he was completely blinded, but vibrations were just barely dampened. When he walked down the tunnel, ambient noise was cut off. Was it just enough to prevent excessive reverberation? That way, small noises wouldn''t reach Fendrascora? But why not make it as strong as the Darkness mana pervading the area? There were many reasons he could think of, such as limits on the enchantments, materials used, magic power source, or casters own abilities, but none of them really mattered. The important aspect of this was that they¡¯d figured out there were enchantments in the walls, and not just some random hole that Darkness mana flooded through. ¡°Fang, just to be sure the Darkness isn¡¯t coming from tiny holes in the walls? Straight from the smooth walls themselves?¡± A pause, then she responded ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°Now, what about over here?¡± he asked, leading her to the melted section of the wall that Clever blasted. The stone was not perfect here, textured and melting. Another pause. ¡°No, there is no mana coming from this section of the wall.¡± ¡°Now, what is the power source? You said its drawing mana from its soul, without an actual soul. Can it draw in ambient mana, or is there a heart around here? Something that we can pull out to deactivate it.¡± Again, Fang focused on searching the surroundings. ¡°I don''t know. It''s like there are a bunch of tiny sort-of souls powering it in different places. I can show you one¡± she said, then sent him a barely comprehensible message of where it was. Dei could tell that the ¡°translation¡± feature of his Identify that read the intent behind a thought was putting in some work to turn plant-sense into human-sense. ¡®Actually, how does Fang see?¡¯ He wondered idly, but now wasn¡¯t the time to ask. The closest point was actually right near his left foot, so he bent down and studied the stone. ¡®Yep. It''s grey.¡¯ Next, he tried digging into it with his fingers. For the very first time, he was met with resistance from stone. Normally, it came up like mud. This was closer to dried clay. He could still dig into it, but it would be much more difficult. He guessed that the stone was also magically reinforced, on top of being enchanted to release Darkness mana and suppress vibrations. Scratching it didn¡¯t work, so he tried punching it instead. When all he did was hurt his hand without even breaking the stone, he tried, again, to rethink his strategy. ¡®There was a tiny pickaxe in moms belongings, but I don''t think it would be strong enough to break this kind of stone. I think it was more for digging out the crystals found around, not whatever kind of magic material this is. Still, worth a try.¡¯ After getting the small pickaxe, he thought about how he should go about this. He didn¡¯t want to just slam it into the stone with all his might, because he didn¡¯t want to accidentally break it. ¡°Does [Digging] work on tools?¡¯ he wondered, pulling up the description. [Digging (Major) - Passive Slight in-born hyper-specialized earth affinity gives +600% digging speed] ¡®It doesn¡¯t say only using my hands.¡¯ He tried to hit the stone with the pickaxe without using all of his strength, just some of it. The vibrations reverberating through the handle made him drop it. The pickaxe itself was made completely of dark metal, with a leather wrap where the handle was supposed to be. Rubber wasn¡¯t exactly a tool they¡¯d discovered yet, and this particular pickaxe didn¡¯t take advantage of a wooden handle. ¡®The earth affinity absolutely did not work. It was easier to use my hands, and made more progress too. This didn¡¯t even scratch it!¡¯ He thought about the problem more. His earth affinity didn¡¯t just ¡°help him dig,¡± it made the stone softer underneath his hands. What if he put his hand against the stone, then hit the pickaxe against the stone next to his hand? Trying it, he was happy to see that it worked. The rock was easily shattered, and a massive chip was pulled up. Still¡­ he didn¡¯t want to keep slamming a sharp piece of metal against the floor right next to his fingers. Since he could hit the stone next to it though, and still benefit from the affinity, that meant it was proximity based. Stone near his hands was softened, but if his hands were too far away, it didn¡¯t work. That meant using the handle wasn¡¯t the best way to take advantage of the pickaxe. He grabbed the pointy side of the metal top at its base, which kept his hand close to whatever he was mining. Using it this way, sort of like stabbing something with a dagger, he was met with real progress. The stone was completely annihilated, chunks of it coming up with every swing. So lost in his moment of triumph, he forgot what they were even there for, and dug too quickly. He heard a shattering beneath the final swing of his pickaxe and paused. Fang sent him a message that the node which gave the room energy had been extinguished, and Dei shrugged. There were supposedly hundreds of these things according to her, so one destroyed wouldn¡¯t be a huge deal. He was only digging them up to study them more, and remove the power source of the room. Removing some of the larger stones from the small hole he¡¯d dug, he finally laid eyes on what they were looking for: a Crystal. Fang said that here was a residual mana type, but she couldn¡¯t tell what it was because it was fading too quickly. She wanted to get a live one next time to study, and he had the same thought. Guiding him to another point just a foot or two away from the first, Dei was much more careful to chisel the stone, getting frequent pointers from Fang to direct his efforts. When he was closer, he stopped using a pickaxe, and started rubbing the stone away, bit by bit. It wasn¡¯t as smooth as the surface stone, so it was much easier to get a grip on it with his bare hands. Still, it took several minutes to finally see a faint glow. Even more carefully, he slowly but surely dug around one of the tiniest crystals he¡¯d ever run into. At long last, he unlodged a small crystalline brown stone, the size of his pinkie fingernail. [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (1) -> (2)] ¡°Ah shit.¡± * * * Somewhere far, far above, on the surface sat an abandoned house in the middle of the forest. The owner hadn¡¯t been back in quite some time, and it was unclear when he would be back. In the house, a small device blinks red. Though Dei does not know it, there is nobody to check the device. Nobody is hunting him, at least not yet. Chapter 60 Standing up as he held the small brown crystal in his hands while he tried to reason out what just happened. [Good Samaritan] was a Skill that obscured him when he was doing acts of good at his own detriment. He was helping Fendrascora now, which was an act of good, but he hadn¡¯t consciously tried to hide it. The only reason he could see the level up now was if there was an actual effort to find him, from someone who he didn¡¯t want to find him. The suspicious timing seemed to imply that it was the Shaman who¡¯d trapped Fendrescora, most likely placing a trap into the crystals. Dei hadn¡¯t gotten the level up earlier, so it was specifically when he dug out the crystal that some sort of tracking failsafe activated. When he dug up the other crystal but accidentally destroyed it, the failsafe hadn¡¯t activated, so it required a delicate touch for the tracking to activate. He wondered for a moment why that was, but had a suspicion that it was because of someone''s intelligence. If something was smart enough to find and gently dig up the crystals, they would be smart enough to negotiate with, and potentially talk to Fendrascora. On the other hand, if they weren¡¯t smart enough to talk to, the monster that finds Fendrascora would just kill her for experience. The Shaman had a failsafe against if anything tried to negotiate with her, or at least a small backup plan. That''s why he wasn¡¯t being tracked from the moment he¡¯d taken a step into Fendrascora¡¯s prison, because the Shaman that trapped her didn¡¯t care if something killed her, but he didn¡¯t want her to escape. This meant that the Shaman would be heading down here as soon as he could to catch Dei, and see if he either killed Fendrascora, or saved her. Dei couldn¡¯t fight a Shaman, and Fendrascora likely couldn¡¯t escape one in her weakened state, especially since she couldn¡¯t escape him the first time. But Dei didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be fighting a Shaman. He heard how his mom had talked about Iora¡¯s punishment for failure, it was execution. As a matter of fact, there might not be anyone at all to come get them! The best case scenario was that the Shaman was killed, and the tracking mark was obsolete. The worst case scenario was that the Shaman was alive, still a Shaman, and currently on their way down to hunt for Dei. There was little to no chance of them still being a Shaman though. If they weren¡¯t executed, then they¡¯d have been demoted and potentially imprisoned. Really though, Dei thought he would just be dead¡­ Iora hurting a single child, him, unjustly, would have supposedly been grounds for execution. That Shaman letting an entire village die? Dei didn¡¯t want to imagine what response that would have incurred. It was clear that the Gem Dweller society was extremely brutal on its leaders. But if the Shaman was dead, why would he put a tracking mark in the stones? He would have known he was going to be executed the moment he returned. But he wasn¡¯t the only one who was wronged. Many people lost their loved ones in Fendrascora¡¯s attack. The Shaman might¡¯ve left a guardian to watch over the tracking mark, someone who lost people close to them after Fendrascora broke the ward, so that they could exact vengeance after he¡¯d passed away. Hmmm¡­ this was starting to make a lot more sense. He had one more source to check before going forward. The Shamans own memories. The Shaman delivered a packet of information to Fendrascora when he found her, containing all the pain he suffered. It blasted her as a mental attack, digging into her psyche and making her feel his pain, but it did still contain information. Fendrascora gave him a ¡°general overview¡± of sorts when she¡¯d let Dei read her memories, but he would need the source material. ¡°Fendrascora¡± Dei called out to her with [Meaningful] as he walked towards her. ¡°Do you remember when the Shaman hit you with the mental attack of all his pain?¡± She sagged a little when reminded. ¡°Yes, of course. How could I forget?¡± ¡°Well, I might need to read into that a bit. Would you mind if I Identified it thoroughly?¡± ¡°Why?¡± she asked defensively. It was probably a sensitive subject for her. ¡°Well, we might have either a mob of people, a Shaman, or both coming down here to kill us right now. I¡¯d really like to find out what. There are tracking marks hidden in the crystals and I have one on me now, so I need to figure out what is tracking me.¡± He felt frustration emanate from her as she sent an agreement to let him check, and he dove straight in with his Identify, feeling his mind dive into the stream of information contained in the Shamans mental attack. The packet of information was spotty, containing only moments, but it was organized chronologically. He didn¡¯t want to be drawn into too many scenes unnecessarily, because it honestly did hurt to watch them. Every memory was imbued with crippling pain, dejection, and the weight of his failure. Dei glanced through the early days, but stayed distant from each memory. The Shaman had worked tirelessly for three straight days, either draining all his magic or physically throwing himself at monsters, desperately trying to keep them away from the people he protected. Near the end of the third day, a task force of fifteen other Shamans appeared, finally driving the monsters back. Despite that, the village was rubble by that point. Once reinforcements showed up, Dei watched the Shaman pass out mid-fight with a monster, hoping that he would never wake up to face the judging faces of his former peers. He did wake up though. He was successfully saved, and pulled back to safety. The next day was dedicated to trying to help with the recovery services, the entire time being scorned by the former villagers. The other Shamans never glared at him or cast judging glances at him, but they didn¡¯t talk to him either. They did not acknowledge his presence in any more than a professional sense, and that hurt him more than any hatred.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Once everyone that could be saved, was saved, he had his Shamanic staff taken by the other fifteen, and he was transported back to a much larger city. Dei didn¡¯t know where, but he got the sense that it was a ¡°Central¡± location of sorts. He was delivered a verdict, and this is where Dei dove in a bit deeper. * * * Tir stood before the ten council members, head down as he could not find it in himself to meet their eyes. ¡°You failed.¡± his master, Yva, said. It hurt most of all coming from her, but thats why she was chosen to deliver his verdict. They wanted him to feel pain, and he did. ¡°After only seven years. You failed.¡± she said, neutrally. That was the worst of all. In the time he¡¯d been here, not a single person had scorned him. None of the Shamans glared at him or hated him, he was simply an objective failure. There was nothing else he could have done, so there was no reason to hate him, but people were dead. A lot of people were dead. Even if there was nothing else he could have done on paper, Shamans were meant to go above and beyond, do the impossible in dire times of need. If he were a true Shaman, he would have pushed past his boundaries to bring the ward up faster, or single handedly held off the hundred-strong swarm of monsters. He¡¯d done neither. He¡¯d failed. ¡°Your soul is not strong enough to be transformed into a staff, but you are a Shaman nonetheless. You will be hollowed out and turned into an augmentation for another staff.¡± He knew what he was getting into when he¡¯d chosen to become a Shaman. Shamans didn¡¯t retire or die at the end of their lives, they were turned into artefacts to continue assisting the people. Those strong enough became staffs, those who always succeeded but didn¡¯t become strong enough became augmentations. Those who failed became hollow augmentations, their minds erased and their souls turned into strength for the stronger souls. ¡°Before you are hollowed out, you must resolve the lingering grudge first. It is far more difficult to erase someone attuned to Wrath with a grudge as strong as yours currently is. The final verdict is as follows: You will temporarily be lended your staff once more, and hunt the creature responsible for the initial breaking of the ward. Once the grudge is resolved, you will return to the capital and be hollowed out in preparation for your eventual imbuement into a trinket. Do you accept that the verdict is fair and just?¡± Yva asked him. ¡°I accept that the verdict is fair and just.¡± He managed to say without his voice cracking. ¡°Very well, you are dismissed.¡± * * * The moment the memory was dismissed he drew himself out of the packet of information completely. ¡®What the fuck. The verdict was fucking what? To be hollowed out and used as a tool? Holy shit¡­ and he just accepted it too! I can sense in the memories that he really did think this was a fair verdict! He really just went back and let himself be erased!¡¯ The thought sent shivers up his spine. The dedication required to do that. It made him¡­ afraid. He¡¯d told himself that, eventually, he would become strong enough. He was on the path to becoming a Slaughterer, the Achievement of which sounded so grandiose, that he thought it¡¯d be simple enough to get stronger than the Shamans. He felt very foolish now. There was no way it would be that simple. He¡¯d thought it would be decades before he could get strong enough to at least see his mom, then simply escape before he was caught. But if this was the level of dedication required to become a Shaman, he wasn¡¯t so sure anymore. Slaughterers were no doubt powerful, but Dei was getting a glimpse into another view. He was peeking into a different path of power, one that required an unshakeable will. Who would win? A full-grown Slaughterer, or an experienced Shaman? He suspected they might be equal¡­ Was there an Achievement for becoming a Shaman? It seemed difficult enough to justify one. He had to stop thinking of this. It was destroying his confidence, and he had immediate things to worry about. First, he¡¯d verified that this Shaman was now¡­ not dead, but probably worse. He wouldn¡¯t be coming back, but Tir also knew he wouldn¡¯t be coming back. The contingency wasn¡¯t for Tir himself. Dei had to keep searching through the packet and see if there was anything else to find. Diving back down, he skimmed through the memories following the verdict. In his hunt, Tir ran into multiple obstacles. Fendrascora was slippery, and not just in the literal sense. She was smart enough to evade most traps, but her energy had been documented for months. When she permeated the water, it hid her, yet now that same permeated water was like a beacon to find her. Tir was not the only one searching, but not many could match the power of a Shamanic staff, and he got close enough to capture her more times than any others. There was one other though. One that Tir saw almost every time he closed in on Fendrascora. He was a large ragged man, of the surface dweller variant with his tan skin and dark hair. The man always had bloodshot eyes, and was always tracking Fendrascora. He was the only one who never stopped searching, never rested like all the other hunters. Every time Tir saw him, the man''s face was pained and furious. Dei figured this was someone who¡¯d lost their family as well. The only time the man stopped his hunt was when he saw Tir. Every single time, without fail, the man would go berserk if he managed to catch a glimpse of Tir, lunging at him animalistically, clawing and even trying to bite him in one case. It was clear that he hated Tir, likely for Tir¡¯s failure. He was the only other recurring character in the packet. Every time Tir saw the man, dread filled him. Not because the man was dangerous, but because Tir¡¯s guilt would spike immensely. Dei could see it in the berserk mans face¡­ he¡¯d lost everything. He had nothing to live for anymore, other than pure rage. If Tir would give access of his tracking network to anyone, it would be this man. One of the only other people who knew the pain Tir felt, and was just as determined to see Fendrascora suffer and die. He could be wrong, Tir might¡¯ve handed over access to someone else, but there were no other clues Dei could find. At the very least, this man would be one of the people hunting him. He¡¯d work under the assumption of the worst case scenario: this man was coming for him, and he was bringing friends, potentially others that Fendrascora hurt. Withdrawing himself from the mental memory packet completely, Dei found Fendrascora and Clever looking at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. ¡°I¡¯ll start from the beginning, and make it quick,¡¯ Dei messaged. ¡®The crystals powering the array to Fendrascora¡¯s prison have tracking marks built into them. One such mark is now on me, though I cannot find it. I now know that the Shaman who originally built this prison is dead, and that someone weaker will be coming for us. We have only one win condition: survival. Now, how are we going to do this?¡± Chapter 61 They now started brainstorming: what to do? The different paths could be summarized like this: fight, run, or hide. Fighting was everyone''s last choice. The person or people hunting them were not necessarily evil, but Dei wasn¡¯t going to let them kill Fendrascora either. He made this clear to her as well, that he believed she¡¯d served her sentence and should be allowed to roam free now. There was no way at all he was going to let her die to save his own behind. Running was both the most complicated and simple plan. They would escape somewhere else, leading their trackers on a wild goose chase. It was not a permanent plan, but it would buy them time to work out something else. The issue with that was Fendrascora. They needed to work out a way to move her, because this was the first place they would check. Running would be complicated because the process of moving her without leveling her up past one hundred was difficult, and she wouldn¡¯t even survive on her own unless she got back to at least level three hundred because her debuffs would be a liability. They had to make a specialized container for her, and move her that way. Hiding was the last way, and hopefully the one they would end up taking. It involved finding a way to remove his tracking mark, and moving Fendrascora somewhere else. If they did this, they wouldn¡¯t need a specialized container, just to move her a short distance away. It might potentially be easier to get her to level one hundred, then move her that way. Fang tried and failed to find the tracking mark, but Dei was hopeful. If he could level up his [Good Samaritan] Skill enough, it might be able to outpace that tracking. To this end, he had a rather funny way of using the crystals. He would dig them all up, coating himself in tracking marks, and helping accelerate the process of leveling it. After all, one was already on him, and there were a good few hundred he¡¯d yet to use. Clever was also quite interested in these crystals, and told him they would help accelerate his growth a bit, as the earth mana contained within would make him larger. They also needed to work out a way to move Fendrascora. She said that she wasn¡¯t positive what a ¡°specialized container¡± was, but when she was in the human village, the water was attuned to the innate magic in her body, and she thought she¡¯d need a container attuned to her for it to count. The container would need to be in constant change, like the river she¡¯d grown up in, because her connection to the flow demanded it be so. It would have to contain a liquid at least high in water, because she was a Flow Embodiment derived from water. She said there were some that used lava, but hers was water. That''s when Dei had another gross and unsure thought of something that fit two out of three of those requirements¡­ his own bloodstream. Again, he rubbed his temples as he realized he¡¯d need to physically allow for a being into one of his private sanctums, but this one was at least not nearly as personal as his soul. Not to mention, Dei was starting to trust Fendrascora. After reading her soul through Identify a lot, he was getting a good feel on her personality, and it felt like she¡¯d never think of betraying anyone again, her scars from betraying the humans running too deep. Reluctantly, he raised the point with Fendrascora, and she said that the idea had merit. Though her current body was too large, there that wasn¡¯t unfixable. Fendrascora said that when The Mother gave her a packet of information about the world for becoming sapient, it involved things related to her current race: Embodiments. Embodiments could supposedly make hidden mini-worlds for their extra mass when they wanted to shrink down to a sapient form, though Fendrasora hadn¡¯t figured out how to do so. Dei also got the chance to ask what The Mother was, as he¡¯d experienced the touch of this being on Fendrascora when he glimpsed her past. ¡°I must work off of what The Mother herself gave me, so this is all I know about her, please forgive me if it isn¡¯t enough. The Mother called herself the¡­ mind of the world. She said that she is responsible for all monsters, and guides those who gain sapience but choose to stay as monsters. She told me that if I became a human, a Sapient Race, then I¡¯d fall outside of her domain, and that she couldn¡¯t help me any more. I don''t know any more than that, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡®Another mystery to figure out, and perhaps an answer to some of my earlier questions.¡¯ When he thought about it, if this ¡°Mother¡± thing was the consciousness of the world, that had terrifying implications. First of all, she didn¡¯t have any sway over humans and other things considered the ¡°Sapients.¡± Dei managed to piece together from Fendrascora that a Sapient monster and a Sapient Race were two separate things. Sapient monsters could think in abstract concepts, but did not have access to all the virtues and vices. Virtue and Vice affinities decided if a race or being was a Sapient Race. To become a Sapient Race, a monster needed to either gain an affinity for all seven of both, a difficult and arduous task, or to get The Mothers permission and simply let her attune a person to a particular, already existing, Sapient Race. If a monster gained all the seven virtues and vices, they would create a new race. If the monster chose to let The Mother help, they would turn into an existing one. They speculated for a bit longer, but ultimately had to get back to the task at hand. Dei¡¯s blood needed to become attuned to Fendrascora, and she needed to learn the necessary skill to shrink herself down. To attune himself, he knew that he needed to have her ¡°essence¡± running through his blood, whatever that meant. Similar to the river she¡¯d hidden in, his blood would have to be permeated with her magical signature. The inverse might help as well, if she became slightly attuned to him. This way, they might meet in the middle. To this end, he determined to go the ¡°Fang¡± route. He would leave a small hole in his body, and Fendrasora would exchange some of his blood for her water, replacing one for the other. She was, luckily, not exactly pure water, containing some small amount of salt that would help his bloods balance. It wasn¡¯t perfect, because she was saltier than his blood, but she eventually figured out how to pull some of the salt out of herself, concentrating it at the bottom of the pond and leaving it there. The salt in her body wasn¡¯t necessary for her survival, it just helped her hide when needed to. She said she kept herself slightly salty when she was in the great river, that way she could expel the salt out in one way while going the other, and the enemy was occasionally fooled by it. After all, it was much harder to smell a freshwater elemental in freshwater. ¡®Does the world run on my blood? Why do so many things drink it?? This is bullshit¡¯ he grumbled mentally. Fang drank almost nothing at this point, occasionally taking a sip, but now it was Fendrascora¡¯s turn to take a bunch of his blood and let his Homeostasis Skill level up. The difference was that now they didn¡¯t even have the time to occasionally hunt, so he would need to watch his dizziness levels and hope that the vegetable ration he are now contained varied proteins and nutrients. They would find out quickly if it didn¡¯tEnsure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. He took the chance to send another message through the glowing cracks of his soul as well, hoping it reached his mom. Dei was sending a few every now and again, simple stuff such as ¡°I love you¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re okay¡± and ¡°I¡¯m doing okay,¡± but he took the chance to send a long summary of everything that¡¯d happened so far. He left out Fendrascora and how he was helping a monster that¡¯d destroyed a village though, that would need to be shared in person. Homeostasis Skill leveling up once again, Dei quickly got to work mining the different crystals. * * * [Since the Fall: 10/15/809 - 11:37:23] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (2) -> (13)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (36) -> (38)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (116) -> (119)] [Total Stats Gained: +3 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (10) -> (12)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (80) -> (84)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (58) -> (73)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (76) -> (83)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (58) -> (60)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (70) -> (77)] [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 6) -> (Level 7)] [+5 Spiritual] It¡¯d taken three full days to get all the crystals out¡­ and what a haul it was. Dei didn¡¯t really know what to do with some three or four hundred crystals, so Clever had just been slowly eating them. After two hundred though, Clever got a stomach ache and had to stop. ¡®Rock candy¡­ heh.¡¯ Clever was sleeping it off now, but he was starting to grow at an almost visible pace. From the size of Dei¡¯s hand. Clever was leaning closer to how large his sister was last time they¡¯d seen her: the size of Dei¡¯s forearm. Dei, himself, was still growing incredibly fast too, but for different reasons. They¡¯d also verified that the vegetable rations did have enough proteins and nutrients in it to make up for all his blood loss. After three straight days of slowly swapping out his blood with her water, Fendrascora was looking much more red, and Dei was regenerating blood far faster. It was a little scary how quickly he could produce blood now, but useful. Since he had a heightened rate of growth and blood production, he¡¯d been devouring the calorie-packed ration. It¡¯d taken him months to chip away at a single one before, now in just three days, he was a quarter of the way through this one. It was working though. Dei couldn¡¯t tell, but Fendrascora, Clever, and Fang all said that the ¡°feel¡± of Dei and Fendrascora was starting to blend. Fang continued to search for the mark on Dei, but it refused to be found. When another hundred Null mana were produced, Dei was reminded that he had a tool specifically made to destroy mana, and tried to flush the mark off of him by flooding his body with the Null mana. Alas, it did not work. He couldn¡¯t find it at all, and [Good Samaritan] continued to level, showing that he hadn¡¯t accidentally removed it either. He couldn¡¯t keep his body flooded with Null mana for too long, as [Connection] was still the only thing holding his soul together, and it put a strain on the Skill. He also donated another five hundred Soul mana to Fendrascora to help strengthen her, netting him two more levels in Astral Projection. As he worked the last few days, he noticed the rate at which his Skills were leveling up skyrocket, and he thought that perhaps the safety of The Garden lowered how much experience he got. It¡¯d already been shown that Skills leveled up faster when he was in danger, so maybe having that safety net made the experience worse, even if he was still in danger. This was particularly enunciated by his seventh level in [Pondering Sage], a momentous occasion with how pathetically slow the level ups were in his profession. The four of them were in overdrive at this point. Fendrascora was trying to figure out how to compress herself, Clever was trying to peer into the future, and Fang had insisted that she was doing something, though she refused to say what it was. Now that he had dug up all of the crystals, Dei started planning out how they were going to escape. He knew they had at least a week and a half, because thats how long it took for him and his mom to reach The Garden, and Fendrascora was at the same depth. Their village was one of the deepest in the Gem Dweller system though, so they most likely had more than that. Still, always account for the worst case scenario. He wanted everything to be done in this area within a week and a half, then, they¡¯d be out of here. If he could just buy enough time for [Good Samaritan] to overpower the tracking mark, he would be safe. Before he went running though, Dei wanted to try and reclaim all of the surviving spiritual signatures in the area. There were three more, and he wanted to visit them all. The Garden had some relation to the red blade, so there was a chance it was related to the other three as well. He would look at them, and if it seemed sketchy, he¡¯d go back to the Garden and use [Astral Projection] to send a spiritual version of himself towards the scattered spirits, that way, the Garden could intervene if his soul was attacked. The voice in the Garden had said ¡°Live well, Dei. I did not, and I sometimes regret that.¡± Which seemed to imply that it¡¯d been a person at some point. Dei didn¡¯t want to leave him here alone, so he had an idea. If there were a bunch of spirits in the area related to the Garden, what if he collected them all, then reunited them? It would probably be a nicer eternity if they were together. The voice might¡¯ve wanted Dei to leave the sword behind, but thought Dei would die without a weapon. Now, Dei had Fang, and it would be nice to have the extra weapon, but not required. He just couldn¡¯t find it in himself to feel good about abandoning the voice down here, alone, doing nothing at all. So, whenever Fendrascora could move again, he¡¯d go dragging her around places, looking at all the spirits in the area. It would give her some new experiences too! He really hoped she figured out how to hide her body by that point. It would be a little awkward otherwise. He wondered what she was going to do with the Floating Lilies, but Fendrascora said she¡¯d figure something out. She didn¡¯t want to leave them behind. Speaking of, she didn¡¯t want to leave behind any of the extra plants. She¡¯d planted every last one, from the trees to the grass, in her body, and now Dei was frequently making trips to get more water for both him and Fendrascora. She was a ridiculous sight by this point, filled with blood and growing trees, grass, and lilies in all the different parts around her, but she was very happy with it, practically giggling in joy each time she said something to him. He¡¯d Identified her after a few days, and saw the leaps of progress she made. [Corrupted Damaged Crippled Embodiment of the Flow - Level 29] It was incredible progress. She¡¯d gained a massive burst of experience when they first started conversing, as the jarring difference in years of silence compared to a weird little spirit coming visit you was rather significant, but now she was on a steady path to power, quickly rebuilding herself. Not much else to do, he began physically training and splitting his mind multiple times to meditate faster. He was still meditating on his connection to Fang, hoping that something came out of that so she could utilize his Spiritual defense, but nothing had come of it yet. All in due time. He had to be patient, but he also could not afford to slow down. He would soon be able to travel more freely, finished with this area, then he believed life would get a bit interesting. In a good way, hopefully. Chapter 62 [Since the Fall: 10/17/809 - 6:23:17] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (13) -> (28)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (38) -> (41)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (119) -> (121)] [Total Stats Gained: +2 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (84) -> (86)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (73) -> (81)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (83) -> (88)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (60) -> (61)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (77) -> (81)] [Affinity Strengthened: [Fortitude: Mid-Uncommon: 99% has strengthened into [Fortitude: High-Uncommon 6%]] It¡¯d taken two days after he¡¯d dug out all the crystals for the first breakthrough to come. His and Fendrascora¡¯s magical signatures were mostly attuned to one another, and they both began to feel a sort of resonance, similar to how he¡¯d felt with Fang and her siblings when he first saw the Flesh Traps. He now knew that it was because their low Spiritual stats made them more vulnerable to his manipulation or demands, their natural defenses being quite low. If he felt this now, Dei suspected that he¡¯d have an easier time with hurting Fendrascora, while she would have an easier time of hurting him. He likened this resonance to a bond of trust, both of them lowering their guard for the other, earning a synchronization as a reward. What to do with this reward wasn¡¯t clear, but one use would be carrying Fendrascora around. Although they¡¯d finally attuned to one another though, he couldn¡¯t just carry her, because she still hadn¡¯t figured out how to compress her size. She insisted she was making progress, but it would still be a while. They didn¡¯t have a while though, so instead they found another solution. Fendrascora could store the main section of her body within the ¡°container,¡± and have the rest of her body follow the main portion around, meaning that her entire body did not need to be within the container, just the important bits. Luckily, her main body was humanoid-shaped, and her container just so happened to be a humanoid shaped man (Dei). Once Fendrascora¡¯s signatures overlapped with Dei, they had to figure out how he was going to move her main body. She could still manipulate it, so she said she could carry herself- albeit slowly- as he walked, as long as she had a connection to herself. Dei needed to use his arms, so he needed her main body behind him, in case he had to fight something. The final solution they found was for six holes to be opened in his skin on his back, where Fendrascora¡¯s central body would connect to her peripheral body. When, at last, it came time to move her, Dei stood at the edge of her pool, back to her peripheral body. ¡°Ready?¡± he asked her. ¡°As ever!¡± she said excitedly, finally leaving the prison behind. Over time, Clever had eaten all the rest of the rocks and grown yet again to the point where he slightly exceeded his sisters size, last they met her. Slowly, Dei walked forward, letting Fendrascora moved the parts of her that were outside of his body. The mass of writhing tentacles moved and molded, a central orb of blood carried upon five evenly spaced legs, the sixth connecting to Dei himself. On the central orb, a mobile garden of Fendrascora¡¯s beloved plants, the ones his mother had left for him. She hoisted herself up and out of the pool, carefully watching whether she would begin taking damage so she could tell Dei to move backwards to her prison. The moment never came though as he moved towards the door. After a minute of gradual shifting, Fendrascora was fully out of her pond, and Dei turned to look at it. The ball of blood held on five elephant-like legs would have made him gag a few months ago, but now it was just another weird sight in these caves. The sixth leg connected to his back, and he felt a weird tingling along his body when he remembered there was an entire being moving through his blood stream. ¡°Gross¡± he heard Clever say, and turned towards him. Dei chuckled. ¡°Gross? How so?¡± Clever was better at using concentrated words to express himself, rather than bare emotions. ¡°Looks like big parasite¡­ but she is not?¡± he asked the last part, just to confirm that Fendrascora wasn¡¯t harmful to Dei. ¡°No, she is not. She is a friend.¡± Clever nodded. ¡°Friend.¡± Now mobile, Fendrascora was sending off waves of happiness, and was ready to leave. Making sure he had everything on him, both his swords and his satchel, Dei began walking down the exit of the hallway. No more Darkness mana was produced, and the sound dampening effect was gone as well. Though distantly, he could hear the echoes of dripping on stone. Looking through his [Tremor Sense], he began to move towards the first of three spiritual signatures in the area he intended to collect before going back to visit the Garden. * * * Fendrascora¡¯s legs latched onto every surface, not just the floor. Multiple times she carried her garden along the ceiling or walls, her liquid form easily gripping onto everything. She reorganized her garden a few times to squeeze through tighter spaces, arranging the plants single-file or pushing them together a bit, always very gently. Dei was nervous at first that they would attract even more attention than they had the first time because Fendrascora gave off massive vibrations with each step, but he watched through his Tremor Sense as several creatures went out of their way to avoid their group, probably fearing a large predator. There was even one case of a feline creature that wasn¡¯t really paying attention crossed paths with them. Dei was ready to attack, but the lean cat-like animal jumped ten feet backwards when it saw them, turned around, and ran away as fast as it could. When Clever saw how confused he was, Clever once more pointed out that Fendrascora looked like a massive parasite, puppeteering Dei. No animal would want to fight something like that. Dei remembered the Accipere he saw, where it would supposedly absorb mass into itself to grow its form, and if he faced something horrific like that, he¡¯d probably turn around too! Looking at his sword that he constantly fed, the weird blood garden floating behind him, and the time lizard that could shoot lasers, Dei wondered when his friend group had gotten so weird. * * * The Flesh Trap was unhappy. This should have been a time for joy, as she¡¯d finally gotten enough Soul mana. She hit an affinity, the evolved version of Blood, and her work was done. It just felt so¡­ lackluster. For weeks, she¡¯d absorbed Soul mana, constantly building a bridge between the Blood affinity and some faraway affinity she could barely sense it could connect to. Finally, that bridge hit a wall. She couldn¡¯t find a way to build it any further, and now this new affinity offered itself to her. The issue? As she studied it, she felt it was so generic. It was called the Flesh affinity, and it involved controlling the biological components of others, using it against them. It would be strong, yes, but there was just nothing special about it. When she first started building this affinity connection to something else, she felt a deep and terrible power at the end of it. Now, it was a completely regular concept. Flesh. Something normal. It continuously tried to connect to her soul, offering her a bountiful accord, but she sneered at it and denied it even the slightest access. It wasn¡¯t enough, it was pathetic. She resisted it so fully that the affinity recoiled, its incessant attempts coming to an end, causing it to recede to wherever it came from. Now, there was nothing else to do. A barrier lay before her, blocking her attempts to build further, but something didn¡¯t feel right¡­ Finally, it dawned on her. Though fleeting, she could still sense it. She could still sense that terrible power far away, but she couldn¡¯t reach it. The connection she felt to it called out to her, but the barrier held her back. Something attempted to block her from claiming what was rightfully hers. Knowing that there was something past the barrier gave her all the strength and determination she needed. At first, she assumed the barrier was absolute, that it was the end of all things, that there was no more affinities past it, but her heart told her something else. Something more. So again and again, she slammed into it, pouring every fiber of her being into her attempts at cracking it. Using the extra Soul mana she had, she empowered herself, slamming into the barrier again and again. She could sense no cracks, no matter how many hours she tried, but nonetheless she continued. She would not give up. The longer she fought, the more sure she was of herself. It was out there, somewhere.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Finally, in the deepest recesses of her heart, she declared that nothing would hold her back. She internalized into herself that she would not be contained, and this thought passed through every inch of her soul, empowering it. The next time she slammed into the barrier, there was nothing to hold her back. She¡¯d not shattered the barrier, she instead simply passed through. It could not hold her back, it did not have the right to do so. The moment she crossed that threshold, several notifications forcibly opened themselves to her vision. [WARNING! You are crossing outside of System boundaries. You will no longer be under the Systems protection. Should you choose to continue, you will be subject to the wild forces of the universe. You are attempting to reach for: An Affinity. Should you connect to an affinity outside of System boundaries, you will not be protected from the latent will of the affinity. The latent will of affinities carry the message of their original creators, potentially superimposing themselves over you. The System can grant no assistance in learning, forming, or containing foreign affinities. Are you sure you want to continue down this path?] Triumphant, the Flesh Trap carefully read the notification. She was doing something not even the System could help her with. The thought caused her to hesitate for only a moment, but another thought cleared her head. She would surpass the boundaries of the System. She would be contained by nothing, she would bow to no one. She did not need the assistance of the System, she would walk whatever path was required of her because, in the end, she knew power would be her reward. Not ignoring the notification, but not stopping either, the Flesh Trap continued to build her bridge towards the faraway affinity, now without the System to protect her. * * * Dei tried planning out his new fighting style if a monster were to approach them, but Fendrascora said it was unnecessary, assuring him that she would stay out of the way and he could fight the same as he always had. He believed her, because he still didn¡¯t really feel the weight when he was walking around, despite the massive body attached to him. Speaking of, that body was beginning to store certain things as Fendrascora took interest in the world around her. Random rocks, plants she thought looked special, and even in one case an odd bug, were all sucked into the orb and spit back out into the quickly decorated garden. Dei insisted she release the bug, he didn¡¯t think it would be happy atop her mobile garden. He wouldn¡¯t have been too opposed, but she didn¡¯t want to take the generic-looking plants it lived off of, so he thought it¡¯d be cruel to take it away from it. Now that she was out of the prison, her levels were coming in quickly, and he occasionally Identified her to check her progress. [Corrupted Damaged Crippled Embodiment of the Flow - Level 48] * * * Once Fendrascora was done taking all the knick-knacks she could find, she began to store a lot of water in her body, growing the orb to epic proportions. To him, it looked like a shiny red marble, with a bubble of air trapped in the middle because the water was so clear. Using that water, Fendrascora kept her plants healthy, and he suspected she watered him too, carefully managing his water and nutrient levels¡­ ¡°Am I also part of her garden now?¡± * * * Sleeping was an endeavor to say the least. He tried digging out a cave large enough for Fendrascora to hide in as well, but that was just not feasible. Instead, Dei suggested that she lean into the ¡°big parasite¡± look she had going on, forming bloody veins all along the walls next to the crevice which he hid in. He told her to wake him if anything approached, and she agreed to keep watch. The four of them needed rest, but it took different forms. The others all agreed that Dei would not be put on watch because he needed to be in top condition at all times because he was their combatant, he needed to be ready at any moment. The others kept watch instead, especially because their versions of ¡°sleep¡¯ were a lot less vulnerable Fang and Fendrascora could only enter stupors, where they could perceive everything around them but wouldn¡¯t actively think or talk about it, relying on a subconscious sense of danger to warn them. Clever was almost always the one on watch during the night. He was carried around during the day, where he would sleep, so he had an inverse schedule of the others. Fang and Fendrascora agreed with Dei to only rest four hours during their breaks, keeping mobile and staying aware. * * * After a day and a half, during their third break, they were finally attacked. Fendrascora quickly woke up, telling Dei ¡°I felt a scan over my body, something investigated me. Though I am unsure of what it managed to figure out, I am still wildly weak, and that has no doubt been detected.¡± On his feet and ready before the first word was out, Dei listened to the rest of her sentence as he picked up Fang and the red blade, leaving his satchel behind. Clever quickly attached himself to Dei¡¯s back, keeping his head level with the nape of Dei¡¯s neck. Clever sent back his determination to train during this battle if he could. The wall of blood and water that was Fendrascora¡¯s body parted before him as he walked, guiding him to the place she felt the foreign Identify come from. It was dark as usual, the few glowing crystals around having gone dim enough that not even his Darkvision could properly take advantage of what little light was left. Despite that darkness, he could still slightly see the moving figures because of the infrared light they gave off. Channeling mana into his eyes, infrared light blasted forward and lit up the cave as he sprinted forward. Before he¡¯d even processed their appearance, three Wrath Identifies shot forward and he told Fendrascora to spread her body out and move it around to scare the enemies. [Quick Pale Praerel Swarmer - Level 142] [Quick Pale Praerel Swarmer - Level 138] [Quick Pale Praerel Swarmer - Level 141] Several things happened in rapid succession. First, he noted their appearance. They were medium-sized, about to his waist, and looked like albino dinosaurs. They had the faces of monitor lizards with a thin layer of proto-feathers along their bodies. The legs were much longer and more defined than a monitor lizards though, visible muscles bulging as the lizards moved. The moment infrared light hit them, they all flinched back, blinking rapidly. He didn¡¯t want to give them a chance to orient themselves, going straight for the first one and bringing Fang down on its neck. It tucked its head, pushing itself back as hard as it could. Rather than cutting deeply into its neck, Fang scraped against its tough scales. The other arm stabbed forward with the jagged point of the red blade. So focused was he on stabbing it in the eye, that his aim was thrown off when that same eye emitted a wave of blinding light. Rather than stabbing it in the brain, he jerked his arm to the size, opening up a large hole in its skull and taking the offending eye with it. He rolled back and got low to the ground, blinking away spots. The Praerel also had Darkvision and the ability to channel infrared light through their eyes, using it to their advantage. The three of them were splitting their attention between Fendrascora and Dei, as she looked threatening, but he was actively a threat. He had to end it before they started trying to attack her. Their adjectives made it seem like they were physically focused creatures, improving their underground capabilities, so Fang¡¯s mental attacks would be useful. He didn¡¯t even need to verbally express his idea to her, [In Tune] helping to facilitate a rapid communication. Again, he threw himself forward into battle, attempting to fatally wound the Praerel that was already bleeding profusely from its head. The other two didn¡¯t stand idly for that though, jumping in to save their comrade with claws and teeth. He noted their positions in the air as they came down upon him, and closed his eyes, dodging the swipes of the first one and slamming into the other before its teeth could latch onto his shoulder. In the same moment, Fang stunned the one on top of him, and he quickly brought the red blade down through its chest. Its innards spilled out, covering his body in viscera as he moved into the flank of the one he¡¯d dodged, his eyes still closed as he feared another infrared attack. The moment the creature landed, he felt it through [Tremor Sense], and went for its vulnerable side. It¡¯d left itself open by overextending its swipe, and would pay for that now. Before he could though, sensed the injured Praerel disappear from its position ten feet away, where it was watching the confrontation. Faster than he could react, a crushing bite latched onto his leg. He heard the crack of his shin, and only his meditation kept his mind stable, keeping the pain from affecting his decision making. He wanted to cut down at the Praerels neck to get it off his leg, but its neck muscles flexed, and his body was hoisted off the ground. Its whole body seemed to twitch, and he was slammed back down in just a single moment ¡®They can use massive bursts of speed! The Quick adjective must give something like that. They likely didn¡¯t use it in the first assault as they were still wary of Fendrascora, but now they¡¯re pissed that I killed one of theirs. If they¡¯re more willing to use their burst Skill though, then the other Praerel will use its own the moment it turns back to me!¡¯ On his back with the wind knocked out of him, Dei didn¡¯t even try to pry himself from the offending Praerels grasp. He tried opening his eyes, but both of them were now using their Infrared eyes, and he couldn¡¯t see properly at all. ¡®Damn this weakness to light!¡¯ Instead, he placed the foot of his unhindered leg on the ground, finally getting a sense of the other Praerel¡¯s position as his Tremor Sense took in all the details His [High Mind] scanned its every micromovement, predicting the exact moment it would launch itself at him. At the last second, he brought both blades together, pointing it in the second Praerels direction as he sensed its form disappear. It¡¯d gone for his neck, but he knew it would do exactly that. Instead of biting into him, it pushed down his two blades, bisecting itself. Its dead body slammed into his side, and both him and the last remaining Praerel began to roll. His leg was finally twisted just a bit too far, and the bone fully snapped. Though his meditations ability to block pain was strong, it wasn¡¯t that strong, and his mind blanked as he screamed out. At the same time, Fang caught up to what was happening, and sent a mental command for the Praerel to open its jaw, forcing it to release his leg. It knew he was free now, but also severely injured, so it jumped back to observe him, giving him a moment. He still kept it in his focus with Tremor Sense, ready to bisect it like the other if he sensed it trying anything, but it appeared to learn from its siblings mistake, and its body language indicated hesitation. His natural regeneration would heal him, fast, but wrong. His leg was collapsed and the bones were misaligned, he didn¡¯t want it to set incorrectly. He immediately sent a quick command to Fendrascora, asking her to put the pieces of his leg back in place. A second bout of pain erupted from the leg as multiple blood vessels burst, Fendrascora leaving his circulatory system to push multiple tendrils through his body, grabbing the bones and forcibly stretching his leg out far enough for the two parts to piece back together. When they were, she pulled her tendrils back to the blood vessels, and stiffened all the flesh in that part of his leg, making a biological splint to keep the bone in place. It was pure pain, but he could push through that. Pushing himself back up, he stood on both feet without wobbling, and stared at the remaining Praerel. It turned back the way it came and disappeared. He only saw it land on the ground for a moment at a turn, before running away as quickly as it could. He sighed in relief. While he could have killed it, he wanted to heal up first. His leg fucking hurt. Looking down at where it bit him, he saw that his pants were finally in tatters, completely ruined. One leg was fine, albeit skin-tight, while the other was ripped to shreds. He sighed for a moment, but realized something¡­ He had two bodies here, both with hides. Sure, one was ripped in half, but the other was completely unscathed in all the important parts, and the cut that killed it was rather clean! Fendrascora was also very good at going through anything with blood in it, as he¡¯d seen with his leg, so he might even be able to separate the hide from the meat. Sending as many detailed instructions to Fendrascora as he could, they got to work. Chapter 63 Dei sat back, relaxing, as Fendrascora dug through the body of the bisected Praerel. Right now, she was trying to get a feel for all the different layers and parts of it, so that she wouldn¡¯t butcher the other one. He wanted to use it to finally get a layer of proper clothing, and he couldn¡¯t do that if it was destroyed. She pulled what was left of its organs out, and he watched them slowly get broken down in her body as she tried turning them into fertilizer for her plants. He always thought plants in this world tended to adapt quicker to their situations, so the plants Fendrascora was growing inside her might become ravenous on their diet of blood and bodies. Kind of like Fang. The edible-meat part, she set aside in the watery portion of her body, cleaning it. Dei had asked her to do that so he could eat it. The last part was the hide. Fendrascora tried many things with that, as it was the most important parts. Using the blood vessels throughout the body, she could pull it apart easily, and she experimented with different ways of separating the hide and meat. Once she was a lot better at doing that, she started cleaning the hide, stretching it, and just generally working on it to make it better. She¡¯d used Fang to cut the hide into squares, trying different ways to clean and soften it. Pieces were destroyed, but she learned quickly, carefully breaking the connective tissues that made the hide stiff, drying it out by removing the water in varying amounts to ensure it wouldn¡¯t crack or oversaturate. Watching her work, he noticed how brutally efficient she was. If she could get her hands on a body, Fendrascora¡¯s unique biological makeup gave her the incredible capability of manipulating it. He tried not to think of what that meant for him if she turned on him, because he knew she wouldn¡¯t. Still, there were ways for creatures to control her mind, as seen with the Smiler he¡¯d faced before. Just another thing to worry about. Once she¡¯d thoroughly worked on the first body, she finally applied all her knowledge to the second one to make him some clothes, according to his own parameters. Slowly, carefully, she separated the hide from the body as she¡¯d done with the first one, separating the body again into edible meat versus organs to compost into plant food. He made sure she only touched the edible meat with water. He didn¡¯t want it touching his own blood if he was going to eat it, that felt way too close to cannibalism. Once the meat was clean and organs stashed away, she finally got to work on making him some clothes. * * * Several hours later, she said she was done. She hadn¡¯t figured out sewing yet, so she had to physically hold the clothing together. The end result was a T-shirt with shorts that ran down to his knees, the entire outfit perfectly white. He decided to keep the white proto-feathers in it as well, just giving a bit of extra design to it. He could sense Fendrascora¡¯s peripheral body running through the two articles of clothing, and he could see a few of the seams where she¡¯d had to cut or stitch the leather back together. Ultimately, it was a bit stiff and uncomfortable, but he felt more secure than ever before now that he had some proper clothing that fit him. The entire process had taken five hours since the battle, and the entire time Dei had kept an eye on the escaped Praerel. It wasn¡¯t that far away, he had to hunt and kill it. It wasn¡¯t that he wanted to for selfish reasons, such as food or clothing, he just dreaded the idea of leaving an enemy alive for it to strengthen and come back to kill him. When he tried finding the source of this feeling, he realized that he¡¯d started producing Wrath mana the moment the Praerel had run away. For some reason, he couldn¡¯t let it escape. * * * Finding it a second time as it rested in a small den, he wanted to make the kill much cleaner. It was worn out, and would never even get the chance to process that he¡¯d snuck up on it before it was dead. He carefully had Fendrascora slide along the ceiling while carrying him above it and was about to tell her to drop him down, when he hesitated. It was true that his Wrath affinity was insisting he finish it off, but it felt wrong to him to kill without giving it a chance to¡­ do something different. Dei didn¡¯t even know what the issue was, or why he had to kill it. He just knew that he did. Being held there silently above the injured Praerel, Dei alternated between killing it immediately and trying to change something, fighting within himself. He knew this battle, he¡¯d been through it before. This was a battle between something his Wrath told him, and something his Kindness told him. Kindness wanted to spare the creature, Wrath insisted he could not. Dei decided to find a middleground. He didn¡¯t want to chase it again, so he would wake it up. If it ran, he would spare it. If it fought, he would finish the fight these Praerel started. Getting Fendrascora to bring him back to the entrance of the den, he took a few steps away and tried thinking of a way to wake it up. It had to be a threatening noise that any creature would recognize. A roar? But humans really have the vocal cords for that. He thought back to the time his mom had made the quiet cooing-chitter, back when he was a baby. His body had instinctively understood that as ¡°be quiet,¡± but that wasn¡¯t something humans in his last world could do at all. What if Gem Dweller humans could roar. Trying not to feel a bit silly, Dei took in a deep breath. He wouldn¡¯t try to roar, simply let his body do whatever it naturally did. ¡®A threat. I need to communicate a threat to everything around me.¡¯ When he released the breath, a muscle he didn¡¯t know he had flexed, and a deep chittering grumble resounded from in his chest, causing his entire body to vibrate and making the distant singing of bugs go quiet. It sounded halfway between an alligator bellow and a human growl, taking him off guard with how accurate it was to an animal call. From within the cave, Dei heard the snoring of the Praerel stop, and he knew it¡¯d woken up. He saw its head peek out from the opening to its den, seeing him. Slowly, it walked out to stand perfectly central to the cave, and looked at him. Dei could see it now, what Wrath was warning him about. The Praerel¡¯s eyes were lively, stronger than it¡¯d been before their fight. This Praerel was not broken, it hadn¡¯t given up, and it hated Dei. It was smart enough to understand what a grudge was, and would attempt to find him later, when it was stronger. Wrath didn¡¯t want to leave it to do so. He sent out a use of [Meaningful], saying ¡°Run. Never come back, never try to fight me again, give up, and I will let you live.¡± He could see by the surprised expression that it understood him, but when it lowered its stance and glared at him, he knew it was hopeless. It would never leave him alone. * * * A few more hours later, and he now had full-on pants and long sleeves to his shirt, as well as a face covering made from the jaws and teeth of two Praerel. The face covering was to keep dust out of his lungs when he breathed. And because it made him look much more threatening. While he hated to kill this pack of Praerel so completely, Dei understood that his Wrath was only watching out for him. If he hadn¡¯t hunted it down, he would have been completely unprepared when it came back a second time to kill him. Sure, it might not have been able to kill him alone, but it was a smart creature. There was a chance it would pick its moments, waiting for a time when he was injured before jumping in to finish him off. He shook off the guilt and stopped his contemplation, he was almost to the first spiritual signature in the area. Two days was a pretty good time considering he¡¯d stopped to fight, heal, and get clothes. Now that he was closer, he decided to do a full review of everything on him, including a checkup of his companions. First came the notifications of the days of travel and fight he¡¯d had with Praerel [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 87) -> (Level 94) [Total Stats Gained: +4 Mental +4 Magical] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (28) -> (35)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (41) -> (42)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (121) -> (127)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (86) -> (91)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (81) -> (88)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (88) -> (93)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (61) -> (63)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (48) -> (53)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (68) -> (74)] [Skill Leveled Up: In Tune (14) -> (29)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (81) -> (87)] Multiple of his Skills were closing in on level one hundred, and he was more than ready for the evolutions. Not only his Skills though, but his Class too. From his System-granted knowledge, he knew that Classes evolved at level one hundred too. Supposedly, they were much more complicated than Skill level ups, but he would have to see when he got there.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It¡¯d been a few weeks since he¡¯d looked over his whole Interface, so he did so now [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 94) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 7) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II) Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 128/128 MP: 128/128 SP: 128/128 Stats: Physical: 64 Mental: 58 Spiritual: 49 Magical: 59 Affinities: Kindness: Mid-Rare: 98% Wrath: High-Uncommon: 44% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Fortitude: High-Uncommon 6% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (100) (3651/4000), Call for Help (53), Good Samaritan (35), Meaningful (42) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (127) Soul: Astral Projection (12), Connection (1) Fortitude: Solidity (91) Health: Homeostasis (88) Mana: Meditation (93) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (63) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (53), Vigilance (74), In Tune (29), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (87)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 1857/4000 Wrath 684/4000 Kindness 529/4000 Soul 281/4000 Fortitude 300/4000 [NULL] ] The smaller percentage increases of his affinity weren¡¯t reflected in his notifications, but they were important nonetheless. His Kindness affinity had been stuck at its percentage for a long time, and it was steadily increasing now as he helped Fendrascora. He didn¡¯t quite agree with that though, as it wasn¡¯t perfectly selfless to help her. He benefited a lot from the arrangement as well, and he appreciated what she brought to the table. He also noticed that his Wrath affinity had jumped up several percentages, and suspected it was because he hunted that Praerel down, not letting it escape. He believed it was another Rule of Wrath, this one involving not letting enemies escape, but he didn¡¯t know the exact wording of it. His Fortitude affinity was also steadily increasing and granted him tons of Fortitude mana. He was confused on what he should do with it first, as he didn¡¯t really have Fortitude spells, but bare mana was useful as well, proven by how wild Wrath granted him strength and Null destroyed magical constructs. Fortitude, if spread around his body, would most likely help center him and resist mind control, without compromising his Skills. He also looked towards [How About a Demonstration]. It was a long unused, but not forgotten, Skill given to him by the System. It gave him the ability to temporarily bestow another access to one of his Skills, with many caveats to it. Despite its bounded strength though, it still had much potential. He always kept it in mind when thinking of his friends, because he could bestow his [Growing Pains] Skill on them if they were injured to heal them faster. Even if he¡¯d never used it, it was too useful of a Skill to disregard entirely. The review of himself done, Dei went to Clever, asking him how his training was going. To Dei¡¯s surprise, Clever said that he was already level one hundred, and had been so for a while. Ever since the Smiler, Clever had earned enough levels to evolve, but had refrained from doing so. He said that all of his ¡°Evolution Options¡± were a bit pathetic considering the effort, so he hoped to quantify his abilities a bit more by earning the future sight Skill he¡¯d vied for this entire time. Dei found out that Clever never stopped trying to figure the Skill out, and he was getting closer. He¡¯d even earned three freestyle charges of ¡°see into the future for danger.¡± It was apparently hard to quantify when danger would come, but Clever insisted he was pretty sure the three links would warn him, though to varying strengths as they were all quite different. He was still trying to find the most efficient way to look into the future, hopefully earning him an official System Skill that would give him better and rarer evolution options. If that didn¡¯t work, he said that he was okay with putting off the evolution even further to get his Skills higher, to prove to the System that he was a strong Korgonda. Dei was surprised at the foresight Clever expressed, but not so surprised. Clever always lived up to his namesake, though it was hard to see at times without looking closely as his cute form could distract from his big brain. If he thought waiting would be the smart move long term? He would. Complimenting him on his patience and petting him, Dei also checked in on Fang, and a noncommittal response, akin to a mental grunt. ¡°You know Fang, I am curious. What do you do with all that Soul mana I give you? I assumed it was for an affinity like Clever used it for, but I¡¯ve not seen any changes in your abilities in the entire time I¡¯ve fed you the mana. Do you just like it?¡± ¡°What I do with the Soul mana is my own business, that you have no right to know.¡± Dei raised his eyebrow. She seemed rather defensive against such a question, though he knew she was pretty prideful¡­ ¡°Alright, I¡¯m not demanding to know, simply curious. I assumed a being like you would have awesome powers, but if it''s not all that impressive, that''s fine by me too.¡± He sensed Fang stew over his words for a while ¡®You are trying to trick me. Into telling you.¡± ¡°No no! Not at all! If there isn¡¯t anything special about the Soul mana you need, thats okay! I¡¯ll just ask Fendrascora what she uses it for. Fendrascora probably has a ton of cool Skills that she¡¯s going to use my Soul mana for.¡± Fang let out some mental grumbling. ¡°I will have you know that I am using it to improve my blood affinity, and the System told me that the new affinity will be so powerful that not even it can contain the affinity or help me with it.¡± She said proudly, mentally smirking at him. He didn¡¯t let it show on his face, but he reciprocated that gesture. ¡°Ooh, how so? How did you know it would be powerful?¡± He was wildly curious, and had many, many questions, but he had to pretend to be disinterested to get Fang to tell him anything. ¡°I felt it call out to me the very first time I drank upon that Wraith''s power, and knew I needed to form a pact with you to ensure I could gain the power to reach out for that affinity. Even now, I feel it calling to me, but it is far. It feels¡­ buried. Like none others have used this affinity for a very long time, and now it must be dug free to access its strength.¡± He nodded, seeming only slightly impressed when, internally, he was quite hyped up, and very tempted to pour even more Soul mana into Fang just to see the new affinity sooner. ¡°That is a bit interesting. If it ends up being impressive, feel free to tell me.¡± He could tell that Fang was irritated with his lackluster response, but that was exactly what he wanted. Now she¡¯d tell him anything particularly cool that happened in relation to the newer affinity. Last, he checked on Fendrascora, getting confirmation that she was still happy and comfortable playing with her little garden. More than that though, he checked on her health and the progress of her compression Skill. [Corrupted Damaged Crippled Embodiment of the Flow - Level 64] ¡°And what of the Skill? Any progress made?¡± he questioned. ¡°Well¡­¡± she hesitated to answer. ¡°What? Is something wrong with it? You can get the Skill, yes?¡± ¡°Yes, Yes! I can. But I¡­ don¡¯t like the generic Skill. Embodiments can easily learn it, I could have learned it the very first day I was out of that prison, but I don¡¯t know¡­¡± ¡°What? Why not? Wouldn¡¯t it be easier and safer to hide more of your body?¡± ¡°Yes, but for one you¡¯d have to carry all the extra weight.¡± ¡°And two?¡± he asked. Several seconds went by without a response. ¡°Fendrascora. Whats the second reason?¡± Even if it would weigh him down, she didn¡¯t have to compress herself fully. She could compress herself a little bit, have him adjust to the weight as his Physical stat increased, then a bit more, until she was fully hidden. Confused, tried figuring out what it was, and then he remembered something. Turning around, he saw the massive garden she was making. ¡°Fendrascora¡­ have you delayed getting a Skill because you want to keep your garden?¡± She didn¡¯t say anything, but that was enough of a response. ¡°Fendrascora, can you at least promise me you¡¯ll get one now so that, if there is an emergency, you can compress yourself?¡± ¡°But that would make it more difficult to get a better compression Skill! If I wait longer and try for a better one, I might be able to take my garden with me!¡± He was baffled at even the concept of her compressing an entire ecosystem and storing it in his body. ¡°How would you take the garden with you? Its not part of you, and it''s not made of concepts either like you are. Wouldn¡¯t that kill the plants?¡± ¡°Maybe¡­ but maybe not. I want to try! It¡¯s been safe enough so far. I promise I¡¯ll drop my garden and just make a compression Skill if I need to, but not yet!¡± she adamantly resisted. Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair. He truly had no idea what such a Skill would look like. To be fair though, he didn¡¯t know much about the inner workings of any of his Skills. Perhaps it was possible, perhaps not, but she was right. No harm had come from her waiting just yet. He just hoped they wouldn¡¯t face the consequences of a decision when it was too late. They¡¯d already been discovered when hiding once, perhaps that was because Fendrascora was such a large target. On the other side of the spectrum, they¡¯d been discovered while resting before Fendrascora was along as well. As a matter of fact, they¡¯d probably avoided more fights since Fendrascora had become attached to him without compressing herself, because so many creatures were terrified to approach them. He decided to humor her for now. ¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯m trusting your judgement in this though. Don''t get us all killed because you want to keep your plants. There are always more trees and grass, but there¡¯s only one you.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± she responded happily. Checkups done and all his ducks in a row, Dei decided to sleep and eat before continuing. He was very close to the first spiritual signature, but he wanted to be in top condition. The last time he¡¯d approached one, its mind was fractured and it lashed out at him. This time, he didn¡¯t have the protection of the Garden- named Garden, not what Fendrascora had- and he had to be more cautious. He actually had a plan for confronting the spirit this time as well, but it would be best to be at his mental peak before facing it nonetheless. Finding a particularly flat and smooth rock, he got Fendrascora to clean it off, then place a large rack of Praerel ribs on top of it. Using a careful application of flames by burning/healing his lungs repeatedly, he slowly and thoroughly grilled it. The outside was burnt by the end, but he wanted to be careful and kill any parasites or other nasties in the meat. It tasted great, other than the char, despite the lack of seasoning. He wasn¡¯t surprised that it was gamey with how powerfully muscled they looked, and eating it reminded him of venison. Belly full, he dug out a spot to rest in. Even if Fendrascora was completely ruining all of the ¡°hiding¡± aspects of where he slept, he still felt much safer in an enclosed space. Laying back on the cold stone, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Chapter 64 [Since the Fall: 10/20/809 - 2:08:54] He awoke feeling refreshed. Checking in on everyone, he made sure the camp was doing fine before cooking and eating more Praerel meat. Putting his tooth mask back on, him and the others set out along the final stretch. He estimated it would only take around ten minutes to reach their goal. It was time to find a second piece of this area''s puzzle. * * * Through his Tremor Sense, Dei watched the physical body of where he¡¯d last seen the spirit. Like the shattered pieces of the red blade, there was a void of vibrations where the physical aspect was, meaning he could not properly get a clear idea of what it was. It was in the center of a small intersection, around ten or twenty feet wide, and he didn¡¯t even need to get close to see it. The tunnel he was taking to reach it was a long straight shot, meaning he had it in sight before he ever had to get close. Now that he was looking at it, he could easily see what it was. The crumpled remains of a damaged helmet. He couldn¡¯t make out the details of it, but he could tell it was misshapen. Looking at it, a slight stinging appeared in the back of his eyes, but it didn¡¯t register at first. Once he crossed an invisible threshold though, an intense foreign presence invaded his mind. The tangible force of emotions drilled against him, so intense that no human could ever fully comprehend its depths. Pure, unfiltered, hatred. The waves of screaming dread pressed against him, demanding he understand its fury. The helmet hated, it hated. It existed only to be a true vessel of the uncontrollable agony barely contained within its metallic form. It screamed and cried. It beat against the walls of its own body. It knew, it knew its surroundings, and it was aware of every passing moment. Unlike the shattered blade, this helmets mind was fully intact, and it could never begin to express how much it hated that. How much it hated itself and how much it hated the world. Within his soul, he felt a resonant connection from his Wrath affinity. Deeper than simply the affinity itself, this helmet shared with him something he¡¯d long forgotten about: a blessing from Wrath itself. The blessing would make other Wrath users feel inferior to him, but this helmet stood completely on equal footing. What he felt now, pressing against his skin, was the Visible Presence this helmet had built up since becoming stranded here in this cave. He took a step back, exiting the aura. Clever jumped off his shoulder, throwing up gouts of magma on the ground, completely unable to withstand the singular second he¡¯d been present within the presence. Fang shuttered horribly in his hand, retracting herself down from her blade-like form to a small nub. Only Fendrascora was doing a bit better, although still panicked. She said that his body took the brunt of the attack, and she only had to face a small piece of it that slipped through. ¡°Sorry Clever, sorry Fang. I didn¡¯t know it would be like that. You two stay here. I¡¯ll have to do this one without you.¡± Neither opposed, glad to not go back in there. Fendrascora, on the other hand, had to come with him, but she would be a bit more prepared than the others. Still, he took a moment to pull much of his Fortitude mana out of his Pandora¡¯s Box and surround Fendrascora with it. There was enough for them both to be protected by Fortitude, but he would not use it on himself. It wanted to be heard, and if he wanted to help it, he would listen. Taking another step forward the silent roar of dread once again encompassed him. He wanted to make sure Fendrascora was okay, but the Presence alone of this helmet tore apart any magical construct he tried to form, stopping communication. He took another step forward, and realized its presence was stronger than he¡¯d even anticipated. It was a gradual feeling, and the emotions would only become stronger the closer he got to it. He took another step closer, and the inanimate helmet seemed to shudder. Blinking quickly, he saw that it was only a visual trick. A fourth step and he thought he heard the echoes of a scream in some distant place, but again it was only his mind. A fifth step, and his peripheral vision seemed to move and twist, but no matter where he looked, it all stayed the same. His sixth footfall let out the clanging sound of metal on claw. His seventh made the wave of emotions feel like viscera running down his body. The eighth made him grunt in pain as his shoulder was torn open by a claw, but he kept fighting. He kept walking. The ninth made him snap back to attention. The blood loss was getting to him, he couldn¡¯t fall here. They would die. They would all die if he did. Readying himself, for the start of the battle he pressed forward deep into enemy ranks. If he could draw their attention, if they focused on trying to overwhelm him, the wall''s defenders could handle the stragglers. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen steps deep into their ranks. They crawled over him now, but he wielded his sword with practiced ease, slicing through them. He felt his companions defend against blows he couldn¡¯t, he felt as they healed him with what little mana they had left when they sensed him flagging from blood loss. He was the only one strong enough to fight, he couldn¡¯t let them pass. Finally, Dei reached the helmet, barely holding onto his sense of self. He¡¯d produced a significant amount of Fortitude mana for facing the helmets emotions head on, and he intended to use that now. Leaving just enough to shield Fendrascora, he held both hands close to the sides of the helmet lying on the ground without touching it- fearing it would be too much to come into physical contact with such an object when it was in the depths of madness- and let loose a wave of Fortitude mana into the red metal, saturating it. The pervading aura ceased for only a moment. For just a moment, the helmet regained awareness of itself enough to hear his words ¡°Let me share your burden.¡± Finally, he placed both hands on the sides of the helmet, and a connection was formed between them. Through it, the oceanic amount of Wrath mana it contained began to fill him as well, carrying not only the helmet''s hatred, but the message. It rapidly filled his Pandora¡¯s Box and began stretching its bounds, but he didn¡¯t even feel it this time. His main mind was quickly whisked away, lost within an endless blizzard of emotions. He was just barely able to set aside a sub-mind to keep watch over his body, telling it to cut the connection to the helmet if it became lethal.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. * * * Aloran led the people down below, evacuating yet another city. Fifty years since the demon was first born, that wretched traitor, and the Gray Minds Above had still yet to figure out a way to contain him and his spawn. While it was true that he could not be killed, there was potential to contain him. Aloran was a minor deity of refuge. He rose from human into something more, but he intentionally kept himself weak so his divine weight would not shatter the world around him when he manifested. He was never one to be a ruler, he preferred to lead the charge. If he became too strong, he would no longer be able to affect the physical world directly, having to use vessels to narrow his power. Despite his weakness though, he was still a God, and his godly status meant he knew more about the situation with the demon than others in the world. Gods transcended many concepts, detaching from them slightly and making travel between universes much easier. As a result, it was a bit of an open secret between Gods that there were other universes, shared with only a select few. The Gray Minds Above were one such group of mortals, and they worked together with the Gods of this universe to scour the others for any scrap of information on containing demons. They did not try to kill the demon, even the System itself told of that impossibility. For five years, they searched other universes, until a System message went out to all Gods. [WARNING! Demonic presence has become entwined into the fabric of your reality and will soon begin spreading to others. Activating quarantine protocols. Flee from your universe or become trapped within as well.] In moments, plans collapsed. Several powerful Gods chose to flee with their most trusted followers, weakening the resisting forces. Luckily, all of the Gray¡¯s chose to remain, continuing to search for a way to imprison the demon. Though they could no longer search other universes, there had to be a way. A single day after the warning was given out, a barrier was enacted by the System and empowered by the Gods of hundreds of other universes, even those not bordering on Aloran¡¯s universe. They did not want it to escape and spread to theirs, after all. Once the barrier was up, Aloran¡¯s universe was cut off from all the others. Before, Gods slipped between universes, in and out of boundaries, mingling with mortals. Now, Aloran knew the practice was dead. No Gods had time to spare anymore, and there were so many fewer around. Without the visitation of foreign Gods, it felt so lonely. Nonetheless, he and the present Gods would keep up the fight. After the most recent city falling under the tides of demon-kin, the Council of Shamans volunteered to assist in creating a crystal cavern for the refugees to live in. Aloran was called to guide them to this place far away, alongside four other Shamans. It would be a long journey, but that was okay. The people were alive, and that¡¯s what mattered. * * * After the people made it to their new home, Aloran could not simply leave. Demon-kin prowled around every corner and easily pierced most methods of stealth, he needed to hide them. His divine domain would hide them until better concealment methods were discovered. For now, he would be forced to take a break from fighting in the war. * * * One year turned into two, two into twenty, and Aloran continued to guide his people, training every day, continuing to hone his Skills. His city was officially invited to the Gem Dweller system ten years ago, and he accepted. When better concealment methods were found, he would step down and hand control over to a Shaman, but he enjoyed the time spent here. He was a God of Refuge, and he provided exactly that to the people who needed it most. * * * Fifty years after the founding of Alora, as the people insisted calling it much to his embarrassment, Aloran was dubbed an honorary Shaman, and inducted officially as a leader. So long ago, he¡¯d intended to leave when concealment methods were found, but he didn¡¯t think it was necessary anymore. He didn¡¯t need to fight the hordes any longer. Slaughterers had begun to appear, and they were furious. Before, Slaughterers would pop up once every hundred and fifty years or so, usually going berserk when people tried to bring them back into the folds of society. They oftentimes had to be put down, or ran back into the wilds to live out the rest of their lives, never seen again. After the war? Aloran was hearing reports of annual Slaughterers, sometimes even two per year. More than that though, they were faring better mentally as well. The war resonated with them, it calmed them. They were easily able to work out their frustrations on endless tides of mindless enemies. Though Slaughterers were always hyper-specialized, their abilities were unmatched in their fields. When coordinated well to cover for their weaknesses? The Slaughterers were doing more to slow the expanse of demon-kin than everyone else combined. For the first time since The Fall, people were beginning to hope. * * * Shortly after he was inducted as an honorary Shaman, he was offered a gift. Aloran had a notorious set of equipment, composed of Bloodstar Metal, few could match its durability and sharpness. In his younger years as a mortal, he¡¯d found an ancient monster that loved to forge and formed a pact with it in exchange for the armor. The gift the Shamans offered him was to make his armor and sword living. Initially, he was against the idea, but they told him of its benefits. Each piece of equipment would become conscious and gain access to the System, getting its own interface, stats, and Skills. That they, too, could train. It would enhance the durability more than it already was, and he would gain access to a plethora of new Skills that he were previously out of reach. More than this though, if the living armor and sword were made from fragments of himself, their Interfaces would be added to his, and his own to theirs. They would build upon one another, becoming greater than the sum of their parts. He was hesitant at first¡­ but the looming demonic threat made him reach for the power. * * * Dei was pulled from the visions for a moment, and he watched his view split in two. One continued from Alorans point of view, the other took place as an enchanted helmet. Alorans point of view quickly faded away, and his perspective changed once more. He inhabited the now-living helmet. * * * ¡°I dub thee Lani, named after Lani Jurae, my master when I was once mortal. I hope that you will guide me on my path, friend, as Lani once did.¡± Lani heard the deep warm voice, and he was confused only for a moment. That was Aloran. He had memories of once being Aloran, but he knew that he was not now. The thought did not alarm him. He was a helmet, he¡¯d always been a helmet, and he was fine with that. Lani could see in a perfect sphere around him, some sort of Racial ability granting him sight, and he watched Aloran go down the line. Lani was the first equipment to become living, but the others were as well. Four circles intricately decorated in symbols surrounded five pieces of armor. Lani was the helmet, then there was a middle piece that would provide connections to the arms as well. Even the gauntlets were included in this circle. The third circle was the lower half of the armor, from the waist down. In the final circle was Alorans sword. Lani watched Aloran go to each circle, participating in the ritual to bring the equipment to life and naming them. The chest piece was next. ¡°I dub thee Amaya, after my first and only love. I hope you will protect my heart as she once did, and be as spirited as she once was.¡± The waist-down armor came third. ¡°I dub thee Moren, after my first and truest friend. Skilled in the arts of magic and running away, I hope you will grant me your strength and speed. Though he was always afraid, he never hesitated to run towards danger when I needed him most. Despite the quivering.¡± Fourth and finally was a massive sword, larger even than Aloran himself. ¡°I dub thee Jasmine, after my sister. She protected me when our parents passed away, and stuck by my side her whole life, continuing to protect me from the enemies I was too dense to see myself. I hope you will protect me as she once did, and cut the enemies down that she always chastised me for missing.¡± Finally, he took a step back, smiling sadly and looking at them all at once. Lani was very new to the world, but already¡­ he wanted to protect Aloran. Perhaps it was the ritual that manipulated the way his mind formed, but Lani felt it in his bones. Aloran was alone, and Lani wanted to be there for him. Aloran was a God, and Lani would be by his side forever. Chapter 65 Aloran helped train the four of them at first, but Lani found that he was figuring things out faster than the others, to the point that Aloran had to hire a personal tutor to keep up with his pace. Though he had fragments of Alorans memories, it was spotty at best. Those gaps in knowledge were being fixed rather quickly, and he was beginning to learn his and Alorans purpose. They were guardians. The people in this city were not particularly good at fighting, so Lani and the rest had to be strong enough to take on anything that came their way Aloran started taking them on excursions, fighting with them. He oftentimes had to go much deeper into the caves to find any monster that posed even the slightest threat, killing the denizens of the deep. Lani found his leveling incredible, and in just three years he was level two hundred and fifty. He loved the time he spent with Aloran, but the more he learned about the world, the more afraid he became. Not because a monster in the dark scared him, but because he was afraid of losing Aloran and the others. He was afraid that, at some point, he would end up alone. Like Aloran was for so long. The thought planted itself deep within him, at the very core of his being. The fear drove him forward, and the other of Alorans equipment followed his feverish pace of building strength. He didn¡¯t want to lose the life he had, the one he cherished. * * * Decades went by, then centuries. Much to Lani¡¯s dismay, his power slowed drastically. In three years, he was level two hundred and fifty. In three hundred years, he¡¯d hardly cracked the five hundred mark. He was warned many times in his younger years. That it became exponentially harder to level up as you went, but the power was greater at each step. Still, he didn¡¯t like it. The others wanted to slow down a bit. They¡¯d trained hard for three hundred years, and very little could fight them now. Every battle was easier than the last, any worthwhile challenge near impossible to find. Now that they were past level five hundred- the level cap for average beings- Amaya, Moren, and Jasmine wanted to stop. They wanted to appreciate the life they had, and love each other. But Lani couldn''t, he had to keep pushing them. He found out early on that he had an affinity to Wrath, and it was this affinity that insisted he keep going. He didn¡¯t know what Rule of Wrath pertained to strength, but he was sure that something within him would never be satiated until they were undoubtedly the strongest. Level five hundred was the cap for most creatures, but the noteworthy ones could go further. It was the cornerstone where legends were born. To surpass level five hundred, a being had to be made of sterner stuff, their bodies breaking down under its own power if they weren¡¯t. Luckily, Lani and the others were made from one of the rarest and strongest metals in existence. He didn¡¯t know their level cap but considering he was level five hundred and three, he knew it wasn¡¯t five hundred. The others were happy. Content. He wasn¡¯t He was consoled by only one fact: Aloran himself never pushed one way or the other. He was happy to let Lani and the others argue with each other, and he said he would go along with whichever they decided. Lani took this as confirmation that Aloran, at least slightly, agreed with Lani. There was reason to be afraid. There was a reason to vie for the impossible heights of power. Lani would reach it, and he would drag the others up, kicking and screaming if he had to. * * * Four hundred years. It¡¯d taken them four hundred years to go from level one to level six hundred, but they did it. It was here that Aloran dropped something of a bomb on them. He could no longer carry them through every battle. The monsters they had to find now would even put him down if he dropped his guard. It¡¯d been so long since he¡¯d advanced his level, but Aloran was starting to level up again now. The others began to fear for Aloran, not wanting him to be put at risk, but this is where Lani doubled down. It was exactly now when they had to keep going. Their coordination was sloppy, impractical. Though they had drilled together frequently and would succeed in theory, only real combat with real threat would sand away the edges. He ranted and raved, the other three pulling back against his insistence. They would be gaining levels much slower now, without being practically hand-fed experience, but that wasn¡¯t what Lani wanted anyway. Lani wanted to become a well-oiled combat machine with the others, and it was only now that they could truly reach their full potential. He would whip them into shape, just as Lani Jurae once did to Aloran. Without Lani Jurae¡¯s fierce insistence on Aloran¡¯s skills, Aloran would have died many times over. He brought this fact up to them, and only then did they acquiesce. ¡®For Aloran. For Amaya. For Moren. For Jasmine. For them, I will push us further. For my family.¡¯ * * * Five hundred and thirty two years. It took five hundred and thirty two years for Lani to be proved correct. And he hated it. He hated that he was right. Getting briefed on the enemy forces closing in now, Lani felt like his worst nightmares were coming to life. He always hoped he¡¯d be wrong¡­ but he always knew he was right. Now, they were all almost level six hundred and fifty, but their power had grown in leaps and bounds. Faster than their class and profession levels, their coordination was pushed to greater heights than ever. They were not the same people they¡¯d been a hundred and thirty years ago. They would have to be better. For everyone, they would have to be more. Looking over the war board, they studied what little information they had. Scouts had used communication stones to report the enemy numbers at the cost of their own lives. The sacrifice would not be forgotten. They were still unsure how the demons had pierced Aloran¡¯s divine domain of Refuge, but it didn''t matter right now. The scouts estimated tens of thousands strong, an average number for demon-kin sieges. The unusual aspect was their levels. In the mass-scan the scouts had deployed, they detected that not a single one was below level two hundred, with two demon-kin at level seven hundred. It was an apocalyptic force. Anyone else, any other city, would be squashed before the council could arrive. They knew Aloran was here, and they¡¯d planned for it. The demon was a frugal bastard, always using just enough force so that he could save his resources for another front. The demon was using just enough numbers to ensure no survivors would make it out. Lani hoped he didn¡¯t account for their new strength.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The evacuation was underway as people tried to buy time for reinforcements to take this front down. They initially wanted an army of Shamans to meet the demon-kin on the field with them, but this was a coordinated attack. Multiple other villages, ones without manifested Gods protecting them, were pulling on the resources of the Shamans. Luckily, a few of them had instantaneous communication stones, and Oura was teleporting people around while shoring up defenses as necessary. He¡¯d be stretched thin, so Lani didn¡¯t count on his help. Besides, this was a battle that would turn even Oura into little more than collateral. No, they were on their own. Only him and his family could save the citizens. Aloran knew it too, so he didn¡¯t wait a single moment longer. They would not wait for the demon-kin to get close to the city, they would meet them halfway. Aloran quickly instructed the guard captain to get as many out as they could. The mans bloodshot eyes told Lani that he¡¯d already figured out how Aloran would respond to the invasion, and might not come back. Trusting the structure of the city to handle things, Aloran wasted not a single moment more, sprinting to and jumping over the walls towards the army. He tried sticking to straight tunnels where he could, but he shattered the stone walls where he couldn''t. The further they were from the city, the less people would die. Divine spells and powerful Skills were never small. When finally the army was within Lani¡¯s sphere of perception, he knew they would need to pull out every stop. There would be no holding back. Aloran did not slow as they came into view, charging up everything he could into the very first strike. He¡¯d been charging it since they left Alora behind, they wouldn¡¯t get another chance at a charged attack once the fight started. With a roar, he swung Jasmine in a wide arc as Jasmine herself activated multiple Skills. An ocean of cuts flew out in a wide cone, catching the entire army in its grasp. A thousand cuts, a million, a billion. Uncountable phantasmal blades shot through the air and earth, shredding the demon-kin. For their part, the opposing army attempted to resist, putting everything they could into slowing down the blow. Thousands of barriers sprung up, but an attack like Alorans could never fully be denied. Hundreds of kill notifications sounded. Hardly a drop in the bucket, but they needed to start somewhere. Only two places in the army were unscathed, and Lani knew they¡¯d located both level seven hundred demon-kin. Aloran continued pushing into the heart of the armies. The chaff would struggle to harm him, but Aloran knew that the enemy''s attacks would catch other demon-kin in it. His job was not just to win, but to allow as few demon-kin past as possible. He felt an attack from one of the high tiers approach, and dodged to the side through hard stone. Behind him, a gargantuan metal rod collapsed hundreds of tunnels, crushing more enemies. The second noteworthy combatant sprayed a cone of focused fire towards Lani and his family, but Amaya said to ignore it. She absorbed the attack fully, exploding outwards and melting everything within hundreds of feet of them. Moren kept them from falling down, and they now had a visual on the two elite monsters. Demon-kin, as a race, technically did not exist. Demons could never make anything original, only stealing or destroying. When demon-kin were made, they took on the shape of an already-existing race, stealing its racial bonuses as well. The only difference was the grayed out or monochrome look to them, seeming perpetually bland. Lani saw that they faced a Grovyn- a plant based sapient with a tangle of vines in the middle as its main body- and an Arachnotaur- a cow-headed humanoid with six clawed arms, two legs, and monstrous strength. The Grovyn was the first to launch itself towards Aloran, and Moren cast explosive magic to blow away the Arachnotaur before it could join the fray. Lani played a helper, focusing on using Skills that would enhance his family¡¯s capabilities and speed of casting. Aloran swung Jasmine like a lumberjack, cutting away the whipping vines of the Grovyn, but the demon-kin had more than just physical attacks. Swarms of vines shot out, penetrating the earth. Where the Grovyn touched, hundreds of trees, grasses, and other plants grew, spewing out spores and pollen. Aloran knew he didn¡¯t want to be here as the Grovyn set up its own domain skill, so he bolted to a different part of the demon-kin¡¯s forces. He¡¯d need to keep moving anyway to kill the maximum possible as collateral. The Arachnotaur exploded- literally- in Lani¡¯s vision, hundreds of weaving fireballs spinning around the caves and melting through stone, all attempting to converge on Aloran. Lani deactivated his helper Skills and sent out mental disruptive pulses as Moren sent out magical disruptive pulses. Aloran kept on the run, weaving in and out of the army as the meteors that chased him bowled through any and everything. When finally Lani managed to disrupt the control over a single meteorite, it went off hard enough to bring down a collapse tens of kilometers wide, crushing thousands more demon-kin. It would not kill them, but it would slow the army. Only eight seconds passed since Lani¡¯s family met the demon-kin army. If they kept up, they would make it * * * Rumbling explosions rocked everything. There was no sense of caves anymore, only dirt and stone. All the monsters that mattered in this battle were completely unhindered, both seeing through the stone and practically phasing through it with how little it slowed them. Every clash was an eruption that beat back the rock and crushed hundreds more demon-kin. Every parry deflected a blow that could rend a mountain. The Grovyn continued to grow, its vines whipping into a storm of undodgeable blades. The Arachnotaur never tired, every single hit containing the full force of the very first. Lani thought it¡¯d used its biggest attacks right at the start, but every single Skill or punch after was just as strong as the first. It must be an endurance focused creature. Endurance focused, but it could match Lani and his family blow-for-blow. * * * One hour after the start of the fight, Aloran was no longer fighting back, only evading. Moren tried where he could to help narrowly evade each attack at the slimmest of margins. Both monsters were clearly focused on drawing the fight out as much as they could. The Grovyn slowly became stronger, growing infinitely over the space, while the Arachnotaur was much more mobile, with explosive strength to match. The Grovyn cut off Alorans escape, the Arachnotaur beat into Aloran like a hammer. * * * Three hours after the fight started, Lani began to plan. If they wanted endurance. They would get endurance. It would require¡­ sacrifices, but it was their only hope. In just three hours, it was clear that Aloran would not last in a prolonged battle. Not as he was. As long as his family members could be united once more after the battle, Lani knew they would be happy. * * * One day after the start of the fight. They no longer even tried to catch demon-kin in collateral, simply closing off all exits to prevent them from chasing the civilians. The force was still around three thousand strong. Too much. They would have to focus on cutting it down¡­ later. Lani originally wanted Aloran to pretend to flag, but Aloran didn¡¯t need to pretend at all. He was flagging. The constant strain of Skills drained his mana and energy. It pressed against his very soul, threatening to break it. Despite his godly might, Aloran was still human at his core. He wasn¡¯t endlessly enduring like Lani and the others. For now. * * * A day and a half after the start of the battle, Lani said it was time. It was time to bet it all. They would either walk out of this whole and stronger than before, or they would die horrible deaths having failed the entire society. They all scrounged together what little mana they had left for the final move, and Aloran sent one final message to them. ¡°If I don''t make it back from the other side¡­ I want you four to know that I love you. I love you all, and you¡¯ve made the centuries worth living.¡± ¡°Enough about that!¡± Lani said, and the others talked over him simultaneously, getting their words out. ¡°These last few centuries are nothing to the millenia we will continue to live. No more whining! I¡­ but¡­ I love you too. Come back to us Aloran, prove your life to Grim.¡± Finally, it was time. They could never strike the Arachnotaur, not for anything that mattered, but if Lani¡¯s plan worked, the tides of battle would change. Finally, Aloran let it happen. He let the Arachnotaurs claws strike him directly. Piercing cleanly through his chest, destroying his heart. The Arachnotaur itself looked surprised to have succeeded, but did not waste the chance, ripping a large gash out of Amaya and causing complete organ failure. Horrible magic pumped through Aloran, dropping his HP faster than he could blink. The Arachnotaur grabbed Aloran by the neck, no doubt going for one final finishing blow, when he paused. Lani knew what it was. A kill notification. In that single moment. In the nanosecond of its guard being lowered, Lani and the others struck. Lani took control of Alorans corpse, swinging upwards with Jasmine as she released a fully-charged bladestorm. Moren cast terrible flaying magic, and Jasmine launched the Arachnotaurs own attack back at it as Lani hit it with the strongest, most mind-shattering blow he¡¯d ever cast. In the nanosecond of hesitation, the Arachnotaur was dead. There was no time for celebration though. The battle was only half done, as there were still thousands of demon-kin and a Grovyn to slay. They needed to keep Alorans body intact from any more damage, slowly healing up what was temporarily broken. Lani had long studied the phenomena of resisting death. He worried for Aloran, and looked for any way to ensure his survival. To face the Grim Reaper, specific characteristics were required of someone in specific situations. Lani believed in Aloran. He believed he would be back. They just needed to give him time to finish his confrontation with Grim. Chapter 66 Lani was the new mind, controlling where they went. They no longer had access to Alorans Skills, but they would have to do with their own. The first thing to do was move. The Grovyn was closing in on them, and they didn¡¯t quite have the explosive power any longer to break free from its grasp, should it entangle them. So they began the process of evading. Quickly, they broke away from its sphere of influence, but a second issue had arisen in the time that Aloran fought the Arachnotaur. The level two hundred monsters were finally beginning to escape, digging through the stone. The Grovyn was behind them, they would use their newfound mobility to finish off as many as possible. Each monster was level two hundred, a cornerstone for strength. Alone, they wouldn¡¯t pose a threat to Lani and the others, but he didn¡¯t doubt they could be overwhelmed. They could not simply run though, as even fifty creatures at level two hundred attacking the city could potentially kill half the survivors before they were put down. Three thousand demon-kin, and not a single one could make it to the civilians or it would be a bloodbath. They began the process of running through every cave, Jasmine dicing them under Lani¡¯s grip, but a new problem quickly arose. Though they stayed ahead of the Grovyns expanding domain, it was beginning to reach out mentally towards the remaining demon-kin, coordinating them. It planned their assaults. No longer did these grunts go after the city, they all began to converge on Lani and the others. It was good that they no longer went to chase after the fleeing civilians, but Lani knew this was a more precarious situation for them. The Grovyn sensed that something was different, that Aloran was weaker somehow, and it wanted to capitalize on that. Lani began to lead them around, up and down the cave systems, trying to avoid the swarms of demon-kin, but they were caught frequently at intersections, the monsters coming at them from all angles, from every possible direction. They clashed time and time again, but they managed to push through each time, finding gaps in their defenses, escaping each ambush. They met every wall of monsters with their full force, cutting them down by tens with each swing. Lani believed this situation was even less risky than when Aloran was alive. Without the demon-kin going after the city, they could delay this by several days longer. Hopefully, he wouldn¡¯t take that long against Grim. Just when he was starting to get confident though¡­ A grayish root shot from the wall, slamming into the side of Jasmine. She let out a scream of pain, showing the damage she¡¯d sustained, but luckily Lani managed to keep his grip on her, pulling back and activating a mental blast to stun the surrounding demon-kin long enough to run somewhere safer. Jasmine was in pain, and he felt it. The Grovyn had injected her with a destructive type of mana in that slam, but she refused to complain. She demanded that he keep cutting the demon-kin down with her; they couldn¡¯t afford to have dead weight in this battle. Lani complied, simultaneously trying desperately to figure out how the Grovyn had managed to lash out. He hadn¡¯t sensed any of its vines in the wall, and its domain was still a kilometer away. It had to be a stealth Skill of course, but what? What hid it? Fighting and trying to figure it out, while still staying alert for more vines, Lani activated one of his mental Skills that shielded him from emotion, putting his panic at bay. He could not afford to see this in anything but objective light, desperation would not help. Despite taking on a more efficient route though, vines continued to lash out, striking Jasmine. Each time they did, she would let out an ear splitting scream. Yet each time she insisted they keep going. They were pushed back, again and again. They were pushed closer to the city, the Grovyn clearly trying to use its attacks to kill both Lani¡¯s family and the city walls, but Lani couldn¡¯t fall back. There was nowhere to fall back to, the Grovyn just didn¡¯t know that yet. He skirted the edges of Alora¡¯s cavern, refusing to get any closer, until¡­ A vine struck out. This time not at Jasmine, but at Amaya¡¯s grip on Jasmine. Lani felt the strength in that hand leave his control, and Jasmine was knocked upwards into the air. His mental bastion Skill pushed the panic away as he reached out to grab her. Three more vines flew from the walls, hitting Jasmine at differing angles. This time, there was no scream. She shattered. His emotions shut down, the bastion deeming them too much. It did not hesitate, turning and running. The demon-kin were pressing against them, tying them down. Without a weapon, they would not be able to break through if they were immobilized once again. Moren and Amaya were too stunned to act, and that almost killed them all. He sent out a slight mental attack to kick them into gear, helping him escape. The bastion continued to run, but they were always cut off. Always cornered. Always struck by those vines. It was targeting him next, slamming into Alorans head to try and break the helmet. Clearly, it had figured out who was controlling the body now. Though it would be more efficient to let some of the vibrations through to Aloran, reducing the strain on Lani¡¯s body, the bastion didn¡¯t try that as a course of action. It was already barely containing Lani¡¯s emotional outburst. Any damage to Aloran would break that fragile balance. The fury built more and more, the bastion attempting to keep Lani reasonable by totally shielding him from every possible emotion. Moren and Amaya were flagging, despair setting in. The bastion could not let Lani do the same. The bastion kept them alive, but Lani was enraged beyond anything he could have imagined. The vines continued to whip him, denting his helmet, and the bastion continued to absorb the blows fully, denting and sparking. The bastion was not prepared when the vines grabbed the helmet, pulling back and exposing Alorans neck. A second vine came down from the ceiling. It was attempting to behead Aloran and separate Lani. The bastion could avoid it no longer. Time seemed to slow as the rumbling emotions kept at bay by the bastion were finally let in, the barrier lifting from Lani¡¯s mind. There was no going back now, and he felt the brunt of it all. The grief of losing Jasmine, the despair as they were pushed against the wall, the regret, knowing that it was his plan which killed them. Which failed. Lani intentionally detached himself from Amaya, sending one final command to Alorans body that caused it to dodge. Moren would have to carry them away now, Lani was already lost to the horde. Like Jasmine.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He could not let the Grovyn take them. If they could run, if they could escape, then perhaps he could atone for his sins. The stored motions overwhelmed him, threatening to take his mind, and he let it. Lani had exhausted himself completely, it was time to give in. He surrendered his soul to Wrath. The pulse that flew from his body incinerated every demon-kin, all the hiding Grovyn limbs, and even the rock walls. The only thing spared was his family, not even his anger would blind him enough to hurt them. His enraged scream echoed through the cave, and Lani let his madness be known to Moren and Amaya. He did not want them trying to save him now. He was already gone. The rabid babble of thoughts burned away all his sensibilities, but letting himself be consumed by Wrath granted strength he did not have before. As Moren carried Amaya and the body away using magic, Lani struck back at the Grovyn, keeping its attention on him. Wrath mana raced down its vines, tearing into the heart of it until it flinched away. The demon-kin tried to pass Lani and get at his family, but the wall of hatred stopped them dead. Instead, they had to give him a wide berth before they could continue the chase, hopefully giving Moren and Amaya time to run. But¡­ that did not stop them. Lani could still sense them, in his crazed stupor, as the demons simply avoided him, going around. He tried to reach out with his rage, tried to stop them, but he couldn''t, he could no longer sense his family, so he didn¡¯t know if they ever escaped, but now he could only wait. The faint vestige of his mind held hope for a few days, that perhaps they would come back and find a way to save him, but the days turned to weeks. Turned to months. Turned to years. Each passing moment was agony, knowing that it was his plan that failed. Knowing that he killed Jasmine. That he killed Aloran, and that he likely killed Moren and Amaya too. He screamed against everything. He screamed in rage and despair. He screamed his hate to the world. But it was indifferent * * * Dei came back to himself, the pain in his core crippling him. If he was not already on his knees, he would be now. He¡¯d never lost control over his body, having a sub-mind still in place, so he knew of the changes. His Pandora¡¯s Box had evolved again and he knew that Fendrascora was still safe despite the rampant Wrath mana in his body. He¡¯d formed a Fortitude Skill to keep it away from her, and he¡¯d have to look at it later. For now, he focused on enduring. Wrath mana was tearing his insides apart, and he could see red cracks forming along his skin, burning him like electricity running through his body. The pain was almost unbearable with the level of Wrath mana coursing through him, but there was hope for the nightmare to end. His Pandora¡¯s Box had a new ability now, and he used it to the fullest, completely devouring all of Lani¡¯s rage. All the hate, insecurities, madness, and pain. All of it was locked away inside the fortress of Pandora¡¯s Box. Dei felt Lani¡¯s Visible Presence slowly recede, and Dei¡¯s own began to increase in response. The Wrath mana was still¡­ imbued with Lani¡¯s intent, it still wanted the world to know his hate, even if it was no longer within Lani. Despite that imbuement though, Dei sensed that its incessant screaming began to quiet. His box was leveling up, repairing itself as it grew to become a match for the absurd mana pool that Lani formerly had within him. As it repaired itself, the intent behind that Wrath mana could escape less and less. Dei knew now that the cracks in the Skill didn¡¯t only allow for him to draw on the mana when he needed it to, but it allowed for certain things to¡­ escape. He¡¯d never had this issue before because it was his mana that he tried to contain. It listened to him. This was mana that someone else had given him access to, but it didn¡¯t respect him. It fought against his efforts to contain it, but Lani assisted him in guiding it into the box. Gradually, the cracks in his Skill receded. As the last bits of Wrath mana were whisked away and the box snapped shut once more, the presence disappeared entirely. The Skill finished repairing itself and no matter how hard that rage beat against the edges of its confines, it would not escape. Dei still felt his connection to Lani, and he sensed the mental quivering. For the very first time after hundreds of years, Lanis¡¯ mind was quiet. Dei thought he would be overjoyed, but he sensed a feeling of detachment coming from Lani. He didn¡¯t feel much of anything. ¡°Lani, are you there?¡¯ he messaged the inert helmet in front of him, but it was silent. Dei¡¯s hands were still on the side of Lani, so he picked him up and held the helmet to his eyes. The connection he had from simply touching Lani let him get a feeling for his emotions, but all he could sense was a weakness like no other. Lani was tired. ¡°Lani. Come on, talk to me.¡± He said again, but there wasn¡¯t the slightest mental response. ¡°Lani, Aloran is alive. I¡¯ll take you back to him, talk to me.¡± He felt a burst of grief once he said the word ¡°Aloran,¡± but aside from that, Lani stayed quiet. He would have to rest. Like Jasmine, Lani was mentally damaged, and needed time to heal. That was okay, Dei would give him the time he needed. He now had more information on the other two weak spiritual signatures as well. The experience and agony through Lani¡¯s eyes was so visceral that Dei believed he¡¯d never forget the names of Moren and Amaya. He studied Lani gently, taking in the dents and scratches of his body. Lani was a red knight''s helmet with its visor down. The helmet itself was dented to hell and crumpled in places, but Dei saw that the metal never bent inwards. Instead, it displaced itself outward to avoid crushing the skull of the person who was once within, rippling like a wave. After getting a good look at Lani, Dei found his strength sapping. The adrenaline was wearing off, and his muscles were getting heavier. He quickly sat down on the ground, keeping one hand on Lani in case he decided to speak. His new clothing was in tatters, and he could still see the blackened marks left by the pure Wrath mana running through him all along his body. Fendrascora was still holding the pieces together along his body, and they didn¡¯t look damaged, but for some reason the seams were open now¡­ ¡®Wait¡¯ he thought ¡®Why don''t my clothes fit if there are no rips?¡¯ And quickly messaged Fendrascora as well. Uneasily, she began to spread through his body fully once more, rather than pushing herself lower down to avoid the cloud of Wrath. When prompted by his question, she answered ¡° Did you not realize? You¡¯ve grown larger. Once the Wrath mana began flowing through you, your body accelerated its growth, and began to devour itself. I quickly retrieved your rations though, digesting it and infusing that energy into you so you wouldn¡¯t lose all of your musculature. You¡¯ve grown by exactly this much.¡± She said, and sent him measurements that translated into ¡°eleven inches¡± plus multiple decimals that were lost in her communication. He¡¯d grown an entire foot, but frankly, he was too tired to care. ¡°Could you use some of the extra Praerel leather to repair the gaps?¡± he asked, getting an affirmative from Fendrascora as she immediately set about doing so. He studied his body once more. The marks left by Wrath were healing quickly, no doubt because his Skill could draw the energy straight from the wounds themselves. The color and chaotic pattern to the wounds contrasted well with the organised white pattern of his [Connection] Skill that still held his Soul together. He didn¡¯t pay much attention to the white lines anymore. They¡¯d mostly faded to the back of his mind, but he saw them now. If the Wrath burns weren¡¯t so excruciating, he would be tempted to leave them be so it would match with his Connection lines. Still, the burns were scarring. Though it wouldn¡¯t be black anymore, the discolored look of the skin after they ¡°healed¡± told the story of a painful wound that once racked his entire body. Running his hands over the parts that were healed, he felt that the skin was no thinner than normal, unlike when injuries would scar back on earth. That was good, because it would be a weak point otherwise. The injury reminded him of where it¡¯d come from, making him remember Lani¡¯s story once more. It was one where the good did not prevail. As it was, he watched five heroes go to war with a demonic horde, giving their life and dying to protect others. They died clinging to hope, in fear, and filled with regret. Not the ¡°heroic last stand¡± he so often heard about. He wanted to fix that, to get them back together again. He wanted them to have a happy ending. He laid back, feeling the chill and roughness of the rock. Lani¡¯s story was tragic, and it made him think of his own friends. Would this be their fate too? Would they run into an enemy they couldn¡¯t face, and fall? He hadn¡¯t known Clever, Fang, and Fendrascora for as long as Lani and the others had been together, but he still liked them. He didn¡¯t want to imagine his journey through the world alone. He wanted companions to share it with. He closed his eyes. He wasn¡¯t tired enough to sleep, as he¡¯d just woken up, but the world was overwhelming. His decisions felt more weighty than before. Chapter 67 When he was closer to mended than broken, he decided it was time to start going over his notifications. They¡¯d need to move soon, and it would be better to have all of the information he could. [Skill Leveled Up: Call for Help (53) -> (62)] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (35) -> (37)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (127) -> (142)] [Skill Levels Lost: Solidity (91) -> (74)] ¡®What the hell?!¡¯ he thought as he stopped looking at his notifications for a second. Did seeing another perspective harm him mentally? But that wasn¡¯t even what the Solidity Skill was meant for! It helped bridge the gap between his mind and body¡­ and he¡¯d just grown nearly a foot. ever since he¡¯d gained the Solidity Skill, his supernatural growth had been put on ¡°Pause¡± for lack of a better word as he stayed slightly over five feet tall. He believed that was the Skill trying to prevent the schism from widening, wanting to get his mind and body synchronized before letting him continue growing. Now he¡¯d been forced to grow, and lost some levels. The setback irritated him, but there was nothing to do about it. At least he was still doing well-enough mentally, despite his new growth. A thought occurred to him though, was he as tall as his mother? He would need to check later, when he could reach her satchel. At the thought of her, he remembered the pink glow that still permeated his soul. Closing his eyes for a moment, brought up the cracks once more. ¡°Love you, mom. Dont forget to tell dad I love him too!¡± He sent her a quick message, then opened his eyes. He¡¯d solved the mystery of his lost levels, so he decided to move on to the next notification. [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (88) -> (96)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (93) -> (97)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (87) -> (89)] [Affinity Strengthened: [Kindness: Mid-Rare: 99% has strengthened into Kindness: High-Rare: 14%] [Affinity Strengthened: [Wrath: High-Uncommon: 99% has strengthened into Wrath: Low-Rare 2%] His affinities were becoming incredibly strong. Hesitantly, he decided to lift the limiter he¡¯d placed on Soul. He would need more Soul mana, and he felt like his ¡°Human¡± affinities were strong enough to stave off its effects. Especially his Fortitude, which would directly fight against it. Finally, he got to the really important Skill notifications [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (100) -> (273)] [Skill Altered: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) has been altered into Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)] The first two were, of course, his Pandora¡¯s Box. When he was overcome by the vision of Lani¡¯s past, his box had been absorbing the excess mana, cracking and growing over and over again, quickly repairing itself. The entire vision had taken around ten minutes, which was absurd time to have so many levels, and he was very, very glad that the majority of his mind was somewhere else while the pain rocked him. His soul was still very strained though, and he¡¯d need to avoid using any Skills for a few days. By now, Dei had a significant amount of presence to protect his soul with. He was almost always increasing it, usually with multiple minds at once. It formed a solid barrier around the fragile part of his soul, letting him do stupid things like this and come out alive. The important part was that, when he was under, his sub-mind had chosen an evolution for him to help contain the mana. He knew what the evolution was, because it was him that chose it, but he looked over the full Skill now too. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) - Level 273 - Kindness Affinity - 108871/10920 Mana Stored To contain your sin, you have created a tangible field within the world of concepts. To resist giving in to your anger, you refuse to lash out. You refuse to express your Wrath as you rise above your base instincts. Creates a pool within your soul that contains the excess Affinity Mana produced by the various affinities of the user, unless otherwise specified Contains (2)*((Spell Level)*10) mana Also contains twice as much mana within the Spell Also concentrates the mana within the pool, giving a conversion rate of 6 Affinity Mana to 1 Concentrated Affinity Mana (mild concentration)] Level 100 evolutionary upgrade- grants the ability for you to form certain sub-boxes within your Skill, allowing for the full release of smaller, pre-designated pools of mana. Accelerates how fast the user can section off portions of their mana with each successive level] Level 200 evolutionary upgrade- Gain the ability to compress mana that has been sectioned off into a concentration of 6 Concentrated Affinity Mana (mild concentration) to 1 Concentrated Affinity Mana (middling concentration) It was a really good upgrade. Not just because it allowed him to concentrate his mana further, but because he wasn¡¯t forced to. It was a manual process, and he could choose to not to. The other important aspect of this new box was that it¡¯d changed from ¡°Contained¡± to ¡°Sealed.¡± Now that it was fully repaired, he¡¯d need to use his Sectioning upgrade any time he wanted to use the mana, preemptively setting some aside in designated amounts. No longer could he draw from his box any time he wanted, but perhaps that was for the best. If it had still been damaged, then Dei would have begun to emit Lani¡¯s hateful aura, rather than having it simply disappear. He checked how much was in his box now. [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8250/10920 Wrath 981/10920 Kindness 532/10920 Soul 824/10920 Fortitude 300/10920 [NULL] ] Before, he had around a thousand six hundred Wrath mana at mild concentration. Doing some quick calculations for both the new concentration and total mana, he found that Lani was filled with 287,400 Wrath mana before he¡¯d pulled it all out. Dei even felt like some extra mana had been absorbed directly into his body to help fuel his growth and healing. No wonder Lani lost his mind¡­ Looking at the severely damaged helmet, still completely radio silent, it was hard to see Lani being the source of so much hate. But the same was true for Dei himself, wasn''t it? In his previous life, he¡¯d tried to avoid being defined by his rage, leaning into his Kindness. It hadn¡¯t worked out. If Leven had cut loose a few times, made people a bit scared to piss him off, maybe life would¡¯ve been a lot easier for him. Dei wouldn¡¯t make the same mistakes. When he was back in society, he was going to make sure people were hesitant to hurt him. He didn¡¯t want everyone to be afraid of him, of course, but maybe a little cautious. Done with Pandora¡¯s Box for now, he looked at the next notification. [Skill Gained: Fortress of Denial] [Skill Leveled Up: Fortress of Denial (1) -> (36)] [Fortress of Denial - Level 36 - Fortitude Affinity Control. You fight it, you demand it. Your entire life, you¡¯ve exerted control over yourself, and resisted the control of others. In every instance where others attempted to control you, you have denied them their goals. The only one to control yourself is you. More than any person, affinity, or magic, your body is yours alone. Creates a Domain of Denial where all intent is muffled, making control over all magic more difficult. Variable mana cost.] He¡¯d already used this one, and he could tell that it had to be a more esoteric Skill because the System was missing a few of its functions. For one, the System didn¡¯t specify it but he knew that this domain could only extend as far as his control over magic would. For some reason, Dei¡¯s control over magic was heightened within his body, but heavily stunted outside of his body; this meant that the ¡°domain¡± was only present within himself. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. That wasn¡¯t to say it was a bad Skill of course. He already knew there were many things in this world that tried to invade his body to kill him, so he doubted this domain would go unused. Second, it worsened his control as well within that domain. It took both his and Lani¡¯s effort combined to push through his domain and get the Wrath mana in his Box, but the Domain was the only way to slow down its violent and sporadic intent. With the mana moving slower, it was easier to grab onto and hold it, even if his intent also moved slower in the domain. Not only that, but his and Lani¡¯s intent was much more direct than the Wrath¡¯s, meaning the Wrath mana wasted significant amounts of energy moving in random directions yet never exiting his body, because his new Fortress Skill gave him the time to redirect it at the last moment. Third, his sense of the mana around him was cut off even further when [Fortress of Denial] was activated. Normally he had a very rudimentary sense of mana around him, but even that was gone when he activated the Skill. Dei bet that his soul sight would disappear too when he activated the Skill. The third aspect made him wonder if the Skill was ever even meant to be used outside of his body, or if it was specifically for people like him who could sense mana easier inside them. Nothing else to do except wait for his body to heal, he just continued to sit there. Normally he would train if he was idle, but he was still afraid of backlash from his strained soul. It actually didn¡¯t hurt as badly as he thought it would, but just because he didn¡¯t feel the damage to his soul, didn¡¯t mean that there was none. * * * The physical pain had fully abated, but his soul still hurt. He noticed a slight throbbing that stemmed from various points around his soul. Looking closely, it was all the points in time he¡¯d gained passive Skills such as [High Mind], [Growing Pains], [Good Samaritan], and more. The soul-strain ran deep enough that even his passive Skills were too much, so he needed to cut back on them a bit. Fang and Fendrascora wouldn¡¯t be able to drink up his blood anymore without Homeostasis either, temporarily at least. [High Mind] had to stay active, so he could react to any danger quickly, and [Good Samaritan] would stay up as well for safety reasons to continue working on resisting the tracking mark. Everything else was deactivated. He immediately got vertigo as [Solidity] turned off, but it passed quickly. More pressingly though, his healing Skills were gone now too, and Meditation stopped producing Soul mana. Standing up despite his dizziness, he cradled Lani in one arm and walked back towards the main portion of the group. Clever and Fang stood beside Fendrascora¡¯s garden, Clever looking slightly afraid of the Helmet and Fang scanning him, searching for any manipulation. She was back to her fully-bladed self, rather than the camouflaged gray nub she once was ¡°I take it you appeased the cursed artefact? I sense the spirit still persists, yet the dreadful aura is gone, and I sense no manipulation. You are still Dei, yes?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m still me. The helmet just didn¡¯t have a way to burn through all the Wrath mana it produced, so its anger simply built up, and the nature of its rage made it hostile to the world around it. I simply stored it away.¡± ¡°Stored it¡­ away? It is not gone?¡± Fang asked hesitantly. ¡°No, I think I might be able to use it somehow. That much Wrath mana shouldn¡¯t just be dumped into a random Skill until it¡¯s gone. It can be a dangerous weapon to pull out at the right time.¡± ¡°Yes, hmm, how do I say this? You are an idiot! Why are you trying to use such horrible energy? I don''t know what you intend to use it for, but it¡¯s going to go wrong! As soon as you can, you must expend this energy towards smaller endeavors.¡± ¡°What would be the difference between doing something useless with it rather than waiting for it to become useful?¡± he asked, defensive. ¡°Because as soon as it ¡®becomes useful¡¯ as you say, it will be for desperate reasons. You will use it in a half-thoughtout, zero-tested plan to succeed, and the curse will take control over you.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t a curse, it was just a lot of Wrath mana with strong intent imbued into it that attached itself to Lani¡¯s mind¡± Dei responded smartly. ¡°Is that¡­ I don¡¯t know for sure, but is that not a curse? Would that not be what a curse is?¡± Fang asked, genuinely confused. Dei had to admit¡­ she got him there. ¡°Okay, maybe, but you argued against yourself anyway! You said that I would use it when we are desperate as a last resort. Sure, it might go badly for me, but it would be better than no resort at all, wouldn¡¯t it? I¡¯ll still be desperate either way, the only difference is that I will have options if I set the mana aside.¡± ¡°Not so! You will be desperate either way, but if you have the mana, then you will seek to use it rather than searching for an alternate path. The less harmful options will become obscured as you are blinded by pride, while the absence of the curses mana would ensure your mind is clear.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty ¡®clear¡¯ to me that we aren¡¯t going to agree on this. Let''s get some outside opinions, Clever and Fendrascora?¡± ¡°The opinions are unbalanced! You have rescued both Clever and Fendrascora, they will side with you!¡± ¡°Not really¡± Fendrascora jumped in ¡°I think you should throw that curse energy away as soon as you can, please?¡± ¡°I recant my previous statement, Fendrascora is a paragon of neutrality. You are outvoted Dei.¡± ¡°Not yet, Clever?¡± Dei looked to his little lizard buddy, hopeful. ¡°Power! More power! Keep the power, destroy foes!¡± ¡°HA! Two to two. Now we¡¯re even again.¡± Fang let out feelings of exasperation ¡°Yes, and the original predicament is perpetuated. Now how is the circumstance to be resolved?¡± ¡°Simple. It''s my mana, I decide what to do with it. While I value all of your opinions and would have thrown it away if it was three to one, I am the last say in what I do.¡± ¡°... I begrudgingly agree that is a fair assessment¡± Clever cheered him on and Fendrascora shifted nervously within him, fearing the curses escape from its box. Dei went on to explain everything he¡¯d learned about Lani. Aloran, and Jasmine, as well as the other two spiritual signatures in the area. The plan was to get them as quickly as possible now, help them out from whatever prison they¡¯d found themselves in, and reunite them all. Getting everything ready to leave, Dei put on his moms satchel first, to check whether he was as tall as her. There were six notches, and his mother was on the fourth. Previously, he¡¯d been on the second, but he was now at number three. his mother was still taller than him. Did each notch represent one more foot in height or build? Was his mother seven feet tall? Running his hands through his hair and sighing. He didn¡¯t think it was just his mother either, was it? He¡¯d already learned that Earth mana tended to make things larger. Clever said his sister had an Earth affinity, and she was large for Korgonda¡¯s. When Clever ate those Earth crystals, he became larger. A lot of the monsters in the caves were massive, was that because they all had an innate Earth affinity? That meant that Gem Dwellers, who had a natural Earth affinity, were much larger than average humans. He thought his father was a surface-human too, but now Dei was starting to think he was a third variant human if he was bigger than even Gem Dwellers. So far there were: Prime Humans, probably what Dei was in his previous life; Gem-Dwellers, what he was now; and whatever his dad was, larger even than his mother. Dei wondered how many there were total. Once the satchel was on his hip, Dei had to find a place to put Lani. Quickly, he tapped Jasmine (the red sword he¡¯d found) and Lani (the red helmet) together to see if Aloran (the Garden) added any sort of function to his barrier for making other armors easier to transport, but no such luck. Jasmine and Lani didn¡¯t interact at all. Instead, he decided to stick Lani and Jasmine to his left side, as his moms satchel sat on his right side, and have Fendrascora secure the two spirit weapons there with a few tendrils of blood-water. Fully geared up with Clever on his shoulder and a large roiling garden behind him, Dei moved towards what he now knew was Amaya, the spiritual chest piece. * * * Far, far above on the surface, the door to an abandoned house in the middle of the forest opened and shut behind the ragged man. He¡¯d spent a couple weeks in jail for causing a ruckus after another drunken fight. He didn¡¯t know why they kept letting him out. He¡¯d done the same song and dance so many times, he thought he should stay locked up forever at this point, but the pity in their eyes told him that¡¯d never happen. People knew what happened to him. How just last year, monsters had torn apart his family while he was out on a hunt. Nobody liked him, but why couldn¡¯t they didn¡¯t retaliate. He wished they would. At this point, his life was over. He had nothing else to live for, but one single thing kept him going¡­ A little alarm that Gods-damned Shaman gave him. Tir put an alarm on the beast that started it all. The alarm would sound if the prison was being taken apart, and the monster was still alive. Once it did that, a tracking mark would be placed on the person who touched the crystal, ensuring that no intelligent being would help the monster trapped there. Eddy didn¡¯t know why someone would rescue the monster, but he¡¯d kept vigil over it nonetheless. Frequently, he would pull it out from the drawer of his nightstand and look at it for hours as he just sat on his bed. He did so now¡­ and was shocked to see something different. It was blinking. Red. It was blinking red. He did nothing for a long moment, too stunned to see it actually activate. Then came the fury. It built now, that unquenchable rage. He quickly put on all of his old hunters gear and weapons, as gently as he could he put the blinking tracker in his pocket, turning off the alarm. It beamed directions into his head, locating his quarry. The signature was obscured slightly, but he still had a clear view and guide on where it was. It seemed whoever it was that saved the monster thought to conceal themselves, but it would do them little good in the face of a level three hundred tracking mark. Finally, he was ready in record time. Shining metal armor and sword, rations he¡¯d kept ready just in case, every tool he thought he might need. With a thought, his knotted beard caught fire and burned away. The flab he¡¯d built up in his sedentary lifestyle flexed and reworked itself into pure muscle. In moments, he was in fighting condition. Long ago, he had a Wrath affinity. After the death of his family, it evolved into the Rage affinity. It granted him power, but his mind was consumed far more than any Wrath users would. That never mattered. He let it consume his mind, because he didn¡¯t care anymore. His next thoughts would either be his death as the monster slew him as well, or he would stand upon the corpses of any who stood between him and revenge. Opening the door to his old empty cottage one last time, red overtook his vision, and Eddy was off to hunt one final time. Chapter 68 POV: Justin Tabrey Over a month after he¡¯d sent the urgent letter to Whisper, he finally felt something shift in the room. It wasn¡¯t much, just the slightest brush against the cuff of his sleeve. She was being subtle. She saw the spies watching him that even he didn¡¯t Standing up from his meditating position, he said nothing as he put up his typical concealment array. As he did so, he felt several watchers snap to attention, trying to detect any change. Trying to figure out why he was suddenly moving after over a month. It was hopeless though, they would not find Whisper unless she wanted them to. Once his concealment array was up, he finally heard her voice. ¡°Justin. It has been quite some time¡± the breeze whispered to him. ¡°I hope you are well? Your letter described no harm to you, only that you needed me to protect a potential new Slaughterer from execution. Let me hear the plan you¡¯ve no doubt created,¡± saying the last part with a bit of mirth in her voice. Justin blushed slightly. He always felt uncomfortable with her form of communication, but he paid it no mind, instead asking her a question of his own. ¡°I will, but I¡¯d like to know what held you up for so long. There is not trouble on the surface, is there?¡± Irritated, she responded ¡°Not any more than usual. They needed me to do some spying, and my advisor didn¡¯t tell me that I¡¯d even gotten a letter until a few days ago. He is punished for his intrusion into my business, but I am here now.¡± Justin winced at the word ¡°punished¡± but he didn¡¯t say anything. It was a bit of an open secret, the true role of Slaughterer Advisors, and it seemed like Whisper hadn¡¯t quite figured it out yet. She was smart and calm for a Slaughterer, but still quite battle minded and thought in simple terms. It wasn¡¯t bad, and he really liked that about her, but he wouldn¡¯t be the one to break the news to her. Instead, he simply moved on, telling her his plan. ¡°First let me explain the situation of the little Slaughterer¡­¡± he then went into describing Dei¡¯s situation, Oura¡¯s response, the parents'' theories about their son, and everything he generally knew about Dei. ¡°And so, I believe that if he is still alive, he has to have become a Slaughterer by now, as no young child in such a situation lives for this long. I believe the parents know something that I don¡¯t because they are unshakably confident that he is alive, but I didn¡¯t want to confront them until you were here, which brings me to my actual plan. Let me start from the beginning. ¡°First off, the entire act of coming to this house and searching for Dei¡¯s karma? It was a fake plan to throw the Council off. I don''t have enough of a connection to Dei to fully grasp his karmic path, but that''s why I wanted you here. You are a Slaughterer, and if he is still alive, then he will be down the path of Slaughter. If I give you everything I¡¯ve gathered about his karmic path, you will be far more suited to find him. His parents searching for him would be best, but they don''t have any Karma Skills sadly. So, Slaughterer to Slaughterer karma, can you find him? If not¡­ we may have to go to my backup plan, which I¡¯d rather not. Here, I am linking you to what little I¡¯ve found about him now through the Karmic plane¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I hate to disappoint, but my Skills are not suited to Karmic tracking. I cannot find him with what little you have here¡­ but perhaps there are others you could call upon that would be better suited?¡± He sighed ¡°Yes, but none that I trust enough. None that I trust as much as you. That''s why I built my backup plan around your Skills instead.¡± The air began to vibrate slightly around him after he complimented her, making him smile. She was still unused to positive words. He didn¡¯t comment on it though. ¡°It¡¯s simple. You¡¯re stealthy, and there just so happens to be a lightly guarded Seer¡¯s Rest in the area. If I can get Oura out of the Seer¡¯s Rest, you can use it to search for Dei. You have the parents blessing, my scattered karmic evidence, and a connection to him through the Path of the Slaughterer. If you use the Seer¡¯s Rest, I can''t imagine it taking more than an hour to find him. What do you think?¡± ¡°Smart! Absolutely!¡± she said enthusiastically, probably more excited for his kind words than impressed by his plan. It was simple, as far as plans went, but more moving parts tended to fall apart if Justin himself wasn¡¯t in direct control of them. Whisper would be the one to do the riskiest part, so he needed it to be straightforward. ¡°Alright, let''s go confront those parents about what they¡¯ve been hiding, and get to work. I¡¯ll send you a packet of information regarding all the security features surrounding the Seer¡¯s Rest, and I¡¯ll leave it to you to infiltrate. Any questions?¡± ¡°None at all sweety.¡± He never liked that nickname she¡¯d chosen for him, but he wasn¡¯t going to tell her to stop calling him that. It was harmless enough, and he knew she didn¡¯t mean anything by it. He nodded and dropped the barrier. For a moment he felt like Whisper was about to say something, but he must¡¯ve imagined it because she didn¡¯t say anything else nor send signals that she wanted to chat. * * * Justin led the two parents into their room in order to talk. The kids were sitting in the living room, looking curiously towards where Justin and the Grrata couple had turned the corner. Gor and Fou weren¡¯t going out hunting much anymore, using up favors they¡¯d saved for so long to become slight hermits until this all blew over. They still went out every now and again to stave off cabin fever, but it was harsh seeing the judging glances of others. When the three of them were in the parents bedroom, he quickly put up a barrier and got straight to the point. ¡°I know you¡¯re hiding something from me. I want to know what.¡± Both parents became more guarded, but he continued. ¡°You two have no doubt been watched by spies ever since you woke up from your respective self-induced comas. Because both of you know whatever it is you¡¯re hiding, it¡¯s likely you shared it with one another, and were eavesdropped on immediately, meaning that the rest of the Council already knows. Because I¡¯m going against the council right now, I¡¯m the only one that doesn¡¯t know whatever you¡¯re hiding, and coincidentally the only one that wants to help. Please, for your Dei¡¯s sake, tell me what it is.¡± The wind left the father as he slumped slightly, but the mother continued to glare at Justin. ¡°Honey¡­¡± Gor said. ¡°I know. I know!¡± she said, throwing her hands up. ¡°I just hate it. That he¡¯s right. I didn¡¯t think it was as serious as it was in the early days, and now I¡¯ve made a mistake and gave Oura a clue to find my boy before I can but now its TOO LATE to take it back! Fuck!¡± Saying the last part in a single breath. She refused to cry, but her eyes started to water. The situation was taking its toll on them both. ¡°You explain it¡± she told Gor, crossing her arms and looking away. Gor set his hand on her hip and pulled her closer to comfort her, then turned back to Justin. ¡°When Fou had to leave our son behind, she wiped her own memories about his location from her mind. As you probably know, the Skill she used was not very¡­ accurate, in its removal. It was crude, and ended up removing more information than was necessary. ¡°Rather than simply forgetting where he was and how to get there, she- with the exception of a few significant details that her Guardian tried hard to save- forgot almost everything about her time from the moment she left the village gates with Dei in her arms, to the moment she woke back up here. That might seem the same, but Fou hid somewhere for around two weeks. She could have been moving that entire time, but she said that she wouldn¡¯t have left him somewhere unsafe. ¡°That¡¯s important, because she had to have stayed in a singular location for a long, long time. What we first asked ourselves was this: what did she do at that time? Well, the answer came in the form of a new Skill. When she woke up, Fou had a new Love affinity Skill called Embrace. ¡°Its description is a bit esoteric, but basically Fou can choose one person and give that person a piece of her own Love affinity. The System is very vague in its wording, but we think it allows Dei to create his own Love mana, despite having no Love affinity. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°As you know, Love mana is known for its healing properties, so Fou thinks that the real function of the Skill is to heal Dei, because she cannot be there. For a little bit, we thought that was the only thing the Skill did, until Dei began sending us messages about his life.¡± Justin was surprised when he said that, but didn¡¯t let it show. ¡°It started with him sending a simple message to Fou. I think it was ¡®I miss you mom¡¯ or something along those lines. Fou said that a singular Kindness mana, imbued with the meaning Dei was trying to get across, popped through her connection to Love. We know she didn¡¯t produce that mana, as she was unable to control it, so we can only guess that Dei somehow sent that piece of mana through the connection Fou left in him, to Fou herself. ¡°How he did it isn¡¯t as important as what we¡¯ve found. I don''t know all of it, as we stopped talking about the Kindness mana when we figured we were being watched, but I do know that Dei is still alive, and still sending those messages quite frequently. If there is anything else to be found, only Fou will know.¡± Justin glanced at the woman, who¡¯d mostly recollected herself. There was a flicker of excitement even, to tell the things Dei sent to her. ¡°He¡¯s not only surviving, he¡¯s thriving. He¡¯s begun the path to Slaughter, and is almost fully grown. He¡¯s been getting smarter every day, and he was never dumb to begin with. I think he¡¯s almost level one hundred at this point, and he¡¯s gained two allies to help him along. He tells me so often of his adventures, and its¡­ impressive. What he¡¯s done in so little time. The abilities he¡¯s formed, the things he¡¯s discovered, the battles he¡¯s survived. Every month or so he describes a fight that terrifies me, that makes me think the messages will soon stop¡­ but they don¡¯t. ¡°The way he talks isn¡¯t how Slaughterers speak either. He¡¯s grounded, clever, and kind. Perhaps it''s his Kindness affinity that guided him down a more peaceful route, or perhaps it''s something I did before I had to¡­ leave him. But he¡¯s far smarter than any stories I¡¯ve heard of Slaughterers. I¡¯m just so happy that he¡¯s okay.¡± This time, Justin let his surprise show. Every Slaughterer that grew in the underground came out feral. Especially Gem Dweller Slaughterers, and their stronger natural Beast affinity compared to most other Sapient races. There was something about Dei that made him special, and Justin wanted to know badly. Born with a strong soul, confluent Skills before his first birthday, naturally intelligent. The most important and best part of what she said was his state of mind. When Justin found Dei, he would be able to converse with the boy. He¡¯d already heard about the language packet Iora implanted him with, so Dei would know Undercant, and now Justin was finding that Dei could be talked to. As he was contemplating though, Fou¡¯s facial expression flickered, and he looked at her. Smiling widely now despite her watery eyes, she said ¡°Another one. Just now, I got another one!¡± ¡°May I see it? Perhaps we can read it together.¡± Fou nodded, and a dazzling piece of Kindness mana floated between them. Fou was shielding it desperately, pushing all other types away to make sure it didn¡¯t dissipate. ¡®I wonder¡­ does she have all the previous messages still? Does she keep them?¡¯ His attention was brought to the message though, and he dropped the line of thought as it was irrelevant. ¡°Hello mom!¡± the message said. ¡°I¡¯m doing well, and I hope you are too. I just picked up this cursed helmet thingy that was filled with Wrath mana, and pulled the curse out. I¡¯m keeping it locked away for now, and don¡¯t worry! It can''t escape at all. I¡¯m saving it in case an enemy I can''t fight attacks me, so I can release it on them. I think the curse had almost three hundred thousand Wrath mana before I ate it, but really! I have it all under control. Ummm other than that, nothing really. I love you! Tell dad too!¡± The Fou looked worried by the end of the message, and Gor let out a single chuckle before Fou glared at him, making him quiet. ¡°Justin, please find my boy as fast as you can. I¡­ don¡¯t think he¡¯s as smart as I assumed at first.¡± ¡°Yea yea¡­ the curse or whatever¡­ is that highly concentrated Kindness mana, or am I going crazy?¡± he asked, baffled. ¡°Oh¡­ Oh! His mana storage Skill evolved from the curse!¡± she said excitedly. ¡°It was only six-times concentrated before, now its¡­ I think thirty six?¡± ¡®This boy¡­ has evolved Concentration twice? The option only appears on a Mana Storage Skills second evolution. Does that mean his Storage Skill is level three hundred, and the boy is not even level one hundred? He will have a monstrous class¡­ I¡¯m almost tempted to leave him to his Slaughterer path, simply to see where it takes him. Maybe I will figure the situation out, then leave him to his own devices.¡¯ ¡°Well¡­ That¡¯s all I wanted to know. All of this will help me immensely in talking to him, especially knowing exactly what he¡¯s said. No matter if he¡¯s smart, he will be cautious if he¡¯s survived this long, and it will get him talking easier if I can prove I am a friend to you two. Thank you for sharing this with me. This is also where I leave you two, as I¡¯ve gathered enough Karmic evidence to begin my search for him. It may take a while, but I¡¯m quite close to finding him.¡± As he finished his sentence, both parents wrapped him in a hug, and he found himself lifted off the ground by the two rather large people. He was slightly uncomfortable with the contact, as he was only doing this because it was the objectively correct course of action. He didn¡¯t think he needed praise. When they put him down, they both seemed much better than they were before. More hopeful. It was easy to have empty words that he would find their son, but now he was about to set out to actually find him, and they knew that their nightmare would soon come to an end. Perhaps not as quickly as they thought, because he still needed to make it to the capital and commit a few crimes, but it would not be much longer. Not much longer at all. * * * Shortly thereafter, he was walking away from the Grrata¡¯s residence towards the city gate. He thought everything was clear-cut from this point forward, but his Foresight affinity had other plans. ¡®Taking this next step is unwise. The risk of failure, the risk that Oura is correct, is too high for the potential reward. The smart thing to do is to return to the Council and admit fault.¡¯ The warning confused him, as it only came now, but he got it. Previously, he was acting within the law. He was not banned from searching for Dei, and they would not be able to get him in trouble. He could only gain by finding Dei first. Now, though, it was much more. If he broke into the Seer¡¯s Rest, and was incorrect, he would be demoted at best, considered a rogue Shaman at worst. Unlike most other Shamans, with the suppressed emotions of Gem Dwellers, Justin feared such a fate. Justin was no longer doing the smart thing, but he still felt it was the right thing. That was so¡­ contradictory. His entire life, the smart thing was to do the right thing. He needed to succeed in society, so he performed his duties well, protected others, and was recognized for it. Now, he was going directly against his duties, but¡­ it felt right. He considered himself a pragmatist, and the correct course of action to do now was to give up. It was in his best interest to involve himself no further. Yet, the Grrata¡¯s needed help. Dei needed help. One more Slaughterer wouldn¡¯t offset the loss of a Shamanic Councilmember though, and Justin was forced to recognize this fact. Standing frozen in the middle of the street, Justin was faced with the very first disconnect with Foresight. For the first time in his entire life, he didn¡¯t agree with what it said. So what should he do? It would be smart to stop here. Smart to leave the Grrata¡¯s to their fate. If ¡°Not worth it¡± could be summed up in a single decision, it would be this one. Yet¡­ he couldn¡¯t. Something deep within him, some part he didn¡¯t know was there, rebelled against the very idea of giving up. Of letting this family suffer their fate. That part of him encouraged Justin to do something positively stupid. He could quell it easily. It was only the slightest ember of a flame. But he wouldn¡¯t. Resolute, he stepped forward once more. What was intelligence if he couldn¡¯t use it for what he wanted? What was life if it was only regrets? Justin would follow what he wanted to do, not what some affinity pushed him towards. The ember within him roared to life at his internal declaration, and Justin felt a core part of who he was became clear. [Affinity Gained: Justice] Chapter 69 ¡®Nice¡¯ Dei thought after completing his message to his mom while walking. ¡®It''s a lot easier to engrave a whole bunch of information into a single point of Kindness when I compress it. It actually uses thirty six Kindness mana, I suppose, but thirty six unconcentrated mana wouldn¡¯t be that easily readable. I¡¯ll probably stick to either MP or six-times concentrated mana for regular messages though.¡¯ It would be quite some time before he could reach Amaya because his [Growing Pains] Skill was disabled, and he couldn¡¯t just flat out sprint everywhere. ¡®Actually, now would be a good time to test something out.¡¯ ¡°Hey Fendrascora¡± Dei said ¡°are you able to carry me and run really quickly?¡± ¡°Carry you¡­ yes¡­ Run quickly? Not at all. My body is very heavy, and I tire quickly.¡± That was about what Dei thought she would say. Previously, when he had to slow down, it was because Fendrascora was tired. She tried frequently to put as much weight on Dei as possible in order to lighten her own load, but her main body was still far too large to move anywhere quickly. It wasn¡¯t the garden either, all those plants, rocks, and bugs had to be maybe three or four percent of her total weight. ¡°Okay, well I want to move faster but my soul is too strained to do so right now. Let''s find a way to get you mobile. I have a Skill that lets me grant others one of my Skills, let me give you the one that usually heals my muscles and see if it works. You okay with that?¡± He almost just gave her the Skill immediately, but realized it would be better to check with her first. ¡°Yes of course! I¡¯m always happy to help.¡± ¡°Alright, here we go.¡± Mentally selecting his first Outer Skill ever: [How About a Demonstration?], Dei pushed his [Growing Pains] Skill towards Fendrascora. The process felt similar to his [Astral Projection], where the Skill wiggled around in his soul for a while before a mobile ¡°portal¡± of it was sent somewhere else. Off, towards Fendrascora. The main part of the spell still resided in his soul, but the gateway to it was gone. He could no longer access it for the duration of it being somewhere else, but he could always recall it. ¡°Alright¡± he told Fendrascora ¡°Its a passive, so unless you turn it off, it should just be working. Pick me up and try to carry us forward, I¡¯ll give you the instructions as we go.¡± Following his orders, Dei was lifted off the ground. It felt like his entire body had become lighter, as the weight of her was perfectly distributed around every part of him. Next, the five legs that carried Fendrascora¡¯s peripheral body had a short burst of speed, before she wobbled and quickly stopped. ¡°Sadly, no. I feel the Skill trying to work, but it''s not compatible with my body. Its doing something similar to what I do to you, and giving me organic energy. Because I don''t need organic energy and organic healing doesn''t work on me, the Skill fails¡± Dei was pretty sure she was talking about ATP or something, but it didn¡¯t really matter. All that mattered was the failure. Still, there were other options to go through. Recanting his [Growing Pains] Skill, Dei was more hopeful for the second option: [Homeostasis]. It wasn¡¯t a Skill that was as immediately useful as Growing Pains, but it was shown to be much more adaptable. He sent her his copy of Homeostasis, and gave her a moment to activate it. ¡°Alright¡± he said ¡°let''s try this again. Don''t immediately give yourself a burst of speed, but slowly increase how fast you¡¯re going.¡± He was still in the air, so he didn¡¯t need to be picked up again. He swung around repeatedly though, and he soon felt her accelerating. Clever latched onto his shoulder almost painfully. ¡°It¡¯s working! Just a little bit, but it¡¯s working!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°Okay, good! Now we need to work on your form. If you¡¯re carrying me, Fang, and Clever, we can''t keep swaying like this. Do you know what a millipede is?¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°Okay, this is a millipede and how it moves¡± he said as he sent her a mental image of millipedes. ¡°Oh! Like the legs of a Riverbed Skitterer!¡± she said and immediately started changing shape. Rather than be a big orb, she turned into a red worm with hundreds of legs on each side. The innermost part of her was still clear as it was filled with water, while her outer shell and legs were all red as his blood. She placed him on the front part of her body, right around where the millipedes head would be, then began to move. He stood up on her head so he could put his feet on the ground in order to sense vibrations, but was struggling to read it through her legs. Instead, he had her form two ¡°stilts¡± so to speak under his legs. It was two tubes of blood directly beneath him that perpetually connected to the ground, that way the vibrations would go up through the blood for him to read. Because her body was liquid as well, it constantly shifted to the terrain it sat on, giving him an almost perfect view of the vibrations around, that way he could still direct them. The ride was now much more stable, and he noticed it was faster than the way she was walking before. This was a more efficient way to move. While she wasn¡¯t as fast as he would be normally if he were carrying them at his top-sprinting speed, it was only a matter of time until his [Homeostasis] Skill really gave her the oomph in energy recovery and balance she needed to go quicker. With her longer strides, she would probably be faster than even him, unless his Physical stat was higher than hers. Actually, that was a good question: did they share stats? They were very well attuned to each other, so he¡¯d have to check. Perhaps he didn¡¯t notice because when they first attuned to each other, she had absurdly low stats. Now though, he quickly checked her level. [Corrupted Damaged Crippled Embodiment of the Flow - Level 72] The ordeal with Lani gave her a ton of experience, so she¡¯d shot up in levels again. He did want to know her stats though, so sent out a request with Identify for permission, and she granted it to him. [Physical: 22 Mental: 25 Spiritual: 37 Magical: 28] For her level, those stats were¡­ not good. Nonetheless, they weren¡¯t as bad as before. He was also pretty sure she wasn¡¯t ¡°allocating¡± stats right now, just rediscovering how she¡¯d allocated them before. He asked her, and she confirmed that her stats were just coming back in the same order she¡¯d earned them previously. What was interesting to Dei was that Mental wasn''t her highest stat. He knew that in her previous form, as an elemental, she was a lot smarter than her brothers. Mental built on what was already there though, so she was perhaps born with a much higher intelligence than the average elemental, which was interesting to see. Physical was less necessary because it was harder to deal physical damage to a water elemental, if he had to guess. Instead, she had to protect against magical damage, so she had a high Spiritual stat, and had to face off against other magically intangible beings, so she had a high Magical stat. ¡°Hey Fendrascora, did you get a boost to your stats when we were attuning to each other?¡± ¡°Umm, yes I think so? I thought I was regaining my Physical stats faster than expected, but my stats weren¡¯t actually going up, was that you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, thats what I¡¯m trying to figure out. You said it was only Physical?¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yep! Just Physical.¡± ¡°How much did you gain?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I didn¡¯t really measure it at the time and my stats have changed since. Maybe ten to twenty though?¡± ¡°Thank you, that¡¯s all I wanted to know¡± he told her, then went back to directing her movements. Despite her lower Physical stat, she was absolutely faster than him by this point because of her much wider gait. He did notice her slowing down at times, but she would speed back up after several minutes. He wanted to see if he gained any Physical stats from her, but wasn¡¯t sure how to tell. If she earned ten to twenty, and the rate of conversion was the same, then he¡¯d earn three to seven. Not much at all, but important in verifying that he earned stats. While continuing to direct Fendrascora, he gently sent a small piece of his mind to scan his soul. Actively using High Mind strained him a bit, but as long as he went slowly, it wasn¡¯t terrible. Back when he first earned a [Meditation] Skill, it involved balancing out his soul and covering his weaknesses. He no longer had the Skill, but he still remembered the visions it gave him of the different parts of his soul. Physical, Mental, and Magical in balance, with his Spiritual stat to tie it all together It was harder to find now that the different sections weren¡¯t highlighted to him, but not impossible. His soul was not a tangibly visible thing after all, it was all about visualization, and he shifted his view around a few times to help enunciate the different sections. When he could comfortably pick out the Physical aspect of his soul, he studied it closely and compared it to the other parts. What he found was that it was just a bit more efficient than the others. When his stats were unbalanced, one part was larger than the other. Right now, it seemed to Dei that his Physical aspect had not grown in proportion to the donated Physical stat points, but started¡­ glowing? Or something along those lines. He might be imagining the effect though. The only way to check was to check on his soul during a fight. His [Cruelty of the Slaughter] achievement granted him an eighty percent boost to his Physical stat effectiveness when he was in combat, and Dei thought that¡¯s what this was too. Not necessarily extra stats, but his and Fendrascora¡¯s souls were helping each other become more efficient. After figuring that out, he was about to merge his minds back together in order to decrease the strain on his soul, when he had a bit of a nagging sensation somewhere else in his soul. He let the view of his soul fall back into the way he normally saw it, as a collection of all his experiences, and searched where the irritant came from. He found it at the familiar anchor point of his [Pandora¡¯s Box]. Ever since it¡¯d become [(Sealed)] rather than [(Contained)], it was a bit harder to find it, because it no longer glowed with mana. Instead, he had to go to its anchor point and follow the tether to the full Skill itself. He appeared before it now, that familiar wooden chest with the latch on the top. There were four latches on the side, three with Null mana and one with a sectioned off portion of Wrath mana that he was trying to turn into Null mana. Willing himself to look into the box, he was met with a concerning sight. The curse was still violently slamming itself against the walls, completely tireless, but it wasn¡¯t even even leaving scratches. That wasn¡¯t the concerning part, no, it was the reaction it played with other mana types. He found that it was attacking everything else at the same time as slamming into the wall, and he found that they were transforming into the curse-type Wrath mana. All the other Wrath mana, the stuff that he¡¯d had in his box before, had easily fallen in line with the curse, becoming imbued with its meaning, but opposing mana types were resisting to varying degrees. Soul wasn¡¯t putting up a real fight, so it was the fastest to go. Fortitude on the other hand resisted hard, digging in its heels and pressing back against the Wrath as Kindness hid behind it, but it was being chipped away. Kindness didn¡¯t just stand idly by though, striking out whenever it found the chance to. The Wrath mana recoiled with every strike, but he never really saw Wrath mana convert to Kindness mana, just everything else was converted to Wrath. He was so fascinated and horrified at the process that he didn¡¯t stop it right away. When he got his wits about him though, he quickly set up walls using Sectioning to cut the Wrath mana off from the rest of the box, and checked how much was left of everything else. When he first sealed the curse away, his box looked like this: [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8250/10920 Wrath 981/10920 Kindness 532/10920 Soul 824/10920 Fortitude 300/10920 [NULL] ] Now though, it looked like this: [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8321/10920 Wrath 968/10920 Kindness 494/10920 Soul 801/10920 Fortitude 300/10920 [NULL] ] It wasn¡¯t a huge difference, but that was only in like, an hour? Or thereabouts. Once the Wrath was fully sectioned off, the other mana types unraveled from each other. It was incredible to see the latent will behind affinities like that in play, showing that these mana types weren¡¯t just unthinking forces of nature. They were thinking forces of nature. Checking on the hundred points of Wrath mana that were sectioned off previously, he was sad to see that even it was infected with the curse. It seemed that any Wrath mana contained within the box, even if it was in a different part, wanted to be imbued with the curses meaning. The other mana types gave at least token resistance, so they could easily fight its influence even through the walls of the box, but for now all of his Wrath mana would be cursed, until he fully expended it. He didn¡¯t know what that would change, but now was the best time he had to check. Bringing his mind fully back together, he opened his eyes and asked Fendrascora to get him a bug of some kind, not from her garden. Using the lowest powered Wrath Identify he could, he hit the spider¡­ beetle¡­ thing. Immediately he noticed an internal difference. As the Wrath mana flowed out of his box, his mind stuttered, and he was hit with the overwhelming feeling of hatred towards the world around him. The bug that was hit by the Wrath had its Spiritual defenses obliterated, probably more from the thirty six concentration of the Wrath mana than the curse though. He wasn¡¯t really interested in the bug, so he didn¡¯t scan it for any information. He just wanted to see if it would change the bugs'' behavior. It squirmed around a bit in Fendrascora¡¯s hands, but nothing came of it. The bug wasn¡¯t of the camouflage or stealth variety, so his Identify wasn¡¯t very aggressive with its soul. It just slowly repaired its own defenses, and nothing else came of it. If he wanted to check whether other things would change their behavior in response to the cursed mana, he¡¯d have to either hit something smarter with it, like the Praerel, or one of his allies, which he wasn¡¯t willing to do. Even if they were fine with it, he didn¡¯t want to attack his friends with a new and unknown effect that could potentially be harmful long term. Telling Fendrascora to release the bug back into one of the mini microbiomes similar to the one they¡¯d pulled it from, they continued running towards Amaya. * * * It was a long journey, and Dei¡¯s thoughts drifted to an oddity he¡¯d noticed. His [Call for Help] Skill had leveled up after he saved Lani, but it didn¡¯t notify him of Lani¡¯s plight in the first place. Now that he thought about it, shouldn¡¯t he be receiving signals frequently, from all over the cave systems? Nature was brutal, and he¡¯d noticed how animals were smarter here. They would understand when death was coming for them, so his [Call for Help] should be going haywire perpetually. While he was grateful that desperation wasn¡¯t constantly flooding his mind, why wasn¡¯t it? Dei could only imagine that there was some further criteria that dictated whether someone was ¡°worthy¡± of his help, a criteria that the System either couldn¡¯t or wouldn¡¯t show him. Looking back though, he couldn¡¯t find it. The reasoning behind it all. At first he thought the other criteria for sensing somethings cry for help was whether it wanted his help or not, essentially: whether it would be grateful. After all, Clever and Fendriscora were both good friends now, not bitter monsters. But that couldn¡¯t be the case, as he was able to sense the Lorpee¡¯s desperation, and he knew they wanted him dead. It was like there was something guiding him down a path it wanted him to go¡­ and there was only one culprit. The affinity Kindness itself. If he was right, then Kindness was intentionally manipulating his path to guide him in a certain direction, and he scowled at the thought. Were there others? Other creatures along his path that he could have helped, but Kindness deemed them unnecessary? Why? He wanted answers immediately, but didn¡¯t know how to get them. Even if he could, his soul was still too strained to withstand the presence of an affinity. When he was better though, he would try and meet with Kindness once more. How, he didn¡¯t know, but it might be as simple as thinking about it and meditating, or something similar. He tried to reason out why Kindness would do such a selfish thing, borderline angry at its intrusion on his path, but Kindness must have a reason. It was the embodiment of Kindness, he was almost positive that it would represent those values above all else, so how was it kind to ignore those in need? Perhaps that wasn¡¯t what it was going for though. Perhaps the affinity was trying to protect him from things above his paygrade, in turn being kind to him. Looking back, [Call for Help] didn¡¯t warn him of the [Nightstalking Devourer], Kindness didn¡¯t even tell him where the monster was when it had taken one of the people from his village. It didn¡¯t give him a warning of the wife''s desperation at seeing her husband grabbed by the monster and losing sight of it. Kindness¡­ didn¡¯t want him to find the monster. It didn¡¯t want him to pursue it, and perhaps it didn¡¯t want him to out himself as intelligent. Wouldn¡¯t that have led to his party getting killed though? If he had not found it, would they all have died? [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 7) -> (Level 8)] [+5 Spiritual] Despite the amazing notification, he couldn¡¯t rejoice in it. An uneasy churning persisted in his gut, knowing that he was actively being manipulated by something he considered a core part of his being. If he wanted answers, he could only wait. Chapter 70 [Since the Fall: 10/22/809] As Dei¡¯s group closed in on the third piece of equipment, Dei¡¯s guard raised more and more. Something about the way the cave system around the piece of equipment was shaped bothered him, so Dei told Fendrascora to stop for a moment. He didn¡¯t want to repeat his previous mistake of ignoring a scratch in his mind and falling straight into another trap. Jumping down from her back, he got an even clearer view on the area Dei long suspected that the way the cave system was organized was too intentional to be natural. Fendrascora also told him of The Mother, a being which claimed to be the mind of the entire planet. If Dei had to guess, this Mother somehow controlled the ways the caves were organized, turning them into what he saw around him. It was important that there was intelligent design behind the shaping of the caves, because it was this design that was now interrupted. In a wide, circular area around Amaya, the chest piece, the design of the caves seemed to glitch. Looking through his [Tremor Sense] showed that most of the cave system wasn¡¯t necessarily uniform, but it had the same design to it. Like the architecture style of a massive building. Sure, the rooms were all different, but the decor was the same. Now, though, the caves weren¡¯t nearly the same. The Mother, if she was the one that decided how the caves were created, tended towards horizontal surfaces, making it easier for landwalking creatures to move. It was different for the massive underground river, but that wasn¡¯t important right now. What he saw now was¡­ not horizontal surfaces. The new pattern of the cave system surrounding Amaya¡¯s imprisonment seemed like a hundred different mish-mashed patterns slammed together. Caves ending in abrupt flat walls, perfectly vertical semi-circular tunnels, intersections that were completely disconnected from everything else. It was unnerving to say the least. In the very center, disconnected from everything else, was a blurry vibrational void in the shape of a half-buried chest piece. They were still a ways away from the circular disruption of the natural cave formations, so Dei told Fendrascora to take them even closer. Slowing to a stop right on the edge, Dei jumped down to investigate the clean change in caves. In front of them, the cave abruptly ended, and another one began. The floor of this second cave was around two feet lower than the one Dei and his group came from, with not even the slightest slope to indicate a lowering in elevation. Gingerly, he brought his finger out to the line where he saw the disrupted cave system begin, careful to not bring it any further than he needed to. When he brought his finger over the line and into the disruption¡­ Nothing happened. Slowly, he pushed his hand further and further in, until he was up to his forearm in the second cave system. Quickly yanking it out, he tried seeing if anything changed, but nothing jumped out at him. The cave systems were completely silent. He pondered for a moment. Should he keep going? Or come back to this spiritual piece of equipment later? When Dei first realized that the crystals were laced with tracking marks, he told himself that he would have a week and a half at least until someone found him, because that''s how long it would take to travel from his home village to his current location. It was true that it was highly unlikely for his pursuer to find him before then, but the time frame after ¡°a week and a half¡± was unsure. Every day after ¡°a week and a half¡± was a gamble, with potentially his life on the line. Dei wanted to be done with this area before that time frame, but it was already almost up. On the twelfth day of the month, the tracking mark was placed on him, which meant the twenty third was the final day for his self-imposed deadline, and it was already the twenty first. Dei groaned in exasperation. If he wanted to get all four pieces and get back to Aloran before the twenty third, he couldn¡¯t just circle back. He couldn¡¯t even wait for his soul to heal! He¡¯d have to do the run for the rest of Alorans set in one go, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t make it in time. More than just Alora, Dei still had multiple things he had to quickly finish, involving a pair of demon-kin and a once-dangerous Spiritual Frog that had almost killed him on the first day outside of his bubble. Dei had never forgotten that, and he never would. Not until that frog was dead. While it might be smarter to wait for his soul to fully rejuvenate, Dei knew that it would be dangerous to take longer. All of Alorans equipment so far hadn¡¯t been directly lethal, only dangerous when he overstepped his boundaries. The memories he got from Lani- the helmet- about Amaya- the chest piece- also seemed to think that Amaya was more of a reactive person than an active person. She didn¡¯t attack things unless in retaliation. It bothered him that he couldn¡¯t wait and be more prepared for his confrontation with Amaya, but ultimately it would be safer to get it done fast, and he already had a good idea of her abilities, none of which involved direct attacks. Even in Lani¡¯s memories, they could never get Amaya to form direct offensive attacks. It almost seemed that flat-out harming something was antithesis to her being, perhaps as her purpose in Alorans formation. Whatever the reason, Dei knew that she couldn¡¯t just attack him, so he wasn¡¯t in as much danger as he was with Lani and Jasmine. That didn¡¯t mean he would throw caution to the wind, just that it wasn¡¯t a massive risk to face her here, while it would be a massive risk to wait. As he decided on the course of action, he conversed with his group, updating them on everything he saw and everything he knew about Amaya in general. Amaya was clever and tricky, with the Greed, Rebound, Enhancement, and Fusion affinities, so that''s what they would have to watch out for. ¡°For what reason are we assembling these pieces again? They seem quite the dangerous hassle,¡± Fang asked. ¡°Because when I was first brought down to these caves, Aloran protected and saved me. I want to do something to repay that and help him back.¡± ¡°Did he ask you to do this?¡± ¡°No? He hardly said anything to me at all.¡± ¡°Did he expect you to do this?¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°Then why are you¡­ doing this? What compels you to ¡®help¡¯ him, as you are so determined to do? Does it benefit you in any way?¡± Fang asked, genuinely confused. ¡°Because I want to? I don''t get the question.¡± ¡°I don''t get that. Why do you want to? It seems as if this entire debacle is a hindrance on you entirely! It''s not only dangerous and unrewarding, but you¡¯re actively going to become weaker at the end. If what you say is correct, you are going to lose your other sword at the end of this! That sword is, dare I say, sturdier than even I! Little could ever damage it, and it is something of a legendary artifact, yet you are going to give it up for no reason! I just don¡¯t get it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just reciprocity? He saved my life, should I not be grateful?¡± Dei asked, trying to understand why Fang was getting so heated about this. ¡°Reciprocity¡­ Reciprocity. I don¡¯t get that word. I don¡¯t understand it¡­. I don¡¯t¡­¡± Fang said, still frustrated. Dei didn¡¯t think she was mad per se, but she was tense. Being kind was so clear to him¡­ ¡®Ah, but there¡¯s the issue, isn¡¯t it? Fang is a plant, she doesn¡¯t understand human emotions because she doesn¡¯t have the connections to the virtues and vices. Since humans have a Kindness affinity, reciprocity is built into us, but Fang is a plant. She has no sense of Justice, Kindness, or Love. She can¡¯t understand companionship or relational bonds¡­¡¯ This entire time, Dei was seeing Fang as another of his friends, without even considering that she likely did not see him as the same. She physically can¡¯t understand his point of view, because it¡¯s not coded into her like it is to him He almost wanted to ignore it and move on, but he had to ask. ¡°Fang, once you have enough Soul mana from me, what do you intend to do?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Confused at the change of topic, she responded ¡°What do you mean? Whatever I want.¡± ¡°Yes, but will you continue along with me?¡± ¡°No? Of course not. Why would I continue on with you if you serve no purpose?¡± Dei sensed Fendrascora and Clever wince at the same time as Dei¡¯s shoulders slumped. ¡°I think I get it. Different beings have different emotions and goals. For me, Aloran is a friend, and so are you. Since you both are my friends, I would do things at my detriment to help you, and I would want to continue holding a friendship with you, even if it wasn¡¯t monetarily beneficial to me. You can¡¯t understand that though, because you don''t have a connection to Kindness, or one of the other Virtues that helps with thinking like that.¡± Fang was silent for a while, processing what he was saying. ¡°Explain it to me.¡± ¡°Explain what?¡± ¡°Virtues. Kindness. Explain them. I hold a connection to Sloth, as all plants do, and I understand the logical use of Vices, but every time I hear of you deepening your connection to a Virtue it seems¡­ nonsensical. What is the logic behind it?¡± Dei sighed. ¡°I cant explain that, Fang. There¡¯s no way to explain it. Look, sometimes I can glean information from studying individual pieces of mana. I¡¯ll give you a point of Fortitude and Kindness mana, and you can study those.¡± He said, quickly Sectioning off and sending over the two individual points. He sensed the frustration in Fang at being unable to understand Dei¡¯s reasoning, and he felt the same. Though it was hard to process, she physically could not feel companionship towards him. Dei likened it to when people kept reptiles in his previous world. While the reptiles couldn¡¯t feel love or gratitude, the humans still loved them nonetheless. Even if Fang didn¡¯t consider him a friend, he would watch out for her and make sure she was okay for as long as she was under his care. When she wanted to part ways, he would make sure to plant her somewhere she could flourish and be safe. He sighed. The thought of leaving one of his new friends behind was just¡­ sad to him. He was sure he¡¯d make it back to society somehow and make new friends, but those he cared about right now were few and far between. Glancing at Clever, he asked ¡°You like me, right buddy?¡± ¡°Yes! Love you!¡± He said happily, rubbing his head against Dei¡¯s cheek from his spot on Dei¡¯s shoulder. That made Dei smile, and he pet his little friend. ¡°What about you Fendrascora, do you understand why I¡¯m doing this?¡± He asked, though he knew the answer based on her memories. ¡°Yes. While I¡¯m not a Sapient Race as I don''t have a connection to all the Virtues and Vices, Embodiments are still connected to a few. Kindness is one.¡± ¡°What are the others?¡± Dei asked. ¡°It differs for all of us, but I personally am connected to Justice, Kindness, Patience, Greed, Envy, and Gluttony.¡± ¡°I see¡­ that¡¯s still a well-rounded set of feelings, though quite mild. Things like Wrath and Love tend to spike ones emotions.¡± Fendrascora sent back a mental nod ¡°Yes, from the messages you send, I imagine that your emotions are much more¡­ intense. Despite my natural affinity to Envy though, I do not envy you. I enjoy the peace of my mind.¡± He wanted to ask Clever too, but didn¡¯t think he would actually know. Fendrascora knew her own natural affinities because The Mother directly told her, and it didn¡¯t seem like Fang really knew hers at all, just the logic behind Vices. Ultimately, it didn¡¯t really matter to him what Clever had. As long as he thought they were friends, Dei was happy. Getting back to the task at hand after their little side-fiasco, Dei brought his attention to the sphere where Amaya was. With Fendrascora¡¯s permission, he was placed upon the back of her peripheral body once more, and they walked towards the messed-up cave system. ¡°Alright, brace for anything!¡± he sent to the others, getting confirmation from each of them as Fendrascora carried them across the threshold into the disjointed caves. [You have entered the Convergence of Geometry] The notification popped up in front of him, and he immediately told Fendrascora to back out as they had to revise their plans. When they were outside of the Convergence, Dei quickly reworked it all with his group. Convergences tended to have monsters around them, so now they had to worry about something other than Amaya attacking them. More than that, when Dei sensed the vibrations in the Convergence, he realized that his outer view of it was improper. When he glimpsed the inside of the Convergence, the caves were much differently shaped. For whatever reason, the vibrations were not traveling how they normally should in the convergence and gave him inaccurate information, until he took a step in. The caves on the inside were still weirdly shaped, but easier to move around in. ¡°Okay guys. Basically, we see how strong the monsters are and potentially work our way to the center. If they¡¯re too strong, we run. Yea?¡± Again they said they understood it, and they moved back into the convergence. Now though, he walked on the ground with his own two feet, leading the way in front so that he could face any monsters that came at them, rather than risk Fendrascora getting hurt. He¡¯d withdrawn Homeostasis from her as well because she no longer needed it to move around, and re-activated it. He might need the healing, and it would help him adjust to any unexpected developments. It was good that he¡¯d reactivated Homeostasis, because the moment he stepped across the threshold, the world literally spun around him instantly, and he was now facing ninety degrees to the left of the direction he¡¯d originally faced. Almost immediately he lost his balance, but Fendrascora held him up, making sure he was alright. When he was rebalanced, he saw that now the entire world outside of the Geometry Convergence was disjointed and wrong to his Tremor Sense, while the inside looked¡­ still odd, but continuous. Now that he knew what he was working with, he could plan out where to go. It was strange though, Dei couldn¡¯t see monsters at all with his Tremor Sense. Was it possible that there were no Geometry Monsters? It was true that the affinity was unusual¡­ but surely not impossible to take advantage of. Life flourished everywhere. There were sparse few plants around the cave, so he knew it was possible for life to exist. He¡¯d just have to keep an eye out. Clever said that he, too, had significant trouble with the transition between the normal world and the Geometry convergence, as the flow of heat in the air abruptly changed. Fang was unbothered, but Fendrascora cried out in glee as her EXP shot up from simply walking into this Convergence. It was such a wildly different experience that it was finally enough to push her past her first evolutionary threshold. [Corrupted Damaged Careful Embodiment of the Flow - Level 117] And not by a small margin either. The ¡°Crippled¡± adjective was replaced with ¡°Careful,¡± meaning that she could now leave Dei¡¯s body without dying if he managed to find another source of flowing water. That was good because he didn¡¯t want a repeat of the Lani situation, where he dragged her somewhere that only he was built to survive. ¡°Everyone fully adjusted?¡± Dei asked, once more getting yeses all around. Finally making some progress after being stuck outside of the convergence for an hour, he began to note the different oddities of the convergence. For one, the floor and walls were just barely stretched out wrong, making the tunnel longer than it should be As he watched the outside world with Tremor Sense, he saw that he was not traveling as objectively far as he would normally be. The area inside was bigger than the area outside. After walking a distance, he took a left and once more nearly fell on his ass as the world reoriented itself to his Tremor Sense, making him now completely vertical. ¡®Ugh. I think I¡¯m gonna throw up.¡¯ Slowly getting back to his feet and seeing that Clever was struggling too, it frustrated him how easily he was being completely debilitated, and not even by a monster! He¡¯d fought monsters hundreds of levels above him, swarms of creatures, he was wearing the skin of a creature that looked straight out of the Cretaceous period, yet he couldn¡¯t walk forward in a weirdly shaped tunnel. When he was once more adjusted, he started walking forwards again but Fendrascora stopped him. ¡°Fang says she senses something. She told me to stop you while she searched around.¡± He scoured the entire tunnel but nothing really popped out to him¡­ something did bother him though,but he couldn¡¯t pinpoint what, and he didn¡¯t sense any vibrations from movement, other than Dei himself and his group. Luckily, fang quickly spoke up. ¡°There is a magical signature in the wall forward and to the left¡± she said, beaming the exact distance into his head. He didn¡¯t see or sense anything, but he trusted her to be correct. ¡°Got any suggestion of what to do?¡± He asked ¡°I am unsure. I specialize in manipulating the emotions of others. Perhaps I can force it to panic and show itself? I don¡¯t believe we should run, as it does not seem particularly powerful.¡± ¡°Well, as good a plan as any. Go for it.¡± Half a beat later, the wall in front of him and to the left rapidly expanded outwards, like a balloon being inflated. With his Soul Sight, he observed that a soul exited the wall, but he was only able to get the general outline of it, as it was quite blurry. Physically, he saw no body at all, but he quickly cast a Wrath-powered Identify, fighting through the wave of hatred that flowed through him the moment it was cast. The spiritual defenses of the creature fell immediately, and its blurry soul shape became much clearer for a time. Ignoring that a moment, he tried to glean what the hell he was looking at. [Trosk - Level 65 Trosks are unique creatures composed entirely of mana, taking on the properties of whatever mana type they are formed from. They tend to be harmless filter feeders that actively avoid fighting whenever possible, absorbing and sustaining themselves on their chosen mana type. This particular Trosk is formed of Geometric Mana, giving it a more angular shape and allowing for it to manipulate the shapes of objects] ¡®Composed entirely of mana, the one thing I can''t sense! What are the chances that I¡¯m attacked by my only weakness in an environment that is already actively working against me. At least it says they avoid fights.¡¯ He watched it crawl out of the wall, and he was now able to get a better look at its shape. It looked kind of like Gargeth, the Body Melder he¡¯d met after killing the Wraith. There was a central orb to it with four tentacles that held it up, but the tentacles also looked mildly crystalline in shape, with sharp angles and edges all along it. The central part was perfectly spherical, but the limbs were spikey. Once it was free of the wall, the Trosk paused for a second and he thought it was looking at him. Contrary to its description though, the Trosk ran straight towards him, whipping its limbs at his head. ¡®This Convergence is bullshit.¡¯ Chapter 71 Dei ducked under the Trosks arm, trying to reason out why it would attack him in the first place as he brought his fists up to guard his head. He was positive that it would count as an ¡°Intangible Enemy,¡± meaning that his [Void Walker] Achievement would let him punch it, but he genuinely didn¡¯t know why it was attacking him in the first place. ¡°Something odd is going on with its emotions¡± Fang quickly sent in a packet of information. ¡°It switched from panicked to enraged. I think the curse in your Identify spread to the Trosk.¡± ¡®Ah¡¯ he thought, feeling apprehensive to kill it. If it was attacking him, then he thought it would be okay to defend himself, but now he¡¯d basically forced it to attack. It wasn¡¯t even a high level, so there was no real reason to do so for EXP. He¡¯d wait a while and see if the Trosks soul managed to heal itself and fight off the curse. In that time, he would let it hit him in order to find a way to resist whatever it did. While this monster was low-leveled, that didn¡¯t mean the other Geometric enemies would be, so he had to try and form a defense against them now. When it tried to hit him a second time, he didn¡¯t fully dodge, allowing it to glancingly strike his arm. It was honestly not very fast, so it was relatively easy to plan how it would hit him. The limb bounced off of the arm he used to block, and he felt the Geometric mana enter him. The strangest sensation spread throughout his arm. He didn¡¯t necessarily move it, but it felt like the entire world moved around his arm. He watched his arm extend from his body, but the muscles still felt tense. He realized that the Trost had extended the space between his forearm and biceps Letting his arm relax, he saw that it curled backwards unnaturally, which looked weird but didn¡¯t actually hurt. After a few seconds, the space returned back to normal, and his arm was completely unharmed. He raised his eyebrow at the Trosk, but it didn¡¯t show any indication of understanding his skepticism. Dei wondered what the Trosk was even trying to do when it did that. Rather than strike him again, he saw it reach into the ground beneath his foot, and felt it expand quickly. Not that quickly though, so he just took a step to the side, off the expanding ball of earth. ¡®Is it going to explode?¡¯ he wondered, immediately backing up a lot further. While walking backwards, he accidentally stepped back over the threshold into the previous cave, and his Tremor Sense was rescrambled, disorienting him hard. Again, he almost fell, but this time Fendrascora caught him and lifted him off the ground. Without his feet on the ground, it was much easier to focus on the Trosk. Despite what he thought though, the ground the Trosk was expanding didn¡¯t actually explode. It just distended a bit, then returned back to its original shape. He was flabbergasted. What was its goal? Why did it even try to do that? Did it literally just try to trip him, and nothing else? How did this thing deal damage? It was actually Clever that figured out what was going on. ¡°It has an odd affinity, unique and unusual. Like Time. It can do unique things, but not necessarily harmful, so now it does not know how to hurt something. Like if I tried using Time to hurt something¡­ Don''t know how.¡± Dei could see that happening. Time could certainly do some interesting things at higher levels, but Clever stated frequently that the Time affinity was horribly intensive on his soul and not actually good outside of niche situations. It was an esoteric affinity, and hard to really understand. Geometry most likely struggled from a similar issue, where it could definitely do some things in the right situation, but it wasn¡¯t particularly good on its own. More than that though, it was probably very intensive on the Trosk, proven immediately when the poor thing''s body fell flat against the floor after displacing the space beneath Dei¡¯s foot. He genuinely felt bad for subjecting it to such intense emotions then exhausting it. ¡°The rage is going away, and it¡¯s too weary to move anymore,¡± Fang said, reinforcing what he already thought. Despite it being the weakest monster relative to his power at the time, the Trosk had actually put up a much better fight than some of the others. Even though it wasn¡¯t even remotely dangerous, it did manage to make him fall over at least, which had to count for something. Passing by it, he bent down and patted the invisible monster, hoping it would be okay, then continued to just walk past it further down the cave system. From what he found, Geometric monsters seemed to struggle in manipulating his actual body, but they could change the environment around him. Deeper he went, and Fang sensed multiple other Trosks in the walls, which they decided to ignore. Dei repeatedly almost lost his balance, every single time they¡¯d travel into a new section or cave. It felt like he was teleporting around, walking in and out of what he thought before were walls, but now knew were points connected through the geometric patterns that the convergence abided by. He thought there might be a design to the entire thing, but if there was, it was far too complicated for him to figure out in any reasonable time frame. Around halfway to the center, there was a new creature, and Fang told him to be on guard just in case it was more violent than the Trosks. Still, he couldn¡¯t sense it, so he just had to take her word. Walking far from the wall that Fang sensed it in, he watched for the movement of any souls, and sensed the moment it shot outward. Although shooting outwards wasn¡¯t quite what it did, it was more that everything else moved towards it. The walls closed in on Dei, shrinking the gap between him and this new creature. Now that he confirmed it was violent, as it was clearly attacking him, he hit it with an Identify, trying to evade any of its attacks but sensing several land, despite him not seeing anything hit him. His attention faltered, and he was only able to glean the bare-minimum. [Accelerating Bolrun - Level 131 Made of mana. Aggressive. Geometry affinity based.] More than that, the spiritual defenses of the Bolrun were disrupted, giving him a clearer view of it using his Soul Sight. It was vaguely humanoid, but its arms were replaced with hundreds of thin tendrils whipping around in various directions. Without its defenses being destroyed, his Soul Sight was unable to see the fine details. Now though, he was able to tell he was surrounded in them. Where its legs would be, there was a cone which he could tell was spinning, with the wider part closer to the ground. As the cone accelerated in its rotation, the Bolrun floated upwards, showing it could fly. He quickly assessed the environment, and saw that the walls were closer to each other, but they¡¯d stopped shrinking when it hit Fendrascora¡¯s peripheral body, meaning that the Bolrun was able to compress inanimate space, but not anything with life in it. Its strategy must be to usually pack the walls tight enough to ensure its prey couldn¡¯t move, before killing it. Speaking of killing, Dei still had a lot of tendrils slapping him. Vigilance had kicked in though, giving him time to think. He didn¡¯t know what the tendrils would do, but it was too late to dodge now. Instead, he¡¯d go all in. Completely ignoring the tendrils, the ground exploded under him as he lept upwards towards the Bolrun. As his feet left the ground, the entire world reshaped itself, spinning this way and that. He was headed straight for the Bolrun, but gravity quickly reshaped itself to pull him upwards as the floor became the ceiling.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He felt the pull of gravity increase manifold, and suddenly the distance to the floor was twenty feet up as it rapidly sank downwards. Rather than fall though, Fendrascora held him up, refacing him towards the Bolrun as she clung to the walls before throwing him at it. The Bolrun retracted all of its tendrils and the environment returned to normal, but Fendrascora simply turned him in the correct direction again. Fang came down upon the Bolrun, but it''s tricks were not done yet. Dei felt like his hand continued down at just the same speed, but he could visibly see it slow down as the distance between Fang and the Bolrun increased. He had two hands though. He hadn¡¯t pulled Jasmine from his hip, but he wouldn¡¯t need her. He¡¯d been storing Convection mana in his body since the start of the fight, and he now used Snap mana, channeling it through his fist as he punched towards the Bolruns body. He felt Fang accelerate slightly as the Bolrun attempted to increase the distance between Dei¡¯s fist and itself, before the rush of Convection and Snap came forth from his fist. The heat stored was next to nothing, but he wasn¡¯t trying to use the explosion to hurt the Bolrun, he was using it to disrupt the Bolruns spell that it channeled to increase the distance between Dei¡¯s strikes and its body. There was an audible shattering as he felt the resistance give, and his fist rapidly accelerated towards the Bolrun. He felt his fist make contact, and a hole was punched clean through it. The moment he did, the Bolruns hold on Fang came loose, and she came the rest of the way down. Careful to avoid cutting his own arm, the mass of tendrils the Bolrun surrounded itself with were cut apart, before he felt its main body give as well. Dei fell towards the ground as gravity finally seemed to catch up with their battle. Landing in a roll to try and reduce the force of impact, he glanced behind him to see the soul of the Bolrun fade away. [EXP gained for killing the Accelerating Bolrun (Level 131). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] Standing up straight once more, he checked with Fang to make sure there were no threats around, as it seemed he was still terrible at recognizing that. He sensed a few notifications, but ignored them for now. There¡¯d be time later, when he was not actively in monster-saturated territory. He made it so that he was only notified for kills, that way he could verify when something was dead. He doubted this would be the only critter to attack him before he reached Amaya in the center. Dei just hoped there wasn¡¯t a guardian of the Convergence like there was for the Convection Convergence, otherwise he¡¯d have to retreat and come back later, potentially even leaving it to Aloran to rescue Amaya. Lani and Moren could work together to get her free. * * * [EXP gained for killing the Accelerating Bolrun (Level 138). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [EXP gained for killing the Ephemeral Bolrun (Level 145). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [EXP gained for killing the Accelerating Bolrun (Level 159). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] Dei was right that there would be more monsters, it just seemed to be a bit of a limited selection for some reason. Still, he wasn¡¯t complaining, because it helped him get a feel for the Geometry affinity. Each fight was easier than the last, despite their ascending levels. The Geometry affinity meant that creatures could shape space and objects, but not living organisms. They could manipulate the distance between two things, but only if those two objects were not touching. If Dei stood on the ground, it was impossible for them to move the ground away. He knew, of course, that there was a miniscule gap between atoms that they might be able to take advantage of, but it seemed like it would just be too hard. The more space between an object and living tissue, the more space they had to work with. The Bolruns liked to ¡°trick¡± Dei into jumping into the air in order to get them, then stretching the space between him and the ground. Once they did this, they would cast something on him, maybe gravity magic, that made him fall a lot faster. If this had worked even a single time, Dei might have actually been severely injured. As it was though, Fendrascora would just suspend him mid-air with her peripheral body, and he was completely fine. He noticed several things about the species. First was that ¡°Accelerating¡± was the most common variant of Bolrun, and they could make him fall faster, so he believed the adjective gave them a Skill which facilitated this. Ephemeral on the other hand, was not able to make him fall faster. It was, however, much harder to pin down. His Convection mana would simply phase right through it when he attacked, and Fang could only deal a small percentage of her usual Soul damage to it. He was left relying on his [Void Walker] Achievement, good ol¡¯ punching it that never seemed to fail. Even though that one was the hardest to put down though, it was definitely the least dangerous. Since there was no downwards pull whenever the ground disappeared from under him, Dei would almost definitely have been able to just tank the fall, since he was pretty sure that natural acceleration and terminal velocity weren¡¯t fast enough to hurt him anymore. Deeper his group went, yet the selection of monsters was never really different. Fang sensed a few Trosks in the walls, the occasional Bolrun which Dei would have to fight, and really that was it. Each battle against Geometry-based creatures disoriented him less and less as Homeostasis continued to improve. His Tremor Sense would randomly change the layout of the world outside the convergence as Dei entered a new manipulated section of Geometry caves. Multiple times, Dei asked fang to scan the center of the Convergence for any magical signatures, but she always returned with nothing other than Amaya herself. Dei reasoned that Amaya might actually be the guardian of this Convergence, stopping any other creatures from getting particularly strong by feeding off of the more powerful Geometry magic closer to the center. Still, that didn¡¯t explain the total lack of monster diversity. In the Convection Convergence, there were tons of different monsters, but all of them were based on Heat or Heat-Adjacent affinities. It made absolutely no sense for there to be all of two types of monsters. He didn¡¯t assume to know everything though, so he simply stayed on guard, tense, and waiting for an explanation to make itself clear. He didn¡¯t want another [Mud-Murker] incident though, where he ran away from a completely harmless situation because he got in his own head. * * * Dei and his group had finally reached it. The center of the Convergence was just around the corner, and Dei was getting Fendrascora ready. While it was true that he didn¡¯t know what to expect, and didn¡¯t want to feel silly by running, there were other things he was able to do. He gave up his Homeostasis Skill to Fendrascora again so that she could better withstand her own weight, and made her stretch as far back up the cave and towards the exit as she could. Not only that, but he went through the effort of giving her five hundred more Soul mana from one of his [Astral Projection]¡¯s, making her much stronger after all the levels to accompany it. At the drop of a hat, she could encase him in a ball of liquid, and rapidly pull him backwards, where they would shoot out of the cave as quickly as they could. Clever was tense as well, for the same reason Dei was. They didn¡¯t think it was natural for this little biodiversity anywhere. Dei was forced to recognize that the two monsters that were here, constantly hid in the walls. Neither Trosks nor Bolrun did any wandering. He actually tried Identifying a Bolrun to figure out why that was, but only got the response that the Bolrun was an ambush predator that naturally hid in the walls, so it wasn¡¯t a ¡°learned¡± response. He was about as ready as he could be, so he finally took the final few steps, coming out and into the opening that Amaya was in. It was a large, circular cavern. He was pretty sure that this was larger than it should be, based on the area the Convergence took up from the outside world. There were four large stacks of rubble in the four corners of the room, each the exact same size. In the center of the room was Amaya, the chest piece, lying halfway buried under some stones. Clever said that he sensed strong waves of Geometry magic from inside her chest, confirming that the Anchor was stored inside her. The entire room looked off, so Dei didn¡¯t take a single step further into it. Instead, he sent out his Kindness Identify to open up a communication channel with Amaya as he studied what bothered him. Unlike his Wrath version, the Kindness version was not instant. It took a while, expanding forth like a rolling fog of Kindness mana, so it would take a moment to reach her. When he looked around, he saw that aside from the four big piles of rocks, the room was actually¡­ very clean. There weren¡¯t any pebbles on the ground and it was all flatter than he¡¯d ever seen any other cave. There were only a few crystals that grew in the roof allowing for a very low light, meaning that his sensitive eyes weren¡¯t overwhelmed at all, but he could still see. Still, as he looked closer at the ceiling, he saw small indents where crystals should have been. Looking at the floor, he saw that it wasn¡¯t only pebbles missing, there was no dust either. Finally, he peered closely at the closest mound of rocks. The low light levels meant that he couldn¡¯t properly see between them, forming gentle shadows between each stone. He was able to glimpse a small white coloration though, just at the edge of the shadows, and that tipped him off to something. Channeling some mana into his eyes in order to cast infrared light over the rocks, he was finally able to see past the first layer. While the top layer was a generic grey of rocks and stones, the insides of the piles were a bleached white color, and they weren¡¯t the disorganized random shape of rocks either. They were bone. The five mounds were filled with bones, and the top layer covered that fact up with rocks. Horror crept onto his face in the same instant that his Kindness Identify reached Amaya, forming a link between his soul and hers. She took advantage of that connection immediately. ¡°RUN YOU FUCKING MORON! THERE IS AN ACCIPERE!¡± Dei had already sent the message to Fendrascora though, to pull them out as fast as she possibly could. He felt the beginning of her tugging on his back, right as something exploded out from the neck of Amaya¡¯s body. Chapter 72 A massive flayed tentacle of pure muscle, lacking skin, raised high into the air. Covered in a hundred eyes and teeth randomly dispersed throughout it, Dei watched the twenty foot long tentacle split into three separate sections, opening up to reveal rows upon rows of twisted teeth. When he looked closer, he saw that the eyes and teeth were not random. Instead, the tentacle was composed of many rotting corpses strung together and fused, several of which he recognized. For a fleeting second, he¡¯d considered a fighting retreat, until he laid eyes upon one particular cluster in its mass: Lorpee Screamers. They were not part of the swarm he¡¯d run into, but he braced himself for what he knew was coming anyway, the mouths of the Lorpee¡¯s and several other creatures opened wide, unleashing the bellow of a sonic screech. Dei felt multiple organs rupture and tears open up across his skin as his eardrums exploded. Almost immediately, his body began shutting down. High Mind and Vigilance nearly turned his mind to mush as they utilized the full scope of his abilities to grant himself the maximum chance of survival. In a single moment [Growing Pains] was re-enabled, which he allowed to access the Wrath curse. Next, he revoked Homeostasis from Fendrascora. She wouldn¡¯t run out of energy from moving for around two seconds at the speed they traveled, but that would be an eternity in his mindscape. Instead, he granted [High Mind] to Clever, bearing the brunt of the spiritual strain rather than making Clever tire himself out. Dei would only be conscious for a few seconds longer, he would be able to rest his soul while Clever wouldn¡¯t. What he needed from Clever was for him to finally have a breakthrough with his time abilities, potentially using them to guide Fendrascora away from the Accipere and other dangers. ¡®I believe in you buddy¡¯ he tried conveying to Clever. * * * The Clever barely managed to blink before the entire world blurred, Fendrascora yanking them backwards. As quickly as he lost his sight, he regained it when everything froze midair. He tried looking over to Dei, but his head wouldn¡¯t move. At first, he thought he might¡¯ve accidentally stopped time, but he quickly sensed a presence connecting to him. Dei had connected with The Clever¡¯s mind, boosting his thinking speeds. He could see clearly through their connection that this would not last. Dei¡¯s soul wasn¡¯t in a good state to begin with, and he was pushing himself further to give The Clever a chance. The Clever knew what Dei wanted. It was clear to him that the initial attack had dealt too much damage to Dei, and he was going to fall unconscious soon, so he needed Clever to guide them instead. It was time. The Clever had to form a future sight ability now. [Past the Strike] could look a little bit into the future, but that wasn¡¯t good enough. Clever had to make sure they wouldn¡¯t corner themselves either. Not wasting a second, he dove into the timestream. Normally it was a jumble of flashing images which he couldn¡¯t sort through, and quickly overwhelmed him. With each use, his mind was becoming stronger and he gained Mental stats. When he did, the images became clearer, and the feel of time showed itself to him more. Now, with an incredible mental enhancement, some truths of his Time affinity made themselves clear. The future was uncertain, and his past had wiggle room, but he noticed that there were barriers to time. His Time affinity made his past unsure, but for everything else, it was already set. The past wasn¡¯t what he looked towards though, he needed to find safety. He felt the five bonds towards future selves, five instances where they would warn him of danger to varying degrees. Three were already gone, their timelines dead-ends. Despite not warning him of danger, the lack of future in those instances provided him with valuable information. The other two he sent scouting for safety. It might doom their timelines, but Clever saw that they were not real in the truest sense. He sensed that anything outside of the main timeline broke apart quickly, returning to dust. There were no parallel selves, only he was real. All others of himself relied on his existence as an anchor. His two other selves were not enough. He tried singling out many living timelines, digging through each connection. The lengths into the future were varying, but any scout he could find to assist in his search for life was an important one. One string of time after another was tied to Clever, making them more real than before. They knew what they were, and each panicked at the thought of being fake. Still, they dutifully took varying routes, going down one random cave after another. There was nothing they could do to change it, and the existential crisis that each suffered made them more likely to not question what The Clever told them to do. Most died, but some reached further. Some sent back information on what the monster chasing them would look like, and it sent shivers down Clevers spine. In all realities, the wall of muscle and teeth chomped at their heels, pulling any creature it could get its hands on into its mass, growing with each consumption. The Clever felt the despair in each, as they only prolonged their deaths through certain random evasive maneuvers, but he continued searching. He sensed a boundary to how many timelines he could look through, but for some reason, it¡¯d drawn itself back, giving him full access to infinite timelines. He would not question his good fortune, only take advantage of it. When he made a parallel Clever more real, they suddenly became aware of what they were, and knew they would not live past their timelines, so they wanted to ensure that this flesh wall would not either. Slowly, some focused more on finding ways of killing the creature, rather than simply running, but it was difficult. Clever served as the hub of communication, sharing ideas through all of them. Some attempted to incinerate it with fire breaths and reversals, but he did not have enough spiritual strength to manage that. Others attempted to lead the moving wall of flesh through hazards and into stronger beasts, but their hunter was the strongest of them all. Several tried leading their enemy back into the Convection caves that The Clever first grew up in, but failed. Fang refused to go in, and she refused to die. As soon as they got too close to the Convection Convergence and she sensed his intent, Fang would blast Fendrascora with a command to throw Fang down a side tunnel, then run into the monster in order to distract it. Clever found that this was how many timelines ended, with Fang giving up on the group and attempting to save herself when death became too close. The Clever was enraged at her future betrayal, as she would be able to survive if Fendrascora stored Fang away in her blood to protect her from the heat, but Fang did not want to risk such a course of action. While promising, he considered the Convection Convergence a dead end. Instead, he sent multiple of his future selves to the opposite of the spectrum: the waterfall caves. It was not as immediately lethal as cooking their enemy, but The Clever remembered Fendrascora telling them once of dangerous creatures in the Great River. It was here that The Clever finally found a chance. As they ran down the stone boardwalks, several of the timelines were scooped up by a massive creature, the same massive creature in every single timeline. If they could get their hunter eaten, but escape the large fish, then Clever and his group might finally be safe. All attention was focused on this task, yet try as they might, there was no instance where they escaped both their hunter and the river beast. Tens of iterations lost their lives in this task, The Clever sensing every single one. He felt his mind and soul take damage from the continuous deaths, he saw Dei¡¯s soul sputtering under the weight of its own Skill, and knew he was running out of time. In a last ditch attempt at survival, The Clever told all of its iterations to go in random directions, including up, jumping down from the boardwalk, and even straight through the falling rivers. It was in one of the timelines that Clever found salvation. Only moments later, the world sped up as Dei revoked access to his Skill. * * * Dei pulled his Skill back, quickly giving [Homeostasis] to Fendrascora. A darkness blurred his vision and the ringing in his head deafened him, but he pushed as hard as he could to not pass out. Dei knew that willpower was required to make Skills. There was no guarantee that he would survive if he fell asleep and let his healing Skill take over. He had to push for something. Something that would save him. Something that would let him live another day.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He didn¡¯t know if his soul could even withstand another Skill, or if it would kill him anyway, but he just wanted to live. His mind teetered on unconsciousness, but he focused on anything to stay awake. The hatred flowing through his veins from the curse, the pain across his body, the rumbling feeling of Fendrascora beneath him. Second by agonizing second, he refused to rest, but his body was pushed to the limits. He couldn¡¯t wake up, and he wouldn¡¯t go to sleep. It was in this state that he felt something gently connect to him. Normally, the formation of a Skill was immediate and hard to notice, but there was nothing distracting him now. There was a new sensation for him to lock onto in order to keep himself awake, and he did so immediately, desperately tying himself to the next lifeline. There were two parts to the creation of this skill, one was the source, the other was the purpose. The source, as he found, was his own body. This Skill would be SP based. There was an intelligence behind it, like an affinity but¡­ more personal. Like there was an infinite entity that linked to his Stamina, but that entity was the very idea of himself. It was the core aspect of who he was. The second aspect of the Skill was the purpose. Dei guided this one subconsciously, but he could see his soul reaching out now. It begged for continuance. It was willing to give up everything else for Dei¡¯s continued survival. Taking advantage of his own natural processes, it would force him into a fugue state, one where he teetered on the edge of death, but stayed alive. It was the ultimate conservation of energy. Dei likened it to extreme hibernation, where his body would become so efficient, that it was almost anaerobic. He wouldn¡¯t need to breathe for days, nor would his blood need to pump frequently. At its current strength, he had a heartbeat every five minutes. Right as it was about to connect to him though, a new presence made itself known. This one, he recognized. The System interposed itself on his Skill for only a moment, delaying its connection to him. It¡­ communicated with his SP? Shortly afterwards, the connection SP had with his Skill was severed, and Dei watched the System take control of the Skill. Once it had taken control of the Skill, it sent another tendril to SP, reconnecting it with the Skill. The System had changed nothing about the Skill, but it was now thoroughly integrated with it, a middle man between Dei and SP. For what reason, he knew not, but that didn¡¯t matter to him. The Skill formed, Dei felt his trance-like state lock into place. He could see and perceive the world around him, he felt his injured body, but he could not move. From watching the process of Skill creation, he knew a bit more about this Skill than he normally would, and he knew it would take hours to fully wake himself up from the state once he¡¯d dropped into it. His [Growing Pains] Skill worked overtime to try and heal everything. Oddly, the curse was actually helping him, albeit unintentionally. It wanted out of the box, so when [Growing Pains] offered a potential escape route, the entire curse attempted to squeeze through and escape, throwing itself at Dei¡¯s wounds, healing him faster than the Skill could on its own. His Skill did not exactly pull mana out though, only filtered its concentration. There was no opening for the curse to escape through. Dei remembered that, throughout his previous life, Growing Pains had taken advantage of Wrath concentrate the entire time, but the Skill was not cracked at the time as it had been when he first started using it in his new world. Despite the Wrath mana being sealed away, Growing Pains was the only Skill that could still use it freely. This was good, because Dei still sensed his body taking damage. Fendrascora had pulled his body into her mass and made water flow around him, muffling the sound. Still, a small amount of Vibration mana made it through. ¡®Clever if you get us out of this, I¡¯m making you the official leader.¡¯ * * * Gone was Clevers bubbly attitude or fearful demeanor. Moments after time resumed its normal flow, he spontaneously formed a communication Skill to relay his orders to Fendrascora. Not even the slightest quiver ran through his body, steadfast and clear with what he wanted her to do. There was no room for discussion or argument. If he said to do something, she did it, because the wall of screaming teeth and eyes was far faster than them. Time and time again, it came within inches of Fendrascora¡¯s body, but Clever instructed her on the exact movements she had to make in order to survive. If Fendrascora had a heart, it would be pounding. Clevers communication Skill worked by connecting their minds together, allowing for her to perfectly understand his every order. Not only this, but it shared a large portions of their emotions with one another. Fendrascora was panicked, erratic, and fearful. Clevers emotions were nothing more than an iron wall of grit, determined to succeed, to win. He saw not the present nor failure. It was as though he did not even consider it possible. It was only because of their shared emotions that Fendrascora did not hesitate. The slightest pause meant death, but Clever was the rock to her already fragile psyche in an oppressively tense dance with death. Though the wall of flesh was faster than them, it had too much mass to move dexterously. They could latch onto walls and turn sharply where the stone would break under its grip. Only by taking advantage of specific twists and turns were they able to continuously stay ahead of it. Despite their lower mobility, the distance between them slowly widened, bit by bit. Dei¡¯s shared Skill kept Fendrascora¡¯s stamina up, and Clevers harsh orders kept her more agile than she ever was on her own, moving the liquid in her body in such ways she¡¯d never considered possible before, using twisting in odd directions to spin, then spreading herself thin and forming pseudo-wings to catch air in order to help make her turns in even narrower margins than she had before. Her mind began to relax as they put distance between them and the creatures, but she sensed Clever only doubled down on the harshness of his orders. At one point, he made her twist in a certain way that made no sense, but she was far past questioning him, and did so. From a hole in the ceiling, a second wall of flesh dropped down in an attempt to grab her, which would have succeeded if not for Clever ¡®There¡¯s two!?!?¡¯ she screamed mentally, yet again relying on Clever to guide her. There were not only two though. Through the fight, a third, then a fourth made themselves known. None of them were able to catch them under Clevers commands though, and no matter how they flanked or attempted to corner their group, Clever was always ten steps ahead. He continued to push Fendrascora to her limits, always forcing the maximum out of her body, then easing off moments before she said that she could push no more, like he knew her limits better than she did. Behind her, the continuous thuds of their enemies slamming into each other resounded, the sonic screams dealing small amounts of damage to her form that quickly healed. * * * Almost six hours after the start of their hunt, the enemy had still not given up the chase, though Fendrascora could not fathom why. There was no possible way it was worth it any more, yet still, the hunt persisted. It would soon be coming to an end though, she could sense it from Clever. The loud rumble of titanic grinding ahead tipped her off to how close they were to whatever their destination might be. When a wall of flesh appeared before them, blocking the way into the watery caves, Fendrascora was ready to dodge and find another entrance, but Clever told her to dive straight into it. Oddly, her panic did not spike. She did not doubt his words. She trusted him. Her narrow centipede-like form dove headfirst into the wall of flesh¡­ that evaporated under the force of concentrated fire stemming from the top of her head, Clever himself. There was not one beam though, but three in rapid succession, each drilling just a bit further into its body. After the third, there was a perfect hole in the wall of flesh, and Fendrascora slipped through. A beautiful scenery of falling waterfalls and spider webbing boardwalks opened up between them, but she had no time to appreciate it. As the explosion of three flesh-walls colliding with their injured brother sounded behind them. Clever told her not to run down the stone walkway, but to jump clean off the side and into the waterfall, protecting him, Fang and Dei from the force. As best she could, she formed a protective bubble as the four monstrous beings jumped after them as well. The force of the waterfall slammed into her body, pushing them down rapidly, but Clever continued to direct her on the best way to hold herself together, taking less damage as she broke apart under the mass of it. Traveling hundreds of feet downwards in seconds, they quickly broke out to the other side of the waterfall, where a stone walkway was just barely within reach as they passed by it on their way down, and Clever demanded that she grab it, swinging the force her entire body up and over. Landing on it, she was tense and ready to run, but Clever gave her a most unusual order. To stop. She froze, not willing to move a muscle as she held Clever and the rest in her body. Behind her, the wall of water exploded as a threatening mass of flesh and teeth landed on the stone walkway, shaking it violently. Yet still, Clever demanded she not move a muscle. The four creatures began to merge together, forming a larger whole, growing. It opened its mouth to let out one more rattling scream. When a winged serpent flew up from below the stone walkway, snatching up the entire fleshy mass. Fendrascora saw its head for only a moment as it burred by, but the body that followed behind it was long enough for her to get a good look as it just kept going¡­ and going¡­ and going¡­ It moved faster than she could see, perhaps hundreds of miles an hour, but it took a full minute before the last of its tail slipped away below the falling wave of water, letting out a whip crack as the final scale descended below. ¡°Lets go.¡± she heard Clever say in her mind, directing her down a little side pathway that led into the wall, and she followed numbly, not even able to appreciate the blue grass and glow of the water in the cave around them. Slowly, the blue grass transformed into blood red, and she came out to a small mini-cavern with few bugs and a pond containing small fish. She felt feelings of nostalgia flow across the bond between her and Clever, making her focus her sight on his tiny form. At one time, she thought he was something of a wild creature, as his thoughts were much more muddied than hers, Fang¡¯s, or Dei¡¯s. Not so anymore. After guiding them through certain death, pushing her well beyond what she thought her limit was, and remaining calm the entire time, she felt a foreign sensation of pure respect within her towards the Korgonda Chapter 73 His mind felt sluggish. He understood that they were out of danger because they were no longer moving and Dei was alive, so the adrenaline that kept him from falling to unconsciousness disappeared. Without that, there was nothing keeping him sharp. Nothing that drew his attention. Blinking slowly and barely breathing, he felt himself drift from one subject to another. His body was healing, and fast. He¡¯d be in top shape after only ten minutes or so, physically, but his mind and soul were different. When Dei linked to Clever, giving him access to High Mind, he¡¯d borne the brunt of its strain. Whatever Clever had done, it overtaxed Dei and more. He felt like his mind was cooking in its confines, and wouldn¡¯t have complained if someone had cracked it open at this point to let some of the heat out. He tried looking around, and felt like he saw a¡­ field. Of sorts. But there was something off about it. He opened his eyes, realizing he¡¯d simply blinked and fallen into a dream for a second, but his dreams and reality were blurring together. He thought of home, of his parents, and he was there. Standing before them. Two options. Two scenarios played out. In one, his parents didn¡¯t recognize him. They rejected him, and he went back to the wilds to live out his life. In the other, they knew it was him immediately, and accepted him for who he was. A third reality made itself known as a faceless Shaman appeared before him. The Shaman was¡­ distant. There were walls between him and the Shaman, but Dei could see him. He knew he was there, he knew that this Shaman searched for him because his dream told him that they did. No real reasoning, he just knew that the Shaman was looking for him. A fourth reality, too, made itself clear. Another Shaman. This one, not trying to kill him, but trying to save him. This one felt closer, and it felt warmer, but it too was faceless. The closer Shaman, the one that felt warmer, turned towards him. Through all the stone, through all the walls, the Shaman saw him, but it was no longer a Shaman. It was something else. Something reached out towards Dei, feeling familiar and foreign. He tried to dodge its grasp, but was already held within it. He knew the touch of it. ¡°Kindness¡­¡± he said, slurring his words. His body did not move to speak, but he felt himself say it in another way. ¡°Dei¡± it spoke back, sadness tinging its tone. ¡°Child¡­ I am sorry. You have suffered.¡± ¡°Why¡­:¡± he tried saying something, but his mind scattered. It took him a long moment to remember he was talking to something. ¡°Why¡­ manipulate. My¡­ purpose¡­ my Kindness¡­¡± ¡°You speak of my prioritizing of one creature''s life over the other. Of when I tell you to help something, but not another. It is for your sake. All of my children give away pieces of themselves throughout their lives. I give pieces of myself to them. I never wanted this for you. I never wanted you to be forced into the wilds. If you hadn¡¯t fought that Devourer, you would never have suffered through this all. There were people in your party who could have killed it, but they did not want to do so unless threatened. You would have survived. But alas¡­ your good heart got you here. I love you for it, but you are silly for doing so.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ understand,¡± he squeezed out. It was too much for his fragile mind. ¡°No,¡± Kindness responded. ¡°But you will. I will not stop manipulating your path, for your sake. When you can prove to me that you are strong enough, I will give you more difficult requests for help. Until then, just stay alive. I cannot lose another¡­ not in your current world. ¡°You won¡¯t understand what I¡¯m going to say, but you will soon. Affinities proliferate in a universe based on how many other entities hold that affinity. The more creatures that hold a certain affinity, the more common it is for others to be born with it. Where you are now, Vices reign supreme. Virtues are born naturally, occasionally, but not nearly as much as Vices. Even before that dreadful demon was born in this universe, waves of monsters tore apart the walls of cities day after day, because there is an excess of Vices. Perhaps the excess of Vices created the demon. I need you to become stronger, so that you may show Kindness to others. So that, if the war does end, the people do not go back to tearing one another apart. ¡°Even if you do not hold the title¡­ you will always be this universe''s Champion of Kindness.¡± Before he could formulate a response, he felt the affinities grip on him go slack, and it drifted away. He opened his eyes, once more realizing he¡¯d only blinked. He only managed to get his eyes halfway open before, once again, they closed. He appeared above a massive ball now. It shined brightly, but there were cracks all along its crystal surface. Within the ball was Dei¡¯s story. From Levens birth, to Dei¡¯s current moment. In the heart of this ball, a bright pink glow radiated outwards. ¡®My soul?¡¯ The cracks were tied together, sealed, but he did not see thick white stitches, no. He saw a great beast, weaving in and out of his soul. He could not see the head nor the tail, but it was flat, and dark. Moving closer to one of these stitches, he saw the deep blue of its skin, and reached out to touch it, almost afraid it would snap at him. It did not. The body continued to swim beneath his fingers, and it felt rubbery. Like the wings of a manta ray. Where the body dipped into his soul, gentle ripples radiated out. Standing atop the water, he looked deep within. No longer seeing his own memories, he glanced up to notice he stood upon the surface of a great ocean, before looking back down into the water. It was so dense that he could not sink below, bobbing on the top. Beneath him, the dark blue water showed nothing, too murky to see deep. He opened his eyes once more, but quickly blinked them shut again. He wanted to finish this dream. The waves carried him up and down on the surface, but he could not see into it. He pushed his hand into the dense water. It resisted, wanting to keep him above, but it could not force him to stay on top. His hand went below, hardly an inch, when it met resistance. Not of water, but the familiar rubbery texture of a slimy manta ray. The feeling was not stagnant though, and he had to pull his hand back as the friction nearly burned him. His eyes widened as he realized the water was not murky at all. The dark blue coloration was a creature. Standing up, he looked around him. As far as the eye could see, the ocean was that same navy blue. Perhaps the creature was as large as the ocean entirely. He looked back down just in time to see the end of it, and suddenly he could see the shallow sea floor. He barely caught a glimpse of creature dipping below the horizon, faster than anything that large had a right to be, when the water gave out under his feet, and he fell beneath the waves. He held his breath and tried to swim up, but the surface was gone. Looking down, the sand and coral were nowhere to be found. There was no sunlight, but he could see four tiny glowing white eyes stare at him. As they grew larger though, he realized they were only distant, and it rushed towards him. He tried opening his eyes to wake from the dream, but couldn¡¯t. Hundreds of sharp teeth coated a great maw as the creature snapped forward. Rather than swallowing him though, felt the vibration of its terrible bite reverberate through him as it closed its jaw mere inches from his face. ¡°Do you know what I am, child?¡± ¡°You are¡­ Connection? My Skill?¡± he tried answering by feel, his mind rapidly healing from its haze. He had no idea how long he¡¯d slept by this point. It rumbled with a grating tectonic laughter. ¡°There are two ends to every Connection. Pray the other side does not pull you below the waves before you learn to swim.¡± Dei opened his eyes, deactivating his trance-like Skill and turning his body to the side. He tried to cough, violently ejecting seawater from his lungs and onto the red grass. When most of it was out, he threw up his dinner. Just for good measure. His muscles, too weak to hold himself up, failed. He almost collapsed into the puddle when Fendrascora pulled on his back, lifting him up and away from the mess. Groaning, he tried to move himself or fully wake up, but his hibernation-like Skill took a long time to fully wear off. The only reason he was able to turn himself onto his side was the shock of waking up drowning. Now that he wasn¡¯t actively dying, his muscles felt weak. Unresponsive.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. More than that, he was tired. Whatever his new Skill did, it wasn¡¯t exactly sleep or wakefulness. Now that it was off, he felt his body trying to rebalance, and struggling to do so. Suddenly, he remembered that Fendrascora still had his Homeostasis Skill, preventing him from adapting quickly. Revoking her access to it, he needed only to give it time to help bring him back to full working condition. Giving away his Homeostasis Skill didn¡¯t remove his body¡¯s ability to balance itself out, only the supernatural speed at which it could balance itself out. And right now, he was facing a supernatural problem, as he worked his way out from self-induced pseudo death. Fendrascora, Clever, and Fang were trying to talk to him now that they saw he was awake, but he didn¡¯t understand any of it in his current transitory state. Closing his eyes once more, he fell into a nightmare-filled sleep of screaming monsters and grinning Shamans. * * * The disconnected shapes and images slowly fell away as his mind sputtered to life, still exhausted despite however long he¡¯d slept. His eyes fluttered open to the dim scenery around him, made clearer by his Darkvision. It was clearly night though, as the crystal in the ceiling had hardly brightened It was a familiar little cave, the one he¡¯d first seen his reflection in. He rested against the stone wall, semi-close to the pond, while Fendrascora¡¯s peripheral body sat on the far side of the room, spreading out across the field. He sensed the usual resonance of Fang right in front of the entrance as well, so he knew she was here. Clever, though, was nowhere to be found. Quickly putting one foot against the ground to use Tremor Sense, a spike of pain from sensory overload fully jarred him awake. He ignored the agony though, he had to make sure that Clever was okay. Luckily, he simply sensed the small Korgonda atop Fendrascora¡¯s body, lazing on a rock and likely asleep. Fendrascora didn¡¯t respond to his movement, so she must be in her version of sleep. Clever, as well, was obviously asleep. That must mean that Fang was on duty to watch. Lying his head back against the stone, he was about ready to fall back to sleep when he felt Fang connect with him, trying to communicate. If she initiated the communication though, he usually didn¡¯t understand it, as his [Identify] had a natural translation ability, and her talking was expressed in plant concepts. Not suitable for Dei¡¯s mind. Still, he got the gist of it. She wanted to talk. Opening up a line of communication for her to speak through, she jumped straight to her point. ¡°Do you plan to continue collecting Aloran¡¯s armor pieces?¡± ¡°No,¡± he said truthfully. While he really wanted a happy ending to their story now¡­ it was clear that it might get him and his friends killed. The pieces themselves were not terribly dangerous or lethal, but he hadn¡¯t considered that they were magical artifacts. Creatures would siphon off whatever concepts they could from such powerful-yet-immobile creatures. ¡°Good. I was going to ask you to leave me behind if you said yes,¡± Fang responded. He said nothing to that, content to leave the conversation there. Fang, though, wasn¡¯t. He felt her emotions bubbling to the surface, tinges of it travelling down the connection between them. He said nothing, understanding that he would only add fuel to the flame if he did. ¡°What is wrong with you?!¡± She started her next sentence. ¡°You nearly got me killed, for nothing. More than that, you know it is worth nothing. You aren¡¯t willing to fight and finish what you started! You¡¯re¡­ fleeting! You¡¯re a fleeting, idiotic, suicidal fool. Despite not even undergoing your first evolution, you jump into dangerous situations like you¡¯re immortal! You run around, helping people and things you don¡¯t know and aren¡¯t involved with, for no reason! I just don¡¯t get it. ¡°It would even be excusable, if it was your own life, but no, you drag others with you too! That Wrath mana from the cursed helmet could have killed Fendrascora if she touched it in her fragile state, who is still trapped directly next to where you¡¯ve stored it. Now, you¡¯ve risked us all for something you don¡¯t feel strongly enough about to finish. Just why?¡± Dei let her finish her rant, taking in her points. She didn¡¯t seem mad about only him risking her life, but even about him not continuing to risk her life. She saw him as weak-willed, and that irritated her as much as almost dying. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that I intend to give up on Aloran and his group, only that I¡¯m not going straight back to try and get Amaya. I do want to finish rounding up all four pieces of Alorans set, but I can¡¯t right now. I can''t properly fight off whatever guardians have placed themselves around Amaya and Moren. When I¡¯m stronger, I will help them, but if I throw myself into the problem right now, I¡¯ll just die. And if I die, then they¡¯ll never be back together again. No, I¡¯ll wait, and come back later. ¡°As for risking myself and all of you, I don¡¯t think I have. Not as deeply as you think at least. With Fendrascora, I left a sub-mind behind specifically to cut the connection between Lani and I if the energy became too chaotic for my body to contain. Fendrascora was never in any real danger, only a scary situation which I admit, was selfish of me to jump straight into. More than that, I guarantee that there is no chance of the curse escaping, my Skill is far, far stronger than the curse itself, and it fails to even make the walls of its containment quiver. ¡°Lastly, I haven¡¯t been throwing myself into unnecessary danger. Everything is dangerous. Everywhere I go, around every corner, there are monsters to try and kill me. I¡¯m picking my fights, because I will need to face some eventually, and will need to be strong enough to face those I can''t avoid. I approached Fendrascora with the same caution that I approached Lani, the cursed object as you called him. From both Fendrascora and Lani, I was able to gain a measure of power, and the situations worked out well. In both instances, you said nothing at the time, and don¡¯t attempt to lie by saying you thought they were stupid. ¡°I know you didn¡¯t care one way or the other both times. With Lani, you only cared after the fact, when I was going to carry his curse around with me. You even stopped caring about the curse when I never showed any indication of it harming me. ¡°With my decision to help Amaya, you had no input. The only real thing you questioned was why I did it at all. Now, though, you¡¯re criticising my decision making because it didn¡¯t work out, but that¡¯s life. Not everything works out. I¡¯m not saying that my reasoning was perfectly logical, but it¡¯s not as outlandish as you make it seem. ¡°Nonetheless, you aren¡¯t completely wrong either. I have thought ahead about my decisions, but not far enough ahead. I think¡­¡± he was going to say ¡°That I should make Clever the leader¡± but there were a few issues with that. Firstly, Dei wasn¡¯t sure if he was the leader in the first place, he just kind of assumed that everyone else thought he was because they didn¡¯t oppose his decisions. Second, while Clever was smart, he had little life experience. It would do nobody good for Clever to become the decision maker just because Dei felt guilty for almost getting them all killed. Instead, he decided for a halfway point. ¡°... That I should begin actively asking the three of you for input. It¡¯s clear that if we go by just my priorities, we¡¯ll miss the bigger picture. We can all talk about our next move when the other two wake up, because I haven¡¯t been guiding us in an exactly correct direction, just one with my own interest in mind. And for that¡­ I¡¯m sorry, Fang. I¡¯m sorry that I was selfish. I never meant to be, and was blinded by what I thought was the right thing to do, but that doesn¡¯t excuse it. I may not look it, but I am still just over a year old. I¡¯m trying to figure out how to do things, how life works, and what my purpose is. I hope¡­ I hope that I can receive your guidance as well. I never considered it before, but you¡¯re over level three hundred, and probably know a lot more about the world than I do. I could have been leaning on your experience this entire time, but failed to do so. Sorry.¡± He finished saying the last part, feeling utterly chastised. He explained why he did what he did, but honestly, his thinking was still flawed. Twenty years of a previous, peaceful life didn¡¯t fully translate to ¡°successful¡± experience here. He wasn¡¯t stupid, but there were some things he simply did not consider, such as ginormous beasts hiding between folds in reality to avoid his Tremor Sense. The Accipere was far too large to actually hide itself within Amaya, so he hadn¡¯t seen it as an option. Stupid. He forgot where he was, a literal spatially-manipulated area. Dei guessed that the Anchor was something of a pocket dimension that could store things, and the Accipere used this space to hide its main body, sending Echoes to go out and hunt things while avoiding any of the larger predators that might end up killing it. He remembered the Accipere from a long time ago, back when he briefly tried hunting bugs for experience. Back then, he entered a closed-off cave that contained the rotting corpse of a monster, coated in decomposers. He recalled the description he¡¯d Identified from the Accipere now. [Trudging Accipere of Dominance Echo - Level 336 The Accipere is a type of hive mind parasitic worm specialized in assimilating foreign flesh into its mass. The Trudging Accipere is a slow, creeping threat, lying dormant for until its host meets certain conditions. The Dominance Accipere has successfully assimilated multiple other Acciperes, granting it the ability to split some of its sub-minds into more mobile forms and fetch more flesh for its mass. This is an Echo, one of the sub-minds that has been disconnected from the main mass, and only has a small selection of the originals abilities Physical:121 Mental:63 Spiritual:87 Magical:92] From this description Dei could guess that the Accipere didn¡¯t even send its main body to hunt them, relying on its tried and true tactic of Echo hunting. Setting aside his quick recall of the Accipere and focusing back on the conversation, he felt that Fang''s emotions had continued to boil, until he apologized and started talking about all his mistakes too. By the time he spoke of relying on her experience, the anger she felt was gone entirely, like he¡¯d taken the wind from her sails. It was hard to criticize him, when Dei was bringing up mistakes he¡¯d made that Fang hadn¡¯t considered either. He felt mental grumblings that failed to coalesce into real words. Eventually, she sighed and said ¡°That''s¡­ reasonable. And excusable. When I was only a year old, I was not particularly smart either. Very well. I forgive your lunacy.¡± Lapsing into awkward silence, Dei thought about how Fang was the only one in the group willing to really criticize him, which was a dangerous thing. If Fang really did leave the group, as she was bound to do eventually, he was afraid it might become something of an echo chamber to himself. He needed someone to call him out more often than not. There wasn¡¯t much he could do to remedy that right now though, he¡¯d simply have to be on the lookout for another friend that could fill the role. Finally, he slumped back down the stone wall. He still had a lot of sleep to catch up on. Chapter 74 When he woke up again, he talked with Fang and Fendrascora about his desire to leave Amaya and Moren for later, instead going straight back to Aloran to return Jasmine and Lani, but it wasn¡¯t quite that simple. Clever shared a few things. First, all that happened during their chase, especially involving how there were four Acciperes after them, made Dei¡¯s heart skip for a moment, because that gave him an idea. The other relevant fact Clever told him was that Dei had slept for five straight days. [Since the Fall: 10/27/809 - 6:23:39] That was bad news because now they were far past the window for their time crunch, but he set that aside for a moment to tell them what he now knew. ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time I¡¯ve run into the Accipere.¡± Dei said, thinking back to when there was the corpse that an Accipere Echo was taking over in order to pull back into the main mass. ¡°I believe that they were all the same Accipere, but the four of them were Echoes of the original. That''s important, because I can make Echoes too, which all of you have seen. What I know about Echoes, from my own experience, is that when one dies, the soul of the original organism takes hefty damage. The description on my Skill even says that if my Echo dies, my soul will be dealt ¡®irreparable soul damage,¡¯ leading to ¡®potentially death.¡¯ ¡°And that¡¯s for only one Echo. The Accipere lost four. I believe that this Accipere is in a horrible state right now- which is probably why it hides its main body, so it can rejuvenate if it gets a soul injury ¡°I¡¯m not so optimistic that I think it¡¯s dead, no. I believe it has Skills to help lessen the blows of Echo deaths, then other Skills to make the damage less permanent. Essentially, the Accipere is crippled right now. If we want to kill it, this might be our best chance. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll send out four Echoes to chase us again when we¡¯re stronger, for the obvious reason that we may kill them and finish it off. That being said, I am not advocating for walking straight into this things lair, merely presenting everything I know so that we can talk about whether we want to or not.¡± Fang was, of course, adamantly opposed, and he thought Clever and Fendrascora would be as well. Surprisingly though, Clever advocated for going to check it out. From the way he said it though, Dei sensed a bit of spite in Clevers suggestion. ¡®Am I imagining things, or is Clever glaring at Fang?¡¯ He wasn¡¯t an expert in Korgonda body language, but he liked to think he knew his friend. ¡°I must agree with Clever on this,¡± Fendrascora said. ¡°I don¡¯t know why he wants to go, but if the Geometry Anchor has a spatially enlarged space¡­¡± she didn¡¯t finish her sentence, but Dei felt the attention of her spirit form inside him shift to her peripheral body, and saw the large garden. ¡°True. I hadn¡¯t considered that, but this may be how you can actually store the rest of your body.¡± ¡°There will be other chances.¡± Fang said ¡°other, less deadly chances. We have no way to confirm if the Accipere is hurt or if it didn¡¯t care much about those Echoes at all.¡± ¡°Not so fast!¡± Clever jumped in, then said one of the most coherent thing¡¯s Dei had ever heard from him. ¡°I have a new Skill that lets me send something to scout out other timelines. I can send one into the future, a future where we went to check the Accipere, in order to check it out. If it is safe, the main timeline can go as well.¡± ¡°I fail to understand your hostility. I was merely suggesting a safer course of action. If there is no risk involved in chasing the Accipere, then I have no qualms.¡± Dei grimaced. Clever was definitely mad at Fang for something, and he¡¯d have to check it out later. He told Clever to go on with the scouting of timelines or whatever he did, then pulled him to the side. ¡°Hey buddy, what¡¯s going on with you and Fang?¡± he asked using his [Meaningful] Skill. Clever still wasn¡¯t quite able to understand vocal language. Clever seemed exasperated. Not at Dei, but at what Fang did or- more accurately- what Fang potentially did. Several timelines were doomed by Fang''s selfishness because she would rather sacrifice Fendrascora, Clever, and Dei than to go into a risky situation. It posed a huge issue with him finding survival for the group. Even when Clever attempted to throw her away near the start, she would always switch up faster than him by sensing his intent, then controlling Fendrascora, with her absurdly weakened state, to doom them. In the main timeline, that never happened, but only because Clever made it so. ¡°I see¡­ and I understand your frustration, but I¡¯ve kinda seen this coming for a while. Ever since I realized she couldn¡¯t understand Kindness, I expected her to be a bit fleeting. But that doesn¡¯t mean we can treat her badly. She isn¡¯t evil, she just cannot get what''s wrong with certain actions. I know you don''t like her buddy, but please remain neutral to her.¡± Dei felt his reluctance, but Clever still agreed. Aside from that though, Clever wanted to ask Dei something else, and described the experience he had when Dei had gifted him his [High Mind] Skill. Apparently, Clever was able to see a lot of timelines, hundreds of them with his drastically boosted mind. In each of those timelines, he was able to manipulate and make them more real, but he also described how each one became conscious and hated that. The actual problem, though, came later. Through the entire experience, Clever hadn¡¯t formed a Skill. Only after being safely tucked away for several minutes did he actually get it, but it was way different to what he felt before. During his time with Dei¡¯s [High Mind], Clever could see and interact with hundreds of conscious timelines. Now, though, he could only maintain constant connection to a single one- and luckily, it wasn¡¯t conscious of its state. Clever was mad about that afterwards, as he felt like the System was limiting him, but the System had actually sent a specific explanation to Clever. [You have taken advantage of a niche loophole in the deal between The System and Time. The System is not able to interfere with a creature''s formation of a Time Skill, but can limit them after the fact. By utilizing the unique Skill: [How About a Demonstration], you dramatically boosted your mental abilities without leaving System parameters, meaning the System was still bound by the contract with Time during the formation of your Skill. While possible to leave System Boundaries and regain your previous capabilities, it is not recommended. The contract between The System and Time grants you many protections, such as: When Clever interacted with the three clauses, they provided explanations. [Emotion Lock Protection: Systemless Skills attach themselves to the soul in a manner which prevents mental growth past that point, causing the personality to stagnate in certain ways depending on the Skill.] [Latent Will Filtering: the Will of an affinity will superimpose itself over the mind of its constituent unless steps are taken to prevent this.] [Parasitic Entity Repellant: Certain affinities are infested with Conceptual Entities, which exhibit adverse effects on any who come into contact with them. System Bounds repel such entities, so those protected may explore their affinities without risk.] After sending him the notifications, Clever looked at Dei for something. ¡°So? What can I do about this?¡± Dei asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know! Fix it?¡± Clever whined. ¡°Clever What can I even fix? The System says pretty clearly why it''s not giving you that power back, and why you shouldn¡¯t try to do that again. I don''t think it¡¯ll protect you if you just do the exact same thing, but we might actually be able to take advantage of this in the future if we need to, by combining our abilities and forming a new Skill, one which is far stronger than it should be for just a little bit.¡± Clever grumbled more, but he didn¡¯t have a better idea either. ¡°Also Clever?¡± He got the Korgonda¡¯s attention once more. ¡°Why are you so¡­ well spoken?¡± ¡°Oh! Oh! After I did all that stuff with the Accipere, I got new titles and even two Achievements! And then, and then The Mother gave me a name! She offered to turn me into a Sapient Race, but I rejected. I like being a Korgonda!¡± Then, without Dei asking, he shared the two Achievements he¡¯d gotten. [Gotcha! Using a clever mind, you have lead a foe of overwhelming power into a situation that caused its demise [Jackpot Despite mathematically overwhelming odds against you, you have won a gamble that guaranteed death should you have failed.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Dei nodded, impressed. He felt like it was fair for the System to reward what Clever- ¡®err wait, didn¡¯t he say he has an actual name now? I should ask him-¡¯ did for Dei. When it came to the [Jackpot] Achievement and ¡°mathematically overwhelming odds,¡± it was probably referencing how there were almost no timelines where Clevers plan succeeded Though it wasn¡¯t quite random chance, it was close to it when he considered that Clever almost ran out of time to find it. What were the chances that he found one of the right timelines? It also only provided one boon, a powerful Luck affinity percentage boost. It didn¡¯t say ¡°easier to learn and advance¡± though, it said ¡°more likely to connect with you and advance,¡± which seemed to imply that the Luck affinity was literally only gained randomly, and advanced randomly as well. ¡®If that''s true, it''s legitimately hilarious.¡¯ ¡°Those are great Achievements!¡± he said, petting the Korgonda in front of him on the head, who puffed up in pride. ¡°And you said you have a name now? What did The Mother name you?¡± ¡°I told her I liked the name Clever, like you always say, and wanted to be named that.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°... And what did she say?¡± ¡°She said ok!¡± Dei couldn¡¯t help but laugh at how enthusiastic he was about finally having a name, only for it to be literally the exact same thing they¡¯d been calling him. When he calmed down a bit, he asked ¡°So wait, what¡¯s different?¡± ¡°Dunno, my Interface says ¡®Name¡¯ now, rather than ¡®Nickname¡¯ though.¡± Dei nodded, and continued to listen as Clever proudly touted his activities of the last few days. He finally evolved, getting something that was described as an ¡°Epic¡± Race, and Dei finally Identified him. [Molten Korgonda Calibrator - Level 107] He said that the ¡°Calibrator¡± adjective would help his thinking speed and potential Luck affinity, so he chose it in favor of the others because it took both his Achievements into account. And, of course, it gave the most stat points at two every odd level, three every even level, which was more than Dei¡¯s own Class. Less than his Profession though. Talking to Clever about his gains made Dei want to check his own, but he knew they¡¯d be complicated and needed to sit for a while, so he wanted to wait until after everything with the group in general was finished. Now that everything was sorted out and their next step was planned, he left Clever to continue scouting for a timeline that was further along than they were in order to check whether the Accipere was genuinely crippled. Before sitting down to sift through his gains though, he made his way over to Fang so he could ask her something. ¡°Hey Fang, what are the different tiers of affinities, Classes, Professions, and Races? Like, I know there¡¯s Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic, but I don''t know past that¡± ¡°You missed one. The tiers, in order, are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Treasured, Epic, Grand, Historic, Fabled, Legendary, and Mythical¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± he said, realizing he could have asked this a lot sooner. It wasn¡¯t important until now though, because when was he going to pick his Class again? Now that he was either close to evolving his Class or about to do so, he wanted to know more. And he had the perfect source of knowledge in front of him. ¡°What is the difference between tiers for Classes?¡± He knew that affinities let him access more mana easily, but he wasn¡¯t sure about the Classes or Races ¡°The swarm I was part of once devoured a man and absorbed some of his knowledge, so I know it is the same for Classes and Races per tier. Common gives fifty points per hundred levels, Uncommon gives a hundred points per hundred levels, Rare give a hundred and fifty per hundred levels, and so on. Each tier gives another fifty points per hundred levels.¡± Dei wasn¡¯t surprised to find she¡¯d eaten a man before. He knew she didn¡¯t have the same emotions as him, and didn¡¯t raise it as an issue. ¡°Do you know if I ever get to change my Class or upgrade it? I think it¡¯ll evolve at level one hundred, like all the Skills and monster Races, but I want to make sure.¡± ¡°Again from his knowledge, I know that it will evolve at level one hundred. You cannot change purposes though, you may only evolve into things similar to your original class, like building upon it.¡± ¡°So if I had, say, a Class dedicated to finding enemies, it would have to stay as a Class dedicated to finding enemies?¡± ¡°I am unsure. The swarm was not interested in digging deeper into Classes.¡± Dei nodded and moved away from her, ready to sit down and start looking through things. He was surprised Fendrascora hadn¡¯t called his attention for something, but he looked over to her peripheral body and saw she was playing with Clever as the Korgonda slid around across her surface. ¡®They¡¯re having fun, I won''t bother her¡¯ he said to himself as he chose a spot semi-close to them, sitting down, and opening his notifications which he hadn¡¯t checked since finding Lani. [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (42) -> (44)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (142) -> (168)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (96) -> (100)] [Skill: Homeostasis (100) has reached an evolution threshold] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (63) -> (64)] [Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (91) -> (100)] [Skill: Vigilance (100) has reached an evolution threshold] [Skill Leveled Up: In Tune (36) -> (40)] [Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (89) -> (100)] [Skill: High Mind (100) has reached an evolution threshold] Three Skills at the threshold. The immense danger of the situation seemed to boost any and all experience gained for Skills used during his run from the Accipere. The gains would have been even better, if he hadn¡¯t needed to deactivate all his passives to stop stressing his soul. Which reminded him that he had to turn those back on. [Good Samaritan], [Meditation], [Solidity], and [Vigilance] all turned back on. [High Mind] was already on, and he¡¯d never even bothered to turn off [Growing Pains]. Immediately, he received one more surprise notification. [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (74) -> (93)] Either from the visions, or his new Skill, his Mind and Body were drawn together once more in a large jump, even slightly past the progress he¡¯d had before. Dei wondered for a moment if the Skill was slightly broken like his four previous-life Skills, and would level up quicker to its former level, but it was too late to check now. If it was broken before and had accelerated growth, it would be repaired now. The notification helped him relax slightly, knowing that the terrible feeling of disconnect would soon be gone. After seeing the new Skill level for Solidity, Dei quickly finished setting up his passive suite by dedicating three minds to Meditation, which only took up around fifteen percent of his mental energy. Next, he started getting into the juicy bits of his notifications. [Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 94) -> (Level 100)] [Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 100) has reached an evolution threshold] [Total Stats Gained: +3 Mental, +3 Magical] [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 8) -> (Level 11)] [Total Stats Gained: +15 Spiritual] ¡®WOAH MOMMA!¡¯ he thought, seeing three levels in his Profession ¡®What the hell is that about?! Was I thinking harder while unconscious or something? Or¡­ is there a nuance to this Profession, a way to level it up, which I¡¯ve literally not been doing, which is why it¡¯s so slow?!? How did I never consider that?¡¯ This was the perfect time to figure that out. He¡¯d just done something which was clearly vital to the Profession, but what? He was in immense danger, and had nothing to do but think. That couldn¡¯t be all there was to it though, because during every battle or dangerous situation before he was thinking, quickly too. Probably faster than he was in this last battle, because then, he didn¡¯t have [High Mind] activated. ¡®Does it matter¡­ what I think about? Do I gain more experience for literally pondering on greater mysteries of the universe? That¡¯s gotta be it! I gained a massive boost, because I studied the exact interaction between the System and my Stamina. I figured out a step into spell creation, which would normally not be possible for many to see. I could only see it because I have a full view of my soul through my Soulspeak Achievement, and my Stamina originates inside my body, part of my soul. If it happened to an affinity, I would not have gotten the full image, because it would be outside of my scope. ¡®So basically¡­ I need to think about and figure out grand mysteries while in immense danger? Or perhaps the danger simply amplifies the experience gains? ¡®Yea, no wonder I¡¯ve been leveling so slowly. I haven¡¯t been doing anything like that at all.¡¯ Relieved for a way to level up his Profession now, he moved on to the next notification. [Skill Gained: Disconnect] [Disconnect - Level 1 - Stamina affinity The overwhelming world pulls at more than just the mind. The heart, too, feels the crushing weight of responsibilities. The soul suffers under draining responsibilities, and the body collapses when pushed too far. When at the absolute limit, when everything fails, what else is there to do but nothing? Creates a disconnect between the soul and body while boosting the regeneration of both, allowing for rapid repair of Soul Strain, Soul Damage, and long-term physical maladies. Soul and Physical body enter a locked trance state, becoming incapable of moving or activating other Skills. Requires several hours for Soul and Body to realign with one another once Skill is deactivated. Locked trance state may result in divine or conceptual communication] [Skill Leveled Up: Disconnect (1) -> (59)] ¡®Finally! A soul healing Skill!¡¯ He almost wanted to drop right back into that same state and stay there until the cracks were gone, but he had other responsibilities. He also believed that this was what helped his Solidity Skill, as it might have considered the gap between them soul damage. He noted a few things about the Skill as well. First was that it said he couldn¡¯t activate Skills, but Dei remembered Growing Pains continuing to heal him, which seemed to imply that Passive Skills would keep running, he just couldn¡¯t control them. Second, Dei suspected that the clause on ¡°divine or conceptual communication¡± was something added after the creation of the Skill itself, when he¡¯d talked to Kindness and that¡­ other creature. The vision he¡¯d gotten from his Connection Skill implied that Soul hadn¡¯t just given him a Skill, it had literally connected him to a specific member of a specific race. It wasn¡¯t random, but chosen. Now, the System was telling him that this creature was divine in nature, meaning he was connected to a specific God as well. Based on the vision, Dei thought it might be an aquatic beast God, but had no way to actually tell. Dei was almost afraid to even think about it any more. Whoever or whatever he connected with could clearly still find him, based on how his refuge in Aloran¡¯s garden froze over as he stared at the screen for [Connection] last time he¡¯d opened it. Not wanting to push his luck any more, he moved on to his affinity gains [Affinity Strengthened: [Fortitude: High Uncommon: 99% has strengthened into Fortitude: Low-Rare: 1%] That one had been fairly high in the first place, but it was nice to see it finally reach over into Rare. The others actually hadn¡¯t moved up all that much, probably because he didn¡¯t have time to be Kind to anyone or Wrathful towards anything before he¡¯d been completely dropped. At long last, he reached the end of his notifications, surprise plain on his face as he read exactly what it was. [Achievement Gained! Dammit You have found and utilized a bug in The System Chapter 75 The odd Achievement floated before him, and he couldn¡¯t help but re-read it a few times. It granted no outside bonuses, but he had to admit, not being killed for utilizing a bug was a powerful boon in and of itself. Dei assumed there would be no such thing as bugs with a conscious System, but he supposed the ¡°bug¡± here was not a glitch in the traditional sense, but a sort of oversight in some sort of deal the System had with Time, or different affinities in general now that he thought about it. It wasn¡¯t a surprise either that the System hadn¡¯t found this yet. [How About a Demonstration] could only be earned by telling the System, an interdimensional God-like entity, something it didn¡¯t already know. There were probably not many who could do that, and even less who were willing to stick around after earning such a Skill. If someone was able to expand the Systems knowledge, they were most likely from outside the System. If they were outside the System, then there was a good chance they would move back outside the System eventually as well. Anyone powerful enough to do that wouldn¡¯t need to rely on [How About a Demonstration] to get more power or in niche situations, they¡¯d just kill the enemy outright, not even considering the Skill. He shrugged his shoulders. It wasn¡¯t exactly a game-changing Achievement. It just gave him the greenlight to boost the formations of Skills and get a lot more bang out of them on the first use. That out of the way, he went to the first of several evolutions, his [Homeostasis] evolution. Opening his interface and selecting the Skill, a window popped up [Diverging paths for evolution open: Regenerating Enduring Attuning Adaptability Resistance] Two options were familiar to him, Regenerating and Enduring. When he checked both, he confirmed that Regenerating would double how quickly he regained HP, and Enduring would double his SP passive gain. He was interested in neither though, because [Growing Pains] healed faster and gave him practically unlimited SP, so long as he had Wrath mana. Attuning was the third in the series, helping to regenerate MP, but again he didn¡¯t care for it. He had an already massive pool to draw from, so he looked towards the other two. [Adaptability: Nothing can prepare you for the unexpected, except expecting the unexpected, an exceedingly exceptional exercise. Greatly increases the rate at which you can adapt to harmful imbalances] Simple and effective. When Dei was suffering from the vibrational attack of the Accipere during his trance, he felt that his body was slowly adapting to it. Not enough to fully offset the harm it did, but enough to give him hope that, even if the chase lasted indefinitely, he¡¯d be up and running eventually. That being said, ¡°eventually¡± wasn¡¯t always an option, so rapid adaptation looked very promising. [Resistance: Rapid adaptation may not solve the issue, if the limit for how much it can handle is too high. Raises the maximum level of resistance you can develop to a particular imbalance] This one, too, was amazing. Dei noticed that Homeostasis was very broad with what it considered an ¡°Imbalance.¡± In general, it was¡­ anything that wasn¡¯t a direct attack, but still harmful, such as exhaustion. When he raised the level of Homeostasis, Dei noticed that he needed to sleep less. Growing Pains only helped with his physical exhaustion, but Homeostasis helped with mental exhaustion too. Thinking about it, this would help with his two biggest weaknesses as well. While it was true that there were a lot of environmental things that could hurt him, Vibrations and Light were the only two that would immediately cripple him. Speaking of, after he closed these screens, he was going to see if Fendrascora could attack him with Vibrations until he was at his maximum resistance to it. This should have been something he¡¯d done a while ago, and he chastised himself for his stupidity. Taking his Weaknesses into consideration, Dei leaned more towards Resisting than Adapting. It would be too useful to not have a glaring vulnerability. Confirming his selection, Dei didn¡¯t notice anything change immediately, which was understandable considering the Skill worked on time and exposure to various things Next, he moved down to [Vigilance] [Diverging paths for evolution open: Sixth Sense Overload Reaction Observative WARNING! This Skill is part of a Class within the first evolution, and cannot move past level 100 until the Class does so first] Dei was about to shrug and move to his Class evolutions when he froze, and his eyes found another Skill. [High Mind (100)] Then his Profession level [Pondering Sage (Level 11)] He grimaced. Waiting was not a viable tactic for evolving his High Mind. it would be far too long before Pondering Sage reached level one hundred, and he needed High Mind. It was simply too useful. So what were his options? Dei could think of only one: Back when he stole a Skill from his Profession after first selecting it. Originally, Pondering Sage had a Meditation Skill. When it interacted with his Meditation Skill, they ground each other away, leaving a qualitatively better Skill. If Dei could create and merge something with [High Mind], he could remove the Skill from his Profession and, hopefully, level it up again. Nothing to do about that right away, Dei went to his Class options instead. It was important to keep in mind that Class would dictate how he fought, so he shouldn¡¯t just choose anything that looked good. It would have to synergise with him. He selected [Prodigal Detector] on his Interface. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Remote Link (Rare) A Hundred Eyes (Uncommon) Watchful Guardian (Treasured) Remote Slaughterer (Treasured) A Hundred Slaughterers (Rare) Watchful Slaughterer (Epic)] ¡®Woah¡­¡¯ he thought, looking over the options. First, he saw that there were two variants to each Class, and it was clear where the second came from. It was time for Dei to choose whether he should take the next step down the path of Slaughter, or if he should continue as a normal person. It wasn¡¯t much of a choice at all. Dei needed more power, the Accipere showed that in full. What would he give up from a rarer Class that was exactly the same in every way? Reading over the descriptions of [Remote Link] and its Slaughterer counterpart, Dei compared the two [Remote Link You have not only fought using your spiritual form from a distance, but harmonized your style with that spiritual form to overpower your enemies. Scouting with your projection, you find enemies and lure them into a false sense of security as they chase you directly to your main body, where they are outnumbered and outpowered. Despite being only one, you hold the numerical advantage. Gives the Skills: [Synchronize], [Imbued Spirit], [Stable Connection] Gives the Stats: +1 Magical every odd level, +1 Spiritual and +1 Mental every even level Looking over the Skills, he saw that Synchronize would help him fight alongside his spiritual selves without overlapping one another, Imbued Spirit made it so that he could pour affinity mana into his Projections for variable effects (such as Wrath for more physical strength, or fortitude for more durability), and Stable Connection let his Projections go out further and repair themselves from Dei¡¯s pool of Soul mana.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Moving over to the Slaughterer variant, he pulled up the full description. [Remote Slaughterer You have not only fought using your spiritual form from a distance, but harmonized your style with that spiritual form to annihilate your enemies. Scouting with your projection and crushing those you find unworthy for a true fight, you find enemies and lure them into a false sense of security as they chase you directly to your main body. When they face you as the wall, they will find only death. Fully confirms your path as a Slaughterer, destroying the weaker parts of yourself and using those ashes to empower your true strengths. Gives the Skills: [Synchronized Slaying], [Fury-Imbued Spirit], [Stable Connection of DEATH] Gives the Skills: +2 Magical every odd level, +1 Spiritual and +1 Mental every even level Comparing the two, he saw that the Slaughterer half was just an edgier, stronger version of Remote Link. The only real difference was that clause in the middle about fully confirming his path, and Dei thought he knew exactly what it was talking about. When Gargeth the Body Melder, fleshy half-spirit he¡¯d talked to a while ago, told Dei that level one hundred was when the changes to his body would become finalized, this was likely what he meant. If Dei chose a Slaughterer class, then he would be fully locked out of mana sense. If he didn¡¯t he¡¯d slowly recover the ability to see mana. ¡®Well, I¡¯ve survived this long without mana sense by just asking Clever what he senses. That seems easy enough to do, and I¡¯ve done this all for a boost in power which is now sitting right in front of me. I¡¯d be a fool to not pick one of the Slaughterer options.¡¯ That being the case, he continued looking over his options. A Hundred Eyes, and its Slaughterer counterpart, both did not interest him. It was all about producing a small swarm of Projections to fight his enemies for him, and lessening the blow of his Echoes dying. Altogether though, the smaller projections were quite weak. Watchful Guardian and Watchful Slaughterer though, those drew his eye. Not only as the rarest in the selection, but also because they helped to encompass exactly what he wanted: direct power. Since he was going for Slaughterer options now, he went straight to the Slaughterer variant [Watchful Slaughterer Outleveled at every turn, you tip the odds in your favor through use of strange or unique powers. Unable to accept defeat, you¡¯ve put yourself in harm''s way to protect those you consider worthy of protecting time and time again, growing stronger despite battles that would cripple or traumatize a lesser man. You face off against enemies not to protect yourself, but to do for others what you wish someone should have done for you. You will find and destroy anyone who''s ever wronged you, leaving enemy corpses or friendly faces in your wake, they may choose which. Fully confirms your path as a Slaughterer, destroying the weaker parts of yourself and using those ashes to empower your true strengths. Gives the Skills: [Empowered Rage], [Join Arms], [Dispersed Burden] Gives the Stats: +2 Physical every odd level; +1 Mental, +1 Spiritual, and +1 Magical every even level It talked about facing enemies head-on, which was something [Prodigal Detector] simply did not do. Even the other classes focused on tricking his enemies and leading them into advantageous situations, but he could already do that. What Dei lacked was a way to harm things directly. He still didn¡¯t have any way to channel his mana into attacks, aside from using Homeostasis to create explosions, but that wasn¡¯t even a real Skill. It was a clever application of a healing ability. The first Skill in the roster of this class was [Empowered Rage], and it was exactly what he needed. [Empowered Rage - Level 1 - Passive Emotions serve to cloud the mind, anger over those who would dare challenge you only impairs your judgement, and gives no trade off. To rein in those responses is not only smart, but efficient- UNTIL NOW! Allow your emotions to run rampant all you want when you only get stronger as you become more crazed with battle lust. Allows the body to handle larger amounts of Affinity Mana without becoming damaged, while greatly enunciating the effects of raw mana further. Amplifies the effects of the Skill with each level.] He was rather hopeful of this Skill because it was something he¡¯d tried a while ago, back in the Lorpee cavern, with little success. He¡¯d attempted to run Wrath mana through his system and draw strength from that, but all he¡¯d done was suppress his fear-factor with a mild strength boost. This Skill would have helped with that. Dei understood that all mana types did something to whatever they interacted with, and this Skill increased that effect. If he had to guess, it would help Wrath make him stronger, Fortitude make him tougher, Kindness to¡­ heal him? And Soul to¡­ Ok, he wasn¡¯t entirely sure what each did, but he could experiment. Wrath and Fortitude alone were more than enough to justify getting the Skill, because it would just be a flat boost to his survivability. Moving on, he went to [Join Arms] [Join Arms - Level 1 There are many kinds of relationships. Friendships, enemies, comrades, siblings, parents, and children. Each of these means something different between those that hold them, each one is unique. Allows the user to turn their relationships more tangible, gaining variable benefits or burdens depending on who the Skill is used on. Skill is useable once per day, and costs one use to deactivate its effects on one of your relationships. Raises the maximum effect of the bonds with each level] Dei would have to use it to find out what he did, but the name was a clue. It would probably help him cover his own weaknesses depending on who he used it on, such as Clever giving him a rudimentary ability to sense mana or something of the sort. On the other hand, there was an actual chance of it giving him a burden as well- one that he wouldn¡¯t be able to remove for at least twenty four hours. If Dei used it on, say, a Shaman who wanted him dead, he would probably get cursed. This was one he¡¯d just have to use to find out what it did, like [Commune with the Universe] but hopefully less painful. He hoped that Dispersed Burden would be a bit easier to understand. [Dispersed Burden - Level 1 - Toggleable The path upwards is lonely and dangerous, but it does not have to be. You¡¯ve watched for danger for so long that you sometimes forget there are others behind you, ready to catch you if you fall. Choosing a damage type dealt to you, you may shunt that type off to another whom accepts it into themselves. Damage type carries over, damage does not necessarily carry over. Efficiency of connection increases with each level] Dei read this one thoughtfully, trying to figure out what exactly it meant when it said that damage type would carry over, but not necessarily the damage itself. ¡®Does it mean like, if I get burned, I can give that burn to Clever, who might even benefit from the extra heat? Or maybe if I get hit, I can disperse that to Fendrascora, who would handle it a lot better if she were in a more healthy state? That would be¡­ strong. I like it!¡¯ Looking over the different Skills he would receive, he was starting to get a bit excited. He would even be able to use his explosions or fire breath more, because he could just give his burns to Clever, who wouldn¡¯t care all too much. He¡¯d have to test it of course, but based on its wording, Dei was almost positive he was right. Looking over all his options one more time and making sure it would be the right choice, Dei quickly told the others what he was about to do. He was going to gain a Skill that would supposedly rewire his body to accept affinity mana easier, so it might be painful. He was decidedly not ready when he accepted the Class selection and felt as the three Skills granted by his Class start grinding down to nothing. Grabbing his chest, the first two to fight were [Growing Pains] and [Empowered Rage], and if he could visualize it in any way, it would be a slug-fest. The two Skills worked to enhance his own body, and were especially rage-based. Though Growing Pains was a much higher-leveled Skill, they fought in a conceptual ring, and were very equal to one another. Blow after blow, the two punched each other to dust. When they were finished, and he worried he¡¯d just destroyed his Skills, a union of the two rose from the ashes like a phoenix. It had no name for but a moment, but he felt his soul quickly give it one without conscious decision. It was frankly uncreative in name, but fitting nonetheless. [[Empowered Rage] has merged with [Growing Pains] to form the Skill: [Growing Rage]] The fight in his soul was not over though, as it was [Join Arms] against [Meditation] Once more, they were mostly equal, but it was a decidedly different fight. Rather than punch each other into nothing, the two tried to tie the other up in intangible ropes, securing the other so it could be devoured. But ¡°Mostly equal¡± did not mean ¡°Equal.¡± [Meditation] was just slightly stronger than [Join Arms] and, slowly but surely [Meditation] freed itself while the new contender was bound and squeezed until nothing was left, absorbed fully into [Meditation]. [[Join Arms] has merged with [Meditation] to form the Skill: [Meditation]] Last on the chopping block was [Dispersed Burden], and it fought against¡­ Meditation once more. ¡®Damn! Slow down greedy fucker!¡¯ Dei thought, but truly, he was elated. He knew that fusions were an objectively good thing, as the new Skill inherited the best parts of both. His new Meditation would be a beast. [Dispersed Burden] didn¡¯t put up even the slightest fight. [Meditation], by this point, was far, far stronger than it. In a single swipe, [Dispersed Burden] was no more, and Meditation had absorbed its functions fully. [[Dispersed Burden] has merged with [Meditation] to form the Skill: [Meditation]] At the end of it all, Dei was left with a new Wrath Skill, and one thrice-empowered Meditation. Chapter 76 His smile from the Skill fusions quickly turned to a grimace as he felt his new [Growing Rage] Skill sputter to life. It kept with [Growing Pains] ability to draw Wrath concentration directly from [Pandora¡¯s Box], and did so now. Using the pure energy, he felt the Skill begin circulating it through his body. Not just anywhere though, but along the scar tissue left behind from when the Wrath Curse had run rampant in his body. He couldn¡¯t pinpoint exactly what the energy was. There was no mana for it to ride on, and it was far more intangible than anything he¡¯d seen. It was like the concept of Wrath, which he supposed was all that was left. As it ran along the cracks and scars, he felt exactly where all the scar tissue was inside him as well. The burns from the Wrath curse were more than skin deep, and this only served to enunciate the issue. Dei felt the Skill¡¯s draw on his Pandora¡¯s Box accelerate, and he grunted in pain as the burning sensation intensified. More than that, the concentration of Wrath mana carried Lani¡¯s curse on it as well. The more mana he felt his Skill draw from, the angrier he got as the curse began affecting his mind. Though he hated to stop the process halfway through, he cut the Skill off immediately. ¡®I can¡¯t go berserk here and have to admit that Fang was right.¡¯ Relaxing as the painful burning abated, he saw that nothing in particular had changed about the scars. He did cut it off almost instantly though, so the Skill had almost no time to enact whatever it was doing. He sighed. He knew for a fact that it was going to do something cool if he let it, but he couldn¡¯t risk losing himself. ¡®Also, why did it go only for Wrath mana? It should be able to draw from all mana types. I hope it was just a preference because Growing Pains makes up half the Skill, and it didn¡¯t lose that function from Empowered Rage. It wouldn¡¯t make sense if it did, because I saw that the Skill kept the best functions of both.¡¯ Not delaying any longer, he checked the new Skill descriptions. Previously, [Growing Pains] said this: [Growing Pains - Level 168 - Wrath Affinity - Passive Feel the burning of your muscles as you move it to the beat. That''s not just you working up a sweat, but also PURE RAGE! Let nothing stand in your way as you reform your body into that of a Greek God! Let the adrenaline flow through you as you tear yourself apart, only to come back stronger for it! Gives a heightened rate of bodily repair, allows for classless stat growth past Physical: 14 at the cost of Wrath Concentration Regenerates HP at a rate of (Skill level) HP per hour, at the cost of Wrath Concentration Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - As your muscles enter new heights, you must find heavier weights to use them with. Your muscle gains never stop, but the availability of such heavy objects does. Gain a new mode to the Skill: Training Mode, where the body becomes weakened, allowing for the Physical stat to increase further and Growing Pains Skill to level up, despite a limited selection of tools to work them with] Now, [Growing Rage] said this: [Growing Rage - Level 168 - Wrath Affinity - Passive Working out or fighting to the death, what¡¯s the difference between them? At some point, the line begins to blur. A spar becomes deadly, a fight becomes fun. Any wall that stands before you will get punched to dust, then you will EAT the BRICKS to build yourself back EVEN STRONGER THAN THE WALL! What¡¯s the calorie count on a brick? We asked the experts and they said ¡°RAAAAAAH!¡± Gives a heightened rate of bodily repair, allows for classless stat growth past Physical: 14 at the cost of Wrath Concentration Regenerates HP at a variable rate, at the cost of Wrath Concentration. Expend Affinity Concentration to rebuild your body in various ways, depending on the affinity used. Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - As your body grows to new heights, you must find stronger enemies to test yourself against. You never reach perfection, but the availability of enemies does. Gain a new mode of the Skill: Training Mode, where the body matches the challenge level of your enemy, allowing for Level, Skill, and Stat growth at a higher rate than would normally be available to fighting weaker enemies] His eyes almost bulged out of his head with what he was looking at. Firstly, he kept every single level from [Growing Pains] Second, he confirmed that he could use different affinities in the Skill, and it looked like that feature was expanded further, and third, even his level 100 evolutionary upgrade was better! Now, he could weaken himself to match the enemy, and it said he would earn more Skill Levels and actual Levels, along with better stats. He¡¯d been thinking that he wasn¡¯t getting enough use out of Training this entire time and was sort of bummed he might¡¯ve wasted the evolution upgrade long-term, but this was a lot better. The description made him laugh too, but he didn¡¯t think he would be eating bricks anytime soon. Out of his original four Skills, the ones carried over from his previous life, [Growing Pains] had the best description in his opinion. This Skill even seemed to inherit that strength! Excited for the newly fused Meditation, he opened his interface once more. His previous [Meditation] Skill looked like this: [Meditate - Level 97 - Mana Affinity The self, everything that one''s identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. The plants, insects, and even microbes experience the same moments as any human, yet ones identity itself is entirely unique. Despite sharing moments with so many others, no entity shares every moment with you. Your identity is the sum of so many parts, yet greater than every single one individually. Even still, there is an unbreakable link between every singular person and the grand cosmos that rotates around their unique perspective. Using that link, draw aspects of yourself into the open, showing all what it means to be you. Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards.] While the new description went like this: [Meditate - Level 97 - Mana Affinity The self, everything that one''s identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. These connections can become weaker or stronger, but never truly broken. The invincible bond shared by all things can be obscured or found, but never truly lost. Rather than ignore them, you¡¯ve delved into these connections and found that they want to be real. They want to exist and, with a helping hand, they can. Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards. Allows the user to turn their relationships more tangible, gaining variable benefits or burdens depending on who the Skill is used on. Skill is useable once per day, and costs one use to deactivate its effects on one of your relationships. Choosing a damage type dealt to you, you may shunt that type off to another whom accepts it into themselves. Damage type carries over, damage does not necessarily carry over.] Overall, much similar to the original compared to [Growing Rage]. All these fusions made Dei realize something as well. These Skills were inheriting and improving the features of their predecessors, so shouldn¡¯t his Meditation Skill have inherited the functions of both the originals? He remembered both their functions as well: The first one helped to regenerate affinity mana, while the other helped to balance his soul. He already knew that his current Meditation produced Soul mana, but Dei felt like that was more from the introspection than the Skill itself. Thinking he¡¯d happened onto something, Dei closed his eyes, Meditating and trying to regenerate Wrath mana¡­ but the Skill didn¡¯t respond. Instead opting to try and balance his soul, the other Meditation function, he again failed.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡®Wait, why do these Skills keep their functions, but the Meditations don¡¯t?¡¯ he wondered. Perhaps it was because the original two Meditations were objectively weaker than the current Meditation? Or because there was something unique about the Meditation line of Skills? Dei noticed that his current Meditation was all about connections and forming bonds, and it was able to assimilate other Skills that formed intangible bonds, but the original two had nothing to do with that. If he had to guess, it would be the difference between ¡°Upgrading the Skill,¡± as the original two Meditations did, and ¡°Assimilating Skills with similar functions,¡± as the current Meditation did. Shrugging, he saw that he still had two Skill evolutions to pick, [High Mind] and [Vigilance]. Clever still hadn¡¯t finished investigating a future timeline either, so Dei still had time. [Vigilance] went first, and a screen reopened with options he¡¯d seen before picking his Class. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Sixth Sense Overload Reaction Observative] Now, without the warning at the end. He expanded the first option. [Gut instinct based on subconscious perception can only take you so far if there is truly nothing to detect with your senses. Just because there is nothing you can sense though, does not mean there is nothing to sense. Broaden the spectrum of sensations that Vigilance can search through to that which not even you can tap into] Promising. Dei already worried about things similar to this when he considered Clevers affinity- What if a Time creature swapped through timelines until it found him in a weak position? With this, Vigilance would be able to watch his back against things he couldn¡¯t see. This might be remedied by simply getting stronger and gaining perception abilities though. Overload went next. [Sometimes a fight is decided by the millisecond, or even shorter. During those critical moments, many would give anything for just a little more time to think. Give Vigilance the ability to enter Overload, where the strain on your soul is increased in proportion to how much more mental energy you wish for it to produce. No upper limit.] Potentially very powerful and abusable. Dei remembered that, when he gave Clever his High Mind, Clever was able to utilize even the mental energy from Vigilance. Dei suspected that the two skills were close to one another, but did not merge because the System did not want them to. If Dei used Overload with a fully rested soul then gave Clever his [High Mind], how powerful would a single use of a new Skill get? The entire Time affinity seemed dependent on the mind of someone, and how much they could successfully process without getting lost in the complicated timestream. Could Clever find a way to reverse time for all of them if provided enough mental energy, even if only single use? Something to consider¡­ Reaction next: [You do not need to see the danger to stop it. Acting instantly without conscious input can save you before it even occurs to you to flinch. Allow for Vigilance to react to outside stimuli in your stead without input.] He thought about this one for only a moment, but quickly discarded it. True, it might have been able to stop him from falling into the Smilers trap by attacking it in his dreams, but it was also easy to abuse. What if an enemy like the Smiler tricked the Vigilance Skill to get him to attack something that wasn¡¯t there. The first thought was not always the best, and responding full-force to a harmless surprise may end up killing someone. No, too dangerous to those around him and easily abused by enemies. That left Observation. [Knowing danger is present is the first step to responding. The second, is knowing what the danger is, but subconscious consideration is difficult or impossible to parse. Makes Vigilance directly inform you, in detail, of what the danger is.] On the opposite side of the spectrum, this was great. This would have let him respond properly to the Smiler, as his Vigilance could sense that something was invading his soul, but his mind didn¡¯t see that. Vigilance would have brought his attention to the invasion. Still, though it would be useful, he didn¡¯t consider it the most useful. Usually, if he knew danger was around, he would be able to spot it on his own or be ready. In the niche situation that he couldn¡¯t do that, Dei was now a lot more prepared to tackle unseen enemies. With Clevers ability to send scouts into the future, they could just perpetually keep something scouting ahead for them, giving them hours or even days of forewarning, depending on the limits of his Skill. Observation was made obsolete by Clever, and Dei they weren¡¯t parting ways any time soon. Instead, he was split between Overload and Sixth Sense. Sixth Sense provided a larger safety net and forewarning for things that snuck just outside of his every sense, but Overload would be better in critical moments. Again, Clevers future-sight tipped the balance. It didn¡¯t matter how they attacked, if Clever could spot them before they did. He would be better off with Overload, especially considering his Visible Presence grew every day. Rarely, if ever, did he overdraw from his soul anymore, and that presence would never become any smaller or slow down. Long term, Overload would grow stronger and allow for Dei to give Clever more mental power in a time of need. Short term, it was the most combat-usable too, so Overload won out in his mind. He selected the evolution. Last but not least, [High Mind]. While Dei couldn¡¯t level it up any further, he could still utilize the evolution he chose, so he might as well pick it. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Focus Awareness Recollection Simulation Scanning Sifting Fragmenting] Dei was already tired of reading the screens, and he had other things to sift through, such as using [Growing Rage] to upgrade his body, potentially figuring out a way to use the Wrath curse without going crazy. He wasn¡¯t doing an in-depth analysis of each of these, so he skimmed them quickly. If he found that he was wrong and wanted to change his mind later, he could. Focus accelerated his mind when put to a singular task Recollection made his Eidetic memory passive, rather than active, letting him connect things in his mind easier. Simulation made forming his inner mental world a lot easier. Scanning helped take in more details. Sifting helped single out small stimuli that were clouded by other stimuli. Fragmenting made each individual brain more efficient. Focus and Recollection he discarded, too combat ineffective. Simulation was interesting, but too risky as he wasn¡¯t willing to dedicate a large part of his mind to maintaining his internal world. Scanning was interesting because it paired well with [Camouflage] and might let him finally use it to harden his skin in certain sections without locking his muscles by smoothing out the fine details between them. Sifting would increase his [Tremor Sense] capabilities dramatically. Fragmenting would let him focus on many different tasks easily. He chose Fragmenting, because it would let him split his mind further to help with [Meditation] and form a large Visible Presence faster. Now that he¡¯d chosen, he read over the Fragmenting evolution one more time: [Too much to focus on, too much to train, and not enough hours in the day. Perfect multitasking is not normally possible, but that means nothing to the man who can become two different people. Upgrades the efficiency of split minds, drawing less power for faster thinking.] Sighing in relief, he almost believed that he was done, but saw he¡¯d actually gained one more notification just sitting here, and tensed at a new selection. [Achievement Gained! Slaughterer To become a Slaughterer innately means that something is lost. At the minimum, it is innocence, but the changes are more than symbolic. So familiar with the sense of loss, that they often do not realize when they have become a whittled facsimile of the mind they once were. Despite that pain though, they fight forevermore. They fight to survive, to kill, to grow. Cutting away the weakness of their past, they are reborn as vicious killers. Grabbing at the flames in the crucible of legends and pulling them into your own body, you have burned away at your own impurities. Time and time again, you bring the hammer strike down upon your weakness, breaking your own body so that it may know pain. So it may understand pain intimately, internalize it, and bring forth the agony of life with every blow. Finally crawling free from the forge, you stand tall as your very existence speaks of a million struggles none will ever know, the mighty thump of your beating heart a testament to your resolve. You have cut away the weakness within you. His face relaxed when he saw what it was, and he stared at the notification for a long moment. There was no third step to becoming a Slaughterer, no massive fight required to finalize it or prove himself. He didn¡¯t need to kill all of his enemies, and he wasn¡¯t even the strongest thing in the area. Sure, he¡¯d picked a Slaughterer class, but it never actually occurred to him that he was at the final step. He just didn¡¯t feel ready. He didn¡¯t feel ready to be a Slaughterer, but that didn¡¯t mean he could delay it any further. ¡®For better or worse, I¡¯m a Slaughterer.¡¯ The thought made him smile. Even if he wasn¡¯t ready, he was proud. Finally, he checked over his Interface one more time. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Watchful Slaughterer (Level 100) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 11) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Giants IV, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II), Dammit, Slaughterer Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) HP: 192/192 MP: 64/64 SP: 128/128 Stats: Physical: 64 Mental: 61 Spiritual: 69 Magical: 62 Affinities: Kindness: High-Rare: 19% Wrath: Low-Rare: 15% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58% Fortitude: High-Uncommon 8% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained) (273) (10906/10920), Call for Help (62), Good Samaritan (37), Meaningful (44) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Rage (168) Soul: Astral Projection (12), Connection (1) Fortitude: Solidity (93), Fortress of Denial (36) Health: Homeostasis (100) Mana: Meditation (97) Stamina: Disconnect (59) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (64) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (53), Vigilance (100), In Tune (36), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (100)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8250/10920 Wrath 981/10920 Kindness 532/10920 Soul 859/10920 Fortitude 300/10920 [NULL] ] Chapter 77 Notifications finished, Dei started experimenting with his new powers when Clever came over to him, indicating he¡¯d finished scouting out the future. Shaking his little Korgonda head, he told Dei ¡°No, the Accipere is still strong enough to kill us all.¡± Then, looking at Dei funny, Clever said ¡°Though it was a close match¡­ you released the curse, I think, and tore yourself to shreds trying to win. Don¡¯t release that curse.¡± Dei nodded and stood up. ¡°Well, nothing to do about that now other than return to Aloran.¡± he said without commenting on the second part. He believed that was his future self using his new [Growing Rage] to let the power run through him in a last-ditch attempt to win Fendrascora behind him, Fang in hand, and Clever on his shoulder, they set out. ¡®Clever¡¯s getting a little big. How large is he now? Half the size of a monitor lizard?¡¯ with his current height, Clever had to stand at an angle on Dei¡¯s shoulder. Nonetheless, this wasn¡¯t too bad. * * * On the way to Aloran, Dei started experimenting with [Growing Rage]. Not using the Wrath Curse, but Fortitude. He imagined that Fortitude would both make him more durable, and protect his mind. If he could get enough of it, then he could withstand the effects of the Wrath Curse without going crazy. The moment he started, there was the familiar feeling of his Skill drawing concentration from within Pandora¡¯s Box, then running it along his body. Similar to what it did with the Wrath concentration, the Fortitude Concentration followed the scars left behind from Lani¡¯s Wrath mana coursing through his body. ¡®I dont think they¡¯re just scars anymore. Instead, it¡¯s perhaps similar to when electricity carbonizes or fractal burns wet wood if it runs through it, creating a path where other electricity follows as well. Some of my flesh got mana-nized, and now its a lot easier for Mana to run through that. How that¡¯s going to change anything, I¡¯m not sure.¡¯ As the Fortitude Concentration went through all his muscles, Dei had to focus on keeping his balance as it didn¡¯t quite hurt as much as Wrath did, but it felt hard to walk as his muscles tensed. The process slowly but surely ramped up while he ran. It became a struggle to walk, and Dei was tempted to give Fendrascora his [Homeostasis] Skill again, but he had other plans. ¡°Hey Fendrascora,¡± he got her attention through [Meaningful], ¡°Can you hit me with small- small amounts of vibrations? I want my body to adjust to the feeling so that I¡¯m not debilitated again.¡± ¡°Enough to harm you?¡± she asked. ¡°Just a little bit, but slow enough that my body can reheal from it as well.¡± Immediately, he felt his entire body begin shaking slightly, and an incredibly painful sensation of being pulled apart ran through his system. Dei chose to imagine that the lack of hesitation on Fendrascora¡¯s part was because of their near-death situation before that showed how necessary covering his weakness would be, and not Fendrascora mad at him for getting them into that situation in the first place. On top of that, he asked Clever to send a scout into the future, as far as one could go. ¡°We need a heads up for who and what is going to track us down. If they¡¯re going to attack soon, we need a forewarning.¡± ¡°Okay, I will try, but I can¡¯t keep a scout in the future always. I think ten hours into the future is my max right now, and it takes twenty minutes to get there. Also, I can only keep it there for like¡­ thirty more minutes before I get too tired.¡± ¡°How long does it take for your soul to regenerate?¡± Dei asked. ¡°Ummmm¡­ three hours?¡± ¡°Well, that still gives us- at minimum- a seven hour heads up. I want you to look ten hours into the future, then immediately stop and let your soul regenerate before doing it again. It¡¯ll be good practice, and you won''t overtax your soul in case you need to use your fire and rewind time on yourself.¡± Nodding, Clever hunkered down to rest a bit. He¡¯d check the future later, because he just finished, and his soul was still a bit strained. ¡®Vibrational training? Check. Growing Rage Fortitude rebuilding? Check¡­ Now I need to test out increasing the strength of a bond, and dispersing the damage. Bond first.¡¯ ¡°By the way Clever, do you want to test something out?¡± Clever sent back an expression of confusion. Dei then explained his new Skill, the ability to strengthen a bond with one another. Clever was excited for it, and more than happy to be subject to the experiment. ¡°Alright, I suppose just tell me what happens.¡± Dei said, then pulled up his Meditation world using one of his split minds, leaving the main portion to watch for threats and control his body. Before him the strings to all appeared. It was limitless in number, but he could only perceive so many. At any given point, Dei believed there were around two hundred strings, but focusing on any cluster of them resulted in more appearing out of nothing. It was like looking at a badly AI generated image, where you couldn¡¯t exactly pick out any one thing. Except, if he focused hard, he could pick something out. Some strings were stronger than others, and it was through these that he searched now. Naturally, his strongest connections were to the affinities. Below that were his parents, and below that, his friends. ¡®I wonder why my parents are still so much stronger than my friends. Is it something instinctual, or is the bond between child and parent inherently stronger? I¡¯m sure I know my friends a lot more than my parents by now, but at the same time, I feel like it is fitting? Very curious¡­¡¯ he thought, but managed to find Clevers. Meditating on his bond with Clever for a second, he produced the fog of Visible Presence, and inspected it. What was Clever to Dei? The fog seemed to say that Clever was Dei¡¯s closest friend, a warm presence, and proof that his situation would get better. He met Clever at a time in his life when he was horribly alone, weak, and grappling with an identity crisis. Since the very start though, Clever was friendly. He matched Dei well, they agreed on a lot of things, and he always felt happy, no matter the situation. Sometimes, Clever was stressed, but he trusted Dei to find a way through it. Dei smiled. If anyone would be the first bond to strengthen, it had to be Clever. Taking hold of their bond, he brought forth a strength it begged to show him. It started to shine brilliantly compared to the other strings, and Dei felt the change. His warm presence became literal in nature, and Dei felt his fire resistance grow slightly stronger. Aside from the practical benefits, the charged connection to Clever helped Dei find a piece of himself, slotting into the gap between his mind and body. [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (93) -> (95)] The main mind glanced towards Clever once it was finished and asked ¡°Feel any different?¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Clever perked up and nodded. ¡°Yep! It feels¡­ Strong! It made me tougher, I think.¡± Dei smiled. ¡°Strong? Thats cool, maybe its because I¡¯m larger than you right now and have more muscles. For me, I got a bit of your fire resistance.¡± Clever shook his head. ¡°No, not because of your muscles. It¡¯s because you¡¯re strong. I got stronger because you are.¡± Dei raised his eyebrows. ¡®Is it perhaps directly based on what that person thinks of me? Or what I think of them? I think Clever is warm, so I get fire resistance. He thinks I¡¯m strong, so he gets stronger too? That¡¯s awfully nice of him.¡¯ Clever thinking Dei was strong felt a bit unearned. Dei struggled with every fight, and lost frequently too. Still, he could not doubt that he was objectively strong, physically. Perhaps the benefits were a combination of literal and metaphorical reasons. Either way, today''s use was up. Dei felt the Skill go into a twenty four hour cooldown. He hadn¡¯t actually run into a cooldown before, so it was interesting that there was one. He sort of wanted to ask what dictated the cooldown, but knew it would be some mystery that he would only figure out through a very situational encounter. Next, he wanted to test his damage dispersion, so he gave Clever another heads up. ¡°I¡¯m gonna send some heat towards you buddy. I don¡¯t think it will hurt, but tell me if it becomes too much, okay?¡± Clever nodded, and Dei once more split a part of his mind off. He had five parts meditating, one part focusing on his connection with Clever, and now a seventh that started heating his lungs through [Homeostasis] using Convection mana. His body was constantly growing tougher and, by this point, it took a long while for enough heat to build up that he started hurting. When he did though, he tried shunting the damage off to Clever. Dei saw Clever startle for a moment, but relaxed fairly quickly ¡°Not hurtful. Gives me heat too.¡± Dei nodded. Not all of the damage was negated, but a portion of it. Some was taken care of by his new fire resistance, while a second portion was given to Clever, and the last ended up damaging him. Like this, the maximum amount of heat he could handle was raised, but he also noticed that it raised a lot slower too. That wasn¡¯t a bad tradeoff, really. Once the Convection mana reached a certain amount, it would produce more of itself far quicker than he could get rid of. In a long drawn-out battle, being able to release explosion after explosion would make him very dangerous. The only issue would be the powerful vibrations and light released from those explosions. Vibrations he was working on, Light he¡¯d have to find a source of. Maybe stare into one of those bright glowing rocks or something. Cutting off the extra heat and letting himself cool naturally, Dei continued to run towards Aloran. It¡¯d taken him around twenty hours to get from the Garden to Checkpoint two, he was positive it wouldn¡¯t be even that long this time around. * * * [Since the Fall: 10/28/809 - 18:48:23] Around twelve hours later, Dei was almost at his old Garden. Clever had actually given an odd report when he scouted the future timelines. ¡°It¡¯s like¡­ the extra timeline can¡¯t find where your old den is. Or maybe that it doesn¡¯t exist. Your extra timeline was actually starting to panic a bit with how he couldn¡¯t find his old Den, so I shut down the Skill because I felt bad.¡± Dei nodded thoughtfully at that. Apparently, Aloran¡¯s cloaking effect expanded far further than Dei had ever considered, but that made sense. If someone were scouting with parallel timelines, they would simply never find Aloran. You needed to be there, yourself, in order to get in. Aloran was a level six hundred God, a little bit of Time protection Skills were almost guaranteed. It was interesting to see and confirm, though, that there were Skills that could negate Time abilities, and that they couldn¡¯t just rely on the Skill to find all the dangers, just most of them. Clever even told Dei that the scouts he¡¯d sent to the timeline where they attacked the Accipere started getting blurry and acting funny. He couldn¡¯t properly see the timeline, only glimpses. Dei suspected that was because of the spatial distortions from the Geometry affinity, and the Space and Time affinities interacting with one another. ¡®So Geometry is a Derivative affinity of space, I wonder what the difference is? How much more does the actual Space affinity affect Clevers timeline ability, and why?¡¯ All good questions he hoped to find the answer to outside of combat. Putting that aside for now, he finally stood in front of the crack in the wall. Previously, when Clever told him the results of his future sight, he was worried that Aloran would actually be gone- moved, somehow; he saw now that was an absurd worry though, the Deity really was just a stationary microbiome. Adjusting himself to squeeze through the much narrower crack, he told Fendrascora to leave her peripheral body outside, it would be far too cramped in the Garden. Then, he began to press himself through. His chest and back scraped the edges now, but Dei was glad to see he actually still had a bit more clearance before he¡¯d need to widen the crack. He remembered his mom having an even harder time than he did now, and wondered if Aloran had purposefully build the entrance to be the perfect size for Gem Dwellers, knowing the area he was in. Nonetheless, he eventually passed through that invisible threshold, and his [Tremor Sense] opened the space before him. Seconds later, he was free , standing tall in the small cave. Looking around for a moment, he saw the familiar [Greengrow Beetles], and smiled. Aloran hadn¡¯t yet called out to Dei, despite him holding Lani and Jasmine, so he took a moment to look around. A bundled tarp sat off to the side, untouched, and Dei knew that was the eight ration bricks he¡¯d left here last time. The small stream in the side of the wall still flowed into the spongy moss at the bottom, disappearing somewhere else rather than pooling at the floor. The little indent, where he and his mom had cuddled for the last time before she had to leave. When asking his [Tremor Sense], Dei was even able to find the original [Greengrow Beetle], sending out a Kindness Identify and checking to see how it¡¯d been [Greengrow Beetle - Level 212 Greengrow Beetles are a niche species of beetle that appears rarely in caves with no large predators and a hyper-charged mana environment. Feeding on smaller bugs and various plants, these beetles contain a significant quantity of mana for their little bodies. HP: 224/224 MP: 448/448 SP: 193/224 Physical: 112 Mental: 2 Spiritual: 4 Magical: 1] Now that he had a better frame of reference, the insects'' stats made him chuckle. They were both impressive, and wildly disjointed. They were impressive because the beetle had a four-times multiplier on its MP, but it didn¡¯t have a stunted HP and SP. He¡¯d seen in other creatures that when one stat was boosted, one or both of the others tended to suffer, even in himself. He didn¡¯t even have a times-four multiplier, either, only three. Dei knew for a fact that this beetle had something magically very unique about it, and that there were probably some alchemists out there stomping their feet and pulling their hair out trying to find such rare specimens. Too bad for them, Dei wasn¡¯t going to harm even the elytra on their backs, and he¡¯d never share the location of them either. It was also interesting to note that its name didn¡¯t change, despite undergoing an evolution. Still just a Greengrow Beetle. What didn¡¯t impress him were those God-awful Mental, Spiritual, and Magical stats. Poor guy was so unequipped for any kind of danger it wasn¡¯t even funny. Ensuring to display his ¡°Friend of the Beetles¡± Presence, Dei gently pet it, much to its annoyance. Finding a place free of any bugs that might be crushed, Dei gently sat down, leaning against the spongy moss, and finally decided to get Aloran¡¯s attention. Dei thought the God might be asleep, perhaps a hibernation Skill like his own was in place. Last time, Aloran hadn¡¯t spoken until after being woken up by Jasmine. He¡¯d rather not recreate a situation like that if possible. Setting Lani down off to the side and leaning Jasmine against him, Dei spoke audibly for the first time in a while. ¡°Aloran¡± he said in a low, rumbling voice. ¡®Whoa, when did that happen? Did I go through puberty without even knowing it?¡¯ Nonetheless, his words got a response. Dei didn¡¯t sense a difference, but Clever said a new mana type was entering the air, albeit slowly. Over time, Clever said that he was able to identify the new mana type as Refuge mana, and Dei knew he¡¯d succeeded in awakening the God. Several minutes passed as the Refuge mana slowly ramped up, until eventually Dei heard a familiar voice groggily say ¡°Dei?¡± ¡°Aloran.¡± Immediately far more alert now, Aloran said ¡°My name?! LANI?!¡± Dei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s been an eventful couple months.¡± Chapter 78 ¡°I can see that!¡± Aloran said, relief and joy mixed into his voice. Dei thought he¡¯d say something else too, but there was just an awkward silence. Clever quietly spoke through their connection. ¡°The air has become charged, the mana is tense. Don¡¯t know why.¡± Dei put together that Aloran was made more of magic than physical material at this point, and Aloran himself was tense, but didn¡¯t say why. ¡®Is it because I brought Lani here? Is he embarrassed for not coming back or¡­ does he also not know that they lived? Ah, I see, he wants to ask if Amaya and Moren are alive too, but doesn¡¯t think he¡¯ll like the answer.¡¯ ¡°Amaya and Moren are alive too,¡± Dei said, and Clever told him the tension bled away quickly. ¡°Thank you. I¡­ don¡¯t know what I would¡¯ve done if they weren¡¯t. If you don¡¯t mind, I want to know the story, from the beginning, of what you¡¯ve been up to and how you knew to rescue Lani, and how you know my name. Dei nodded, and started talking. He gave a quick summary of everything he¡¯d done up to meeting Fendrascora, then the tracking marks he gained from disassembling her prison. He also went into detail what Fendrascora¡¯s story was, even the year of solitude that almost killed her, and her truly apologetic attitude. He could tell that Aloran was a bit miffed, and he didn¡¯t really forgive her, but he also understood where Dei was coming from. Moving past that, Aloran said. ¡°Well, that explains the hundreds of tracking marks on you. I¡¯m suppressing them as best I can, but my field is meant for hiding general searches. If someone already has a foot in the door past my barrier, I can''t stop it fully.¡± ¡°Can you guide me to the tracking marks themselves, and have me remove them?¡± ¡°Yes, but that will take months, and I¡¯d need to know your soul better than you. I can do a perfect soul scan to look through your soul, but I¡¯ll need your consent, and I cant guarantee that we¡¯ll get them all before whoever is tracking you gets here.¡± Dei nodded. ¡°We can look into that later. I¡¯ll finish the story with Lani.¡± Then he continued on, describing how he had a bucketlist of things to complete in this area before leaving, and one was checking out all the weak spirits. When he went to Lani, Dei described the horrible Wrath Curse that clung to Lani¡¯s mind, and how he¡¯d essentially pried it from Lani to lock in his mana storage. While the curse was transferring from Lani to Dei it created the massive fractaling scar on his skin, and gave Dei a summary of what led Lani to his current predicament, as it carried Lani¡¯s will and anger within it. ¡°Oh, that explains it. I was wondering what gave you that scar. Looks like a nasty lightning burn, but I guess copious amounts of mana can do that too, though this is the first I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± ¡°Really? I assumed mana just sort of did this if it had enough force and power behind it. What does mana usually do?¡± ¡°Well, if there¡¯s a large amount of it flowing through a material that isn¡¯t meant to conduct that mana, the object usually just catches fire or explodes. My best guess for why it didn¡¯t do that was because Lani helped contain it, but even that shouldn¡¯t have been enough. The alternative is that your body was already made of a material that can withstand large amounts of mana, and as you rehealed the damage, this aspect of yourself was enunciated further, allowing for an even more efficient path than normal. Say, have you taken a Skill that rebuilds your flesh into something that contains mana more easily?¡± Dei scratched his chin. ¡®No? I mean, I have one now I think in the form of Growing Rage, but the only other Skill that rebuilt my body was Growing Pains, and that just helped grow my muscles¡­ oh wait, it helped grow them based on the template it found in my previous life. The life where I almost perpetually had small amounts of Wrath mana running through my body, invading my mind, and affecting my everyday life.¡¯ He quickly asked Aloran ¡°Would my flesh become more mana conductive naturally if I constantly cycled mana through it for, say, around twenty years?¡± Aloran laughed. ¡°Yea, that would do it, but aren¡¯t you like a year old? Oh, unless you¡¯ve been trapped in a time prison for a few decades¡­ but no, wait, you look to still be a teenager according to Gem Dweller facial structures, I think. I never was all that good at differentiating though.¡± Dei shook his head. ¡°No, you¡¯re right, I¡¯m not fully grown yet, though I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re not more¡­ creeped out by how fast I¡¯ve grown. I thought I¡¯d be something of a freak by the time I talked to another human again. Or former humans for that matter, which I want the story to your transformation as well. Later though, I want to finish up describing what happened after I absorbed Lani¡¯s curse.¡± ¡°Slaughterers are well-documented, but ask me about that later. Tangents, distracting as always. Please, continue.¡± Aloran said. Dei had a lot of questions he¡¯d ask later. Aloran was a God, he was bound to know things that Dei couldn¡¯t hope to. He explained that he¡¯d found Amaya and Moren¡¯s spiritual signatures and their physical, albeit damaged, bodies. Amaya was closer, so he went to her. Dei described the Geometry convergence, and what he¡¯d found when they reached the center, as well as the fact that Amaya spoke to him, shortly before he was debilitated by the Accipere. ¡°It¡¯s a bit blurry after that¡± Dei said ¡°but I had a couple visions which I¡¯ll ask about later, woke up in a cave and found that Clever here saved my ass,¡± he motioned to the Korgonda on his shoulder, scratching his head. ¡°Very well done!¡± Aloran said. ¡°You haven¡¯t rushed into conflicts unprepared, but you don''t avoid them either. Still, I am more than happy to see you¡¯ve reached level one hundred. I don¡¯t know how common it is for Slaughterers to fail, as they die if they do, but I imagine that a majority of abandoned children do not make it, as sad as that is to say.¡± ¡°Yea, I think it¡¯s a miracle I¡¯m alive, but there¡¯s still a lot I want to know. Are you¡­ limited, in how much you can answer? Will you go back to sleep any time soon?¡± ¡°No, not at all. I slumber so I do not feel the passing of centuries. I believe it is one of the reasons I¡¯m still conscious at all. As sad as it is to say, I would have ended up like¡­ my friends, my family, if I could not blink from one event to the next. Even now, I¡­ am trying and failing to get a response from Lani. I would rather not speak of this tragedy though. Please, ask your questions.¡± Dei mentally reorganized his thoughts. There were so many things he wanted to know, but it would be best to ask them chronologically from the time he thought of them. ¡°The first one to ask is why I was abandoned in the first place. I¡¯ll tell you the entire story and, maybe, you can figure something out?¡± Verbally agreeing, Dei told Aloran of what happened in the red forest, followed by Iora¡¯s interrogation and what Dei assumed was the Council of Shamans agreeing to end him. Aloran was silent for several minutes, but Dei let him think. ¡°Dei¡­ I¡¯m missing part of this, aren¡¯t I? You just described something that happened to you, while only being a few months old. How would you remember it?¡± Dei considered the question. Iora dug through his soul, she knew he was a human, but Dei was still marked for death. The reason why was almost definitely something in his past life, but even if they knew he¡¯d reincarnated, that shouldn¡¯t mean they killed him. He wanted answers. Instead of trying to lie, Dei started from the beginning. The very beginning, and told Aloran of his previous life, as well as the journey through the Void and his meeting with the System. He skipped over what the System wanted completely, out of respect for its privacy and because he didn¡¯t want Aloran panicking, knowing that the System was sort of collapsing in on itself. After that, he described his earliest memories, and what eventually led to Iora. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t even want to know what the System requested of you, but I believe I have found the issue now. To confirm, would you mind if I search your memories? Gently, of course, but I need to put myself in the exact situation of Iora before saying anything.¡± Dei nodded, getting comfortable against the wall in case he passed out. If there was anyone Dei trusted, it would be Aloran. Not because Aloran was a protector, but because Dei was Aloran''s only hope of getting Amaya and Moren back. He wouldn¡¯t kill Dei, because Dei was too useful alive. He sensed a gentle touch on the edge of his mind, and guided it to when Iora started rummaging through his mind. While he wouldn¡¯t stop Aloran from looking over his every memory, he didn¡¯t want him to. Aloran seemed to take this in stride, and quickly searched over the results of Iora¡¯s interference in his soul, pausing at the various fractures and suppressed memories hastily brought to light and pressed into Dei¡¯s mind. Initially, he sensed Aloran¡¯s grimace with her handiwork, but with each shoddy application of her Mind affinity, that grimace turned into frustration, then anger. By the time he reached Dei¡¯s birth, Aloran was furious that Iora would have tortured a young boy, so thoroughly damning him to either crippling agony or flat out death. As he glimpsed past Dei¡¯s birth though, he paused, starting at Dei¡¯s memories of the Void. ¡°I see¡­¡± Aloran said, much calmer than the anger Dei still sensed from Aloran¡¯s tendrils. While it was true Dei couldn¡¯t sense mana outside his body, if even part of Aloran¡¯s mana was within Dei¡¯s domain of manipulation, Dei had no trouble reading his emotions. Nonetheless, Aloran quickly withdrew himself, preventing Dei from reading his emotions quite so thoroughly. ¡°I believe I understand why you¡¯re marked for death, and what they think you are.¡± Confused, Dei asked ¡°What I am? Couldn¡¯t they see I¡¯m human?¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­ it¡¯s a bit complicated. I suppose this starts around a millenia ago, during a golden age for research and discovery. There were very few limits on experimentation, and discoveries were made in all fields despite the¡­ cost of each. I am not proud to admit I failed to step in or help those calling for reforms, and it is the inaction of many that led to such massive tragedies at the time. One such tragedy is that of Harum the Infected, a prodigy in the exploration of souls and the Soul affinity.¡± Aloran cleared his throat. ¡°I will spare you the details of Harums experiments, but he managed to discover the Conceptual Plane of Void. According to his studies, any who visited the Void- for even a blink- would gain the ability to re-attune themselves to their affinities. Do you know what it means to attune yourself?¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°I think so,¡± Dei said, ¡°But can I get a refresher?¡± ¡°Attunement involves striking a contract with a certain affinity in order to gain Skills or boosts in that affinity, at the cost of debuffing your other affinities. How good of a contract you get depends on the strength of the connection of that which you¡¯ve formed a contract to. Most people are stuck with their initial contracts, which are usually not that good, but required to advance at any reasonable pace in the affinity. What Harum found would have increased the power and strength of any who used the technique, and not by a small amount. If it worked, the tactic would have been implemented into every curriculum for being so fundamentally useful.¡± Dei read between the lines of what Aloran said about ¡°Experimentation¡± and ¡°Tragedies.¡± Kindness told Dei that before the demon, civilization was already infested with Vices, monster attacks, and war. Aloran probably described a lawless, anarchist-style society with few limits on anything and suffering around every corner for the sake of science. A perfectly efficient society, where morals held no place. ¡°Ah, let me guess, the process had some horrible consequence that wasn¡¯t studied properly?¡± ¡°Indeed it is so. It was found that any who visited the Conceptual Plane of Void became unwittingly infected by things called Void Beasts. I imagine you¡¯re familiar?¡± ¡°Yes, those things between universes that tried to devour my soul? I¡¯ve got a few good memories with em.¡± Dei said, thinking back to the time when he cut loose his Wrath affinity in the Void and hunted countless Void Beasts. ¡°Yes, well, the experiences of others were not so positive. When a person left the Void, apparently, they carried along a passenger too. Void Beasts would find their way into the persons soul, devouring them from the inside out. Over the course of around six years, the person would slowly become sickly and lose all their memories. Once they completely forgot who they were, a Void Beast would hatch from their corpse, and begin devouring the material world. Of course, we only have a single case of this ever happening, but the others who¡¯d undergone the process seemed to be much the same. No other Void Beast has ever been born, because we Gods ordered our followers to kill any who¡¯d followed in Harums footsteps, whether they showed signs of infection or not.¡± ¡°What? Why? Even those who were okay?¡± ¡°Yes, even those who seemed unaffected. The risk was simply too high, and I do not mean that we were brazen either. This was the notification that the System sent out when the first Void Beast hatched from Harums rotting soul.¡± Dei saw a window pop up on its own, showing a foreign notification. [WARNING: A Void Beast has pierced the veil, entering your material plane of existence through an unwitting avatar. Slay it quickly, or its power shall grow until it has consumed your reality. All who are close enough to reasonably stop it before it becomes a universal-ending entity class have been pinged, and will innately know its location. May the Gods save you] ¡°Oh¡­¡± Dei said, slumping. ¡°I¡­ had no idea. Do you think I might be infected?¡± ¡°I do not, for multiple reasons, but we now arrive at why you are marked for death. I see in your memories that you crossed the Void to reach this universe, yes?¡± ¡°Err, yes. I went there when I died, killed a whole bunch of Void Beasts, met the System, and was reincarnated by the System.¡± ¡°This is the first reason I believe you are not infected. The System itself is responsible for your reincarnation, it would not have allowed for a Void Beast into the material world. These creatures only pierced the veil because we, the Sapients, let it through. The System likely removed any parasites you had before putting you into your new body, if you had any at all.¡± Dei remembered Clevers notification from the System about ¡°leaving System Bounds¡± or something like that. The System gave a list of all the benefits it provided for those within its care, one of which was this: [Parasitic Entity Repellant: Certain affinities are infested with Conceptual Entities, which exhibit adverse effects on any who come into contact with them. System Bounds repel such entities, so those protected may explore their affinities without risk.] The Void affinity had Void Beasts, which did that to people. This System gave him protection from the Parasitic Entities it spoke of. ¡°You said there were multiple reasons? And that you thought I might not have been infected in the first place?¡± ¡°Yes. As a matter of fact, after you spoke of killing Void Beasts, I¡¯m almost positive now. You have a blessing from the Void affinity, which protects you from its adverse effects on people.¡± ¡°A blessing?¡± Dei asked, confused. He¡¯d only ever received a blessing from Wrath and Kindness. ¡°Yes, though you might know it by a different name: an Achievement.¡± ¡°Wait, what? I thought the System gave Achievements.¡± ¡°It gives some of them, but Achievements are more broad than what the System can give. I think you¡¯ll find the Voids blessing to be quite obvious.¡± Dei looked over his sheet, and Aloran was correct. Voidwalker was really the only Achievement it could be. ¡°You see,¡± Aloran said, ¡°Achievements are defined as ¡®Blessings, provided by beings of higher magnitudes than mortal bounds, to those below them.¡¯ They can be from the System, affinities, or even Gods. Each Achievement gives different boons, but rarely are every single one listed, other than those given to you by the System. Affinities enjoy being mysterious, so they don¡¯t tell you all that they do. I can find at least two hidden gifts in your Void Blessing. Firstly, does it hurt to think about your time in the Void?¡± he asked. ¡°Err, no, not really?¡± ¡°Well, it hurt me just looking at it, and I¡¯m a God. I think it protects your mind from the maddening effects of glimpsing into the Void. The second would be protection from Void Beasts. You see, when the Void Beast first manifested, it started to devour all reality, growing stronger as it went. We struggled to hurt it, because nothing we threw could really hit home. Anything near it was simply devoured, brought into its amalgamate formless identity. We were only partially able to damage it through sheer intent. If we just focused on hurting it, it was like the Void Beast took damage from our very ideas. We struggled to land even a single hit¡­ yet, you¡¯ve just said that you were able to kill ¡®a bunch¡¯ of them, in their home environment. The Void affinity itself must have been impressed with something you did, and granted you the ability to fight back, killing them.¡± ¡°Well for one, that¡¯s not a hidden benefit, it directly tells me that twenty percent of my physical damage carries over to intangible opponents. And two, I think it''s actually the reverse. The Void affinity might have been impressed with how many I killed without an Achievement at all. I don¡¯t think I conveyed properly just how murderous I was at the time. I wanted everything dead. I was angry at life, angry at my death, and most of all angry that these creatures wanted to leave me forgotten despite my horrible unsatisfying ending. I couldn¡¯t, wouldn¡¯t die, because I wanted a chance at a new life. The Void most likely saw me traversing its plane without any help, completely unprepared, and blessed me for my efforts to make traversing it again a lot easier.¡± Dei got a bit heated around the middle part, talking about his death. No matter how long it¡¯d been, he was still infuriated with how and what happened. ¡°Woah woah son, I didn¡¯t mean to discredit your efforts at all, merely a theory, but yours makes a lot of sense too. If intent is all that''s needed to kill them, enough should have carried you through the Void. This isn¡¯t the point I was trying to make though, no. I was trying to say that you¡¯ve traversed the Void, and nobody can check what the hell you did when you were there. We can only go by your words, but Iora didn¡¯t hear your explanation. All she knows is that you¡¯ve been somewhere she can¡¯t understand, so she likely gave a mental report of that information to the Council. If that memory packet somehow made it into the hands of Oura, the strongest and oldest Shaman, that would lead to all your issues. ¡°Oura was there. He saw Harum, personally, explode into that grotesque mass. Now, someone comes to him with memories of the Void? Oura would assume that you somehow rediscovered the lost technique of re-attunement, used it, and managed to place yourself in a child''s body. He believes you are gestating another Void Beast, and seeks to kill you before it breaks free. If you want to survive, you¡¯ll have to convince him that he¡¯s wrong.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ and how do I do that?¡± ¡°In two ways. First, you bring undeniable proof or accounts from professionals that you are not infected. Or two, survive for seven years. After seven years, or maybe even eight, you will be cleared of any infection allegations, because the beast would have hatched by then if it were going to at all.¡± ¡°Well, waiting is easy, but where am I going to find professional accounts?¡± Dei asked. Aloran laughed. ¡°You¡¯re talking to one, boy! Get my message to Oura and he¡¯ll rethink his decision.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you a Garden now? Trapped in one spot, and helpless?¡± ¡°Not quite. When I fought against ole Grim, I managed to be reborn anew. The problem? My rebirth is dependent on my family, my armor and weapon. When I woke up to find that I¡¯d been separated from Lani, Amaya, Moren, and Jasmine, I found that my power was fractured. If you can get the four of them back together, back here, I¡¯ll be able to ascend to one of the holy plains, and potentially reconnect with other Gods. I sent you out with Jasmine in the hopes that she¡¯d protect you til you were stronger, then you¡¯d come back to thank me and I could send you on a little quest. Of course, if you¡¯d asked, I would¡¯ve told you to absolutely not go seeking them now. They¡¯re all powerful artifacts, and have doubtlessly attracted danger to themselves. I wanted you to be at least level three hundred before doing anything of the sort, because that¡¯s the right level range for this area''s top creatures.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you just send me with a message now? And how are you supposed to ascend? I thought you purposefully made your divinity weaker when you were a human so that you could continue to intermingle with people? ¡°I can¡¯t send you with my approval now because a simple word isn¡¯t enough. You need to carry my blessing, in the form of an Achievement, or they¡¯ll never believe that it¡¯s actually me. As for my power, well, I¡¯ve grown stronger of course. I¡¯ve gained many faithful that pray to me constantly, and my unified divinity is now concentrated enough that I would break down the physical world before too long and be dropped into one of the divine planes, probably a wild one.¡± ¡°What?! Too many faithful? Who?¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯ve befriended a few of them, haven''t you? One of my priests complained that a giant was bothering him, and asked me to get rid of you.¡± Baffled, Dei looked around seeing only¡­ bugs. ¡°The bugs are your followers?¡± Aloran let out a booming laugh. ¡°Just so! Hundreds of years in my presence means that my divinity was written into their instinct, and they understood innately what I was. Now, all insects here are born as devout believers¡± Dei chuckled along with him. He¡¯d never even considered that bugs could be faithful, but weirder things had happened. Basking in the light moment despite their heavy talks, Dei was reluctant to ask his next question. It was one he dreaded even speaking of, for fear of attention not even Aloran could save him from. ¡°Ah, I see you¡¯ve got something heavy weighing on you boy. Out with it, don¡¯t leave me in suspense.¡± ¡°Well, that''s the next thing I wanted to ask. You see¡­ When I took my contract with Soul, it gave me a¡­ Skill. I won¡¯t say what it was, because even looking at it told something where I was, but it seems rather dangerous, and I was hoping I could ask you what this Skill did, or at least where it came from.¡± ¡°Opening the window told something where you were¡­ hmm¡­ That means that whatever the Skill is linked to must be a powerful God, as they work alongside the System frequently, and it would be able to find you through the System. I don''t think just saying the name of it would cause such a reaction, but to be safe, let me figure out what it is first. Describe the Skill please.¡± ¡°Well the Skill holds my soul together after Iora shattered it completely. These lines even manifest on my skin, too, which you can see.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Hmm¡­ What happened, exactly, when you read the Skill?¡± ¡°I was in here, and luckily you hid me from whatever God it was, but the entire Garden froze over.¡± ¡°Froze? There were physical effects of its presence?¡± ¡°Yea,¡± Dei nodded. ¡°Ahh, I think I know what you¡¯re talking about. It is the [Connection] Skill, isn¡¯t it?¡± Surprised and scared, Dei nodded, looking around. ¡°They won''t find you here, boy. But you¡¯re right to not open that Skill menu. Even using it will notify them, but that isn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. You just gotta know when to attract their attention.¡± ¡°Who are they?¡± Dei asked, suspense killing him. ¡°That¡¯s something of a complicated question, but let me tell you the stories of the Primordial Children, the Four Divine Races. Chapter 79 ¡°The Four Divine Races are, in a word, powerful. All four are different, and to understand what they are, we must start with their names. ¡°Dragons, the Star Surfing Terrors. ¡°Titans, the Commanders of All Mana. ¡°Leviathans, the Living Worlds Below. ¡°And The Mother, Mind of the Monsters. ¡°It is the Leviathans with which you now are connected, but we will get there soon. Instead, I will start with why they are called the Primordial Children in general. Though it seems to be a mouthful, many do not dare to shorthand it by saying they are Primordials, as it is considered wildly bad luck. All four Races are different, but the one thing they agree upon is that none of them are Primordials, and get quite angry if someone calls them that. Supposedly, at the beginning of time, there was only one Primordial. The Primordial. We have no records of what it looked like, what it did, or anything of the sort as the Primordial Children refuse to speak of it other than in the most basic of aspects. ¡°We know from their quiet talks that The Primordial started all life, and that it could have annihilated it just as easily. The Primordial Children say that they are the broken up aspects of this once amazing being, and that none have ever reached its heights. There are even some Primordial Children alive today that claim to have spoken with it, but none dare say what they spoke of. ¡°Now, the first of the Primordial Children we speak of will be the Dragons. The Dragons are large, four legged lizards with massive wings. Their sizes vary in many stories, but they are always known to be large. The smallest ever recorded was the size of a medium-sized city, the largest was said to blanket several landmasses. ¡°Dragons are the most well-known, because they are the commanders of the material plane. All of the Children command a plane, and it is said that the System modeled its stats based on these plains. Dragons represent the Physical stat, as their muscular power knows no bounds. Despite their size, they fly not using magic, but sheer force from their wings. Once upon a time, it is said that they ruled the world, but supposedly a draconic civil war nearly split Avium in two.¡° Dei was confused for half a second before realizing that Avium was the name of the planet he was currently on. For some reason, that was not included in the language packet, but he figured it out from context clues. ¡°The strongest Dragon to ever live is known as ¡®The Champion,¡¯ and he dubbed his own race too dangerous to interact with, banishing them from their home planet. He told them that Dragons held all the abilities to see the stars, and had long outgrown their little rock, so he commanded them all away. The Champion now sits within the heart of the sun and watches over Avium, guarding against interfering Primordial Children or other apocalypses. Since then, only the occasional visit of Dragons have been spotted, and always accompanied by The Champion. ¡°Next of the Primordial Children are the Titans. The Titans are said to hold mastery over every affinity of mana, and have even integrated themselves into the force of it all. This is also where things get a bit complicated as I try to explain where they are to you. You see, all Primordial Children have their own planes of existence. The Dragons exist within the Physical Plane because that is their plane of existence. It would be better to say that we don¡¯t currently live in the Physical Plane, but the draconic plane. The Titans, on the other hand, exist within the Magical plane of existence. They are beings of pure mana, holding no physical form at all. ¡°Supposedly, they are huge though, easily the largest of all Primordial Children. Some theorize that they once had physical bodies, but they became so large that nothing could hold their weight, so they transcended themselves and turned into pure magic, creating their own realm to live within. Not much is known about Titans, as they are a very reclusive bunch, but the few interactions people have had with them say that they are very eccentric, with explosive personalities. That''s the only universal fact agreed upon with them, because it''s hard to get a read on conceptual beings, but that¡¯s something that stuck out in everyone''s mind, because it¡¯s odd for such great beings to act in such a way¡­ I digress. Point is, they¡¯re big, command magic, and not much is known of them. ¡°The Leviathans are second only in size to the Titans. They are large as well, but for different reasons. Myths say that the Titans expanded their size so drastically to better accommodate the swirling storms of mana within them, while the Leviathans grew to the size of planets in order to accommodate new life. The Dragons have their physical strength and Titans their magical strength. Within the Leviathans lies a strength of souls. Leviathans hold dominion over every soul that comes in contact with them, freely able to change or even revoke the souls of those they desire. Luckily, they tend not to do that last part though, as it is said they consider the soul sacred, not something to haphazardly command. They grow their bodies and form their planets because they love caring for new life, they love crafting new souls. They are akin to gardeners, peaceful slumbering giants which play the role of creators for entire civilizations of people. ¡°A bit more is known of Leviathans, because their spawn interact far more with those in the physical world than the Titan spawn do- though we will get into that later. Leviathans, when they breach into the physical world, are said to take the shape of large, blue, oval-ish creatures with mouths along their entire front and trailing comets of soulstuff behind their bodies to serve as a tail.¡± Aloran was not all that good at describing the Leviathans, but Dei had already seen what he believed was a representation of one: big stingray. ¡°They keep themselves flat,¡± Aloran said, ¡°to allow for the lives upon their backs. One thing we know of Leviathans, which is contested by the other three races, is their heritage. The Leviathans claim to be the closest related to the original Primordial, either in shape or power it is unclear, but the other three do not acknowledge them as so, denying any particularly special bond. Personally, in my unprofessional opinion, I think Leviathans are onto something. They can create true life easily with how they craft souls, so it would make sense for the Primordial to do such a thing as well. As to why the others contest this? I¡¯m not entirely sure, but it can be anything from jealousy to the preference of keeping secrets. ¡°Last of all, The Mother. The Mother is, hands-down, the strongest being known in existence, simply for the fact that the other three Primordial Children have power encompassed by race, while The Mother is only a single entity. She is one creature, yet she stands equal to the entire Dragon, Leviathan, or Titan race separately. Some debate that she is even more powerful than the others, because she had to be sealed away with the help of the other three. ¡°You see, The Mother is called such because she was able to continuously create her children. These children had no minds of their own and were commanded directly by her, but they were terribly powerful and endless. The story goes that in the beginning of time, shortly after The Primordial left its children to their own devices, The Mother created an endless army in an attempt to slay all other life. Working in tandem, the other three Children managed to infiltrate The Mother¡¯s domain, placing locks on her power and stopping her from ever producing any more children.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Some of her spawn are still alive today, still producing more children, but none are as fast or endless as her army once was. ¡°Now, she is sealed within the center of our planet. This is known, because you can still visit her body today. The reports state that she is a gargantuan worm-like creature curled into a ball at the center of the Avium. Her skin is made of rough, impenetrable, spiky brown scales, and she is locked within an eternal slumber. Still, despite that, her mind is active. She once commanded an endless army of monsters, and she still does so today indirectly. You see, once she became limited in children and with who she could link to, her mind began to wander and invade the minds of others. It was too grand to seal completely, but those she affected did not fully fall under her spell. Over the millenia she has supposedly mellowed out from the conqueror she once was. Instead of commanding her spawn to end all life, she now works together with the System to give monsters their own paths to power, better suited to keep them on equal terms with Sapient Races. Now, she is a guide for all monsters, coining the nickname The Mother. It¡¯s not actually her name, though she refuses to share her actual one, and the other Primordial Children respect this wish. ¡°With a general overview of the four, it¡¯s time to go a bit more in depth to each. Let''s start with something I touched on briefly: where they are. The Draconic Plane, also known as the Physical Plane, is where we currently reside, and they are out amongst the stars, a concept which should be easier for you to understand as you¡¯ve been to multiple planets, foreign knowledge to many. There are many-¡± Aloran then went on to describe outer space, and Dei didn¡¯t cut him off just in case he accidentally missed something different. Nope, the Dragons had taken to the skies and beyond, going to visit other stars and planets, ruling over life if they ran into it, though they sometimes came back to visit Avium as it was their home planet. ¡°Next for the Titans. I touched briefly upon it, but the Titans have their own plane, called either the Titanic Plane or the Magical Plane. This is where things start getting complicated as well. ¡°You see, there are spaces between each of the big four planes of existence in which other planes exist. Between the Physical plane and Magical plane, are the Conceptual planes of existence. This is where the affinities reside as well, with partial creatures of magic living within them. ¡°I¡¯m going to keep saying the word plane, and you¡¯ll be tired of it soon, but there¡¯s no other way to really describe them. ¡°Anyways. Between the Physical Plane and the Spiritual Plane- the place where the Leviathans live- should actually be familiar to you, as it is known as the Spirit Realm, and I¡¯ve seen you use a Skill which would grant you access to this space. As you dive deeper into the Spirit Realm, you bring yourself closer and closer to the homeland of Leviathans. ¡°Last is The Mother, with the Mental plane of existence. Hers is reliant on the combined minds of all monsters, linking them all and forming a space within their subconscious which gives birth to odd life that have minds, but no bodies, and cannot be seen or exist unless specifically searched for. You might think that this is reliant on the Physical Plane of existence, but you¡¯d be wrong. Supposedly, The Mother has linked with other variants of herself in other timelines, creating a massive web which transcends space.¡± Confused, Dei asked ¡°Wait, I talked to Clever earlier, and he said that there is no such thing as parallel timelines? That when he used his Time affinity to look through them, he could see that every timeline was reliant on his existence?¡± Aloran laughed. ¡°Yes, he does not have parallel selves that exist in a true sense, but he is no Primordial Child. All of the Primordial Children have access to every universe, in some sense or another. The oldest of the Primordial Children exist in more universes than one, as something about existing at the beginning of time left an imprint among all universes, leaving echoes of them everywhere. They do not always exist, but I¡¯d say its a good ninety nine percent of the time that they do if they¡¯re old enough. The Mother in particular is rather prolific in all timelines, and she is always sealed too, as she was sealed away in the beginning as well. ¡°No, there is only a single Dei, only a single Clever, and only a single Aloran, but there are infinite variants of The Mother.¡± ¡°This is all interesting, but what does this have to do with my Skill?¡± Dei asked. ¡°We¡¯re getting there boy! Aloran said, ¡°Be patient! Now that we know what they and each of their lives, it¡¯s time to talk about their sub-races. ¡°As you can see, the Four Divine Races are nothing to joke about, and incredibly strong. So strong, that each has left behind an echo in the fabric of reality, which others can tap into. For example, if there is a reptilian race, they can uncover Skills which hold draconic roots, despite having no draconic blood running through them. If they focus on this path, and align themselves more closely with Dragons, they can become things called Sun Spawn. Sun Spawn are lesser creatures which share some abilities and features with Dragons, without actually being Dragons. ¡°In a similar vein, there are the Titans. Things which uncover Titan abilities and align themselves more closely with these Primordial Children are called Giants; you can probably see where this is going by now. Finally, things that uncover Leviathan abilities and align themselves more closely with them become entities called Reapers.¡± ¡°Reapers, as in the Grim Reaper? And what about The Mother?¡± Aloran hummed his assent. ¡°Yes, the Grim Reaper is the most well-known, most powerful entity which has ever tapped into the power of the Leviathans. He¡¯s become a guide to all souls passing on, and the gatekeeper back to life. He has intertwined himself into the Plane of Death, and guards it zealously. As for The Mother, it is actually not possible to inherit any of her abilities without being of her direct descent. Nobody really knows why, but people think it¡¯s because the nature of her seals also limit her power, and the effect she has on the fabric of reality. Still, like I said, there are some of her surviving descendents which are actually able to have children of their own. Though they vary greatly, they all share the same Race: Lunar Spawn. The other races are unimportant though, it is with the Reapers that you must concern yourself. I¡¯ve given you a general overview of them all because you¡¯re about to tie yourself into the world of Primordial Children, and it¡¯s good to get at least slightly knowledgeable of them all.¡± Dei rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Do I have to? Is there any tangible benefit to becoming one of these¡­ ¡®Sub-Races¡¯ as you called them? Or is it just a prestige thing, proving that you are strong enough to be recognized as related to them?¡± ¡°Good question, ask all you can before stepping into big life decisions like these. But yes, there are tangible benefits. You see, almost all life fails to surpass level five hundred. Not because they can''t gain enough EXP or their Class selections are limited, but because their bodies cannot withstand the power of a level five hundred evolution. To surpass the level cap, there are three, near-impossible options. ¡°The first is to create a new Race. Patriarchs and Matriarchs of their Races are powerful enough, determined enough to become the trailblazers, the leaders of a new life, and the subject of stories. If they have children though, the children will not inherit this ability, instead hitting the level five hundred cap, as all other races. ¡°The second option is to become a sterilized race of power. Certain Races can be recreated, unlike becoming a Patriarch, and are durable enough to withstand the power of surpassing mortal limits. To do so, though, they must give up their ability to have children, as new life would not be able to withstand the power. It¡¯s believed that for Matriarchs and Patriarchs, either the System or one of the affinities step in to assist in allowing for them to have children so that the Race will not die out. Other than that though, most higher races cannot have kids. A good example of this would be the very living equipment you¡¯ve brought to me now. Lani and Jasmine surpassed level five hundred, but they can¡¯t have children. Before you ask, yes, inorganic beings can normally have kids. ¡°The third and final option is to align yourself with one of the Primordial Children. Becoming a Sun-Spawn, Giant, or Reaper lets the person both surpass level five hundred, and have children, because the Divine Races are just superior, so any who follow in their footsteps will become superior too. A Reaper can have kids, and they will be wildly stronger than the average children, but they will also revert to the Reapers previous Race. If you, for example, became a Reaper and reproduced, you would create some powerful Gem Dweller Human children.¡± Dei nodded, then said ¡°It¡¯s a way to solve a long-term problem, before I¡¯ve ever run into it. How can I do that though? How can I turn myself into a Reaper?¡± ¡°I wont say it¡¯s easy, but you¡¯re honestly not far off. You have the first, and hardest, step complete by already owning a subset Skill. Now, there are just two more.¡± Chapter 80 ¡°The next step,¡± Aloran said ¡°In becoming a Reaper, is to work your Skill into everything. Use Connection in every Skill. Fight with Connection, live with Connection, dream of using Connection everywhere. This is a step which many miss, and that gets them killed. Using the Skill in multiple, versatile ways is important because any use of the Skill will attract attention from the Leviathans. If they see that you¡¯re using it as a regular Skill, they will take offense and wipe you off the map. There is nothing that Primordial Children hate more than seeing their delicate, finely honed abilities used as the functional equivalent of a simple sword. For them, it¡¯s like seeing their professionally crafted clockwork machine smashed over someone''s head to kill them. They think ¡®Sure, you can use it like that, but seriously?¡¯ If you continue to push their patience, they¡¯re known to completely wipe you off the map. Not even with spells, they simply descend their presence onto your location and let that kill you. For Dragons, this takes the form of absolute incineration. For Leviathans, as you¡¯ve seen, frost forms over everything until all of it is dead.¡± ¡°Wait, but why did it attack before? Why try and kill me?¡± ¡°Probably because it couldn¡¯t find you. Without a tracking mark on you, it''s nearly impossible to find things within my Hidden Refuge. Normally, even looking at the Skill screen would serve that purpose, but Gods interact weirdly with the System, and I was able to obscure its view of you through the System, albeit only partially. It''s a little funny, I can only partially suppress a mortal man¡¯s tracking marks, but I was able to deny the Leviathan its right to see who dared use its Skill. Such is the nature of advanced Skills I suppose, they are very good at one thing with glaring weaknesses in others. Either way, whichever Leviathan tried finding you probably got pissy and just started killing things. Sure, they don''t think it¡¯s right to haphazardly edit souls, but they¡¯ve got no problem with killing things, letting souls pass on naturally, especially with protecting the sanctity of their abilities.¡± ¡°So basically, I need to use my [Connection] Skill for everything? How do I do that without being discovered by the Leviathan?¡± Dei asked. Aloran laughed. ¡°Oh no, you¡¯re going to attract their attention, you just need to impress them more than irritate them. As long as you show the Skill proper respect, they will not mind you using it.¡± ¡°I think I get it, but I don¡¯t actually have to worry about that right now. I have no way to actually use the Skill because, last I checked, it requires me to concentrate Soul mana at least fifty times. I haven¡¯t really tried using it with lesser concentrated mana though, so it might work with something weaker.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t. I can¡¯t be sure, but that could be considered a brute force attempt at using the Skill, and potentially irritating. That shouldn¡¯t exactly be a problem though, don¡¯t you already have it constructed? Isn¡¯t that what you said the lines along your body are? You said that Soul used an intervention to save you and produce the mana required to make enough [Connection], why not just reuse what you already have?¡± Dei scoffed. ¡°What, and let my soul fall apart? Why the heck would I do that?¡± ¡°What? You haven¡¯t healed your soul yet? Hasn¡¯t it been like¡­ more than half a year? Why not¡­ Why haven''t you formed a rejuvenation Skill?¡± ¡°I formed a soul repair skill just a week ago. If I can get some time to rest, it¡¯ll be fixed eventually, but it¡¯s not that easy,¡± Dei said defensively. ¡°A week ago?! Did you completely give up on fixing your soul early on?¡± Dei was about to respond defensively again, but paused. ¡®We aren¡¯t on the same page here.¡¯ ¡°Start from the beginning. Why do you think I would have healed my soul by now?¡± Dei asked. Aloran, catching on, said ¡°Ah, yes. You see, the more you want or need a Skill, the more likely it is to come into being. That isn¡¯t to say you can just think anything into existence, but for simple things like healing? Your affinities should respond, providing healing at a cost depending on which answers your call. ¡°The only time someone suffers a crippling wound without it being repaired is if their affinities deem that they¡¯ve given up, that they aren¡¯t willing to fight for it anymore. It¡¯s not at all uncommon, as crippling wounds tend to have a traumatic story behind them as well; getting one¡¯s arm blown off would understandably haunt someone. The reason I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem for you is because you¡¯re a Slaughterer now. Your very existence is proof that you will not let anything cripple you, not even your natural traits. You¡¯ve cut away the unnecessary things, including any shackles holding you back. There should be no mental block, because that¡¯s just not possible for Slaughterers to have after their transformations; they either work that pain into their transformation, or they leave it behind.¡± ¡°Well, I only became a Slaughterer a few days ago?¡± Dei said, but he formed his Soul repair Skill before then anyway, so that shouldn¡¯t be the issue. The Skill he formed wasn¡¯t even intended for Soul repair, it was a hibernation Skill. Soul repair was a secondary effect, so he technically still hadn¡¯t formed one. ¡°That¡¯s not it¡± Aloran said. ¡°You started working on your transformation long before the System locked in the procedure, no, it¡¯s something else. Would you mind if I did a mild scan on you? One a bit more intensive than when I looked at the memory of Iora, but not too badly. Just a general overview of you. It will notify me of any unique inconsistencies in your soul, then I¡¯ll tell you long before investigating any of them.¡± Dei nodded. He still didn¡¯t want anyone knowing all his secrets, but this didn¡¯t seem like it would be too bad. If his soul were a painting, it sounded like Aloran would take a step back and look at the entire thing in general. Besides, if it was too invasive, Dei would just block his attempts. He needn¡¯t have worried though, he felt Aloran avoid searching any memories. Instead, he looked at the general structure of his soul and at the anchor points of several Skills. He paused at the cracks in his soul, and Dei still sensed a slight spike of fury from Aloran when he looked at those fractures. Not towards Dei, but Iora. Nonetheless, he continued on. After a general scan was done, Dei heard Aloran say ¡°Would you mind if I searched more into this connection with Love that emits from the cracks in your soul?¡± ¡°I would mind, honestly. Do not go there. Why do you want to?¡± Dei asked. He didn¡¯t want Aloran mucking around with his connection to his mom. Even if he couldn¡¯t figure out anything personal, that was too invasive for Dei¡¯s taste. ¡°Because, I think it¡¯s the reason you haven¡¯t formed a soul healing Skill yet. Would you mind telling me the story of how you were infused with such pure loving intent?¡± Dei grumbled a bit, but he went into detail. While he and his mom were in this Garden when she continuously tried healing him, it seemed that Aloran wasn¡¯t able to really recall things from a time when he was asleep. Dei didn¡¯t know if he was completely unaware in that time, but he clearly didn¡¯t see everything. When he was done he heard Aloran hum thoughtfully. ¡°I believe I see what happened here. Instead of you forming a soul healing Skill, your mother did for you because you were in no state mentally to fight against your crippling wound. Normally something like healing over time would disappear, but Skills are always unpredictable. If I had to guess, then the reason you have not formed a soul healing Skill is because you are already being repaired. That glow is following your mothers last directive, to heal you in her stead.¡± Dei was stunned. He¡¯d never even considered that the glow would actually have an effect on him, he just thought it was his mothers way of reminding him she was there with him, always. ¡®I¡¯ll have to write her another message soon. A long one, too.¡¯ ¡°Because you were already being healed,¡± Aloran continued, ¡°Your soul saw no need to expend effort in forming a new one, relying on your mother instead.¡± ¡°How? How did it know, if not even I did? I¡¯ve wanted a soul healing Skill this entire time¡­¡± ¡°Kid, even if you didn¡¯t know, your soul is a record of everything, every single sensation that has ever happened to you. If you know where to look, you can investigate some pretty taboo topics.¡± ¡°Such as?¡± Dei wondered. ¡°I¡¯m not telling you. I can already sense you have an unnatural awareness of your soul in the first place; if I point you in the right direction, you might even be able to find them, and if you do, you¡¯ll have more than just some Shamans after you. Just be careful kiddo, and if you run into anything that seems a bit¡­ out there, turn back.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Dei wanted to say he would be curious, but there was too much going on in life to figure out what he wasn¡¯t allowed to know. If it would make him new enemies when he already had them in spades, he was fine with being left in the dark. ¡°Alright alright lets circle back to the topic at hand,¡± Dei said. ¡°So the first step to becoming a Reaper is to get Leviathan Skill, the second is to use that Skill in a bunch of different ways. I now might be able to recycle what use of it I have now,¡± he was still avoiding saying the name ¡°Connection¡± because it made him wildly uncomfortable, so his speech felt a little slanted. Either way, he got his point across. ¡°But just because I might be able to reuse it, doesn¡¯t mean I can. How do I know if my soul is fully rehealed before I pull out the stitches? I feel like I need to wait until the cracks go away, at the least.¡± ¡°Boy, wounds like that heal in a couple of months if the healing Skill is powered properly and there¡¯s no venom resisting it. Your soul should be long-since healed, and you could get started on using Connection now- just wait until the end of our conversation if you¡¯re feeling impatient, there¡¯s more you need to know.¡± ¡°Should be healed? How sure are you?¡± ¡°Has that pink glow dimmed at all since your mother placed it on you?¡± He shook his head, ¡°No, if anything it¡¯s gotten brighter each time I send her a message.¡± ¡°Hmm, being loving must empower it. Nonetheless, it¡¯s clear that the Skill is not for lack of mana. I¡¯d say there''s a ninety nine percent chance you¡¯re fully healed already.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I want to risk my soul falling apart, even if it¡¯s only one percent,¡± he said hesitantly. ¡°Dei. From what you tell me you¡¯ve been up to these last few months, you¡¯ve gambled on worse odds than that for worse rewards. Are you joking?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I don''t know. I just feel like it¡¯s too soon. I¡¯ve gotten so used to the structural support that I just don¡¯t want to remove it¡± ¡°Hmm. Well, I¡¯m not exactly going to insist you gamble on something like that. This is your soul after all, and you can do what you want with it. Just consider this as a solution rather than waiting until you can concentrate your mana further. Don¡¯t assume that the cracks, the scars on your soul, are ever going to heal- They won''t. They represent more than just damage to your soul, but damage to your very being. The experience of having your own soul fall apart changed you in a way that is now permanent.¡± Dei thought over everything he said, and it made sense. There were other things to do right now though, and he wasn¡¯t in a rush to become a Reaper anyway. It sounded like he had decades, perhaps centuries before that became relevant. He could afford himself a few more months or years of recuperation before trying anything rash. ¡°So practice with Con- my Skill, in different ways. Got it. What¡¯s the third step to becoming a Reaper?¡± ¡°The third step goes in tandem with the second. If you use Connection in multiple impressive ways, the Leviathans will recognize you. If Connection is worked into the fabric of your being, and you¡¯re recognized, they will expend a small amount of effort to rewrite you into something closer to them- namely, a Reaper.¡± ¡°Rewrite me? That doesn¡¯t sound good.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not as bad as it comes off,¡± Aloran assured him. ¡°I believe the process involves general strengthening of all your attributes, mind reinforcement, and a Racial change. Your mind will be left mostly untouched, except for whatever instinctual differences there will be between a Gem Dweller Human and Gem Dweller Reaper.¡± Dei scratched his chin. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time he tussled with changed instincts. When he was born as a Gem Dweller, it became abundantly clear that there were some things innate to them which he didn¡¯t have before, such as how his mother was able to issue simple commands to him as a baby with a sort of chittering noise, and how he was able to let out oddly reptilian bellows. ¡®Now that I think about it, my ¡°beastial communication¡± should be upgraded now, because of my Slaughterer Achievement, yea? I gotta get on practicing that and what it means.¡¯ ¡°Alright, good to know. I have a lot more questions though if at all possible.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, but there¡¯s one more thing to discuss involving your tracking marks. I¡¯ve been measuring the speed at which the person tracking you is getting closer. I don¡¯t know exactly how far away they are, but by calculating the direction of the signal and the minute differences in it changing, I estimate that they will get here in the time range of one to three months. If I suppress your tracking mark, that can be increased into the range of two to five months, but the most important thing is what you can do. I sense that you have a low-level suppression Skill, which is good, but would you mind if I attempted to link up to it, perhaps working in tandem? There is a chance I could increase its effectiveness.¡± Dei mentally filed away the time frames for when his hunter would find him, as that was wildly important information. He was working under the assumption that he could be attacked any day now, which was why he tried to focus on asking the larger questions from Aloran, but now he had some wiggle room- he would spend as much time in the Garden as possible. It might seem counterproductive to not immediately go out and start training to try and earn experience, but the opposite was true. Dei was currently rebuilding his body with Fortitude mana using [Growing Rage] so that he could better handle the Wrath Curse, if he could finish that process then he had a much higher chance of survival. Clever seemed to imply that Dei was able to go toe to toe with a level three hundred Accipere when he released the curse fully. If he could channel even a small amount of that, it would prove better than a handful of levels. ¡°Sure¡± he told Aloran, allowing the God to link up to his [Good Samaritan] Skill. It¡¯d also leveled up a few times in the past few days: [Good Samaritan (37) -> (48)] When he felt Alorans magical tendrils, Dei guided them to the point where the Skill anchored to his soul, letting Aloran grab at it and feel around. ¡°This is¡­ a pretty powerful stealth Skill. Also, it¡¯s toggleable.¡± ¡°Yea?¡± he said, confused. It was good to know that it was a strong stealth Skill, which made sense considering all the limiters on which situations he could use it in, but Aloran said ¡°It¡¯s toggleable¡± like that should mean something to him. ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t know. There are three kinds of Skills. Active, Passive, and Toggleable. Active means you have to maintain the Skill yourself, and if you stop pouring mana in, it¡¯ll deactivate. Passive means the Skill happens automatically, and usually has a negligible mana cost. Toggleable is a point between- where the Skill has low-level effects which can be considered passive, but extra features which can be considered active too.¡± ¡°What!? It does more? I thought it just suppressed tracking!¡± ¡°Well, sort of? It makes it harder to track you, but the active parts of the Skill make it so that you can increase the strength of the obscuration effects by pouring in more mana. In the case of this Skill, there aren¡¯t actually extra features- it just gives the option to make the passive effects more effective.¡± Dei quickly began to allot a small trickle of Kindness mana into the Skill, and felt it flare to life. He¡¯d received a large burst of Kindness mana when he returned the first two pieces of Alorans set, but had quickly condensed them. His Pandora¡¯s Box was almost full, and he didn¡¯t want to deal with leveling it up right now. As a result, he had some pretty concentrated Kindness- not up to thirty six concentration, but he had almost a thousand points of mana with fourteen or fifteen concentration Kindness. The result was amazing, according to Aloran at least. ¡°That should do it!¡± he said with some mirth. ¡°If I work together with your Skill, I can fully blot out the signals for as long as you can power the Skill!¡± Dei sighed in relief. While he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up the Skill perpetually, he should have bought himself a few more months. More months of training. The only drawback was that he couldn¡¯t use Kindness Concentration to reshape his body, but that was okay. Kindness didn¡¯t seem to be a really ¡°combat oriented¡± affinity anyway, so its effects would be limited. Much better spent buying him time to train. Just as he was thinking that though, his Kindness affinity notified him of something else, a feeling of desperation coming from somewhere nearby. Taking only a moment to focus on it, he recognized the direction it was coming from, and quickly stood up. ¡®There¡¯s no way¡¯ he thought, making his way back through the entrance and hearing Aloran question what he was doing in the back of his head. Setting one foot out of the barrier, he let Tremor Sense show him the world, finding exactly where the desperation came from: The Lorpee Cave. He saw three monsters tearing at the stone rubble he¡¯d set in place to cover the entrance, and how the population of Lorpee¡¯s had still not recovered. There weren¡¯t enough adults to repel another attack. The Lorpees seemed to sense this wasn¡¯t a fight they could win. They wouldn¡¯t exactly need to though. He¡¯d promised himself long ago that he would repel any attacks on the cave if it came down to it, because he was the one to kill their previous alpha for the sake of power. The least he could do was to carry out its role until a new one emerged. Quickly sending a package of information to Cleve, Fendrascora, and Fang, he asked if they wanted to come along. He wouldn¡¯t drag them into another fight if they didn¡¯t want to, even if he didn¡¯t think these new monsters would pose as much of a problem. They seemed to be of average level for the area rather than the absurdly overleveled Accipere. Clever and Fendrascora agreed, but Fang hesitated. ¡°There is something I wish to discuss with Aloran. Will my assistance be integral to victory?¡± Thinking it over for a second, Dei told her ¡°No, I can use my hands and explosions. These won''t be a challenge.¡± Not wasting a second longer, he went back to the main portion of the cave and dropped Fang off, then quickly wriggled back through the crack in the wall. ¡°Dei where are you going?¡± Aloran asked ¡°Do something really quick, don''t worry I¡¯ll be back!¡± Breaking out from the wall, he was off in a sprint towards the Lorpee¡¯s Chapter 81 The first thing he assessed was their strength. While he couldn¡¯t Identify them without seeing them, there was more than one way to place their values in general. The reason he believed they were normally leveled rather than particularly powerful was how they dug at the wall, and how they acted. The three monsters were short, fat, worm-like creatures that more closely resembled maggots than anything. The monsters were as tall as his middle thigh, but twice as long as he was tall. Their digging at the wall was important in gauging their strength because they were not particularly good at it. The three were moving the rock by swaying their heads left to right, supposedly scraping the rubble away. The issue was that he couldn¡¯t sense many vibrations from falling stones at all: if they were throwing rocks to the side, he¡¯d feel the echoes of that. Despite that, he could sense indents where the monsters dug. Rather than throw the rocks to the side, he saw that the stone was melting under their heads, except he didn¡¯t sense any heat either. It would be closer to say that the stones were disintegrating and, when he looked closer, he could sense the small trickle of sand-like substance falling to the ground. Somehow, the monsters were turning the surface of the stone to sand, then flinging that off to the side. Initially he thought they were not strong because they struggled to dig the rubble, and now he was once more reassured because the sand that fell to the ground did so a short distance away from the worms. They didn¡¯t fling the dirt against the far walls of the cave, instead just falling behind them. Frankly, they had the digging speed and force of an average dog. The second point which reassured him of the creatures¡¯ weakness was their targets. Lorpees were weak, the weakest in the area that anything could reasonably draw nutrients from. At the same time, there was little benefit in hunting them either, with negligible meat and little to no experience if you were even remotely powerful. Dei was able to defeat them when he wasn¡¯t even level fifty, while they tended towards levels a hundred and fifty or more. The Lorpees gave little meat and little experience, meaning that anything hunting them should be around the level of their natural predators- whatever would hunt gerbils for food, probably something along the lines of a dog or a cat. He couldn¡¯t find it in himself to be impressed with the strength of an average animal from Earth when he could fling explosions from his hands and punch clean through a stone wall if he really tried. Dei started getting excited at the prospect of how, for once, this would be an unfair fight tipped in his favor. It seemed like everything in the area was either on equal footing to him, or unfathomably stronger. The last time he had a fight with little to no resistance was¡­ ¡®Actually, has that ever happened?¡¯ he found himself wondering. ¡®I mean there were times when I squashed bugs for experience but I wouldn¡¯t exactly call that a fight. Even when I fought a literal swarm of bugs that were eating a corpse, I had to retreat before getting too far in. Everything¡¯s been so deadly that this might be the first time I¡¯ll actually clean-sweep the monsters, despite being unnaturally strong for a human.¡¯ Still, he would keep his guard up. Even though they only dug at the speed of a dog, they were digging through solid stone. He couldn¡¯t let his guard down, so he began to prepare instead by charging up heat in his body. He didn¡¯t have Fang right now, so he¡¯d need a weapon. If Fang would genuinely leave his group one day, he¡¯d need a way to fight. Before he had a blade though, it wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d never dealt damage, he just used unarmed combat instead. It was time to get back to his roots, with all the bonuses he now had. He wanted to try and improve his punches. Whenever he used an explosion with Snap mana, he always literally snapped. While he didn¡¯t think that was necessary, he also struggled to make the Snap magic react without a gesture in the first place. It had to be more than just symbolic, it must mean that he had to make a rapid motion to get a response from the mana, a motion which took place within a snap so to speak. Instead of his fingers, Dei wanted to try punching so quickly that it was like a snap, which would let him explode whatever he punched as well. As he built up a significant amount of heat, faster than ever before with how densely muscled he was and how he pushed himself, Dei finally laid eyes on his enemy after rounding the bend. None too late either, as one of them finally managed to break a hole in the wall leading into the Lorpee cavern. ¡®Let''s see about that beastial communication,¡¯ he thought, then flexed his unknown vocal muscles. His Slaughterer Achievement upgraded it, with whatever that would entail. The growl that resounded was much more sinister than before, closer to what he imagined a dinosaur to sound like, and a clear challenge to any animals hearing it. It seemed that Gem Dwellers weren¡¯t the ¡°roaring¡± type of animalistic, but the ¡°deep growling¡± type. Without even connecting to them or sending a message, his point was made. The three monsters turned as one, and he sent a quick Identify, only to be repelled. Trying again, he imbued it with his Wrath Curse, spending ten mana to Identify each. [Lunar-Spawn - Level 83 Direct descendants of The Mother Physical: 92 Spiritual: 92] [Lunar-Spawn - Level 83 Direct descendants of The Mother Physical: 92 Spiritual: 92] [Lunar-Spawn - Level 83 Direct descendants of The Mother Physical: 92 Spiritual: 92] It felt too specific for it to be a coincidence, but Dei was just told about the descendants of Primordial Children, and those underneath them. Now, immediately afterwards, he runs into three? Aloran told him that Lunar Spawn were direct descendants of The Mother, and that is what he now saw. Setting that aside, he scanned over the information he was able to glean from them. As he searched their souls, he ran into several uncomfortable issues. For one, they had no mind, instead he felt a connection to something far away- supposedly, The Mother. Without a mind, there was no Mental stat. On top of that, they had no Magical stat either: for what reason he didn¡¯t know. No Mental stat made sense, no Magic? Not so much. There wasn¡¯t even much to really gain from looking at their soul. Normally, he was able to see things like their weaknesses, diet, behavior, everything of the sort. A new weakness he discovered in his Skill was that these things had barely any soul, instead just the slightest of wisps to take advantage of. It wasn¡¯t even a true soul either, just a marker telling the world what these creatures were.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. They were like puppets, without any knowledge or sensation of what they were. Souls recorded how the animal was created, but he couldn¡¯t see even that. They had no form of reproduction, no mind, no magic, no way to even heal. Dei asked himself if they would even have DNA if they were tested, because these things had nothing. Past their souls, he got a good look at them visually as well. They had rough brown scales covered in spikes, and their heads and tails had little difference. They had almost no features at all, except for the five lines that started at the tip of their head, and ended around a sixth of the way down their body. They just sat there for a few moments, looking at Dei, when one of them opened its mouth. The lines he saw that started near its pointed head actually split and peeled back, like a blossoming flower except a hundred times more disgusting. The inside of their blossoming heads held thousands of rows of serrated teeth, and he prepared for it to attack in some way as it opened its jaw. It let out a piercing screech, but the noise was not imbued with any mana at all. After that, its skull closed and the three rushed towards him. Despite the slowness with which they dug into the wall of the Lorpee¡¯s cave, they were not slow by any measure. They did not slither like snakes, but twisted in a corkscrew spiral like nothing else he¡¯d ever seen. Watching closely, he could see the stone directly touching them immediately turn to sand, letting them surf on it like a wave. Raising his fists he prepared to strike out when he saw he might not be able to, because they were giving him a wide berth Realization struck him that they did not intend to attack, just run by him and escape. Surfing down the stone in their weird moving way, they even went up the walls to give him more space. ¡°Should I stop them?¡± Fendrascora asked, confused as well. ¡°No, just let them run by. I¡¯m not really sure if The Mother would take it personally if I killed some of her children, but I don¡¯t want to find out.¡± Like that, the Lunar Spawn just¡­ left. He¡¯d been excited to test out some new combat techniques and actually win by a landslide for once, but saw no reason to actually hunt them down. ¡®I¡¯m starting to understand why I haven¡¯t ever fought something weaker than me. Everything in the wilderness has to have a way to gauge enemies in order to pick its fights, and will run from something it isn¡¯t confident in surviving.¡¯ He felt a burst of Kindness mana from both helping the Lorpee¡¯s and sparing the Lunar Spawn, and his Wrath didn¡¯t even complain. The creatures held no ire from him, and it was actually in his best interest to leave them be rather than hunt them down. His Pandora¡¯s Box was full though, and he didn¡¯t want to suffer the effects of it expanding right now, so he decided to just compress it all down to absorb it instead, concentrating his Kindness mana further. Underwhelming ¡®battle¡¯ out of the way, Dei walked closer to the Lorpee caves. There was now a hole in the rubble, and he leaned down, looking into it and seeing the swarms of Lorpee¡¯s going absolutely nuts. Last time he¡¯d been here, they waited patiently on the branches for him to walk into their cave before attacking. Now, they crawled around like a swarm of irritated ants, looking for anything causing trouble. It was such a drastic behavioral change that he wondered where it came from. ¡°This cave feels like you!¡± Clever said excitedly, causing Dei to take a step back and look at the Korgonda questioningly. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The magic, it smells like you! Right, Fendrascora?¡± turned towards her peripheral body behind them. ¡°Hm¡­ I wasn¡¯t paying attention, let me check,¡± she told them, and sent a thin tendril towards the hole. ¡°Huh, it does feel like this cave is strongly radiating your mana.¡± Dei shrugged his shoulders and moved closer. He was already here, might as well check out what the Lorpees were up to. When he looked into the cave a second time through the tiny hole, he identified one of the Lorpees passing by. [Juvenile Lorpee Screamer - Level 53 The Lorpee are small rodents. This strain has adapted to a particularly high Wrath mana to enhance its physical strength and augment its sonic abilities. Lorpee Screamers have natural Vibration affinities to use for both communication and attack purposes.] His eyebrows raised as he took a few more steps away. He did not want to get hit by a Lorpee which used Wrath mana to ¡°augment its sonic abilities¡± as he tried to consider this new change. After his battle with the Alpha Lorpee, the air had been thick enough with concentrated Wrath mana that even his stunted senses could feel it. At its most extreme, he could feel it with his other senses too, tasting the mana in the air. It seemed that, when he left and sealed up the cave, the residual mana hadn¡¯t simply dissipated like he¡¯d first assumed. Instead, it managed to affect the newest generation of Lorpees such that Wrath was imbued into their bodies. Even if that was the case though, Dei felt like it should have gone away by now. Surely the first generation of Lorpees would have absorbed all the residual mana he¡¯d left, maybe producing a small amount of their own. It¡¯d been months since he¡¯d been here, there shouldn¡¯t have been a thick enough to ¡°strongly radiate his mana¡± as Fendrascora had put it. More than that, it was his mana that was exiting the cave, not just the Lorpee¡¯s mana. Something happened that allowed his mana to persist even now, and he was quite curious to see what. Quickly checking how much Soul mana he had, he felt relief. [583/10920 Soul] That would be enough for a Projection. While he didn¡¯t want to face their vibrational attacks, his Projection suffered from no such weakness, and was much more mobile than Dei ever would be normally. Quickly telling Fendrascora and Clever his plan, asking them to watch over his body, they moved a further distance away as Dei poured three hundred and eighty six Soul mana into the spell, using his MP to cover the rest of it. He didn¡¯t exactly need this projection to be powerful, and wanted to save the Soul mana if he could. Leaving a singular normal mind in his body, most was placed into his Projection, and Dei felt his Identity split in two. Looking down, he saw that he was now the pale white of a ghost, and turned around. He was almost startled by his own appearance as he looked rather terrifying. The jagged scar on his cheek from when his jaw was ripped open looked more pronounced than he first assumed, and his eyes had taken on a more piercing quality. His left eye was still ruby, while his right eye was still amethyst. Both sparkled in the dim light of the surrounding crystals, helping bring attention to their unique look. ¡®Who¡¯s that handsome devil?¡¯ he thought jokingly, and his physical body grinned. Turning back to the Lorpee cave, Dei dropped down into the spirit realm. Luckily, he sensed no spirits around, so he didn¡¯t delay any longer as he floated up into the air, easier than ever, and phased through the stone wall, into the familiar mini jungle he¡¯d first begun his path to Slaughter. [You have entered the Convergence of Wrath] Dei froze as he read the notification, several things clicking into place. ¡®I made a Convergence? More than that, it smells like me. This isn¡¯t just a convergence of Wrath, this is a Convergence of MY Wrath. My affinity is imbued into each of these Lorpees¡¯ Every Convergence supposedly had an anchor though, and he looked for this one now. It would be very bright to anyone with even a slight mana sense, but he was not one. That didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t sense mana, just nothing outside of his body. Dei felt as some of the Wrath mana in the air phased into his body, giving him a good sense for how dense it was. He flitted from one branch to the next, moving around the Convergence and sensing as more or less mana passed through him depending on where he went. It wasn¡¯t nearly as efficient as just sensing it in the air, but it wasn¡¯t impossible for him to triangulate the densest source of it all as it was somewhere high above in the air, only slightly off-center for the Cavern. Moving up the vines and branches, Dei kept a careful eye out, and knew the moment he spotted the Anchor. It was¡­ a leaf. A random leaf, with a bloodstain atop it. As he got closer, he could feel as waves of Wrath mana passing through him, and felt his mind become affected, though only slightly. When he was around ten feet away, he decided to stop and study it a bit closer. The plants in the Lorpee cave were green, one of the few places he¡¯d actually seen such plants because normally they tended to grow red underground. If not for this fact, he felt like he would¡¯ve had a much harder time picking out the red stain. The blood was still glistening, slick as though it were dripping down the leaf. As he watched it though, the liquid did not move, staying exactly where it was. Though it looked like a wet red leaf, it seemed to be that only in appearance. Dei¡¯s Identify could only look into the Soul Signatures of things. Last time he¡¯d tried to Identify an Anchor, it failed completely. Now though he tried again, as it seemed this Anchor was based on living material. [There was once a battle between two beings. The first seeked to guard his people, the second seeked survival. Neither could reconcile with the other, neither seeked to communicate for there was nothing to be said. They clashed, and the battlegrounds they fought upon became blessed with the fury and intent of both. The blood spilled becoming an eternal stain to life, an echo of their struggles. In the quiet aftermath, the victor questioned if his spoils were worth their price.] Chapter 82 Dei read over the description of the leaf thoughtfully a few more times. [There was once a battle between two beings. The first seeked to guard his people, the second seeked survival. Neither could reconcile with the other, neither seeked to communicate for there was nothing to be said. They clashed, and the battlegrounds they fought upon became blessed with the fury and intent of both. The blood spilled becoming an eternal stain to life, an echo of their struggles. In the quiet aftermath, the victor questioned if his spoils were worth their price.] It was clear that it was about his battle with the Alpha Lorpee, and it made him slightly uncomfortable with just how much information it had on him. When he Identified something, he would detect their ¡°Soul Signature,¡± which was supposedly different from their soul: it was a less-detailed record of what the soul once contained, such as the instinctual memory of a dead creature rather than its thinking mind. In a word, it was more genetic than conscious, at least that''s how he saw it. Somehow, this Anchor managed to glimpse into both his and the Lorpee¡¯s minds shortly before the end of their battle. A snapshot of his younger self, captured somewhere within this leaf. This close to the Anchor, Dei could easily gather enough of the Wrath mana into his body that he was able to discern what Fendrascora and Clever were talking about when they said it smelled like him. He wasn¡¯t able to store the mana in his Pandora¡¯s box, it still fighting avidly against his control, but simply looking into it was a matter of ease. There were two parts to it, and he felt like he was pulled back to a time long ago as he let the feelings wash over his mind. On one side, Pride. The pride of a king, the pride of a protector. There was no doubt in his mind that the Lorpee had a strong affinity to Pride, a Vice. Immersing himself in the feeling, Dei could almost sense the judging eyes of this animal watching him from above, seeing Dei as something below him in both a literal and metaphorical sense. The other emotion that captured his mind was unhinged, feral. Dei didn¡¯t realize it at the time, but everything that happened to him with Iora and his mother took such a strong toll on his mind that it was beginning to crack. His Wrath was keeping the emotions at bay, even in this echo of a memory, by directing it at something more productive. It insisted he become stronger and face enemies to prepare for those he wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid in the future. That Wrath held his fragile psyche together but beneath the surface, Dei could sense it. He was slipping. He¡¯d given up completely on his Kindness as it only hurt him, and he wanted to hurt others. He was lost in being powerless, hiding himself away in a hole because everything outside wanted to kill him. Beneath all the rage, beneath the elation that he¡¯d found something weaker than himself, Dei was afraid. He had to pull himself briefly from the feelings, pushing the Wrath mana from his mind as he recentered himself. So much had changed in that time, and the mana made it easy to forget. While he wasn¡¯t the most powerful, Dei was confident in surviving much of what the world threw at him. Even if he couldn¡¯t, he had his friends to rely on, which had proven themselves already when he was debilitated by the Accipere. Dei saw the record of who he¡¯d once been, and felt only sympathy. He wanted to go back and console the boy, tell him that it would be okay, but it was an unreasonable feeling. The boy was stuck somewhere in the past, gone. ¡®Not gone. I¡¯ve carried him with me through it all, and he has grown into what I am now. I never leave my past behind, not truly. I build upon it. It becomes integral to who I am. Though I¡¯ve grown out of that fear, it is still somewhere deep within me, and that isn¡¯t bad. It has become the foundation to all that I am, the core to all that will be.¡¯ He accepted the fear, knowing that it was what pushed his strength ever forward. Without opening his notifications, he already knew he would find that Solidity had reached level one hundred, the acceptance of himself being its entire goal, but he did not check his Skill evolution options, as they were irrelevant. Moving back down the branches, he slowly made his way towards his physical body, sitting still and meditating, already knowing what was to come. When Dei started his journey, he could only use Projection to leave the safety of his bubble. It was simply too dangerous for his physical body. More recently though, he found that his Projection was too weak to keep up, as it did not benefit from all his physical bonuses. He¡¯d long since decided he would tie that Projection to his body, and now was the time. He¡¯d reconciled with himself, both the Identity part of his soul and the Body part of his soul perfectly aligned. More than that, there was even a tangible connection between the two in the form of his Solidity Skill. He saw that it wasn¡¯t exactly his entire soul that the Skill interacted with, just the part dictating his sense of self. The string drawn between the two reminded him of his Meditation Skill, but he knew it was a fundamentally different connection. Solidity involved strengthening something within him, while Meditation focused on drawing power from the outside. In order to tie his Projection to who he was, he¡¯d need to do something else. It wouldn¡¯t be a simple evolution of his Skill like how the System offered them, so he didn¡¯t bother checking the options. He¡¯d evolve the Skill in another way, using advice given to him by Aloran. Aloran said that Dei¡¯s soul should mostly be healed, now it was only a mental block that stopped him from taking advantage of the Leviathans'' stolen power. Connection was more than just a simple Skill, it was the piece of a greater whole. The Leviathans dictated all souls, their rights infallibly controlling those beneath them. What he needed now was to take that strength, take that right over his own soul, and use Connection in a way that would be approved by whichever Leviathan it was that had its eyes on him. Once more he found himself afraid. This was a risk, a massive risk. Not only because he might unravel his soul if Aloran was wrong about it being healed, not even just because he might make a mistake and permanently cripple himself in another way by improperly tying his Projection to his body, but also because if he didn¡¯t do it well enough he would be struck down. ¡®Speaking of¡­¡¯ he thought to himself. Dei¡¯s main mind was still in his projection form, so he made himself tangible once more for both Fendrascora and Clever, though it seemed they had no issue with spotting him in the first place. ¡°I¡¯m about to do something pretty dangerous, I want you both somewhere away from me if at all possible, in case it goes wrong.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Looking alarmed, they both suggested a different course of action. ¡°Why not do this back in Aloran¡¯s cave?¡± Fendrascora suggested. While Clever adamantly told him ¡°Not leaving!¡± He quickly explained to them that he was going to start trying to garner the Leviathans attention, surprising them that he was doing this so soon. He¡¯d been translating Aloran¡¯s words for them through it all so they knew what he was talking about, but he¡¯d just found out about it. ¡°Clever, buddy, I know you want to stick near me and you don¡¯t have to go far, but just stand a few¡­ hundred feet away. You can watch from a distance.¡± Dei thought he would fight on that point, but he instead got ¡°Oh that''s it? Yea yea! I thought you wanted me to go all the way away. Ok!¡± Both his Projection and body smiled at the Korgonda, and he stood up to move. He didn¡¯t want to remerge his Identity just yet, because he had something of a plan about what to do. If it didn¡¯t seem to be working, he could always remerge his Identity and try again, hopefully not irritating the Leviathan too much. When they were a suitable distance away from the Lorpee cave, he dug a hole into a particular section of the wall that was thinner than the rest, because it led into the underground river. The ¡°Great River¡± that Fendrascora had called it, and where all the aquatic life this deep below lived. Fendrascora needed a body of running liquid, composed mainly of water, to exist. She was apparently still rather weak from her debuffing titles, but he just needed her to sit in this one particular section until he was done. Even if he failed though, Dei thought she¡¯d be able to survive on her own in the Great River- even if she would not have as much of an easy time. Half of her body, still made of his blood, went into the Great River, the other half sat on the dry land with Clever, and Dei made both his bodies walk a good distance away from them both. When he felt like they were a bit safer than not, he sat down. There was nothing in the area, so he felt about as safe as he was going to get. Next, he tried doing something he hadn¡¯t before. Normally, when his Projection touched the physical body, it would snap back into place.This ended up being something of a problem though, as his Identity was a bit more difficult to discern if it wasn¡¯t actively separated from him. Still, he needed his Identity to align with the rest of his soul and body if he wanted to tie it in properly. To that end, he dropped back down into the Spirit Realm, them willed himself to not rejoin with his body, as he phased into it. His physical self was still, not wanting to throw the projection off, and he felt himself succeed. In the same vein to how his Projection could phase through walls, it could move through its own body as well. Keeping himself separate, he lined up with his physical self as best he could, getting everything in place. When he felt like he was mostly indistinguishable, he looked inward and saw that a large section of his Identity floated overtop of a particular section of his soul. Keeping one mind on that, Dei began doing something he really didn¡¯t want to: pulling out some of the Connection stitches from his soul. It was all a singular string which he did not want to break, so he found a middle part of it and just began to follow along, slowly moving along the glowing pink cracks and occasionally pulling at the spell Soul used to repair himself. There wasn¡¯t exactly pain when he pulled at himself, but it was violently unpleasant so he stopped doing so. He was initially searching for a weak point as perhaps the thing binding it in place was hidden, but he just couldn¡¯t find it in him to bear the sensation any more than necessary. He¡¯d go about tugging on it later, if he couldn¡¯t find the end with his soul sight. Moving through fragmented memories, Dei was surprised to see that there was an actual¡­ depth of sorts to his soul. Perhaps it was mental, but as he went, the memories seemed to grow visually darker. More than that, he saw that the stitches went further and further back in his memories. The Soul was a difficult place to navigate, and for just a moment he was able to glimpse how others were supposed to move through it. When Dei thought of one particular part or memory, he could usually find it with a few notable exceptions, such as things that meshed together with others. At worst, he could get into the general area of what he was looking for. Now though, it felt like this Connection was a tether. As he followed the string, he couldn¡¯t help but get the feeling he would become lost if he wasn¡¯t careful. As with many sensations involving the soul and Leviathans, he could only liken it to the ocean. He felt like a diver pulling himself down along a string into the depths, and knew he didn¡¯t want to lose sight of his only guide. The memories went further and further back. His last conversation with his mom, Their escape from Iora, even the moment his soul fractured was here, but these weren¡¯t the points he was looking for. He still couldn¡¯t see the end of Connection. He began to walk along what felt like a treaded path. Iora had been here, and he could see that the Connection went to the same place, both guiding him to a particular location. The windows into memories passed him by but he ignored them. He¡¯d already made it to the first six months in his life, where he shouldn¡¯t be able to remember if not for Iora solidifying them into his physical brain, but still the Connection showed no end. The darkness around him was oppressive, but familiar. The white path glowed ever brighter compared to the shadows, and he dared not step off. Finally, he reached the end of Iora¡¯s path. He could see the ledge she threw herself off of, the point where his memories ended. It was a familiar place, and one he never thought he¡¯d see again- the Void. Despite that, he could see the rope of Connection went taut, something far away he couldn¡¯t see pulling at it. Something Aloran said about the taboo topics of souls came back to him: ¡®if you run into anything that seems a bit¡­ out there, turn back.¡¯ His curiosity was piqued, he wanted to keep going, but something in him said that this was exactly the thing Aloran wanted him to avoid. Still, he needed to reach the end of connection, didn¡¯t he? Pressing forward, he took his first step off the solid path of his soul and into the intangible white anchoring it somewhere into the Void. Or tried to. As he mentally tried to move down the path, he felt himself be rejected from going any further. The Void pushed him away harmlessly, back up the path he¡¯d come. Trying harder, he threw himself into the Void, but nothing he did could get him even a centimeter in. there was some kind of flexible force, bending around him and pushing back. It felt like the Void itself bent away from him, and there was nothing he could do. It was impossible to move on, but he didn¡¯t fall into despair about failing to use Connection with Solidity. If he didn¡¯t take his desire for answers into account, there was something else to consider. ¡®I¡¯m not moving towards the end of Connection, but the beginning. I took the wrong path. I should be moving closer to the surface of my soul if I want to see where it ends, not deeper below.¡¯ That in mind, he still wasn¡¯t exactly willing to leave this be. If he wanted to use Connection to tie his Identity to his body then he¡¯d need the other end of it, but Dei¡¯s sense of self-preservation only went so far. He needed to reach the beginning of Connection now that he saw where it went, but he couldn¡¯t find a way to do so. That didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t a way though, and Dei thought it might be because his Identity couldn¡¯t handle the Void in his current form. When he¡¯d moved through the Void the first time and initially received his Interface, his Race had been called ¡°Human (Wandering Soul),¡± meaning that he was a variant human potentially designed for traversing the Void. If that was true, then it could be that most souls didn¡¯t have access to the Void, for good reason if Aloran¡¯s story on Void Beasts were to be believed. And if that was true, he could think of one particular Race with good chances of getting permission: Reapers. There was no guarantee, but that was the best thing he could think of. If there was any significant change to his Interface at all though, he would almost definitely come back to try again. Without that, all he could do was turn around and begin moving upwards to complete the original goal of searching himself to begin with, tying his Identity and body together. Chapter 83 The trip back was far less eventful. The further he got from the Void, the more the metaphorical darkness receded, to the point that he imagined he could see the effects of his supposed blessing from Void, [Void Walker], in how it was affecting his surrounding soul. It was obvious that the actual Void wasn¡¯t stored in his soul, that it should just be another of his memories, but his experiences were telling him something else. Perhaps by getting a blessing, it changed the effects those memories had, truly tainting his soul by storing a very real section of the Void inside it. The question now was: what to do with this little sliver of Void? The Achievement stated that he¡¯d gain access to the Void affinity easier, but he¡¯d still gained no such thing, seeming to hint towards how he was just flat out incompatible with it. He didn¡¯t know what qualities the Void affinity was looking for, but it didn¡¯t seem he had them in the same way his anger aligned with Wrath or his intentions aligned with Kindness. Hell, even his introversion tended to align with Soul. Nonetheless, he now knew he had a real, tangible piece of Void inside him, for all that did for the future. He would find a way to draw strength from it at some point, but right now, he focused on his current issue of tying his Identity to his Body. Now that he was going the right way, there wasn¡¯t much interesting change. Everything became brighter, and he started to encounter more recent memories. It seemed that his soul was something of a Russian nesting doll, with each experience encapsulating all the previous, and his most surface layer being the current moment. It was on the surface of his Soul where he finally found a change in how Connection interacted with him- though not immediately reaching the end. As his vision popped above the surface of his soul, he saw that Connection still did not end quite yet. The current memory this line of Connection sat upon was something akin to the sensation of touch on his chest. In other words, the present sensation of touch, as he¡¯d finally reached the current moment, and it was still changing in time with his body. He continued to follow Connection as it snaked around the surface of his soul, occasionally dipping in and out of memories but never straying far from the current moment until, eventually, He was right back where he started. The same feeling of touch in the same point on his chest, he realized that he¡¯d somehow made a full loop. Looking around for the path he¡¯d come from, he could see none, so he did it again, this time being more aware of the location on his soul. No matter how hard he tried though, he could not perceive where Connection overlapped with itself. It seemed to never end at all, as there was no one place to simply untie it, and he got the feeling that he¡¯d never succeed if he didn¡¯t change his goal. The Skill was Conceptual in nature, so it was probably doing some Leviathan-bullshit to only partially exist and become some sort of non-euclidean shape that overlapped in some place without ever touching its end, but honestly he didn¡¯t need to understand it to take advantage. Instead of attempting to untie Connection, he simply had to change where it was tying. Right now, it linked up only to his memories and sensations, probably because those were the parts of him that Iora broke. What he needed instead was for it to link up to a more esoteric part, his Identity. If he couldn¡¯t untie the entire structure, then it would remain a loop. He could just use that loop as a¡­ lasso? He could lasso his soul. The thought made him laugh but he got back into it. Pulling up Solidity, he knew it would be integral to what he was doing. While it might be possible for him to do an independent evolution of Solidity, allowing the Skill to accomplish his goal of becoming a spirit-human hybrid, he did still want to be a Reaper, so he wanted to work that into the construct. He didn¡¯t want to take too long though, feeling exposed without Alorans help in hiding him, so he quickly checked how much time he¡¯d taken in studying his soul, finding he had no reason to be worried since it¡¯d hardly passed the five-minute mark. In his soul, he could move as fast as he could think and boy could he think fast. A bit more secured, Dei tried working out exactly what he was going to do by first focusing on Solidity. It was hard to see the structure of it normally, but since he¡¯d pulled up a massive portion of his Identity, he spotted it now. It was very similar to Connection in that it formed strings of sorts that would interweave between his Identity and the rest of his soul, but it wasn¡¯t exactly holding anything together. His Identity could easily pull away from it, and he watched as the strings of Solidity would release if he moved his spiritual body at all, retracting into his soul and hiding away. When he followed where they went, he could see they did more than just stop at a level just below the surface of his Soul, they continued on to somewhere else. Now following these, he was only partially surprised to see that they didn¡¯t take a path through his memories. Rather, they went to the part dictating his instincts and body. All the physical aspects of himself if his higher brain functions were completely removed from the equation. ¡®Fuck I¡¯m glad I have [Soulspeak], if I didn¡¯t have an instinctual understanding of my soul I¡¯d be so screwed right now.¡¯ Nevertheless, it was important to see. Everything was clean and running well right now, but Dei could understand that a strain would be placed on himself if his body said ¡°You are twenty years old¡± but his mind said ¡°you are one year old,¡± and it was here that the issue resided. For how tough the Fortitude affinity was though, Solidity was a very fragile Skill. It was intentionally malleable so Dei could still Project and his body could still grow faster than his mind, that way it wouldn¡¯t stand in the way of natural human processes. Fortitude was a human affinity, and it wanted to ensure he stayed as human as possible, but that was now a flaw in the Skill he¡¯d need to fix by making it more Leviathan-based. Seeing that, he knew what he needed to do- he had to run the sutures of Connection along Solidity, braiding their purpose together. Connection was a much more rigid shape, so it would be a permanent change unless he redid all of this again. Something told him that wouldn¡¯t be a good idea though. As it was, both Solidity and his soul were more malleable than usual. It took him a moment to realize, but they were more easily changed because Solidity and his Class were at their evolutions, in other words his Skill and soul were in flux. Dei started to doubt if he¡¯d have been able to do what he was about to if he¡¯d leveled up even a single time, because that would lock in the changes his Class made to him. Although¡­ The Skills from it did already merge with his other Skills, so it was clearly tied deeply into him anyway. If he tried changing his Class, would it be possible? Would the System disassemble his Skills to retrieve the ones he¡¯d taken from it? A shiver went down his spine at the thought, he wouldn¡¯t even try. Point being, now was the time when such a change to his soul structure would work best, and it was time to get started. He had no real way of doing this other than by feel, but the first thing he did was search for the nearest form of Connect. When he did though, he ran into something of a problem- Connection would have to dive deeply into his soul, so he couldn¡¯t just use the surface structure. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. No, he had to find a deeper part, and run that along Solidity until it was at the surface. Really, there was only one option for that. The point where Connection dived deeper into his soul would have to be moved, and he already knew this would be at best deeply uncomfortable. Finding that same sensation on his chest, Dei gently took hold of it, and nudged it to the side, towards his Identity. Immediately, his physical body opened its eyes and vomited on the ground, misaligning his projection. Not that he blamed it, as even that small act felt like he¡¯d felt like there were worms tangled throughout his entire body, and every single one twitched at the same time. Spiritual Dei sighed. ¡°This is gonna hurt you a whole heck of a lot more than it¡¯s gonna hurt me.¡± ¡°Aauughh just get on with it. No matter my spasming, it doesn¡¯t seem harmful. Don¡¯t stop til the end.¡± Spiritual Dei grimaced. He¡¯d have to experience the sensation when they remerged their minds. Still, they didn¡¯t seem to need to be aligned until right at the end, when his Projection would have to rejoin his body for the last bit. Not wasting any more time, he was as gentle and quick as he could be, but there was simply nothing to ease the burden. His physical body almost immediately collapsed to the ground, away from the puddle he¡¯d made earlier and spasming violently. The Projection kept a close watch on the main soul, watching as his memories were only partially hindered and moved around harmlessly to follow with [Connection], which he was pretty sure would cause issues later for him to fix. What he really watched for wasn¡¯t the memories themselves, but the cracks between, watching them also move along with [Connection]. ¡®Okay that¡¯s REALLY gonna cause some issues later¡¯ he thought, which made him stop. While he couldn¡¯t tell, there was no doubt a Leviathan was watching. If he tried to brute force the issue, he¡¯d probably be struck down. ¡®I gotta be smart about this.¡¯ Moving it back to the original position, much to his body¡¯s displeasure, Dei went deeper into his soul. He tried and failed to dive deeper into the pink cracks, finding that it repelled him in much the same way as the Void had before. Instead, he went to the Connection tying it all together and began the long, tedious process of pulling it free from his memories. The soul was a very fluid thing, and it took on a more gelatinous consistency now. When he pulled the connection out of it, the soul was easily pushed back into place, molded perfectly into where it needed to go. The first time he tried, he felt the sweat dripping down his face as he waited for the entire structure to collapse as his soul unraveled, killing him, but luckily that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Aloran was right, his soul was more than healed, at least for these purposes. He couldn¡¯t be sure about deeper down, but his success on the surface gave him confidence. Piece by piece he went, pulling more and more of the sutures through the squishy walls of his Soul and leaving them to hand freely in whatever metaphorical open space existed between his memories. He tried to make it a quick process for the sake of his body and, for the most part, succeeded. Right now his body functioned at normal thinking speed, while his was more than twenty times that. It hardly had a chance to process what was happening before most of it was done, and by then he could simply shoot through the rest. He gave himself a significant amount of slack, because he really did not know how much he¡¯d need. First he started deeper in his soul, working his way up to the surface before disconnecting the surface parts as well. At the same time, he memorized the pattern took when wrapping itself around his soul and making sure to not forget it. Once he had enough slack, he carefully dragged the structure over to the part dictating his instinct, and ran into another problem. It was fat. Compared to Solidity, Connection was a mass of bulk with little focus on elegance. That didn¡¯t make much sense to him, as Connection was supposedly a much more sophisticated Skill, but he was left guessing if that was simply how large it had to be. The thought made him panic. If he couldn¡¯t shrink it down, he¡¯d be shit out of luck because there was no way he could braid the two Skills together right now. He had to try. With a force of will, he tried compressing Connection down and, surprisingly, it came to him easily. Instantly, the glow of Connection began to shine multiple times brighter than it was before, and he felt a sense of accomplishment. Not from himself, but from the Connection Skill itself. ¡®Is this thing alive? Or is it a window into the Leviathan? Doesn¡¯t matter, I¡¯m on the right track. Don¡¯t know why it was so thick, but that¡¯s something to ask Aloran when I don''t feel like I¡¯m on a timed cooking show with my soul as the dish.¡¯ Even though he easily felt himself push it to be smaller, he went further than that, focusing everything he could on making it as dense as possible. Only when he could do no more did Dei move down the Skill, wanting it to be as sturdy and dense as possible. Luckily, this part seemed to be a much easier time for his body, as it couldn¡¯t feel it at all. Something else that concerned him though was how the glow along his skin disappeared, but it would probably come back once he rejoined the Skill to his soul. Once he¡¯d moved along the entire length, getting something much finer than what he had before, Dei realized it was time for him to rejoin with his body and start the final process of merging himself together. Before that though, he really wanted to get this right, so he went about moving down Connection once more, increasing its density and making it a much finer structure. The Skill seemed to like it when he did that, so he¡¯d make it all better if he could. Once more moving down the path to the Void, Dei was faced with what he had to do to improve the rest of it, if he couldn¡¯t even go down. Without finding a solution, Dei instead made the Connection Skill slowly grow thicker as it approached the Void, letting it take on the initial thickness by the time it shot out into the darkness. Sighing from the mental exhaustion he already faced, Dei moved back to the original purpose he came here for by moving back up and out of his own soul. When he was back in his projection body, he finally gave a heads up to his physical self. ¡°I¡¯m rejoining now. Ready for the final step? Any insights or thoughts on things I¡¯m missing?¡± He asked, knowing well that they were literally identical. ¡°Ugh, no. You¡¯re good. I never want to do this again,¡± Physical Dei said. ¡°Well if this works, it won''t even be possible, because we¡¯re going to be mer-¡± ¡°Yea yea yea chatterbox, just hurry up.¡± Spiritual Dei scrunched his face but did as told, rejoining with his body. He had to grit his teeth as he remembered how he made the process of remerging painful, in exchange for growing the strength of his soul any time he did so. When that was over, he tried to not dwell on the uncomfortable memories his body had about him rummaging through his own soul, and quickly sat back up to lean against the wall, hoping to keep at least a little bit of comfort for the next part. Gently bringing his sight back to the loose parts of Connection, he guided it back to Solidity once more, this time significantly easier since it was not pulling at his soul with each movement. ¡®Not much anyway¡­¡¯ he thought, still feeling a gentle discomfort because of how it was pushing a few memories out of the way and pulling some of his deeper ones ever so slightly. When he was in the right position, he started the process. Bringing Connection together with the Solidify Skill, he started on intertwining the two. Starting with the base of Solidity, Dei ran Connection through that part of his soul, was about to move up the Skill when he ran into something of a problem. He intended to braid the two together, but for that he¡¯d need only three strings. Solidity had like, fifty or sixty. Sighing, he set Connection down, then went about braiding then re-braiding the parts of Solidity together, until he had exactly two lines, the ends of each held in place by the parts of his souls they were tied to on each end. Next, he brought up Connection once more. Though he¡¯d shrunk it down a lot, it was still rather thick for a single line of Solidity, which worked out well because they were now of equal thickness with the changes he¡¯d made to both Skills. He could already feel that Solidity had evolved in some way with how much he¡¯d changed it, but he ignored that for now. It was still at level one hundred. Even if it was evolved, he could change it until that evolution was locked in by him getting the Skill to level one hundred and one. Finally, finally setting about to finish his original purpose, Dei began the process of braiding Connection with Solidity, going about carefully to ensure he didn¡¯t miss a single loop. As he reached the end of Solidity, he threaded the newly changed Skill through his Identity, feeling a pressure behind his eyes as he did so. Pushing it out the other side and breaching the surface of his soul, where the extra length of Connection still sat, floating in the Presence surrounding his main soul. Dei sighed. The process was done, and he felt his mind explode with notifications, but he resisted the temptation to open them quite yet. He couldn¡¯t just leave all this Connection floating around, so he went through the arduous process of recreating the entire pattern it originally sat in, slightly changed only because it breached the surface of his soul in a different location now. Meticulously, he recopied every bump, dive, angle, and slope in the Skill until at long last, he was done. Breathing deeply, he held it there for a moment and opened the very first notification. [Race Altered: Gem Dweller Human has been altered into Gem Dweller Union] Chapter 84 [Race Altered: Gem Dweller Human has been altered into Gem Dweller Union] Ignoring all other notifications for just a moment, he quickly opened his Interface and checked his new Racial bonuses. [Soul Echo (Major) Darkvision Fluid Shape (Major) Phantom Claws (Major) Weakness to Echo] [Soul Echo (Major) Gain a sensitivity to all soul signatures, as well as the ability to release a pulse from the soul. The pulse will interact with the structures of whichever layer of reality the user resides in, partially rebounding as an echo and providing sensory information] [Darkvision - Passive Taking advantage of the conceptual idea of sight, allows the user to see in perfect clarity unless under the effects of magical perception denial] [Fluid Shape (Major) Gain the ability to manipulate the users shape to a significant degree] [Phantom Claws (Major) - Passive Innate hyper-specialized Soul affinity gives +600% efficiency of digging into soul defenses] [Weakness to Echo - Passive - Debuff Becoming hyper-specialized into detecting Echoes your body has gained a sensitivity to all sources of extreme echoes, both physical and magical. Extreme vibrations disorient you and large detectable magical signatures blind you] He couldn¡¯t help but smile widely, this was everything he wanted, even if there were a few hiccups to his bonuses. Soul Echo of course replaced his Tremor Sense, and though it had more limitations, it was also not as large of a weakness. It was now an active ability, one where he had to manually release a signal to get that information back rather than the passive one Tremor Sense had been. Still though, the Weakness had been degraded in response. Rather than a Greater Weakness, it was now just a regular Weakness. The Weakness had broadened to both physical and magical means, but still, he would fare a lot better with a lesser weakness. Darkvision was again the only one with its name unchanged, even if its function was wildly different. He lost the ability to fire infrared light, meaning he no longer had a way to dispel magical darkness, but he also no longer needed light at all. His weakness to light had been removed entirely, which was another weight off his shoulders. Even if he was worried about dispelling darkness though, Dei suspected that his pulse would serve a similar purpose- a cheap wide-ranged ability that would disrupt anything trying to blind him. Fluid Shape was the most interesting of them all though, and one with the most potential. It used to be his Camouflage, but with his body supposedly being a bit more intangible in nature, that¡¯d been improved to what he believed was closer to a true shapeshifting ability. In his Projection form, it was also the ability which allowed him to traverse the various layers of the Spirit Realm, meaning it would be responsible for doing so now, though he couldn¡¯t see how. Was he going to need to transform down into the Spirit Realm? How would he do so? Now that he thought of it, wasn¡¯t that exactly what Gargeth did to reach the physical world? Gargeth punched a hole between the layers using only a portion of his body, then pushed the rest of himself through the hole he¡¯d created, making an altogether disgusting sight, but an effective one. He¡¯d have to test it, but there was a good chance Dei would have to punch a hole in the wall between levels of the world, then push his entire body through using his new shape changing ability. ¡®Definitely not going to be a pleasant process if I¡¯m right¡­¡¯ His Digging ability had once more turned into a combat-ready one too, but now he was better at digging into souls. He hoped it would synergise with his Identify in order to make puncturing souls easier, but he didn¡¯t think that would be the case. With both Digging and Natural Claws (the Projection form of Digging), he needed to use his physical hands to take advantage of the effect. Now, Dei was pretty sure he had a much better unarmed combat ability, making his physical hands dig into souls easier. His transformation had its ups and downs, but he had to consider this a flat improvement if only for one reason. Standing up, Dei closed his eyes for a moment and focused, drawing deeply upon his stamina and flexing a muscle he normally only had when in his Projection form. Moments later Dei felt a lightness overtake his body, and opened his eyes to see he was floating above the ground. ¡®I can fly!¡¯ Dei was a hybrid between spirits and humans, and he¡¯d gained a mixture of their abilities. Naturally, that included how spirits were able to fly and- potentially- phase through walls. After testing his new ability to fly, Dei decided he could take a moment to quickly check all the other notifications he¡¯d been ignoring so far. [Skill Leveled Up: Call for Help (62) -> (71)] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (48) -> (52)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (168) -> (169)] [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (12) -> (13)] [Skill Changed: Astral Projection (13) -> Empower Self (4)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (95) -> (100)] [Skill: Solidity (100) has reached an evolution threshold] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (97) -> (99)] None were as incredible as altering his Race, but the micro improvements to his Skills were important nonetheless, and he noted that Astral Projection had also transformed into something new, and pulled that up quickly. [Empower Self - Level 4 - Soul Affinity How a person presents themselves is more than just a reflection of their current moment, it is a representation of culture and instinct. A person does not fully dictate themselves, they do not venture into the world blindly, but are guided through the ancestral knowledge of their entire lineage, slowly perfected over time into a singular identity. Building upon that, the culture one is born into provides further framework to flush out one''s own Identity. A sense of self is more than just what you believe yourself to be, it is everything perfectly meshed together into who you are. Allows one to empower their Identity, emphasizing the sense of self. Variable mana cost] For a moment, he thought it would be something akin to a straight-up physical enhancement, letting him become stronger temporarily, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Pouring just a few MP into it, he found that his mind became clearer, his psyche just a bit sturdier. It wasn¡¯t so much a physical enhancement, but a mental one. He¡¯d have to test it, but it might be a way to ward off mental attacks, such as the one the Smiler launched on Dei by attempting to trap him in a memory. He wouldn¡¯t argue against something like that at all, even if he still had Fortress of Denial that would help deflect those kinds of effects. They were different Skills, so there had to be a nuance between the two, he¡¯d just have to find what it was. Finally at the end of his notifications, he did a full lookover of his Interface, seeing all the differences and noticing just one more. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Union (Gem Dweller Variant) A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Class: Watchful Slaughterer (Level 100) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 11) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Giants IV, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II), Dammit, Slaughterer Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII) Soul Strength: 0/192 HP: 192/192 MP: 64/64 SP: 125/128 Stats: Physical: 64 Mental: 61 Spiritual: 69 Magical: 62 Affinities: Kindness: High-Rare: 65% Wrath: Low-Rare: 36% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 78% Fortitude: High-Uncommon 70% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (273) (10520/10920), Call for Help (71), Good Samaritan (52), Meaningful (44) Wrath: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Rage (169) Soul: Empower Self (4), Connection (1) Fortitude: Solidity (100), Fortress of Denial (36) Health: Homeostasis (100) Mana: Meditation (99) Stamina: Disconnect (59) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (64) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (53), Vigilance (100), In Tune (36), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (100)] Right above his HP, in the section of consumable stats, Dei now had a new stat called [Soul Strength], one he was quite familiar with. Gargeth said that he kept a layer of unbound spiritual mana around his core soul, that way any minor damage wouldn¡¯t immediately translate over into soul damage. Dei didn¡¯t have such a buffer right now, but he had the same kind of body type as Gargeth, so he would obviously face some major damage if he was hurt right now. As soon as he could, he¡¯d need to find a way to get some Soul Strength in his system. ¡®Also, didn¡¯t Gargeth say that he didn¡¯t have blood, but ectoplasm? I¡¯ll have to check if I have that later. How would that even work? Did all my blood just immediately turn into ectoplasm? Is it like¡­ slowly transforming right now? Scratch that, I¡¯m testing if I have half-blood half-ectoplasm immediately.¡¯ Using his nails he quickly put a scratch in his arm. It took a lot more force than he¡¯d first assume, but eventually he drew blood. And yes, it looked like blood. It was quite red, rather than the white he assumed ectoplasm would be. ¡®But that might not be correct, is ectoplasm red? Is it just ghost blood?¡¯ Poking at the small amount of blood coming from his arm he found it to be the exact consistency he expected, and shrugged his shoulders. ¡®Maybe it¡¯s not physically changed, but magically different? I need Clever.¡¯ Finally done with his quick experiments, he checked his clock and found that the entire process of going through his soul, correcting everything as quickly as he could, tying his Identity to his body and everything else had taken around forty five minutes. Not long at all, actually rather short for how big of a change had taken place. Still, he should be getting back to Aloran. The longer he spent outside Aloran¡¯s garden, the less time he would have to rebuild his body using [Growing Rage]. Walking towards Clever and Fendrascora, he prepared to allow Fendrascora back into his bloodstream again when a thought struck him. ¡®Is she going to have trouble doing that? I might¡¯ve just changed my every biological aspect. Well shit, if I can''t move her then we¡¯re gonna have a few problems.¡¯ He didn¡¯t keep these thoughts to himself either, immediately telling them what¡¯d happened to the general tune of ¡°Hey I¡¯m a half spirit now, let¡¯s see if Fendrascora will have any trouble real quick.¡± He needn¡¯t have worried though. He felt a slight poke on his skin as Fendrascora sent a thin needle in, just as a test, and said. ¡°Huh, it¡¯s actually a lot more¡­ comfortable! You¡¯re imbued with tons of spiritual energies now, it¡¯s like the perfect place to live!¡± Pushing down his discomfort at becoming an optimal walking aquarium, Dei asked ¡°So is my blood different? Like, a different liquid now? Or is it just the magical aspect?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯m looking through its nutrient count and I¡¯m not seeing a big difference. If there is one, it¡¯s pretty small. No, the biggest change is how your blood- no, your entire body is very rich in Soul mana now. It¡¯s the most concentrated Soul mana I¡¯ve ever seen too, to the point that this might be a problem- you look like a high-grade treasure.¡± He was surprised, but it seemed that using Connection to tie his entire body together ended up having more than just a surface level effect, it actually changed how the transformation went down completely. ¡°Would you say it¡¯s, I don¡¯t know, around fifty times Concentration of Soul mana? And is this good or bad for me? If I¡¯m just going to be a huge lure, I think this is pretty bad. Do I at least gain something from this?¡± ¡°Yea! I think fifty times Concentration would be accurate, and this can only be good. As for benefits¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯ll have more weight to your actions when using your spirit abilities. I don¡¯t really know how to quantify it other than that, but maybe you¡¯re harder for spirits to damage? Or you can deal more damage to spirits? Really, you''ll just have to see. Or ask Aloran.¡± ¡°Not a bad idea really. Alright, let''s get back to the cave. I need all the time I can get to adjust to all my changes, and there¡¯s no better place than the perfect safety of Alorans refuge.¡± * * * POV: Fang, shortly after Dei left The Flesh Trap heard this Aloran person speak, but didn¡¯t understand the words. Sending out a few tendrils of mental communication and trying to find where they were, she quickly felt him respond in kind, forming the mental link between the two and speaking in a way she could understand. ¡°I see you wish to speak with me alone?¡± Aloran said in a questioning voice. ¡°Yes¡­ yes, I need help with something. The vessel told me of you. He said you were a God?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°Is The Mother a God?¡± ¡°A very loaded question, but in a singular word: yes.¡± ¡°Can she grant names because she is a God?¡± ¡°Grant¡­ names? Like, literally? As in, when The Mother will connect to certain monsters who have gained intelligence and give them their names?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Again, a very complex issue. The Mother can grant names because every monster instinctively knows her, and allows her the right to give them names. She is called The Mother, because she taps into a matronly part of every monster''s mind and has some control over them, albeit very small. At most, she can request something from monsters, and in the same vein of if a human''s mother asked them to do something, that monster would feel compelled to listen, but not required to.¡± ¡°Flesh Traps have no mothers. Is she still The Mother to me?¡± ¡°Err¡­ you are asking very complicated questions in a very simple way¡± Aloran said, chuckling. ¡°She isn¡¯t your mother, she isn¡¯t anyone''s mother, I believe she simply emulates the feeling of one when she connects with a monster. I feel like you are dancing around a question I don¡¯t understand, little one. Please, feel free to ask something of me and I will help to the best of my ability.¡± The Flesh Trap felt trepidation to ask directly, and a very foreign emotion of embarrassment towards her request, but there was no other way to do so. ¡°Could you grant me a name?¡± ¡°Ah, uh, this is not what I thought you¡¯d ask. What, ah, what happened that The Mother cannot grant you a name?¡± Anger bubbled inside her at the memory of her conversation with The Mother, but there wasn¡¯t much to do now. Going into detail of what happened, she told Aloran exactly what she and The Mother had spoken about. * * * The Flesh Trap saw that the creature chasing them, the Accipere, was killed by that flying serpent, and felt only relief. She was completely helpless through the entire situation as the monster had strong enough defenses that she could not touch its mind, and could only rely on those around her. After calming down in the serene cave their little group now found themselves in, she saw that Clever and Fendrascora stressed over Dei, but he was altogether stable. She could see that his soul had entered some kind of healing slumber, and wasn¡¯t worried for his health. No, she had other things to focus on, such as the presence she now felt working its way towards her. She felt no fear at the prospect. She knew this presence would not harm her, though she was unsure of why. She felt a great mind crawl up from the deepest recesses of the earth, and a voice rang out to the Flesh Trap in a way that it knew nobody else could hear. ¡°Hello, little one. I am The Mother, the mind of the world and the guide to all monsters who gain sapience but choose to stay as monsters. With your most recent experience, you have begun to awaken your mind and self to the point that a name is now required. To that end, I shall glance over all your history and choose a fitting one.¡± The Flesh Trap didn¡¯t particularly like the idea of a being like this knowing her history, but she wasn¡¯t opposed to the idea of a name. She knew they were important, especially when interacting with others in the world as she now did frequently. Yes, she needed a name. With her mental agreement, the Flesh Trap heard The Mother thinking aloud as it decided her name ¡°Hmmm¡­ quite old to only just be awakening your mind, but your race is one of slothfulness. The majority of your existence has been uneventful waiting without a purpose, only for survival- a common trope with plants. Only recently has your existence gained a purpose, though temporary, in the form of a mutual agreement with another. You¡¯ve become a tool for an indefinite time in return for strength, a beneficial relationship to both parties. ¡°In the short time you¡¯ve entered this deal, it has begun to define who you are far longer than the hundreds of years previously. Your purpose grows, your mind defines itself with each passing day at a pace you previously could not have. ¡°Despite the short timeframe, your function as a tool has become a cornerstone to your identity, as your experiences hold a nearly equal amount of weight in who you are as the hundreds of years of functioning as a true Flesh Trap. ¡°To this end, your name will be composed of two parts- the smooth tone of a slothful entity, followed by the sharp sound of a tool. You will be named Aeshruk, to-¡± The Flesh Trap did not listen even a single moment more. It refused to accept that it would be named, that it would be defined by its existence as a mere tool. ¡°No.¡± Chapter 85 The Mother paused in her speech at the Flesh Traps declaration. The plant rejected The Mother¡¯s name with more than just her body, but with her entire being. She rejected The Mother¡¯s hold, she rejected The Mother¡¯s influence. The Mother was the mind of the world and recognized as the highest authority of all monster kinds, including sentient plants. Despite that, The Mother still could not force a change upon one who rejected its dominion with absolute certainty. ¡°No?¡± The Mother said, more confused than offended. ¡°Is that not accurate? Is that not what has defined your existence? Is that not who you are?¡± ¡°It is not accurate at all!¡± the Flesh Trap said with certainty. ¡°You glance only at my actions, ignoring my mind entirely. I entered this deal with the end goal of rising above my kind. I do not serve as a weapon simply because I want to, but as a means to an end!¡± ¡°I look at more than just your actions, child,¡± The Mother said, voice thick with condescension. ¡°I look at what you believe yourself to be. Though you claim it is a means to an end, you have unwittingly slipped into your role. You are comfortable where you are, you do not wish for the status quo to change.¡± The Flesh Trap growled in frustration. ¡°I am comfortable, but I will not stop! This is not who I am! I am a queen among my kind, and I will not stop until I rule over all others! Even if I must reject what I am, I will become more!¡± ¡°It is not so simple to reject your own nature. You are an entity of Slothfulness, you will fall into your old ways. It is how you were born. It is the role of monsters to play into their instinct, which is why I am here to guide you along the path you will walk.¡± ¡°No. You will guide me to failure.¡± The Flesh Trap said with absolute conviction. She felt a familiar sensation from the mother, one she sensed before when she ran into a wall attempting to prevent her from reaching the ancient blood-related affinity, what she now knew were system bounds. She¡¯d broken past the system bounds before. The Mother was nothing more than a wall to stand in her way. ¡°I Reject You¡± The Flesh Trap screamed with her full being, denying The Mothers ability to guide her down a predestined path. With those three simple words, she felt The Mothers hold fail, and consciousness of the great Primordial Child slip away, banished once more to the deep recesses of the earth. [Achievement Gained! Untethered] [Untethered You have denied the influence of a higher being through willpower alone * * * ¡°I¡­ see¡± Aloran said, unsure of how to react that this Flesh Trap managed to break The Mothers hold over it. The act wasn¡¯t impossible of course, and there were other recorded cases similar to it. Many higher beings functioned on complex rules which boiled down to ¡°who do I have the right to influence in the material world?¡± and, outside of that, they were very limited. Not every case was the same though. The Mother has an innate right to all monsters, including Flesh Traps, in the same way that natural affinities had a right to their creatures. If Aloran likened it to a human, it would be as if Dei managed to reject the very concept of Greed, cutting the emotion off. Greed was a part of all humans, it was built in. How would he even go about denying a concept? Of course, The Mother was likely easier to deny than an affinity. She was higher than a God, and lower than an affinity. Probably the minimum to earn the Achievement Fang described. Gods were actually rather easy to deny, as none of them were built-in by nature except for very specific situations, such as the beetles in Aloran¡¯s cave. He¡¯d be utterly shocked if one of his beatles cast him off like a shackle, but it wasn¡¯t impossible. ¡®This Flesh Trap, it¡¯s¡­ no, she¡¯s impressive. She might have as much potential as Dei if she keeps up her momentum. She already has an incredibly sturdy sense of self, and might one day become a matriarch to a new Race. How exciting that would be, to see such an extraordinary event from so early on. If I¡¯m correct, that means her meeting with The Mother indicated she now has a connection with the Pride affinity, even if she herself does not hold it as an active affinity. If she can connect with all seven virtues and seven vices¡­¡¯ As he thought of this, he considered her request as well. She wanted a name, one she¡¯d consider fitting, but she didn¡¯t know how to get it. Receiving a name was an important step, but much more complicated than it first seemed. Beings could either name themselves by identifying with a particular word very strongly, or be named by someone they would consider an authority over them, usually their parents. The name would become the person''s symbol, the call to signify who they are. Names were not to be taken lightly either, as there was power to be had within them. If this Flesh Trap that Dei called Fang were to have accepted The Mothers proposed name, it was doubtless it would have further solidified her role as a lesser being to Dei, something she perhaps sensed and became the source of rejection. Truly, The Mother was- dare he say- foolish for not recognizing its potential immediately. To even go against the Primordial Child¡¯s word should have been a warning, but alas, even the strongest beings could make mistakes, and it seemed this one would never earn the chance to remedy that. ¡°I will give you a name, one which you can accept. If you are unhappy with it, you may say so and I shall reconsider, but I believe the reasoning presented will satisfy you.¡± Monster name creation was something he¡¯d looked into once upon a time several centuries ago, and he drew upon that knowledge now as he felt the Flesh Traps mental agreement. It was not an exact science by any means, much closer to an instinctual gut feeling. There was no real pattern to the names of monsters, usually given by The Mother, but he knew some of the rules the Primordial Child tended to follow. He asked her more questions, trying to get a feel for who she was, her affinities, and what she wanted her name to represent. From the conversation, he found that she wanted it to incorporate the two large things she considered herself to be: a creature of Blood, and a ¡°ruler¡± over her ¡°people.¡± The blood part was simple enough for him to understand, as she identified closely with her desire to feast upon other creatures. It was a major part of her Race, and though she danced around the topic, she hinted that she was doing something grand with her own Blood affinity. She was rather cagey about that part, but she insisted that it was integral to her name. The ruler part was a lot more vague, as she just felt herself standing above the other Flesh Traps. Aloran didn¡¯t think she even knew what rulers were actually supposed to do, or what she would rule if she ever became one. Nor did she really think too hard about who her people would be, or in what manner she would guide them. It seemed she more liked the concept of becoming a ruler, like a child dreaming of one day rising to the throne. Though he would never say that part aloud. She was closer to an elite, but if she wanted a name revolving around becoming a ruler, she would get her queenly name. It was her name after all, who was he to decide she wasn¡¯t worthy of it? She would simply have to grow into it. With the two defining facts of Blood and Ruler, Aloran tried to think back to what noises those two tended to follow. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. If he remembered correctly, Blood tended to start with a harsh sound and flow into something that would roll off the tongue easily. This would be the start of her name. The concept of Ruler tended towards low humming tones and ending with a whisper. Making monster names was not based on logic, just feel, so he simply said the first name-ish-sounding word that popped into his head. ¡°How about Perumah?¡± he said, genuinely hoping she¡¯d like it. He wasn¡¯t sure why he, as a God, was nervous about her reaction, but he was. ¡°Perumah¡­ Perumah¡­ I like the noise it makes in your language, but what does it mean?¡± Aloran let out a shrug. ¡°Nothing definitive, as I did not base it on any words I know. Going by the naming sense of monsters though, it technically means Blood Queen, but there¡¯s also a lot of overlapping rules, so it might have several double meanings to it as well.¡± The Flesh Trap considered it for a while longer. Several minutes, honestly, and Aloran had to keep reminding himself to be patient. Plant creatures always took so long to respond¡­ Still, she eventually said ¡°This name is more than adequate, it is perfect. Thank you, I accept it.¡± As she did, he felt a shift in the air that was difficult for even him to perceive, despite it happening in his domain. If he read it correctly, this meant she now recognized him, at least slightly, as a higher authority and granted him slight power over her name. He¡¯d never use this, but it was an interesting phenomena to see happen. Truly, this entire debacle showed him that there were still many new things to experience despite his long life. ¡°I am glad you enjoy it, Perumah. I will leave it to you to tell Dei when he gets back.¡± He felt a pang of joy from her the moment she heard her own name and chuckled. After dealing with such complicated decisions for so long, it was nice to have one he could draw simple joy from. * * * POV: Dei As they walked back to Aloran¡¯s cave, he tested out his new body. There wasn¡¯t much of a difference, but the potential was there. With his new shape-changing Racial Ability, he found altering himself was easy- though painful. He wasn¡¯t simply changing the shape of his body, it was something more. Since his Identity and Body were now tied together, that changed as well. His Identity dictated what shape his soul took, which was why his Projection form resembled his actual body- how he saw himself was how his soul was shaped. The new Racial Ability, [Fluid Shape], didn¡¯t just alter his physical body. It altered the shape of his soul, and the body was dragged along in that reshaping. There were oddities to it though, mainly in that it wasn¡¯t actually damaging to change his body, at least to the degree he was now. Dei thought lengthening his fingers would do something about the blood circulation, but it seemed the adaptable aspect of it helped rewire his blood vessels, making the new part of his body more viable. He also noted that the pain he felt from shifting his body around did not originate from his physical self, but his spiritual half. Even lengthening his fingernails was painful, as it involved reshaping the cast his soul wanted to fit into. It felt like his soul was used to being very, very rigid, and it was only now softening up to accommodate for his new state of being. Dei hoped that his soul shape would become easier to manipulate over time with some practice, because it was simply too frustrating to slowly change his body shape in a wildly painful way that didn¡¯t actually seem to be all that useful. After testing his newest, most outlandish ability, Dei also tried using his [Soul Echo], the ability that replaced his [Tremor Sense]. Tremor Sense had been a useful, perhaps cornerstone, of his entire build. His Class was dedicated to detecting enemies before they appeared, but he was limited to vibrations, which proved to be an issue on magic-based beings, such as the Trosks he¡¯d faced a while back. When he cast a pulse from his Soul Echo, it returned promising results. He was able to receive information about the cave system around him for several miles, much further than Tremor Sense as it was easier to parse through a singular signal rather than an ocean of vibrations. He also found that the pulse functioned on scanning soul shapes too, meaning that he could actually detect flying creatures that didn¡¯t give off as many vibrations to the ground or magical based creatures. Anything without a soul, he would struggle to detect, but even that wasn¡¯t a harsh limitation because he would still be able to see their physical bodies. If it didn¡¯t have a soul, it would just register as a lifeless mass. The only entity that could theoretically dodge his new ability would be a soulless being made of pure mana, and he didn¡¯t think there¡¯d be many of those. If any. Aside from the fact that it was now an active ability, there was one more complication. ¡°Ugh,¡± he heard Fendrascora say directly into his mind ¡°I don¡¯t know what you just did, but please don¡¯t do that again. I felt my body get disrupted slightly. Not enough to really deal damage, but enough to be very unpleasant.¡± Clever, on his shoulder, threw his thoughts in on the matter with a slight whining noise and the words. ¡°It felt¡­ bad. Not good. Like a strong earthquake.¡± The new version was sent out as a ping, a very detectable one. He¡¯d have to be more careful with this version, and try to find exactly how close something had to be to detect it; At some point, the effect had to taper off into background noise of anything that felt it. After using his new Racial abilities, he also checked his resource pool and found that both shapeshifting and using his new ping cost SP, which was actually pretty good. It was his easiest stat to rejuvenate, to the point where it might refill multiple times in a drawn-out fight. Looking at his stats also reminded him of his new [Soul Strength], which he noted had the same maximum level as his HP [Soul Strength: 0/192 HP: 192/192] Following that logic, he basically had a second health pool, making him even more durable. When it ran out though, he¡¯d be taking some serious and potentially permanent soul damage. ¡®Actually, with my new Disconnect Skill, soul damage isn¡¯t really permanent anymore, yea? So this can only be a boon. Incredible.¡¯ He was getting better at covering his own weaknesses. He¡¯d planned out his build long ago, when he first discovered the weakness of his magical senses and how he might change Races to help account for that. Now, after so long, his real build was coming together, and it was solid. No more half-baked solutions or patches, he was starting to see that he was a real-deal Slaughterer after doubting himself only a little bit ago. Making it back to Aloran¡¯s cave, Dei resisted the urge to hum a tune and struggled to keep the smile off his face. When he crossed the boundary into Aloran¡¯s domain, he also started pushing concentrated Kindness mana back into his [Good Samaritan] Skill to empower it on top of Aloran¡¯s efforts ¡°Welcome back¡­ Dei? Uh¡­ It¡¯s been less than an hour! What the hell did you go do?!¡± Dei laughed at Aloran¡¯s reaction, and couldn¡¯t blame him. It was a harshly drastic change for Dei to rewire the entire way his soul and body interacted. Starting from the beginning, with what he found in the Lorpee cave and how there was now a Convergence based on Dei¡¯s own intent, he continued with the realization he made that allowed Solidity to level up, and how he decided to do his first act of impressing whatever Leviathan now watched him. Dei was rather proud of it too, as this was no doubt a massive step in the right direction. Aloran said Dei had to work Connection into everything, and Connection was now running through his veins. He hadn¡¯t felt much of the Leviathans'' presence though. Through the entire process, there was only one instance of joy that was foreign to his mind. When he compressed the Connection down into a finer string, he felt it then. Aside from that? Nothing. ¡°Well,¡± Aloran said, ¡°That¡¯s not unexpected. I¡¯m surprised you were able to sense anything at all. Usually, they don¡¯t let you know they¡¯re watching. It¡¯s probably a combination of your unnatural awareness of your soul, and unnatural awareness of all magical effects within your body that combined to give you the slightest glimpse of something else present. No matter, but good fucking job Dei! That¡¯s incredible! It didn¡¯t even occur to me that it would be easier to alter your Skills to better mingle with Connection during a Skill evolution, but that makes complete sense! Not to mention the Class evolution making your total soul more malleable in general. If I were you, I¡¯d hold off on leveling up and keep it in the state it currently is until you get as many evolutions under your belt as possible.¡± ¡°You don''t have to tell me,¡± Dei assured him. ¡°If my soul wasn¡¯t as malleable as it currently is during the process, I think I would have done a lot more damage to myself than the simple discomfort I currently experienced.¡± They continued going over the entire process, Dei describing exactly what he did and how he repurposed Connection as Aloran first suggested. Aloran even approved of how he recreated the pattern Soul came up with, as there were likely reasons for it. When they were nearing the end of Dei¡¯s recollection, he finally got to ask something Fendrascora wasn¡¯t able to answer earlier. ¡°By the way, what is the exact difference in using Connection to tie my Identity to my soul as opposed to a normal Solidity? I definitely could have done that with just Solidity alone, but Fendrascora said that there was a qualitative difference in the mana permeating me now. What exactly does that do?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question, and one I know quite a bit about. I suppose I should start with a few cosmic rules on Rights, Authority, and the like. To help demonstrate this point, let me get a quick confirmation from¡­ yep, your Flesh Trap friend said I¡¯m allowed to tell you her interaction with The Mother.¡± ¡°I am called Flesh Trap no longer,¡± Fang said with pride, ¡°I am Perumah.¡± Now it was Dei¡¯s turn to wonder what¡¯d happened while he was gone. Chapter 86 After a short retelling of Fang¡¯s- Perumah¡¯s story, Aloran also caught him up on why he decided to name her that, essentially calling her a Blood Queen. Out of everything he knew about Perumah, it was fitting to say the least. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve been told things from Perumah¡¯s perspective, let me answer your previous question- you asked what it meant for Connection to permeate your body, yes? Well, there are many benefits, some surface level, others a bit more complex, so lets get the immediate effects out of the way. To start, Fendrascora was correct in her assessment that you¡¯ll prove rather hardy against other spirits, as well as more damaging to them in kind. Think of it as you entering a new weight class of spirit, where you have more weight to throw and use to resist the strikes of others. This, also like Fendrascora said, will end up marking you as a valuable treasure. Spirits that devour any part of you will be able to increase their own weight, attuning themselves to the higher concepts of Leviathans. I have no doubt that, should you enter the Spirit Realm and other layers, you must be ready. You¡¯ll terrify the weaker spirits away, but act as a beacon for the stronger ones. I wouldn¡¯t suggest going below the fourth layer, as the spirits there only tend to reach the eightieth level mark. As a rule of thumb, every consecutive layer increases the level cap of spirits by around twenty levels. First layer has levels zero to twenty, the second has twenty one to forty, so on and so forth.¡± Dei nodded. ¡°I think I¡¯m starting to see where this is going. The Mother had some kind of innate control over Fang, over all monsters if I¡¯m understanding her role correctly. For tying myself to Connection, I¡¯ve given Leviathans a level of control over me somehow?¡± ¡°Correct, but not just that. Firstly, I want to tell you not to panic about Leviathans forming a link to you. They¡¯re neutral beings, and are unlikely to call upon that. The benefit to you, however, is that you now have more of a right in certain things, and your will is more difficult to contest. Leviathans are powerful beasts, if you follow in their footsteps, it¡¯s like the universe itself will recognize you as being worthy of a bit more than others. ¡°This effect is probably the most important you¡¯ll receive from your new Solidity Skill¡± Aloran said, and reminded Dei that he still needed to open it and look over the changes. ¡°It helps when fighting against others in everything. Having better rights, better claim over yourself, makes it so you are harder to touch in every way. Some things will be considered below you, and it¡¯s a universal effect. Someone wants to slash you? If they have less right, it¡¯ll be slightly harder. Someone wants to burn you? Again, less right, less effect. The physical component is so negligible that it might as well not exist though, as it only really shows its effects when fighting Gods and the like. That¡¯s not what it is for though, as the combat aspects of it dont even hold a candle to the higher components. ¡°When negotiating with Gods and affinities, they must pay closer attention to you, they must give you certain benefits. In bargains, whether mediated by the System or otherwise, holding a stronger Right to yourself puts you in a better position, even if it¡¯s not perfect. Let¡¯s once more look over Perumah¡¯s story. ¡°When The Mother wanted to decide Perumah¡¯s name, it had a very strong Right to do so, because it had established ownership over all monsters. It is a God, who innately hold strong rights, and a Primordial Child, who are well-respected cosmically. It had every advantage in the situation, which meant that it should have been able to overpower Perumah¡¯s right to her own name. The issue is, though, that it¡¯s not absolute. There is no way to ever fully remove one''s rights, you can only narrow what they do. ¡°With infinitely smaller rights, Perumah had no wiggle room in the bargain with The Mother. She had to resist The Mother with every fiber of her being, never doubting her actions even slightly, or be forced into the deal. Now, if you were in that situation, you wouldn¡¯t need to fight as hard. It might have been only marginal, but you would be allowed to harbor the slightest doubt in your heart, and still resist an attempted naming, as Perumah had.¡± Dei nodded along with each of his points, and thought of rights. Though Aloran posed it as something divine in nature, it was clearly an underlying aspect of reality. A law of physics. Greater beings had more right to themselves than others, but why? Why did a Leviathan hold greater rights than him? It couldn¡¯t just be because they were Gods, because Dei himself had earned a good portion just now, albeit by following in their footsteps. Dei had a thought about how to earn more right over himself, but he didn¡¯t need to theorize. He just asked. ¡°You make it seem like having a Right to something is divine in nature, but is that true? Do I have to borrow from the Leviathans to get more Right to myself?¡± ¡°No, not at all. It¡¯s a measure of how impressive you are objectively. Doing impressive things will earn you more right to yourself. Achievements, leveling, and even widespread popularity gives you more Rights. As you prove yourself, the universe responds by bending certain things in your favor. Following the path of higher beings helps fast-track that because ¡®If you closely resemble something impressive, then you must also be impressive¡¯ in the eyes of the universe.¡± Dei grinned. In that case, he probably already held a significant level of rights. He¡¯d done a lot of things that were completely unheard of in most situations, such as shocking the System with a declaration or traveling the Void unassisted. This was almost definitely something that he¡¯d already taken advantage of, making him both harder to kill while giving him an easier time of killing others. Aloran said that the physical aspects were so negligible as to be nonexistent, but they were there, and he truly had no idea just how many Achievements Dei had. Sure, he knew what Dei had done was impressive, but even he couldn¡¯t guess all the things Dei accomplished. Nor would Dei tell him, unless it became relevant. ¡°Just to be sure,¡± Dei said, ¡°If I have more Right than my opponent, I can more easily damage it, yea? You said it would protect me, will it make it easier to hurt them too?¡± ¡°It will, yes.¡± ¡°And I take it this becomes more relevant at higher levels too, yea? If someone like the child of royalty is given a lot of help as they level then when they reach, say, level three hundred, it will be obvious to others at their level? After all, even if some royalty who had everything handed to them has the same stats as a peasant who clawed their way to the top, wouldn¡¯t the peasant win in a battle?¡± ¡°Firstly, it should be recognized that Royals are innately born with at least a little bit higher Right than others. Second, absolutely correct. Despite the initial boost, most of the time high level nobles lose out simply because they are not as impressive as others their level. The universe doesn¡¯t respect a curated path.¡± ¡°Interesting¡­ this also means that if I want to kill a divine being- not you- I¡¯ll need to do some crazy impressive feats in order to damage them because their rights would innately protect them.¡± ¡°Also yes. Becoming a God gives a rather large boost to one''s Rights, meaning that it¡¯s almost unheard of for mortals to actually succeed in killing Gods. Of course, they would first have to find a way to actually battle the God, as most of them only exist in the divine planes, and you do not want to go there as a mortal. The only way I could see it would be if you either convinced a God to manifest in one of its followers- bad idea because they¡¯re still strong- or you found a God who was weak enough to stay within the Physical realm- better idea because they¡¯re both weak and can¡¯t escape.¡± ¡°You¡¯re walking me through how to kill a God, thanks for the trust?¡± Dei laughed. ¡°Eh, you¡¯re no danger to me specifically, and I¡¯m rather invested in your survival. I don''t know what you¡¯ll be doing over the next few years, more information can only help you¡± Something else occurred to Dei as well. He eventually needed to ascend to Godhood in order to take the first step in completing his System-granted unofficial quest. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Though his life had mostly been preoccupied the last few months, he hadn¡¯t forgotten what the System wanted from him. Dei needed to, eventually, ascend to Godhood, then beyond to become a System Administrator. Doing so would supposedly allow the dead System of Earth to reboot, bringing it back online. Right in front of him was a God more than willing to talk about all the most hidden aspects of Godhood, he had to take advantage of this opportunity. ¡°Speaking of Gods, how do you become one?¡± Aloran laughed. ¡°It¡¯ll be a long time before you reach that, but I suppose it doesn¡¯t hurt to indulge your curiosity. Becoming a God takes two simple and nearly impossible steps. Step one is to surpass level five hundred. This brings you a half-step into divinity because no regular mortal could ever do so, and the level five hundred evolution overcharges every aspect of yourself, tearing you apart and rebuilding you as something greater than the sum of your parts. ¡°The second step is to find your domain, something that perfectly defines you. You must find your absolute purpose, something you wouldn¡¯t mind doing for the rest of eternity. Again, simple in words, almost impossible to actually do. It involves shaving away all the unimportant aspects of yourself, and living for that singular goal. You just went through your first evolution, one where you became a Slaughterer and cut away some of the weaker aspects of yourself. Stepping into Godhood is like that, times a million. You have to give some stuff up to become a God.¡± ¡°I see¡­ I see¡­ You said that I would have to find my domain, does it have to be an affinity? I imagine so, because otherwise, how would you be a God of Refuge and have Refuge mana exist. Seems a bit too big of a coincidence. Unless there¡¯s infinite affinities?¡± ¡°Ahh not so. There can be Gods of anything, but there are only a limited number of affinities. Originally, I was a god of Protectors, but there isn¡¯t a Protector affinity. I was happy to stay that way, but I was approached by the Refuge and Guardian affinities. Both made offers to me, requesting permission to slightly alter my domain into their affinities and, in exchange, they would give me some stats, Achievements, and Skills. I ended up taking the Refuge affinity¡¯s deal, and I¡¯m now a God of Refuge.¡± ¡°Wait, there is a limited number of affinities? How? I thought they were like¡­ the embodiment of concepts, and there are limitless concepts. How many affinities are there?¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ that¡¯s a hard question to answer, as few millennia or so there are records of some affinities appearing while others become less common. I think the current estimate is around five thousand or so?¡± ¡®FIVE THOUSAND?! That¡¯s so fucking few! How? Why? Who decides that?¡¯ At almost the exact same time, he thought of the System, and his [Dammit] Achievement. There was one clause specifically that made his eyes go wide. [The knowledge that it cannot be fixed in your lifetime due to the nature of the bug, an oversight in the pacts between The System and various affinities.] More specifically, [Pacts between The System and various affinities.] The System formed pacts with affinities. Aloran said that every few millennia, some new affinities would appear while others would become less common. Instead of new affinities being born, was the System blocking a significant amount of affinities? Making them impossible to manifest within its domain if they didn¡¯t play to its tune? If I go to another System, will the affinities be different? It can¡¯t just be that though. If there were an infinite amount of affinities, surely there¡¯d be hundreds of thousands of affinities permitted in the System. Maybe the System just picked its favorite affinities, so it didn¡¯t have to give many concessions? Still, Dei wondered where the affinities came from. They clearly had minds of their own and desires to spread their message. That wasn¡¯t the behavior of something that originated from nothing as just another ¡°Law of physics¡± so to speak. He didn¡¯t even necessarily have to wonder, because the answer sat within the main topic of his conversation with the System in general. Ascenders. People who surpassed Godhood and went a step further, potentially becoming System Administrators if they so desired. Dei had to ask himself, where did they go? And the only thing he arrived at were affinities. Aloran seemed to think affinities were higher in the cosmic hierarchy than Primordial Children, so did someone become an affinity when they ascended? He didn¡¯t think it was so simple, affinities simply did not act like they held any roots in mortality. They were true embodiments of their message, with everything else cut away. If someone had to become an affinity to ascend, Dei couldn¡¯t imagine people striving to become that. Dei wouldn¡¯t want to become a singular concept, giving up all else. At the same time, he didn¡¯t think he was far off either. Aloran shifted his domain to match an affinity, was there any reason not to do so if it simply awarded power? No, there wasn¡¯t, unless you were interested in one day creating your own affinity. What if affinities were the remnants of domains left behind by Gods who¡¯d ascended? In other words, the Refuge affinity was left behind by a Refuge God who ascended higher. There were two other facts that pointed towards people not just becoming affinities when they ascended higher. The first came in the form of System Administrators. The System said that if he ascended, he might become one. He couldn¡¯t be both an affinity and a System Administrator. The second was the half-ascended God who¡¯d drained Dei¡¯s original universe of its System. He¡¯d selfishly killed a System, damning billions, trillions, or more to ugly demises throughout a section of the multiverse. Someone like that was bound to be a selfish asshat, who Dei couldn¡¯t see as anything but materialistic. There had to be some sort of tangible benefit, some great light at the end of the tunnel when it came to Ascenders. This reinforced his original point: affinities were perhaps the domains left behind by Ascenders. When they broke past Godhood and into higher realms, shedding the divine aspects of themselves, those divine aspects would probably ring throughout the multiverse, an echo of the person who once embodied the concept. If a God ascended, its mind would go somewhere else, while its divine body would become an affinity. As Dei thought it over, he became more and more sure of himself. Only reinforced by an incredible notification. [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 11) -> (Level 15)] [Total Stats Gained: +20 Spiritual] ¡®Aw hell yea, I¡¯m pondering the fuck out of some mysteries right now. I will be eternally shocked with just how many stats I gain from each level of Pondering Sage.¡¯ With these last few levels, he now had eighty nine points, and it was now by far his highest. As he was grinning about this, he heard another exclamation from Aloran. ¡°Dei what did you just do?¡± He sat up straight, keeping his face still. Dei having a Mythical Profession wasn¡¯t something he wanted others to find out, and it seemed like his Profession was drastic enough to be detectable when it leveled up in massive bursts. ¡°What do you mean?¡± he tried to say neutrally. ¡°Dei you are so bad at lying it¡¯s not even funny. That was such a drastic behavioral change that it¡¯s very clear you¡¯re hiding something. From my perspective, your soul just gained a noticeable layer of defense in seconds, something that isn¡¯t normally possible. You might¡¯ve formed a Skill to defend yourself, but those events are pretty loud to people at my level, and I didn¡¯t sense anything like it. Or you randomly decided to become incredibly serious about defending your mind or blocking me out, but that¡¯s not right either because you weren¡¯t really paying attention until I said something. That only leaves you gaining a massive amount of Spiritual stats instantly, which is frankly absurd, but the only option. So how?¡± He had two options now. Either outright tell Aloran that he wasn¡¯t going to say, or come clean. He didn¡¯t want Aloran to know if there wasn¡¯t any reason to, so the question now was whether Dei would gain something from telling Aloran he had a Mythical rarity Profession. Off the top of his head, he could think of several reasons to tell Aloran. For one, Aloran might know ways to accelerate his leveling speed. Two, it would be a good test to see how others would react to such information. He could ask Aloran in general how to level Professions, but at this point he¡¯d definitely be caught if he did. Were there any reasons for not telling Aloran? Other than his own caution, not really. Aloran was already proven to be a good ally and generally a good person based on Lani¡¯s memories. Once more, Dei had to consider that he was Aloran¡¯s only hope for coming back together. Dei still felt cautious about everything, but he had to admit that at this point, there wasn¡¯t any real benefit to withholding the information about his Profession. He only continued to do so because trusting something like Aloran, who was probably stronger than Dei, felt wrong. He didn¡¯t like leaving himself vulnerable. ¡®I have to get my answers somehow. Can¡¯t get those if I don¡¯t ask questions.¡¯ Chapter 87 Once he resolved to tell Aloran, Dei took a moment to collect himself before saying ¡°Alright, yea, you got it. I gained twenty Spiritual because I leveled up four times in my Profession, which is Mythical rarity.¡± ¡°...Well, alright I guess.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°No questions?¡± ¡°Dei it¡¯s rude to ask about things in someone''s Interface when they clearly don¡¯t want to share. I can see that you were hesitant to tell me even that.¡± Dei laughed. ¡°Alright, you¡¯re not wrong that I originally didn¡¯t want to tell you, but I also need to tell you because I¡¯d appreciate some answers about it as well. Are you okay with that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much I¡¯ll be able to help. My Profession is only Fabled rarity.¡± Dei quickly ran through the mental list of rarities in his head. ¡®Common -> Uncommon -> Rare -> Treasured -> Epic -> Grand -> Historic -> Fabled -> Legendary -> Mythic. That means that his Profession is two levels below mine¡­ huh, sweet.¡¯ ¡°Even if yours isn¡¯t as high tier, I¡¯m sure you know a lot more about Professions and how to level them up. I only got the basic information about them from the System, so I¡¯d appreciate a more advanced guide.¡± ¡°I have to admit, I¡¯m very curious as to what a Mythic Profession would entail if you really do want to share it. I think this is the fourth time I¡¯ve ever encountered one, and the others were all rather¡­ cagey. A lot older too.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t mind. While I will tell you what the Profession is centered around, I can¡¯t tell you how I got it for¡­ reasons¡± he said, thinking about how he¡¯d have to reveal that he¡¯d stunned the System during their conversation. ¡°Basically, it¡¯s called Pondering Sage and I gain experience for thinking. Yes, that is genuinely what I do, but the issue I have now is that I get so little experience from thinking that, even after having it for months, it¡¯s still level fifteen. It was level eleven until just a few moments ago.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I can see how that would both be incredible and an incredible problem.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Well you see, there are three deciding factors in how much experience something will require to level up. The first is, of course, the level. With this being your first Profession, this is actually the only thing that works in your favor because if you¡¯d gotten it at level two or three hundred in your Profession evolution, I think you¡¯d only have gained one or maybe two levels by this point. The other two factors that decide how much experience something requires is breadth and rarity. If something is super versatile, as your Profession is, it requires more experience to level up. Rarity is the same, where higher rarity Professions require more experience.¡± Dei nodded, ¡°I sort of thought that would be the case, but it¡¯s good to actually put it into words. What I need help with now is how, exactly, to get more experience. I¡¯ve found that I get more experience for thinking about cosmic issues and figuring out cosmic mysteries but, as you can see, those tend to be in short supply. Are there any other ways to earn experience for it? Like, can I shunt experience from killing things off of my Class and into my Profession?¡± ¡°Sadly not, but there are some tricks to leveling up in general that you probably haven¡¯t taken advantage of, especially not for a profession. You see, in order to level up anything, it requires experience of course. This is true for Classes, Skills, and Professions. Depending on the situation, there are multipliers in place that help boost how much experience you get out of a certain action- if you put yourself in the right situation, you might be able to increase how much experience you get, per epiphany if you can time when you realize certain things.¡± ¡°I see¡­ so if I just don¡¯t think too deeply about things until I have a couple of these ¡®Multipliers,¡¯ then I wont be at as much of a risk of running out of ¡®big grand things to think about and earn me experience¡¯?¡± Aloran chuckled, ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll ever run out of things to think about, but yeah that''s the gist.¡± ¡°Alright, well what are they, how do I get these multipliers?¡± ¡°There are four cases where experience- across your Class, Skills, and Profession- is boosted. Perceived Risk, Actual Risk, Will, and Variation. If you think something is dangerous, you will get more experience than normal while doing it, even if it¡¯s actually not. If something is actually dangerous, then you¡¯ll also get more experience, even if you don¡¯t think it is. ¡°Will is a bit more esoteric but can simply be defined as how you must actively focus on it. If you¡¯re leaving a Skill on in the background without actually doing anything with it then sure, it¡¯ll level up slowly, but not as much as if you sat down and did nothing but train the Skill. Even if you do the exact same thing, if your only objective is to raise its level then you¡¯ll have more success. ¡°Variation is sort of a newness bonus. If you do the same thing over and over again, you¡¯ll get diminishing returns. In your case, thinking about the same topic over and over again won¡¯t net you much, but if you flutter from topic to topic, you¡¯ll get more,¡± he finished talking and gave Dei a moment to process what he was saying. Once more, all of this made sense, but having it laid out in front of him helped a lot. ¡°If I were you¡± Aloran said. ¡°Then I¡¯d figure out something to think about, wait for your battle with whoever is chasing you, then- if you can- try and ponder on those mysteries during the battle. It¡¯s going to be dangerous, but that¡¯s your best shot at reaching level one hundred of a Mythic class within this century because, believe me, it will get harder to level up.¡± Dei sighed. ¡°Easier said than done. Where am I going to find some grand mysteries to ponder before the fight?¡± he asked, knowing that Aloran would probably be his best bet. Luckily, he wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°I might have some things that you could think about, but to make sure you won¡¯t figure them out too soon, I¡¯ll tell you about them shortly before it¡¯s time for you to leave. Until then, I really do think you should focus on personal development at this time. From what I¡¯m hearing, you have a ton of new tools which you still aren¡¯t used to, and the potential to get a lot stronger as time goes on, without leveling up. I¡¯ll give you more instructions to help you survive as the time for you to depart approaches, but until then, do you have any last minute questions? I will answer them as quickly as possible, and please don¡¯t try and get stuck on any tangents. Take the answers at face-value, train some, then you can ask more later when you¡¯re tired of training.¡± Dei wasn¡¯t super happy with not being able to pick Aloran¡¯s brain more thoroughly, but it made sense. If he wanted to maximize his levels, it seemed he needed to intently focus on training his Skills, rather than the passive training he¡¯d been doing this entire time. Still, there were some short and sweet questions he could ask quickly, just to satiate his curiosity. ¡°What¡¯s the criteria for gaining Unnatural affinities? I feel like it should be impossible if it¡¯s completely outside of a person''s capabilities, but I myself have one in the form of a Soul affinity. How did I gain that despite it being Unnatural to humans? Because of the Void blessing, the Achievement you told me about, I¡¯ll supposedly have a much easier time gaining the Void affinity, but I haven¡¯t. How would I? It seems like a waste to not earn such a thing¡­¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Every affinity has certain characteristics associated with it. To gain an Unnatural affinity, you need to embrace the characteristics associated with the affinity you want. For soul, one must be introspective and solitary, like the soul itself. Void is the affinity of ¡®between states¡¯ if that makes any sense. The exact reason people theorize it never forms any Convergences is because Convergences are static, they are not between states. Behavior associated with Void are people with clear divides in their personality- either those who thoroughly separate their work life from their home life or, in more extreme cases, those with multiple personalities. You likely do not form a Void personality because you are a cohesive whole of a person.¡± He wanted to question more about what it meant to be ¡°between states,¡± but Aloran told him he needed to get to training. A question for later. Instead, he moved on to something else. ¡°I¡¯ve seen how Skills form on the soul, from my soul connecting with higher beings as the System inserts itself into the bond, but how does a Class affect the soul? Is it a System construct completely, or does it also partially exist outside of the Systems domain?¡± ¡°Huh I¡­ don¡¯t know for sure? I honestly never considered a world without the System, so when you told me of your first life it was incredibly shocking, even if I didn¡¯t show it. Still, I might have an answer for you- but I think it would be best if I waited to tell you. This can be one of the things you figure out during your battle, so you can gain more experience in your profession. When it¡¯s time for you to leave, I¡¯ll give you enough information to figure it out yourself.¡± A vexing answer, but it was for the best to wait anyway, so he didn¡¯t bother to gain any information about it, instead moving on. ¡°Contracts with affinities are called Attunements, yea? I attuned myself to Soul, that¡¯s how I got my Connection ability, but it was my lowest affinity at the time and a major inconvenience. I basically weakened myself with a worse deal to simply survive. Is there any way to change my contract? Renegotiate it, or get one from another affinity?¡± ¡°Ah, that is the question of the millennium isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s the exact dilemma that led to Harum the Infected. The short answer is no, there is no normal way to do so. The long answer? You¡¯ve already traversed the Void once successfully, and you might very well be the first in history to do so without getting infected by a Void Beast. I advocate for you not to do that, because you¡¯d need to feel the same level of rage you did last time to survive and, at that point, you probably won¡¯t be thinking clearly enough to plan for the future but if you do, I¡¯ll give you what little information I have on renegotiating your contract, based on the experiences of those who re-attuned themselves during Harums time. ¡°After losing their attunement, those who used Harums spell on themselves were instantly forced into another meeting with the affinity they attuned themselves to the first time. During this meeting, they were able to advocate for new terms based on their new affinity strength, with a few stipulations. Firstly, they had to dedicate a portion of the Contract to re-gaining access to their previous gifted Skills, otherwise the affinity would have ripped the Skills from the users soul, something that would be lethal for you with how closely Connection is tied into you. Next, they were no longer entitled to fair terms- the affinity could be as brutal or demanding as it wanted to be, because the System was no longer regulating the Contract at that point. ¡°This is where your Rights come in. If you ever do end up redoing your contract, I¡¯m going to warn you- have a LOT of Achievements under your belt! You will want your Rights to be as strong as possible, or you will be turned into a puppet for Soul. practice this by negotiating with Gods, or perhaps Primordial Children. A being where you clearly have a weaker claim to the Contract. If you ever do succeed, please be careful. If you see yourself becoming forgetful and impulsive, please just kill yourself instead of letting a new Void Beast be born. If you aren¡¯t consumed, I¡¯d love to hear the story one day.¡± A lot to take in. He was hopeful at first because it seemed that Void was the key to potentially re-attuning himself, but it didn¡¯t seem to be that easy. He had one single easy shot at a good contract in the eyes of the System, and he¡¯d already used it up. Still, all hope was not lost. He had a lot of Rights, but he¡¯d wait a while longer to act on them. He would get his connection with Soul as strong as possible before entering another Contract, and that gave him more time to get more Rights and, thus, a better deal. Aloran¡¯s answer had somewhat distracted him, as it was a life changing revelation that he might be able to fix his contract, meaning that Dei forgot some of his other questions. He really should get to training anyway, so it wasn¡¯t a big deal, but there was one more thing he wanted to ask before he started pushing himself. ¡°Last question, how uncomfortable is it to sit in one place for a couple hundred years? I¡¯d probably get a crick in my neck.¡± Aloran chuckled, but still answered in full. ¡°I have no tactile sensory organs so¡­ not uncomfortable at all. If I were human, I¡¯d liken it to sitting in the same place in a pool of water for a long time. Eventually, the water around you gets to be the same temperature and you just don''t feel anything.¡± ¡°Well alright I guess. If I have any more questions I¡¯ll ask them later. For now, I think it¡¯s time I really test the limits of my Skills. I haven¡¯t done that in a long time, as it just never felt safe enough.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t interrupt you then.¡± The process of testing his limits would be tedious, but it started with the few notifications he¡¯d earned since getting back to Aloran¡¯s cave. [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (52) -> (57)] That was pretty much it. After helping the Lorpees, he¡¯d earned a burst of Kindness mana. When he saw their Anchor at the center of the Convergence, he chose to not take it- despite it being a rather strong artifact. He just didn¡¯t need it, and felt it would be evil to take it, so when he left it alone, he¡¯d earned another burst of Kindness mana. Taking all the extra mana he¡¯d earned from the situation, he concentrated down into the already existing amount- Dei wasn¡¯t letting the box hit its limit just yet¡­ though he would have to soon, during his training. Either way, he now had a lot of very concentrated Kindness mana, which would hopefully help buy him more time to train. He could spare a point of highly concentrated Kindness to send a message to his mom. ¡°Hello mom! I hope you and dad are doing well. I just made it back to the last place I saw you, and wanted to give you a bit of an update on myself. I¡¯ve finally reached level one hundred and gained my first Class evolution. I hope you won¡¯t mind, but I¡¯ve decided to fully become a Slaughterer. I found a teacher as well to help answer some of the questions I¡¯ve been building up, and it''s nice to not stress over things I¡¯ll never know¡± He contemplated whether to keep some things from her to make the message easier to digest, but after considering it, realized it would be funnier to play into the absurdity of the situation. ¡°I¡¯ll try to introduce you to him when we meet again. Apparently, he¡¯s some kind of fallen God who¡¯s resurrected himself into a garden. That¡¯s crazy how it worked out, where you ended up putting me was actually under the domain of a slumbering God! He¡¯s nice, and intends to help me build up my strength for the coming confrontation. Ah, yes, I forgot to say- I accidentally enraged a group of people by taking something I wasn¡¯t supposed to. Not to worry! I have a Skill that lets me rebuild my body from scratch- it¡¯s the same one that made me grow super fast, but I managed to merge it with another and now its a lot more powerful. I really hope you won¡¯t mind that I¡¯m closer to an adult now than a child. The God said that I¡¯m closer to a Gem Dweller teen than an adult, but I think it¡¯s a little absurd. I¡¯m very tall right now, how much bigger can I get? ¡°I wonder how tall you are¡­ or dad for that matter. Either way, I actually just recently stabilized my soul after my body¡¯s explosive growth, so I should be able to start growing again soon. I wonder how large I¡¯ll get. ¡°Oh yea, before I forget, I¡¯m not a human anymore. I¡¯m something called a Union? I tied my spirit to my body to get some ghost powers. It¡¯s cool. ¡°Anyway, love you mom! I hope I can see you again soon. Tell dad I love him too!¡± * * * Somewhere far above, Fou, Gor, and the two kids were out hunting. They¡¯d sat inside all day and, even if they got piteous looks, they¡¯d since decided it was time to get out and become active again. Their meeting with Justin helped renew their confidence that the situation would one day resolve itself. They didn¡¯t hide their naked hatred of Iora, or anyone in general who didn¡¯t believe them, but they couldn¡¯t act on their beliefs. Fou and Gor both independently agreed that, should the chance arise, they would kill Iora. It was a guarantee at this point that she¡¯d fucked up, that Dei wasn¡¯t a monster. When that came to light, she was bound for execution and hollowing anyway. It might as well be them that threw the final strike. Killing a Shaman was no easy matter though, and the chance would likely never come until the Council appeared to finally put the ordeal to rest. They intended to ask to be the executioners to end her life. That was for another time though, Fou was brought back into the moment from her idle ponderings as a piece of Kindness mana made its way out of her Love affinity, making her mind light up with joy despite keeping her face neutral. After reading it though, she felt a vein bulge in her neck. ¡®What the hell was I thinking? Leaving my boy on the body of a dead God? He said the God turned into a garden¡­ I suppose I thought it was a normal garden? Oh Dei, you silly fool, please don¡¯t make contracts with cursed Gods.¡± Gor noticed the slight tension in her and silently picked up where it came from, tilting his head in a questioning manner. She knew he wanted to know if it was good or bad news. She twitched a muscle, a sign they¡¯d agreed upon in the safety of Justin''s barrier before he¡¯d left as they worked out some basic communication. ¡°He¡¯s your son,¡± she told her husband, indicating that Dei was doing something stupid again. Gor smiled brilliantly, and they continued the expedition in silence. Chapter 88 It was time to finally look at his new [Solidity] Skill. He didn¡¯t think it would be particularly different as it kept the exact functionality while simply being strengthened with [Connection], but it was still good to get a read on his Skills. Actually, he should probably look over all his Skills to see if any descriptions changed, but he¡¯d start with Solidity. [Solidity - Level 100 - Fortitude Affinity - Passive Soul, Mind, and Body walk parallel paths, yet are interconnected impossibly. When one is thrown out of balance of the others, the knots that tie them together seem to be impossibly thin, far too fragile for such paramount facets of one''s life. By strengthening these bonds, you repair the rifts found between them. Creates a bond between your Mind, Body, and Soul that draws them towards one another. Level 100 evolution: Creates perpetual synchrony between the Mind and Body portions of the Soul. Malleability of all three increase with each successive level] Surprisingly, there actually was a solid difference to consider: the function of the Skill had changed. Dei didn¡¯t think about it before, but the Skill was originally to just strengthen the connection between his Mind, Body and Soul, with each level increasing the strength of that connection. Now that it was effectively set in stone, it didn¡¯t need to be strengthened anymore, so what purpose did the Skill serve? Simple, it changed gears completely. Now, it made each more malleable. He didn¡¯t see an immediate function to this, but he could imagine one- doing stuff like what Gargeth did, in splitting his body apart into smaller bodies. Sure, he couldn¡¯t separate his Projection from his Body anymore, but his mind could still split. This would likely help him manipulate his physical body into different shapes or help his mind adjust for when he got the hang of shapeshifting- he wouldn¡¯t face a dissonance again like he had when his body first started growing. Now that he thought about it, did Gargeth use a Racial Ability similar to [Fluid Shape] to create that mini-Gargeth, and supplement it with a Skill? Now that he was the same Race as Gargeth, they probably shared most Racial Abilities too, even if they might vary slightly because Gargeth was always a Union while Dei turned into one from a human. It was odd to imagine that he was the same creature as a massive ball of limbs and flesh, but he just didn¡¯t think too hard about it. With the main Skill out of the way, Dei decided to go down the list of Skills on his Interface, checking their description then the limits of their abilities if he could. First was Pandora¡¯s Box, and there was no change to the Skill description. To test the limits of it, he¡¯d need to overfill it once more- but he¡¯d just used a large portion of Soul mana and- Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (273) (10520/10920) Yea, he¡¯d need to wait for the Soul mana to refill before doing anything. Dei didn¡¯t want to take up more space with his other affinities because Soul was a very useful affinity, and he¡¯d probably need more in the future. Ever since he got his Concentration evolution for the box, he¡¯d just been squishing the mana together more in order to avoid the agony that was training Pandora¡¯s Box, but he supposed it was time to once more train it. A level three hundred Skill evolution¡­ Dei was hopeful for it being a game-changer in his powerset. If he chose another Concentration evolution, he¡¯d actually be able to form his own strings of [Connection] as well. Next on the list was [Call for Help] but that wasn¡¯t something he could test the limits of, and its description hadn¡¯t changed. Same for [Good Samaritan]- couldn¡¯t test the limits and no change in description. [Meaningful] had no change, but he tried to push its limits once more now. It was an odd Skill in that leveling it up did literally nothing. He couldn¡¯t add more to the messages and it wasn¡¯t more efficient. The only way to make it better was to use higher concentrations of mana. Because of that, there was no real change to it at all. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] was still an enigma to him. He¡¯d never used it again, not since the first time but¡­ perhaps it was time to change that. When he was first stranded, he decided to leave the Skill alone because there was nothing he could really do with it, and didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d want from it. Now, with [Solidity], he had some experience in both locating and altering the Skills attached to his soul. It might be time to take another look into the Skill responsible for protecting him in his journey across the Void. Closing his eyes once more, he tried to find where [(Unleashed)] had anchored itself to him. Because of Soulspeak, he had an instinctive understanding of where everything was if he wanted to. Quickly, he was brought to a particular memory, one where everything was black and there was absolutely no sensation, it was his memory of the Void. This felt different from when he was following [Connection] deeper into his soul. Before, that felt like he was diving into the abyss of his soul, while this memory felt very shallow. Connection crossed a conceptual Void present within his soul, but [(Unleashed)] had simply the surface memory of time within the Void, very different. It felt almost like this memory was incomplete. He couldn¡¯t see what his soul was sensing in the moment, only what his normal mundane senses perceived- ie, nothing, because they didn¡¯t exist at the time. This was probably for the best though. If the place where his Skill attached to his Soul was somewhere within the conceptual Void in his soul, it would be literally unreachable to him. Now, the next question was: what, exactly, was this Skill? It was clear that the system had no fucking clue based on its description. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) - Level 2 - Wrath Affinity To attempt to contain the world''s sin is a sin in and of itself, pure hubris. Sin is unavoidable, and nobody can be truly perfect. But maybe, just maybe, can we find hope at the bottom of the box, can someone harness their sin into a more useful endeavor. Allows for one to release the Wrath Mana contained within [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)] in a specific way] It had no information on what it did. Dei first assumed this was because the Skill never fully formed, breaking halfway through because of the situation in which it was created. Now, he realized it might be because the System didn¡¯t know, not necessarily because it didn¡¯t do anything. There was only one real way to find out- looking for himself. Drawing closer to the conceptual anchor point of the Skill, Dei saw how the Skill manifested itself. All Skills manifested visually in his soul somehow, probably to help him process what he was looking at for [(Unleashed)], it took the shape of a broken locket necklace. It looked to be made of polished silver gold. The locket itself wasn¡¯t a heart, as many were, but an oval with an ornate pattern on the front, depicting an intricate music box- one that looked close to the representation of [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)], albeit much more decorated. He said it was broken because cracks ran along its entire structure, from the chains to the closed locket; jagged cracks stained its beautiful surface. They were not normal cracks either, but more enunciated by the shadows within them. It was like the gold broke away to reveal pure darkness within- perhaps representing the Void. He didn¡¯t know what to make of it. Did this mean that the Void had broken the Skill in some way? Or that it worked with the Skill to add a function he didn¡¯t know? Was the Skill broken in general, but not by the Void, and it revealed that the interior was not made of gold, but gold-plated Void? Or was it, perhaps, completely unrelated to the Void and Dei was overthinking it? This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He simply didn¡¯t know. Bringing his view closer to the locket, he studied the cracks more thoroughly. The darkness within the cracks was more encompassing, more absolute than the darkness surrounding the locket itself. Because the surrounding darkness was a simple representation of lacking sensory organs, Dei had to assume that this darkness did represent the Void. Next, he tried to understand what it did. He was pretty sure the locket could be opened, but he wasn¡¯t sure if that¡¯s something he wanted to do. It was literally the representation of releasing all sin into the world, he wanted to be sure that nothing bad would happen before that. Or was it the representation of hope, after all sin was already released? Very curious¡­ Either way, he tried deciphering its function. His mind existed within a world of concepts right now, simply giving visual cues to everything he looked at to help him process it better. If he could take a step back, then perhaps he could find more information. He remembered when he took Snap mana in his body and studied it, finding its purpose. Perhaps he could do the same thing now, studying its general conceptual structure to find out what it did? Mentally poking at it, he couldn¡¯t find a way to study it any more than visually, but that didn¡¯t make sense. This was only a manifestation of the power, the locket wasn¡¯t real, so there had to be other things about it. Perhaps it was his approach? Right now, Dei saw his entire inner world as a free-roaming view, sort of like a camera moving around a scene to show different parts, or a drone flying around the world, recording what it saw. If the locket had a manifestation, perhaps he needed one too to get a better sense of it. Dei generally split his mind into different parts to both train and stay aware of his surroundings. Now, he tried to pull it all together into this one spot, willing his body to appear in this darkness. At once, his view shifted. Looking down, he saw his Praerel leather clothing over his actual body, and his pale hands covered in the scars of his Wrath mana as well as the lines of Connection. He was here. It felt like he floated through water, a thick fluid he could swim in surrounding him. He suppressed the urge to hold his breath though, as he could still breathe here; his vision was not impaired either. It felt like he was in water, but he simply floated in darkness. Resisting the urge to look around as he knew it would only scare him, Dei reached out and gently took the locket in hand, pulling it towards him. Surprisingly, he actually did feel something different, a tingling sensation on his skin where he touched the locket. When it was closer to his chest, the feeling intensified, and Dei closed his hands around it completely, gently pressing his palms to the small golden object. Closing his eyes, he focused on the tingling, trying to discern what it was doing. It wasn¡¯t painful¡­ it spoke of something, because there was something deeper to it. The feeling crawled up his arm, like pins and needles. Or¡­ static. It reminded him of something else. When he first came over to this world, he lost control of the Skills he had because he needed to receive the approval of Wrath and Kindness, getting them to recognize him as the owners. Before he earned their recognition, Dei had to reach through a wall of static into the memory of them before he¡¯d earned the right to take advantage of said Skills. He realized now that he¡¯d never actually challenged Wrath on [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)], but he¡¯d still earned recognition. After fighting Wrath in [Growing Pains] he was still granted access to [(Unleashed)], so he never thought to actually find the anchor point of the Skill and challenge it. Was there some residual contention in the Skill? Did Dei need to fight Wrath once more to earn the right to use the Skill? That didn¡¯t feel correct. He¡¯d already earned the right. Not to mention, Dei saw no wall of static guarding this memory or representation. He knew that this Skill was his, but there was something to the static nonetheless. He still felt it crawling up his body as it now reached his shoulders, and he decided to do something else. He leaned into it. He felt the static accelerate its path along his body, encompassing him completely. When it reached his ears, he heard the deafening noise of static he remembered as a child. A noise that drowned out everything else in his mind. His eyes only saw the shifting pixelated black and white, and his skin felt only pins and needles. Just as quickly as it appeared though, the static receded, and Dei was¡­ in the exact same spot he was before, nothing changed except a few notifications that opened themselves up to him. [Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] by Affinity: Void] [Claim for Ownership: DENIED] [Void Requesting Conceptual Communication with Dei Grrata] [Request: DENIED] [Void Appealing Contract] [Appeal: DENIED] His eyes widened. Void had attempted to potentially claim the Skill as its own, but the System rejected the claim. Dei had no idea that was even an option, and now wondered why. For one, how did Void even have a leg to stand on? Surely, it wouldn¡¯t just try and claim one of Dei¡¯s Skills as its own just because? Did this mean that the cracks in the locket legitimately represented that Void played a part in the creation of the Skill? That would make [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] a Confluence Skill, not a Wrath Skill, but it seemed that the System was having none of it. Perhaps Void played only a small part in the creation of the Skill. Dei remembered something slightly after his conversation with Gargeth, the Body Melder, when he was absorbing Spirit mana- the mana granted him knowledge that seemed to imply it was possible to form a Skill for affinities you didn¡¯t have, which supported the idea that this was perhaps a Confluence Skill. Still, if it was, the System was not letting Void play a role in his connection to the Skill. He didn¡¯t necessarily have to wonder though, he could ask Aloran. Putting the locket back where he found it, Dei slowly dissipated his body and brought his view back to the general shape of his soul, before moving outwards and opening his eyes again to the Garden. ¡°Hey Aloran, this involves my training so I¡¯m gonna ask you: what does it mean if an affinity tries to claim ownership of one of my Skills, but the System denies them access?¡± ¡°What?! What? What are you talking about?!¡± ¡®Ok so it¡¯s probably not normal, and I should have at least given a preamble to this.¡¯ Starting from the beginning, Dei repeated all the events that happened, but that led to Aloran asking Dei when he¡¯d challenged Wrath for ownership of his Skills. So Dei had to go back even further in describing his experiences when he first came to this world in that he needed to challenge the affinities for¡­ some reason. Looking back, Dei was actually able to use the Skills, even before he¡¯d been recognized by the affinities. He hurt from using [Growing Pains] long before he¡¯d ever challenged Wrath to the Skill, and he vividly remembered that the reason he¡¯d challenged Wrath at all was because he was running out of time to fix his Skill before he was born. If he¡¯d been born without fixing the Skill, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to move, and would have most likely been dubbed paralyzed at birth- something he didn¡¯t know how his parents would have reacted to. In order to accelerate the process, he¡¯d gone straight to where the Wrath Skill was attached to his soul to fix it himself, challenging Wrath in the process. When he defeated Wrath, his Skill stopped hurting to use. To sum it up: Before fighting Wrath, he could use the Skill, but it hurt. After fighting Wrath, he could use the Skill and it didn¡¯t hurt. Simple. Unless, of course, he considered that he¡¯d been able to use [Pandora¡¯s Box (Contained)] at the time without it hurting, BUT, it hurt to grow the box. Even after he was recognized by Kindness, it still hurt to grow the box. He wanted to sigh because there didn¡¯t seem to be any sort of standard formatting or benefit to repairing the Skills. For Wrath, being recognized meant it didn¡¯t hurt to use its Skills. For Kindness, being recognized meant¡­ nothing? He could use the Skills either way¡­ but he also didn¡¯t earn a reward either. Perhaps that''s where the difference lay. If Kindness had given him a hard time, it likely wouldn¡¯t have hurt to level up his Pandora¡¯s Box, because he¡¯d already ¡°paid the piper¡± so to speak. Without putting any effort in, he had to pay the tithe in blood and pain. ¡®If that¡¯s true, is it going to ALWAYS hurt to level my Box, or will it stop now that the Skill is repaired? I wasn¡¯t conscious during the last bout of level ups, but now that it¡¯s been fully fixed¡­ perhaps I¡¯ve undergone my trial? Perhaps I¡¯ve earned the right to not hurt during Pandora¡¯s Box level ups? Fuck I hope so.¡¯ Telling Aloran his story had given Dei some real insights into the process of earning recognition from different affinities, but he also saw the value in listening to the God¡¯s experience with affinities, so he still wanted his advice. ¡°It seems to me¡­¡± Aloran started slowly ¡°That you¡¯ve already challenged a few affinities using your Rights.¡± Chapter 89 ¡®That sounds good, I¡¯m liking this so far.¡¯ ¡°So I have some experience in negotiating with affinities already? Does that mean I¡¯d actually do pretty good if I needed to redo my contract with Soul?¡± ¡°Maybe better than I initially thought, but not innately better than Harum would¡¯ve done. He was a Soul mage renowned across the entire world, and it took every scrap of his willpower to get the incredible deal he did. Many of the others got ok deals, better than their first ones, but admittedly only those who were already well-achieved used the spell, others holding off on it until their affinities were higher. ¡°What you¡¯re dealing with now isn¡¯t quite the same as the contract you accepted before, and a battle of Rights isn¡¯t always clean cut- one side can have a bigger advantage than the other. Take Perumah for example. She had a huge advantage because it was her name being decided, so the meager Rights she¡¯d built up were empowered heavily. When battling for your Skills, I¡¯d say you held an advantage, because it was you that both formed the Skills and leveled them up, earning dominion of them over time. Not to mention the fact that Wrath tried pulling it straight from your soul- something it shouldn¡¯t have been able to do easily, and thus, granting you a massive advantage. Even so, I don¡¯t think it fought you with all its might, as it truly did just want to see if you were the same person. ¡°It¡¯s a little hard to describe, but the better an argument an entity has for being involved in something, the more their Rights will be worth, carrying them further. It seems to me that the Void affinity has just enough of a claim on your Skill to connect with it, but the claim is so comically small that the System isn¡¯t even entertaining it, flat out telling it to go away and potentially even cutting off whatever functionality the Skill had that involved Void.¡± ¡°That¡­ sounds kind of bad, doesn¡¯t it? Because now my Skill is incomplete?¡± ¡°Maybe, but it¡¯s not a guarantee. The System might let Void help you use it, but if the Skill can function without Void, then it must¡¯ve not been very integral in the first place.¡± ¡®Great, another enigma. Does the Skill work? If it doesn¡¯t, I have to get Void¡¯s recognition. If it does, then it might still be broken. Or maybe not. Who the FREAK knows.¡¯ ¡°I think I might face Void anyway. Clearly, it wants to talk to me about the Skill, so why not?¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not sure how good of an idea that is. Even if Void doesn¡¯t have that much of a claim to the Skill, it is still an affinity. If your Rights are lacking, it might even be able to force you into a deal- either one where you are given the Void affinity despite not being compatible with it, where you lose the Skill, or maybe even allow Void to form a schism in your being- very much not recommended. I¡¯m not saying it would be the worst idea to face it, just because it would almost definitely net you another Achievement either from the System or Void itself, but if you do, be ready for a battle.¡± Dei nodded, he¡¯d go into it with eyes wide open and ready to defend with his entire being. Perumah was able to face The Mother with pure willpower, Dei could too. Closing his eyes, he brought up the vision of his soul once more, finding the chosen Skill. Once more, he manifested his body in preparation to reach out in communication with Void, but he had to get in the right headspace first. If he was going to jump right into a battle for claim over his Skill, he had to psyche himself up. ¡®It¡¯s MY Skill, I formed and grew it. I not only fought the Void Beasts, but did so on their home territory. It was not a one to one fight either as I challenged countless at the same time, and still came out on top. It was my efforts, my willpower, my rage that kept the swarm at bay. Void holds no right to take it from me, yet even if they did, I am recognized by both Wrath and the System- No, that last clause leaves room for some doubt. Void holds no right to take it from me, even Wrath and the System have witnessed its hold over the Skill is pathetically weak to the point of it being functionally useless, cut off from what I want over the Skill.¡¯ More than just working on his argument, he fell into a defiant mindset. He would be standoffish until the situation was resolved. He wouldn¡¯t let his guard down. He wasn¡¯t meeting with Wrath or Kindness, a human affinity that might even want his best interests in mind. He was meeting with the Void affinity, a creator of schismed minds and apocalyptic Void Beasts. He would be ready to resist its hold, because failing to do so would either break him or kill him. Muscles tense, he reached out for the locket. His thought process for how he¡¯d meet with Void was simple: instead of Void challenging him for control over the Skill, he would challenge Void for its share of the Skill, like trying to buy up shares of a stock. He and Wrath were the main ¡°shareholders¡± of it, but Void still had a bit of money in the race. When he gripped the cracked gold locket this time and felt the tingling, he didn¡¯t lean into the sensation. He pushed it back, forcing his own will into the locket itself. He felt foreign rage bubble through his body and knew that Wrath had involved itself now, but took a backseat in his mind. It didn¡¯t feel like it was manifesting, merely being present for something it held a stake in and using him as a pseudo-avatar with which to watch the interaction. He could reject it, but Dei felt like it might improve his claim even further to have Wrath on his side. The static was successfully pushed back into the locket, and Dei flexed his will even further to push himself into the Skill, flushing out the parts of it he felt were not entirely his. The Void-filled fractures receded, but the darkness did not disappear. Instead, the locket bled a black ichor, the Void aspects quickly getting expelled into the open air of the memory he was currently within. It still felt like Dei was swimming in water, and this black ichor seemed to agree, floating around in the open for a moment, weightless. After all the ichor was drained from the locket though, it began to move and pull itself away from him, coalescing a slight distance away as the drops of Void began to morph and take shape. The darkness of the Void was no longer absolute black, but a shifting of a trillion experiences, a trillion states, and a trillion beasts. He felt like he could almost see countless things he was familiar with, but locking onto any one only further confused him as he could find no beginning or end to it. It felt like his mind should¡¯ve melted with the sight, but he didn¡¯t feel even the slightest pain from looking at this amalgame of all things, and knew it was the effect of his [Void Walker] Achievement helping him understand what he was looking at. A manifestation of a Void Beast. [Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] by Human: Dei Grrata] This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. [Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] by Affinity: Void] [Ownership Contested between Dei Grrata And Void] He quickly glanced at his notifications to confirm, but it seemed he was permitted to challenge Void, just not the other way around. Another important fact was that this Skill was not being pulled taut, away from his soul- no, he could feel that he was pulling on Void, demanding it to meet him here. He now had a homefield advantage, as this battle would take place in his soul. A worrying thought of collateral came to mind, but he dismissed it as this was likely to be a metaphorical battle anyway if it came down to it. ¡°Void, I take it?¡± Dei asked ¡°Yes/No, merely a representation¡± he heard two voices at the same time, both taking up the same space in a moment and saying functionally the same thing in different ways. He could also tell that Void was imbuing its voice with meaning, in ways that affinities and higher beings seemed to enjoy doing, but his [Void Walker] Achievement let him simply blot out the unnecessary fluff, getting the direct meaning from it. Dei could tell that he¡¯d have to suffer the double-words for the rest of the interaction though. Void had to talk using two opposing states to convey anything at all, which was annoying, but didn¡¯t change the meaning. ¡°I¡¯ve challenged your claim over my Skill. I do not believe you have any right to it, so on what grounds do you think you stand?¡± He kept his words accusatory and standoffish, intent clear and not giving Void room to read between the lines. Dei was treating this like a meeting with a Fae. He¡¯d never met one and didn¡¯t know if they were real in this world, but if they were, he felt like they¡¯d try to take advantage of double meanings. It had to be very clear where Void stood. ¡°I hold right to the Skill because it cannot function without Void! You become one with the Void Beasts as well, an intangible being based around a soul. A body of no structure, a being of intent/It is MY Skill. You would never have earned it outside the Void. Only once you shed the mortal coil and left the idea of structure behind could you truly free yourself. If you existed in any other plane than Void, it would have failed. You would have died. Not only did I provide the perfect environment for your soul to exist in, I gave you purpose to fight and form the Skill in the form of Void Beasts. You would have ceased to exist in your journey across the Void as your mind fell asleep had you not fought to stay conscious.¡± Dei broke down both arguments in his head. The first claimed right because of the functionality of the Skill, which also gave him a hint into the Skills purpose- already, he¡¯d gained something from this conversation. If what Void said was true, which he believed it was, the Skill transformed Dei into a being of pure intent, which explained why he was able to eviscerate the Void Beasts so thoroughly. They were beings of intent as well, so he raised himself into an even playing field, then started swinging with the one thing considered their absolute weakness: a desire to deal harm. His intense emotions translated into intense damage. The Void¡¯s claim of functionality shed some light onto why it wasn¡¯t actually necessary to function too. If Dei activated it without Void''s hand in the process, it would almost definitely turn him into a being of magic rather than intent. Both intangible, and magic was probably something of a lateral move to pure intent. The Skill could easily keep its structure without Void. The second argument Void went with was about the rights of the Skill, if he was reading between the lines correctly. Void claimed that the Skill belonged to it because it allowed Dei the perfect environment to form it in the first place, implying that Dei would have completely failed if he were anywhere else. More than that, it implied that it¡¯d known he¡¯d succeed, which is why it sent the Void Beasts to attack him, so he could get in the right mindset to resist the enemy in front of him and engage his fight or flight response. This, too, didn¡¯t exactly work for multiple reasons, similar to the reasons for functionality. Even if he wasn¡¯t in Void, he probably could have created a similar Skill with slightly different functions, so Void wasn¡¯t necessary in the Skills creation. Not only that, but there was no way Void had intentionally helped him. Addressing both arguments one after the other, Dei said ¡°Even though you were partially responsible for the initial use of the Skill, your functions are only a bonus. I can use it without you, it will still work in a different yet similar way. As for if I would have failed in another plane of existence, I don¡¯t think so. You claim that my consciousness continued to exist because you provided me enemies to fight, but not only were you not responsible for those enemies, and cannot take credit for their actions, but you¡¯re wrong- I would have done the same thing, no matter which afterlife I¡¯d ended up in. Even without Void Beasts, even without the Void, I would have persisted. It was never my panic that let me survive, it was the unsatisfying way in which I died. I¡¯d just found out that everything I worked up to in life was for nothing, that I was a total failure. I refused to let that be my ending, and that resistance of death let me persist. No, you are not only unnecessary for the Skill to function, but you also cannot be credited for my success in returning back to life.¡± Void seemed to shift faster for a long time, and Dei managed to interpret it as frustration. The argument that Dei presented was probably the same argument the System used to shoo it away, and it was a valid argument. Void couldn¡¯t work around it. Dei knew the moment he started his conversation with Void that their battle had begun. Dei chose the battlegrounds this time, and he felt more confident in his words than any metaphorical fight Void might¡¯ve forced him into. Instead, he forced Void to talk it out with him, and if Void couldn¡¯t present a logical argument for why it had a stake in the Skill, it would lose that stake. There was also something intriguing that Dei considered. If he was able to argue for why he should be allowed to use Void''s portion of the Skill, wouldn¡¯t he regain access to the Skills full functionality, even if Void didn¡¯t want him to? If he proved that the Skill, the full Skill, was his by right, Void could only sit on the sidelines, kick and scream all it wanted and do nothing. But regaining full access to his Skill wasn¡¯t the only thing he wanted from Void. In its silence, Dei felt its form slip. It was being forced to recognize its loss by all parties involved: him, the System, and Wrath. Before it could fully melt away though, Dei called out ¡°But there is another matter which we might help each other on.¡± The dissipating form of Void paused and reformed itself, sensing a way to latch onto the situation once more. With the matter of his Skill resolved, Dei felt Wrath fade away too, no longer invested in their conversation. He was correct when he¡¯d first assumed Wrath standing on his side would empower his argument, and felt himself weaken before the Void. The next part was the most dangerous, because he was now playing partially into Void''s rules. He still had the home field advantage, as they were in his soul, but if Dei wasn¡¯t careful about how he presented himself, Void would be able to get what it wanted, without his input. Dei had already considered what Void wanted, and what he wanted. All affinities wished to propagate their ideas and become more prevalent in the multiverse, and Dei might have a way to provide that. In return Dei wanted something else, something nobody else could give. A way back to Earth. Dei still felt it deep in his core. A white hot rage for what Taj and Emily did. When he died, he promised himself that he would not let his pitiful display be the last thing he did. Even after everything that¡¯d happened in this world, his grudge, his first grudge, was an ache of dissatisfaction that never went away. To get to Avium, his new world, Dei had to cross the Void. to get back, he¡¯d need to do so again. The only issue was how, exactly, he would pay Void for some help. Aloran was right, he couldn¡¯t see himself feeling the same level of anger as he had last time, so his protection wouldn¡¯t be guaranteed. Dei wasn¡¯t sure if Void could literally help him cross the Void, but it was his only lead. A place to start. The only issue was how he would repay Void for the favor. To that end, he had a plan. Chapter 90 Void stood quietly, watching Dei and making no comment of its own. This meeting was called on his initiative, in his soul, and it was already on the backfoot with its failure. Dei¡¯s odd ability to read its expressions told him that it was taking his words seriously, that it wasn¡¯t underestimating his abilities; that might¡¯ve seemed like a good thing, but it made this situation all the more dangerous. Dei¡¯s plan was to keep it on the backfoot, before he even stated his request. If he presented the reward at the start, Dei thought it might even be able to pressure him into an unwanted contract, just as Aloran warned him of. ¡°Let me start with the fact that my end goal is the desire to visit my previous world, Earth. I have some unresolved business there which I¡¯d like to take care of, and believe you may be able to help me. That being said, I do not need to make this deal, for multiple reasons.¡± Dei would go down the list of reasons he had to not take the deal, establishing a better base for his Rights to work off of. ¡°The first reason is because I suspect I may already have a way back, somewhere in my soul. I¡¯ve seen the place in my soul where a massive Void resides, which I suspect to be your blessing. While I can¡¯t enter this Void, my [Connection] Skill is anchored to some point past it. This means that Connection can enter the Void, which is a natural Skill of Leviathans. I intend to become a Reaper, following in the footsteps of Leviathans and potentially granting myself access to the Void. While I am unsure of what will happen when I cross the Void in my soul, it is very likely that I will be able to utilize the end result to reach Earth. This evidence is based on nothing other than gut instinct, but it is a reasonable conclusion. ¡°The second reason I do not need to make a contract is because I already have a guaranteed way back in the form of the Void itself. It''s already been shown that I can cross the Void without dying by utilizing my pure intent, and I now have a formed Skill to help in doing so. There are a couple issues with this plan, but they can be remedied. If I can¡¯t become as angry as last time, I can simply use my Wrath Curse to artificially create a more extreme emotional state. The other issue comes in how I might get lost in the Void and fail to find my way back, but Meditation fixes this issue- It allows me to strengthen intangible bonds into something more physical. If I used this on someone in my previous world, I might be able to follow it back to Earth. Not a perfect fix, but not impossible. The third reason to not take this contract is simply because I don¡¯t care enough to hurt myself for this goal. I don¡¯t need to resolve my old grudge. It¡¯s irritating, so what? I¡¯m not going to throw myself into harm''s way to fix it.¡± By this point, Dei could see that Void was wavering. He hadn¡¯t presented it with a reason to stay, so it was practically a roast session at this point and it didn¡¯t care enough to maintain its form. Now was the time to present its reward, so he braced his soul for the brunt of its desire. It would try to get what it wanted. ¡°The reason you might want to assist me in my goal, though, is what you can gain out of it. In my previous world, my soul was never attuned to Kindness, despite clearly favoring the affinity. This means it is either impossible or very difficult to attune in a mana-less universe. To pay for your cooperation in this deal, I will help you attune to multiple people on Earth by-¡± at this point, Void had become much more substantial, paying a lot closer attention, but he kept going. ¡°-breaking into a medical registry and finding those with harsh mental disorders that create dissonance in their minds, such as Dissociative Identity Disorder, Body Dysmorphia, or Bipolar disorder, then getting them into contact with you. They will be prime avatars for the Void, and I can use my strong personal connection to the Void in my soul, giving you a gateway into communicating with these people.¡± As Dei finished his proposal, only pure unfiltered greed bled through Void. It clearly hadn¡¯t thought to use Dei¡¯s soul as a link to others, but the idea had merit. Earth had its mental health epidemic, the social pressures too much for many. He should feel bad because he was about to actively worsen those mental conditions by driving a wedge straight between the opposing sides in their mind, but it didn¡¯t hit him that hard. He was about to hand over literal magic to them, so he was pretty sure they would forgive him, even if their mental states weren¡¯t going to be the best. On the bright side, this might help them accept who they are as people? Yea, no, he was not the good guy in this situation. He was about to create several insane warlocks on Earth. That was undoubtedly a bad thing. Still, he¡¯d do it. Along with the sense of desire emanating from Void, Dei felt a building pressure on him- one that made him want to buckle and fall to the ground. For just a moment, Dei felt a sense of camaraderie with Atlas. ¡®So this is what it feels like for Void to try and force me into a Contract?¡¯ He wanted to groan. Gravity increased a thousandfold and he felt his bones creaking, but he pushed himself to stand. At least his manifested body made it easy to visualize the effects of being pressured by Void. The pressure increased for a few seconds until it just sort of¡­ stopped. It could no longer push any further, like Void had hit a wall, and Dei was squished into a narrow crack, barely able to move as he felt compressed between two tectonic forces. He couldn¡¯t push against Void, but there was nothing Void could do to push further. It felt so close to utterly crushing him that Dei believed his arguments had done nothing at all, but that couldn¡¯t be true. Now that he thought about it, his arguments were perhaps the only reason Void failed to crush him now. If he hadn¡¯t vocalized them, they still would¡¯ve played a part in resisting the affinity¡¯s influence, but him making them tangible seemed to bolster them more. If Void''s will was a tectonic force, his arguments were teeny tiny stilts, giving him just the room he needed to keep breathing. Immediately, he saw irritation emanate from Void because it¡¯d failed to crush him entirely, and he grinned at it. There was just one more issue¡­ it definitely was not letting up its weight. He¡¯d have to go through the rest of the deal with this force on his shoulders, and if he slipped up, he¡¯d be screwed. It was a dangerous situation but¡­ not that dangerous. He definitely had some wiggle room, even if it was pathetically little. He didn¡¯t feel panicked though. He felt no exhaustion, despite exerting himself. This body was, after all, only a representation of his mind, Rights, being, or whatever. After settling into the new feeling, knowing that Void would not stop any time soon, Dei continued with his proposal. ¡°I can tell that you need me a lot more than I need you, so lets discuss the terms. What I want. First and foremost, I not only want access to the Void affinity, but I want it to lack your personal influence completely. I don¡¯t want my personality, physical traits, or anything else changed. At all.¡± This was something he was reasonably sure he could get, because the System had a similar clause in its contract. It called this an affinity¡¯s ¡°latent will,¡± which would supposedly completely overwrite a person''s mind if left unchecked. The System limited this influence, only letting it affect the personality slightly. Still, there was just a little bit of influence, which Dei wanted gone. He¡¯d use Void as a tool, and have no fear of it changing who he was. ¡°That is¡­ possible/I hold no issue with such a request,¡± Void responded easily enough. ¡°Next is, of course, a way to Earth. You need me to get there as much as I do, so don¡¯t act like you¡¯re doing me a favor on this one.¡± Dei felt a slight tug of war between their rights, as Void tried to pose the request as something Dei needed, but Dei posed it as something Void needed. In the end, nothing changed and the stalemate persisted, much to Void¡¯s chagrin. ¡®I am getting so many Achievements out of this.¡¯ After several seconds of bearing down on Dei, it finally responded. ¡°I will grant you a two-use Skill. One that would transfer you to Earth, the other back to Avium/It is possible to grant temporary passage between both realities immediately¡± ¡°No way. I¡¯m not settling on a visit to Earth, I want free passage to get there.¡± ¡°Not possible/This cannot be done with your current Skills¡± it told him in return, yet it had inadvertently provided an easy answer. ¡°I don¡¯t need it right now, just the possibility in the future. When I was in the Void, I sensed an absolute lack of Time and Space. This means that the transition between planets was technically instant, yes? More than that, it wouldn¡¯t actually matter the distance between two points. If I were to travel through the Void anywhere, it would be just as hard to travel somewhere close as to travel somewhere far. Without the concept of Space, distance has nothing to latch onto. I want the eventual ability to create a¡­ gap between two points. A way to immediately transition from one place to the other.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°I assume you mean two spatial points, rather than two points in anything. The first is possible, the second would be an ability that can do anything involving the Void affinity, as it is the entire affinity compact into a single Skill/Pure hubris. You reach for too much, I cannot grant this Skill as your connection to me is far too weak, it would not withstand such a transfer.¡± Dei wanted to sigh. ¡°Again, this is something for the future. For now, I want a path to such an ability. Information. Knowledge that will help me learn more about the Void.¡± ¡°I can grant knowledge/I will agree to such a reward¡± it said, but Dei eyed it suspiciously. It had suddenly flipped to a very gleeful expression. ¡®I don¡¯t think it knows I can read it¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure this thing is going to grant me information that is only technically useful if I let it, such as a way to make it back TO Earth, but not back to Avium¡­ what would the difference be? Could it even do that? Pretty easily, I think. If Earth has very little mana, and Avium has a lot, isn¡¯t that a difference Void can take advantage of? The transition between the two would push me towards the reality with less mana, like air rushing in to fill a vacuum, but if I did such a thing, I would have no way back to Avium¡¯ ¡°Specifically, I want information regarding the dangerous aspects of the Void to me specifically, as well as how to navigate the Void myself. If I have the affinity, I can almost definitely use the fragment of Void in my soul to reach the Void, but after that I¡¯m not so sure.¡± Again, it switched towards a negative emotion. Skipping past irritation and straight to rage. Dei could tell that it was really not happy that he was legitimately putting up a good fight to get a better deal. ¡®What is this dude''s issue? We can both get something out of this, but it feels like it¡¯s doing everything it can to scam me.¡± ¡°Fine/I agree,¡± it responded curtly. He could¡¯ve agreed here, but the more he discussed with this affinity, the more he realized that Rights were crazy important. He was at every advantage right now, yet he was barely able to stop himself from getting puppeteered because he dared to discuss an amicable deal. He wanted more Achievements, so if he ever found himself in a situation not in his favor, he wouldn¡¯t immediately lose. To this end, he had one more thing he could request. While Dei had already been given an Achievement by Void, that was for his actions in crossing its Conceptual Plane. When he¡¯d faced Wrath and Kindness, he found that he was also able to earn an Achievement by getting ¡°recognized¡± by them. Even if he already had a Void Achievement, he wasn¡¯t recognized by the Void. ¡°Last, I want you to recognize my right to the Void in the same way that Wrath recognized my anger and Kindness recognized my desire to help others.¡± Immediately, he was dismissed. ¡°Recognition is only possible for those who embody my principle/Not possible. You are pathetically lacking in my qualities.¡± Dei noted that it said it wasn¡¯t possible, not that it wouldn¡¯t help him. It seemed that recognition was not something he could actually negotiate for, and he¡¯d have to concede this point. He believed that Void couldn¡¯t actually lie to him during a deal or negotiation, because that would defeat the entire premise of it. Similar to Fae, the words of affinities should mean everything to them, so they couldn¡¯t just like¡­ go back on a deal. Right? Dei wanted to slap his forehead because he just hadn¡¯t asked Aloran before trying to form a contract with Void. He¡¯d been so caught up in thinking of Void like a Fae that he didn¡¯t stop to consider ¡®What if Void could just lie?¡¯ He¡¯d worry about that later. Not because he was disregarding the danger, but because he had to put everything into resisting Void. He couldn¡¯t just become distracted midway through their deal. ¡°If I can¡¯t get recognition, then I suppose it is time to discuss the payment itself. In exchange for a Void affinity with no strings attached and information on the Void, I¡¯ll give you ten attuned beings on Earth.¡± ¡°Absurd, you will find all of them/Absolutely unacceptable. I want every last potential soul.¡± Dei almost wanted to laugh. Void expected him to find every single mentally unsound individual? At the very least, there had to be tens of millions, if he was drastically low balling it. No way. ¡°Uh, not a chance. I¡¯ll do a reasonable number, perhaps twenty. At that rate, they can use their connection to you and create more.¡± Dei assumed it would be some lengthy debate on the exact number to settle on, but Void had different ideas. Entering a flat out battle of Rights, settling on a number between what Dei wanted, of five, and what the Void wanted, of like, a billion. It wasn¡¯t an equal fight either. Almost immediately, Dei sensed the number between them shoot upwards, demanding that Dei attune very close to two billion individuals to Void and there was nothing he could do to change it. Rolling his eyes, Dei said ¡°You¡¯ve forgotten one of my original points, dumbass. I don¡¯t need this deal. It doesn¡¯t matter what you¡¯re entitled to. I don¡¯t give a shit. I¡¯m going back to five. Either I¡¯m attuning only five people to Void, or I¡¯m leaving and this deal is over.¡± Like a hollow tower, the skewed number of ¡°two billion¡± people shattered as Void¡¯s argument fell apart, right back down to five people. ¡®Note to self,¡¯ Dei thought, ¡®Never enter a contract discussion without the ability to just walk away.¡¯ He sensed pure exasperation in Void¡¯s features, the rage replaced with a feeling of disbelief. He saw resignation written all over it. What happened next was a blur of Dei hammering out every issue with the Void, every contingency, misunderstanding, and so on. Throughout the entire thing, he sensed more and more disbelief from Void. Like it couldn¡¯t even fathom what he was doing, or why he was doing it. ¡®Are deals made in good faith? Do we both have to satisfy it to the best of our abilities? No, that can¡¯t be right. It literally tried to trick me earlier. Well, ¡°trick¡± isn¡¯t quite correct, because I was pretty vague on my request, but I¡¯m still missing something.¡¯ Indeed, more than just Void¡¯s behavior, Dei started to get a feel for the contract itself. It wasn¡¯t necessarily an actual construct, it was more the idea of a construct like a law. Laws weren¡¯t real things, they were just agreed upon ideas. The only reason people agreed to the laws was because they wanted to. There was nothing you could do to stop someone from breaking a law, only punishing them afterwards. Were affinities truly not bound by their words? Based on how the contract felt¡­ this was the case. Affinities were not Fae. They could lie, and he was pretty much asking Void for a pinkie promise to not betray him. ¡®God dammit. How?! How do I make this work? How would Harum have made his contract work, if Soul never had to really listen to it? No no, calm down. Void is shocked, which means I¡¯m missing something. An easy answer. Something right in front of me. There HAS to be a way to turn this promise into something more tangible.¡¯ As he recited the new iteration of the lengthy contract, he desperately tried to picture what was different between this and his contract with Soul, and the only thing he could imagine was that the System mediated that contract, ensuring it was fair¡­ ¡®Wait, the System! Can it help me here? Aloran seemed to think that it couldn¡¯t make this contract fair or negotiate terms for me¡­ but what if I didn¡¯t need it to? The contract is set, the deal is made. All I need now is a way to make sure that Void keeps its end of the deal. The System can be the ENFORCER of it, because Void has to actually listen to the System.¡¯ This had to be it. It was a simple and elegant solution. The System had a deal with Void anyway, so Void couldn¡¯t just go around its back. The only problem was how to even get the System to work as a middle man. Right as he finally said the last clause, an inspiration struck him. ¡°...I swear this with the System as my witness.¡± His thinking was simple, rooted in how people would swear on the bible with ¡°God as my witness¡± in court. If the person broke the oath of honesty, God would judge them. If Dei broke the oath of the contract, the System would judge him. And hopefully the Void. Luckily, his guess seemed to be correct, as a presence entered the space between Dei and Void. [Contract Recognized. Reviewing] it said not through notifications, but words of all meanings directly into his mind. Immediately, he sensed the promise of the deal between them becoming more ingrained into their connection. The System made it more solid. As soon as it¡¯d taken its place between them, Dei saw a screen pop up that showed pages and pages of legal language. Everything they¡¯d discussed in the past few hours. Several hundred sentences were highlighted, then completely deleted. He felt like a total idiot as the System just slashed all the fluffy language, leaving behind a simple and meaningful screen. [Deal of the Almost-Dunce A contract forged between Void and the Almost-Dunce, a being who nearly ended his own life through sheer stupidity by forgetting to ask the local God how divine contracts worked, despite being moments from entering one himself. The Almost-Dunce didn¡¯t know that permitted affinities could completely crush a soul when given access, unless convinced otherwise by an outside force with which they have deals and do not want to work against. Should the deal have become tangible without the System as a mediator, the Almost-Dunce would have needed to fulfill its end of the bargain or die, gaining nothing from it. The Deal of the Almost-Dunce insists that this being must return to Earth at some point and, when they do, they will attune five people to the Void affinity. Just like that. From pages and pages of deals, to one or two sentences¡­ plus some flavor text calling Dei an idiot. Chapter 91 After the deal was solidified by the System, Dei saw absolute bewilderment in Void¡¯s face, before it slowly melted away and sunk back into his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] Skill, receding to its Conceptual Plane. He sighed, understanding now why it was so confused the entire time. To Void, sealing the deal using an outside entity was probably the most basic thing in the world and Dei had, until that point, seemed proficient in making deals. He was immensely happy that he could actually read its shifting expression, because he wouldn¡¯t have become so suspicious otherwise. He absently wondered what it was like from Void¡¯s perspective as Dei proposed some lengthy legal document over the course of the last several hours, then called in the System to get rid of all of it. It must¡¯ve seemed ridiculous. Either way, he knew a lot more about deals between higher entities now. They could absolutely lie, it was just that they were held to their word by others of their kind. If the Void affinity went back on its deal, the System would step in and punish it. In the same vein though, it would step in to punish him if he chickened out. Without an enforcer, it was little more than a weak connection between Dei and the Void. While that connection did something, because he definitely felt it was a construct of some sort, it wasn¡¯t beneficial to Dei. Functionally, all it would¡¯ve done was let Void kill Dei whenever it wanted. Perhaps things would¡¯ve been different if Dei had more Rights, potentially becoming an actual contract without the System''s help rather than just a promise, but he¡¯d never know. Or maybe he would figure it out eventually, who knows. Either way, he was glad to once more have a personal interaction with the System. It showed him that it was still watching, even if it wasn¡¯t really allowed to communicate anymore. Dissipating his physical form once more, Dei saw that the shallow darkness his [(Unleashed)] Skill sat in had deepend, transitioning from shadows into the Void it was probably supposed to be. After breaching the surface of his soul and finding himself back in his body, he brought up his notifications. [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 15) -> (Level 16)] [Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual] [Skill Altered: Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) has been altered into Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] [Achievement Gained! Untethered] [Untethered You have denied the influence of a higher being through willpower alone [Achievement Gained! Risky Business] [Risky Business You have scammed a higher power into an unfavorable deal [Achievement Gained! Golden Voice and Silver Tongue [Golden Voice and Silver Tongue Beauty takes many purchasable shapes, so is there truly anything more gorgeous than the gleam of a coin? The affinity Greed recognizes a wonderful business partner in you. Many wonderful notifications to go over. A new level in his Profession, probably from all the thinking he did as he tried figuring out how divine contracts worked on the fly and the mysteries of affinities interacting with each other. On top of that, his Skill had been altered but its name remained unchanged, which probably indicated a more subtle functional change. The Achievements were less than he hoped for, but more than he expected. Achievements were not easy to get, but if he kept throwing himself into meaningful danger at measured times, his Rights were bound to increase. Sighing contentedly, he opened his eyes to a peculiar sight. Most of Fendrascora sat outside the entrance of Aloran''s Garden, but she¡¯d drawn a small portion into it and made a teeny tiny literal water bed for Clever, who sat upon what looked like a blob that reshaped itself to make him more comfortable. More odd was that he could sense some of Fendrascora¡¯s main body was not within his own, instead draining out through the tendril that connected with Clevers water bed. ¡®Is she imbuing a small portion of her main self into Clevers bed? Why?¡¯ he wondered absently, but he wouldn¡¯t immediately have an answer. He sensed Fendrascora was asleep too, making him wonder just how late it was. [Since the Fall: 10/29/809 - 2:12:04] It was around six PM when he¡¯d first arrived at Aloran¡¯s cave, but it was now two AM. Everything else that¡¯d happened couldn¡¯t have taken more than two hours, which meant his dealings with Void took approximately eight hours, most of which was just him talking lawyer lingo. His groups sleep schedule was sort of messed up, but that didn¡¯t really matter in the caves anyway when they all had ways to see in the dark, even without the glowing day crystals. Nonetheless, he was tired. Making his way back to his old indentation, he partially startled Fendrascora awake, but she quickly fell back asleep when he laid down and stopped moving. Staring at the dimly glowing lights of Aloran¡¯s cave, he was tempted to start up a conversation with the old God, but resisted the urge. He needed sleep anyway, and he didn¡¯t want to wake up Clever, the only other creature in the room with ears. Instead, he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep. * * * Yawning, he wiped the sleep from his eyes. It was the best sleep he¡¯d had since he first left the cave, probably because he had a deep sense of nostalgia and safety here. Even if Fendrascora was still partially outside of it because her entire body couldn¡¯t fit, the idea of the space was enough to provide comfort. Looking around, he saw Clever still lounging around on the comfort of his mini water bed, reminding Dei to ask Fendrascora something over a specialized use of [Meaningful] that let only her hear him. ¡°So what¡¯s with you suddenly giving Clever some special treatment? I don¡¯t mind of course, just wondering why you¡¯re imbuing a fragment of yourself into his bed. I imagine that would be more dangerous, so it''s gotta mean something.¡± ¡°Nothing in particular. I simply like him. After he saved us from the Accipere, I¡¯ve started seeing him in a new light. What a wonderful little Korgonda¡± she said dotingly, with him picking up on a subtler emotion of being a bit flustered. He could only smile at her words, as she was clearly embarrassed at being called out for her preferential treatment, but he didn¡¯t mind. Standing up, he stretched a few muscles then moved to the center of the cave. A new day, and he had one more tool to work with as well. His new upgraded Meditation had the ability to strengthen his link with another being, granting him various effects, but only once per day. He¡¯d used it first on Clever and gained slight fire resistance, but he was ready to use it again now that it was off cooldown. He was tempted to strengthen his link with Fang- Perumah. He had to remember that. Perumah. He was tempted to strengthen his link to Perumah as she was the second companion he¡¯d met, but felt that she was the most likely person in his menagerie to actually negatively affect him as the Skill said it was possible for a relationship to provide a ¡°Benefit or Burden.¡± Instead, he would skip to Fendrascora. Quickly explaining to her exactly what he was about to do, she excitedly agreed. Putting his primary mind towards Meditation, he slowly brought forth all of the different strings branching outwards, quickly finding his connection to Fendrascora and creating some Visible Presence from it. The fog held aloft in front of him, he found the answer to only one question: Who is Fendrascora to Dei? Fednrascora was¡­ a bit complicated to him. At one time, she was his hope for the future. In his darkest, loneliest time, she was the one thing that pushed him on when the entire world seemed to come crashing down upon his head. During that time, she was his green light across the lake. She didn¡¯t actually exist to him, she simply represented the future. For a moment, the revelation of what she was made him a bit worried that he¡¯d put her on an unhealthy pedestal, but it was unfounded. That was his thinking from a different time. Once he¡¯d found her, his idea of what she might¡¯ve been quickly came crashing down. She was a monster, one on the verge of cracking at that, and he was scared. He¡¯d already achieved his goals by that point, so she was no longer needed on his path. Despite that, he chose to help her because he could see her immense suffering. Instead of his hope for the future, she¡¯d begun to represent an internal struggle with himself against the world. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Her presence was only a hindrance on him that pushed him to take more risks and place himself in danger so he could become strong enough to survive. Despite that, he never regretted his decision to help her. Even if the desire was suppressed in his current situation, Dei felt a strong urge to be kind to others. He¡¯d always been an introvert. He didn¡¯t like talking to people who weren¡¯t his friends, but he loved helping them. He enjoyed being a little invisible hand that guided others to a better future as it just warmed his heart in all the best ways. Fendrascora was no longer a hope for the future, but proof that deep down, Dei still tried to be kind where he could. Other than everything symbolic though, she really was just a good friend. He was worried for a moment that he might¡¯ve found he was actually romantically in love with her or something because of his drastically traumatized mind locking onto the first likeable woman he met, but his worries were unfounded. Fendrascora was closer to a little sister than any sort of love interest. He wanted to protect her because she needed time to get back on her own two feet, and he was more than happy to provide some sanctuary. He allowed the complex mass of emotions contained within the fog to disperse into the rest of his visible presence, holding no issue with showing others the fact. Without further ado, he strengthened the connection between them. His feelings towards Clever were simple, he loved the little guy, and the simple emotions provided a simple effect in return. Fendrascora¡¯s effect seemed to have some nuance though, to match their nuanced history. She was once a representation of his future, and this manifested in his ¡°future¡± becoming strengthened. The path he walked would be slightly harder to interrupt in all ways. He wasn¡¯t sure how that would show itself, but it probably had something to do with affinities like Clever¡¯s, such as Time, making him harder to work around if he wanted to be. There was actually a second effect though, one representing her current state of his protected little sister. It gave him the option to share a small, small portion of his Spiritual stat with any who were under his care. This was incredible! It would help not only Fendrascora, but Clever and Perumah too. Perumah in particular had notoriously awful soul defenses, so this would be a godsend, no matter how bad the conversion rate was. There would probably be a way to strengthen the link in the future anyway, if it didn¡¯t naturally strengthen over time. [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (99) -> (100)] [Skill: Meditation (100) has reached an evolution threshold] And, he supposed, he could also evolve it into something more powerful. The reaction of happiness from Fendrascora drew his attention though, and he asked her what she¡¯d received from the link between them. ¡°It makes anything that depends on me healthier, such as my garden!¡± she said happily ¡°Oh, that¡¯s interesting. Do you know why?¡± he asked, though he could definitely guess. ¡°Well¡­ you¡¯re dependable and help others. I can learn a few things from you about the world around me and protecting those weaker than me¡± she answered honestly, yet bashfully. He beamed under the praise, saying ¡°I can only hope to live up to your expectations.¡± She didn¡¯t respond, but he still felt like she was happy with how everything had turned out, and he was too. Now he had to tackle his newest evolution for Meditation. It was one of his highest quality Skills with how often it¡¯d eaten his others, so he believed the evolutions would be good too. Pulling up his interface, he selected the evolutionary options for meditation. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Depth Flexibility Efficiency Focus Control Loud Crushing Tangible Dispersing] Another long one where he would not be going over each thoroughly. Depth focused on drawing him into a more centered state once more. He treated Meditation as more of a tool right now by turning several smaller minds to the task, getting Soul mana and a strengthened connection from Soul in the process. Ever since he¡¯d started treating it like a tool though, rather than actually putting his full mind to meditation, the rate at which his Soul affinity percentage went up had drastically slowed. He believed this was because the act of Meditating was a very internally strengthening ordeal, and shared many qualities with Soul itself. Deep Meditation would bring that back, taking up his full mind in return for more mental benefits such as a centered mind and cool head. It wasn¡¯t something he was interested in because the state would be dangerous in his current situation, so he moved on. Flexibility was the other end of the spectrum- it made Meditation easier to break out of, keeping the user aware of their surroundings if only slightly. This, too, he discarded, as High Mind made it obsolete. Efficiency increased how much Soul mana he received, plain and simple. Focus took advantage of the pain blocking part of the Skill, enhancing it so he could ignore it even more. Not important, it was more of a luxury upgrade. Control increased the emotional resistance part of the Skill, keeping his head cool from strong mental disruptions- helping him resist taunts and the like. Another luxury option, he crossed it off. Loud was the first one to really catch his eye. It took his Visible Presence and made it more pronounced, easier for other creatures to process. Dei had noticed a while ago that Visible Presence wasn¡¯t actually super noticeable, especially because he knew Fendrascora had a Visible Presence as well and he forgot about it pretty much always. This upgrade would help his enemies go from ¡°getting a bad feeling¡± about Dei to ¡°He is going to rip us to shreds.¡± It helped with communication in general. His enemies would know the weight of what he¡¯d gone through, and his friends would understand just how far he would go to protect them (from the aggressive and protective aspects of his Visible Presence respectively). The one after Loud, named Crushing, focused on augmenting his visible presence as well, but differently. Instead of their conscious mind, it targeted the subconscious mind of the creatures around him. This one had a bit more versatility, because it would potentially allow him to manipulate the emotions of others to either make his enemies freeze or people trust him more easily. Other than emotional manipulation, it would allow for him to hide using his Presence easily, as he¡¯d done at one point before. He didn¡¯t really like this upgrade because it felt scummy, but he would keep it in mind. Tangible, as he suspected, strengthened his connection to others, increasing both the benefits and burdens of it. Dispersing, too, took advantage of the new aspects to Meditation by helping him transfer damage from himself to others. Looking over them all, he crossed out those he knew he wouldn¡¯t take, then Crushing just because he didn¡¯t like it. Efficiency, Loud, Tangible, Dispersing. Efficiency was simply a good upgrade. It gave him more Soul mana, which he always needed in spades. The only issue he took with it was because it was too simple, it didn¡¯t really provide something extra to his repertoire, not to mention he was already accelerating how fast he gained Soul mana by splitting his mind into multiple pieces and having them Meditate. It was boring, so he decided against it. Loud wasn¡¯t directly useful¡­ but he wanted it so badly. When he eventually got to civilization, he wanted to be a little vain. Flaunt his struggles and all that. One could argue that it would be incredibly useful in a society by increasing his reputation and helping him get along with others, but he wasn¡¯t in a society. He was in the wilderness. He just found the thought of having others afraid of him at a mere glance cool. He would keep this one in mind, but he sighed as he realized it was unlikely. Tangible was the obvious upgrade to choose. The ¡°once per day¡± bonds aspect of Meditation was incredible, and unpredictable. It was diverse and useful Dispersing¡­ eh. He had the strongest defenses out of all of them. While they could help with some of the burden of injuries, he would eventually be taking too much damage for them to keep up. Better to let himself get more defense than rely on others. So, Loud or Tangible. Once more, he sighed longingly for the Loud upgrade, but he was currently being hunted. He couldn¡¯t have an incredible resource right in front of him and not use it, so he chose Tangible. He opened Meditation to look at the changes. [Meditation - Level 100 - Mana Affinity The self, everything that one''s identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. The plants, insects, and even microbes experience the same moments as any human, yet one''s identity itself is entirely unique. Despite sharing moments with so many others, no entity shares every moment with you. Your identity is the sum of so many parts, yet greater than every single one individually. Even still, there is an unbreakable link between every singular person and the grand cosmos that rotates around their unique perspective. Using that link, draw aspects of yourself into the open, showing all what it means to be you. Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards. Level 65 manual evolutionary upgrade - Cuts appear upon your skin, but you do not flinch. Whips strike you, yet you do not falter. Marching forward endlessly to the future, anything that stands in your way will either move or break, for you will not. Gain the ability to resist all disruptions to your mental faculties. Resistance becomes stronger with each successive level.] Allows the user to turn their relationships more tangible, gaining variable benefits or burdens depending on who the Skill is used on. Skill is usable once per day, and costs one use to deactivate its effects on one of your relationships. Choosing a damage type dealt to you, you may shunt that type off to another who accepts it into themselves. Damage type carries over, damage does not necessarily carry over. Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - The power of friendship can only carry you so far, give it some steroids so it can carry you further. Increases the benefits of turning a relationship tangible] It was, easily, his most complex Skill, and he couldn¡¯t see it getting any simpler. He was honestly a bit exhausted after all the working on his Skills, even if he¡¯d just slept. Dealing with Void was a mentally draining task. Instead of jumping right back into training, Dei decided he would spend the next thirty minutes or so talking to Aloran, asking some questions and the like to help him get back into a good headspace, then continue with training. First, he looked over his full Interface once more. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Union (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Watchful Slaughterer (Level 100) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 16) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Giants IV, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II), Dammit, Slaughterer, Untethered, Risky Business, Golden Voice and Silver Tongue Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII), Deal of the Almost-Dunce Soul Strength: 0/192 HP: 192/192 MP: 64/64 SP: 128/128 Stats: Physical: 64 Mental: 61 Spiritual: 94 Magical: 62 Affinities: Kindness: High-Rare: 65% Wrath: Low-Rare: 36% Soul: Low-Uncommon: 78% Fortitude: High-Uncommon: 70% Void: Low-Common: 5% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (273) (10561/10920), Call for Help (71), Good Samaritan (57), Meaningful (44) Wrath:, Growing Rage (169) Soul: Empower Self (4), Connection (1) Fortitude: Solidity (100), Fortress of Denial (36) Business: Value Sense Health: Homeostasis (100) Mana: Meditation (100) Stamina: Disconnect (59) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (64), Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (53), Vigilance (100), In Tune (36), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (100)] Chapter 92 After scanning over all his information, he got ready for another round of questioning Aloran. ¡°Hey, Aloran¡± he spoke aloud, as he was still unsure how to even address him using [Meaningful]. ¡°Hm?¡± Aloran responded, having not returned to his eternal slumber. ¡°Would you mind if I asked a few more questions? Some of them pertain to my Skills.¡± Aloran made a shrugging noise. ¡°Truthfully, I am not adamant about guiding you towards power through either training or knowledge. That is your path to decide. If you think knowing more will help, then ask. If not, then train. I do not mind either way.¡± Dei nodded. ¡°Alright, in that case, do you know anything about creating Convergences? When I left your cave, I went to a point where I fought a strong monster and found that I¡¯d accidentally made a Wrath Convergence. Is it useful in any way? Could I do something with either the zone or the anchor?¡± ¡°Oh? You did? Impressive. In order for a Convergence to form, three criteria must be met. First is an extremely dense amount of that particular mana in the area. The second is for a being to showcase a charged example of the affinity. And the third is for there to be an obviously significant object for the affinity to latch onto, becoming the Anchor.¡± Dense mana was obvious, and the Anchor was easily understandable, but the second point made him wonder. ¡°What do you mean about a charged example?¡± ¡°Well, in the case of your Wrath affinity, you must¡¯ve felt very Wrathful in that situation. More than that, you probably felt nothing but Wrath. In that moment, your entire being was dedicated to becoming a vessel for the affinity, allowing it to latch onto something in the physical world. That being said, this doesn¡¯t happen every time the criteria are met, and it¡¯s been found that there¡¯s quite literally no way to artificially form a Convergence. Affinities seem to detect the authenticity of the situation and won¡¯t form one if it¡¯s fake.¡± ¡®Simple enough to understand¡¯ ¡°In that case, is there any use for the Anchor?¡± ¡°There¡¯s always a use for Anchors¡± Aloran responded, chuckling. ¡°But for you in particular, probably not as much as other Wrath users. That Wrath Convergence represents concepts which you¡¯re already familiar with, because they stem from you. You need different examples to understand Wrath better and to strengthen your connection to it. Do you know what the Anchors effect was?¡± Dei shook his head. ¡°The Lorpee¡¯s supposedly used the mana to augment their abilities, but Identifying it provided nothing on its function.¡± ¡°Not unsurprising. Anchors represent affinities in their purest forms, and affinities do not want to ever be understood fully. If it augmented the Lorpee¡¯s abilities though, I would guess that follows the same principle, probably giving the user a sort of ¡®Focus¡¯ to channel their abilities. Say you used a Soul Skill on something by focusing your mana through that particular Anchor: If you did, the Anchor would probably add damage to the attack in some way, though how it does so would remain to be seen.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going back there,¡± he told Aloran, ¡°I sort of owe the Lorpee¡¯s. I¡¯ll let them keep the Anchor.¡± ¡°Hmm, very well,¡± he said neutrally. Thinking up his next question, he asked ¡°I¡¯ve become a Gem Dweller Union, rather than a Human. Does this affect anything? Any major changes I should be aware of?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t know before? Dei, I truly thought you¡¯d ask some questions about something like that before going through with it¡± he said in mock disappointment. ¡®Yea maybe my track record of asking first isn¡¯t the best¡¯ he thought, remembering his dealing with Void. ¡®There¡¯s no way I¡¯m telling him I did that. I¡¯m still getting some details on contracts later though.¡¯ ¡°I probably should have, but I¡¯d already received enough information on it before from another Union that told me of the process, and it seemed like a good move. It helped mitigate a lot of my weaknesses and gave me some incredibly useful Racial abilities, so it worked out all around, but I more want to know of the complications that come from using [Connection] as the thing that anchors me. Fendrascora said I seem like a rather tasty Soul-based treasure, which has me a bit worried. Will I be attacked on sight by other spirits?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Probably not, but you¡¯ll get a few hanger-ons. There are some scavenger spirits that will follow you around and try to consume and residual spirit or soul mana you let off. It could even be beneficial to you, as such creatures endear themselves to whatever beast they follow around as a defense mechanism to convince it not to kill them.¡± Dei thought back to earth, and how remora¡¯s were a kind of fish that attached themselves to sharks, eating the parasites on the shark so they both benefitted. The remora received food, and the shark was cleaned. He really hoped they didn¡¯t try to clean him¡­ but that didn¡¯t seem to be the direction of the relationship. Still, it would be mutually beneficial. ¡°But!¡± Aloran said, drawing his attention again, ¡°Just because you won¡¯t be attacked on sight by other spirits, doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t be attacked at all. Many of the weaker combat-based spirits will simply flee at the sight of you, while those who believe themselves stronger will try and absorb pieces of you, as Fendrascora said.¡± ¡°Pieces? They won¡¯t just try to kill me?¡± he asked, confused. ¡°Eh, if you seem to be barely weaker than them, they¡¯ll kill you, but if they¡¯re overwhelmingly stronger, they¡¯ll wait for you to heal up and keep taking bites, like milking a cow. Why kill the cow when you can make more just slowly selling the milk over time? If they devour you in one go, they might get a boost but it won¡¯t be as large as if they¡¯d devoured several times the mass of your body over the course of weeks, months, or years.¡± Dei shivered at the terrifying thought, but realized he¡¯d seen this phenomena already. Way back when he¡¯d been attacked by that spirit devouring frog, it¡¯d taken a large chunk out of him then let him run away, probably because the frog was an overwhelmingly powerful opponent to him at the time. ¡°So¡­ it¡¯s objectively a good thing? Strong enemies will be hesitant to kill me, weak enemies won¡¯t waste my time. The only ones who I¡¯ll fight are those around my level or a bit stronger.¡± ¡°Yes, but this only applies to spirits. Also, remember, you will now most likely struggle to find enemies willing to fight you that you will stand equal to. Any spirits that fight you now will be confident in defeating you, so keep that in mind.¡± That did seem like it might be a problem, but he¡¯d just have to start picking fights more. ¡°Alright, other than how I look to other spirits, what¡¯s the difference?¡± ¡°It would be good to say you have more spiritual mass. If other spirits were made of gas, you¡¯re now made of liquid. Each of your hits will hold more weight, and others will struggle to pierce your defenses.¡± ¡®Sort of like what Fenderascora said about spiritual ¡°weight.¡±¡¯ That fully answered his questions about his new Union differences, but the talk about spirits reminded him of another question. ¡°By the way, what¡¯s the difference between higher or lower affinities? Spirit comes from Soul, but does that mean that Soul is better than Spirit?¡± ¡°You speak of Parent and Derivative affinities. One is not better or worse than the other, they simply have different costs and functions. The progression of affinities in general is a bit complicated, so let''s start with something simple and familiar to you- the Wrath affinity tree. ¡°First we ask ¡®What is Wrath in a few words?¡¯ and many answer as ¡®A controlled emotional response of anger directed at a specific object, person, or idea.¡¯ Now, Wrath can be broken down into two derivative affinities- Rage and Rules. Rage grants significantly more power in exchange for removing the ¡®controlled¡¯ part of it. Rage users lose their minds when it activates, but they gain a lot more fighting prowess. ¡°On the other end of Wrath, Rules users hold no anger for their enemies, but they fight according to specific rules- they gain power when fighting in the rules and when enemies break those rules. You have to play their game, or they get a large boost. The rules must also be winnable by the opposing party, but only technically. ¡°So, would you say that either of these are better or worse than Wrath?¡± Aloran asked. He shook his head. ¡°I can see where this is going- Both derivative affinities are better in certain situations, but Wrath is a more general affinity than both. It has more versatility, but less direct power.¡± ¡°Indeed, that sums up all affinities. Parent affinities are more general but less directly powerful, and child affinities become more niche as you go down. One of the parent affinities to Wrath is the Vice affinity, which can exhibit qualities of all other Vices but not as quickly as any one. Above Vice is Sapience, and so on.¡± ¡°Wait, you said that Vice is one of the Parent affinities? Are there more than one?¡± he asked, confused. Aloran laughed. ¡°Sadly, yes. That¡¯s what I meant when I said it gets a bit complicated- just as there are multiple ways for affinities to go down the tree, there are multiple ways to go up as well. Wrath can either move upwards into the Vice affinity, or it can move upwards into the Authority affinity.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°What determines how an affinity changes, whether it goes up or down? And which one it goes into?¡± Aloran laughed. ¡°You do. You have Soul because you¡¯re more introverted, but if you suddenly underwent a traumatic event that led to you turning into something of a people pleaser, it might change into something like the Lust affinity.¡± ¡°Why Lust?¡± he thought, confused. ¡°Ah Lust isn¡¯t as direct in its naming sense as others. It is dedicated to controlling people and their behaviors, such as enhancing your charisma with others.¡± ¡°I see¡­ So if I experience a personality shift, will my affinities change?¡± ¡°Yes, and they can change in other ways. If you absorb certain treasures or allow yourself to be warped by certain convergences¡± ¡°I see¡­ say, you mentioned that the Vice affinity can exhibit qualities of the individual vices themselves, could I take advantage of the Rules affinity using my Wrath? That is to say, fight according to certain rules and gain a boost when others don''t play along?¡± ¡°You already do to a degree, that¡¯s what the Rules of Wrath are. But if you wanted to add more niche ones that wouldn¡¯t necessarily end in you becoming enraged, you could. It might just be a little difficult.¡± He nodded. That wasn¡¯t something he intended to do as it seemed like his regular Rules already protected him, but it was another potential ability in his toolset he might be able to take advantage of. ¡°How about merging affinities, is that possible?¡± ¡°Sort of, but not really. If you have a personality type that matches Rage and Rules distinctly separate from each other, you¡¯ll form a connection to both. If you have a personality type that would allow for them to connect with one another, you¡¯ll never form them at all- instead, skipping the middleman and going straight to Wrath. If you want to alter one into a parent affinity though, such as Rage into Wrath, you¡¯d have to use outside help- such as the treasures or Convergences previously listed. In that case though, you would keep Rules as one of your affinities rather than merge them at all. Using outside help to change your affinities will result in a personality shift though.¡± ¡°How about Null mana? Is there a Null affinity?¡± ¡°Null mana?¡± Aloran asked, incredulously. ¡°Where did you get Null mana?¡± ¡°My body-rebuilding Skill uses the affinity Concentration rather than mana. When all the Concentration is gone, I have Null mana.¡± ¡°How would you even¡­ make a Skill like that?¡± ¡°At the time, I really didn¡¯t want any of my mana to escape from my mana-holding Skill so I found a way to weaken the mana itself.¡± ¡°How would you stop mana from draining out of your mana storage Skill?! That¡¯s a fundamental part of every storage Skill!¡± ¡®Ohhh yea I forgot that the System told me my Skill is something of a freakish mutated version of how they¡¯re supposed to be. Didn¡¯t it say they are only supposed to hold onto mana for a short period of time? Like a day or so? I can¡¯t remember¡­¡¯ It was clear that he wasn¡¯t going to get an answer to his question unless he answered Alorans, so he started from the beginning. ¡°Back in my other world, fighting was heavily discouraged. As you know, Wrath mana tends to make you pretty mad and encourage you to fight, but I really didn¡¯t want to, so I formed a Skill that let me store the mana. I don¡¯t think it was a perfect storage at first, but because I just¡­ never let out any of the mana, and pushed everything into suppressing my Wrath mana, my storage Skill apparently became outlandishly sturdy. Now, I can hold the mana permanently, hence why I always have enough affinity mana on hand to draw concentration from.¡± Aloran went completely silent at that, clearly stunned for several seconds. It wasn¡¯t hard to understand why. It was clear to Dei that there were ways to work out Skills outside the Systems help, and his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)] was clearly an extreme example of one. It¡¯d somehow completely surpassed the bounds of any other System Skill he¡¯d run into, without any assistance at all. ¡°Dei¡­ do you have any idea of the potential of such a Skill?¡± he whispered in a low voice. ¡°I, uh, I thought I did, but now I¡¯m not so sure.¡± ¡°Dei. The biggest limiter of storage Skills is that people struggle to get more mana in them, preventing the Skill from leveling up. If that¡¯s not an issue for you, you can endlessly store more mana in yours. You can endlessly level up your storage Skill¡­ you could have a level five hundred Skill before your next Class evolution! Do you know how much that would put you head and shoulders above all others at your level? Each successive Skill evolution becomes more powerful than the last. What level is it right now?¡± ¡°Two hundred and seventy three.¡± ¡°And just over a year old,¡± he said breathlessly. ¡°Slaughterers really are something, huh? I wonder if all the others have this same level of power. No matter, I want to ask what evolutions you chose for it, but you do not have to answer. I would simply like to give pointers on what sort of build it is going to become.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind, any guidance would help. My first evolution I chose something called ¡®Sectioning¡¯ that would let me split my storage into smaller pieces, making it easier to create Null mana and release smaller quantities without opening the entire Skill. The next evolution I chose Concentration., getting six-times Concentration.¡± ¡®Though I already did have six-times concentrate, so it¡¯s thirty six now. I¡¯m keeping that one to myself.¡¯ ¡°I see. If you don¡¯t know, early evolutions will affect all the future ones. Concentration is always available at the second evolution and beyond for storage abilities, but Sectioning will most likely become a gateway to pre-prepared effects, or diverse storage. In other words, future evolutions will let you use Sectioning to force more mana through Skills faster, and maybe gain the ability to begin storing physical stuff as well. While I can¡¯t be sure, I¡¯m reasonably confident that Sectioning is dedicated to people with more powerful storage Skills, like yours, who might not need the full size of their Storage at any given moment. Either way, I highly suggest relying on this Skill more- it¡¯s something unique to you, that others will have no way of predicting. IF you level it more.¡± Dei grimaced at the thought. Leveling it up was pure agony, but such was the cost of power. At least this time, he had a Meditation pain suppression Skill to help him get through it. If it was as grand as Aloran said, it would be worth it. He decided to stop compressing any more Wrath, Kindness, and Fortitude mana. He¡¯d level up the Skill before long. ¡°Okay that¡¯s interesting and all, but what about my original question, is there a Null affinity?¡± Aloran sighed, probably still interested in talking about the Skill, but Dei clearly wanted to move on. ¡°No, there isn¡¯t Null mana is the absolute absence of mana, it¡¯s the opposite to MP. MP is a single point of mana containing every single affinity. Null contains none. I suppose you could consider mana as a combination of pure energy carrying information. The affinity of it is information, while the energy is the mana itself. Null mana takes away most of the information, leaving only energy.¡± ¡°I see¡­ and what information is left? If it takes away all the other affinities?¡± ¡°Hmm, tell me Dei, when you went to that Wrath Convergence in the Lorpee cave, what kind of mana was there?¡± ¡°Wrath mana?¡± ¡°Yes but what kind of Wrath mana?¡± ¡°It was¡­ my Wrath mana?¡± ¡°Exactly. Take away the Wrath, and what are you left with?¡± ¡°My mana? So Null mana is the mana unique to that person?¡± ¡°Yep, Null mana carries information about you, without any link to a particular affinity. This also means there¡¯s some nuance to it, as the stronger you are, the stronger the Null mana will be. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed that Null mana rejects other mana¡¯s, correct?¡± getting a nod from Dei. ¡°Have you also seen that, after a while, it reverts back to affinity mana if not kept in a vacuum?¡± He thought back to his fight against the Smiler. The Null mana would reject its Soul mana, for a time, but eventually, it turned into wild Soul mana and his shield of Null would break down. Again, he nodded. ¡°Now, Null mana upgrades along with you because the little information it contains has to do with your Rights. The more Rights you have, the harder it is for other mana to break down your Null mana. As you grow in power, more and more creatures will use this mana type because it becomes better as you grow, but for now, your Null mana is quite powerful. It pulls others into a battle of Rights, which you will almost always win considering everything you¡¯ve done in the world so far. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not quite so simple to say that it¡¯s impossible to breach. It would be better to say that Null mana has its own HP, and how much HP it has is dictated by how many rights you have, and it takes damage from either existing or under the direct assault of other mana. It¡¯s going to be a good trump card, but you must remember that Null mana simply does not last long outside the vacuum of your storage Skill, so save it. Use it sparingly, build up as much as you can, then throw an absolute wrench into any fight you''re losing. Ah! One last thing about it: when you go into the spirit realm, you can use Null mana to tear apart spirits easily. Good to know if you¡¯re ever cornered or swarmed and want everything within a few hundred feet dead.¡± Dei wanted to start rubbing his grubby hands together. Now that he knew both what Null mana was, and how useful it would be against mana-based life forms, he saw many ways to easily gain levels if he wanted to. He was still drawing concentration from his Fortitude and rebuilding his body. When that was done, he¡¯d have another eight hundred and fifty Null mana, and what could he use this for? A lot. Probably surviving whoever was hunting him, but that, in turn, would let him do a lot more. By continuing to live. His thirty minutes were almost up, so he only had a few more questions, and there was one thing Aloran had said that struck his curiosity. ¡°You mentioned that MP had one point of every affinity type, you also mentioned that new affinities would appear every few millennia. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re just appearing, I believe the System is limiting which can interact with the people within its domain. Do you think MP would hold a singular point of mana of every affinity, even those outside of its domain? Do you know of any affinities that exist outside the System?¡± ¡°I¡­ Dei, I won¡¯t lie to you here, I have no idea. Again, I truly did not even know there were universes outside the System until you told me. I thought it just existed everywhere. I¡¯ve gone to other universes, and there¡¯s always been a System. To think it wouldn¡¯t always be like that¡­ the idea isn¡¯t even entertained in the scientific world. Sure, there are theories and the like about what it would look like if the System didn¡¯t exist, but nobody takes it seriously. We have an entire fantasy genre about magic without the System, that¡¯s how outlandish and interesting it sounds. I wish you luck in finding the answer to such a question though.¡± Dei shrugged, it wasn¡¯t an unexpected answer but he still wished he could¡¯ve known. ¡°Alright final question. What¡¯s your favorite color?¡± ¡°Blue.¡± ¡°Ok¡± he responded, then stood up and stretched. This wouldn¡¯t be the last bout of questions he asked at all, but he still couldn¡¯t sit around and talk. He¡¯d just finished studying [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)], it was time to move on to his next Skill for study: [Growing Rage] Chapter 93 [Growing Rage] was now technically his only Wrath Skill, now that [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] had become a Confluence Skill after it was repaired by Void (Which he would review again later, but he felt like testing such a Skill in his current confines was a bad idea). He also felt like Growing Rage had a ton of potential, but to start off his research, he would study the Skill at work now. First, he quickly pulled up its description, just to have it fresh in his mind [Growing Rage - Level 169 - Wrath Affinity - Passive Working out or fighting to the death, what¡¯s the difference between them? At some point, the line begins to blur. A spar becomes deadly, a fight becomes fun. Any wall that stands before you will get punched to dust, then you will EAT the BRICKS to build yourself back EVEN STRONGER THAN THE WALL! What¡¯s the calorie count on a brick? We asked the experts and they said ¡°RAAAAAAH!¡± Gives a heightened rate of bodily repair, allows for classless stat growth past Physical: 14 at the cost of Wrath Concentration Regenerates HP at a variable rate, at the cost of Wrath Concentration. Expend Affinity Concentration to rebuild your body in various ways, depending on the affinity used. Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - As your body grows to new heights, you must find stronger enemies to test yourself against. You never reach perfection, but the availability of enemies does. Gain a new mode of the Skill: Training Mode, where the body matches the challenge level of your enemy, allowing for Level, Skill, and Stat growth at a higher rate than would normally be available to fighting weaker enemies] He would need to test the speed of its regeneration, but it was safe to assume that the clause saying ¡°(Skill Level) per hour¡± was gone because the curse now made his healing much faster, as it wanted to heal him aggressively. Once the curse was gone, he wondered if it would return to its previous description. Or perhaps the healing would get better with higher concentrations of mana. Either way, he wasn¡¯t doing any testing right now. Instead, he wanted to watch the Skill rebuild his body- as it was currently doing. Ever since he¡¯d gotten it, he¡¯d told the Skill to use Fortitude mana to enhance his defenses, specifically his mental defenses. He wanted to eventually be able to withstand the Wrath Curse rebuilding his body, and Fortitude was key to that. Closing his eyes, he brought his soul into view and looked for where [Growing Rage] was tied to his soul. Oddly, he ended up in the same place as [Growing Pains] once existed, his family¡¯s old garage where he and his dad used to work out. Dei assumed that when [Growing Pains] merged with [Empowered Rage], the System just handed over the Skill to him. Where better to anchor the Skill that he hadn¡¯t organically formed than in place of its predecessor? Now that he found himself in the old memory, it was much easier to follow the effects of what it was doing- and there were two parts of it. Ever since his meeting with the Leviathan, he¡¯d taken to visualizing his soul as a massive ocean. While it didn¡¯t work out in every case, it was certainly an effective metaphor here. [Growing Rage] felt like it was a nexus of ocean currents, where one large current entered the Skill, then broke off into a bunch of smaller ones that flowed to different parts of his soul. The large current stemmed from his [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)], and it represented the concentration of Fortitude mana. The massive yellow glow entered into Growing Rage, which then directed it outwards to where the Skill needed it rebuilding stuff.He decided to follow one of the smaller streams for now and observe what it was doing. Almost immediately, it branched off a lot more. If the broken-off river was an artery, then the edges of it split off into veins and capillaries. The main river flowed through several memories, delivering Fortitude Concentration through these memories and moving on to the next. He tried looking past the literal visualization of it, and into what this view represented, but struggled to see anything else. He continued to follow this stream, watching as it slowly tapered off as it moved through the different memories. ¡®What the¡­ What is it doing? Is it literally making the memories themselves sturdier?¡± He expected it to empower his soul, or muscles or something. To be fair, he did feel his body become stiff when the mana flowed through it, but that felt almost¡­ secondary, to what it was doing now. To be sure, he moved to another stream, followed it, and sure enough, it made memories sturdier. He found that the effects made the linear-nature of memories more difficult to move. It was possible for him to reorganize his memories out of their chronological nature, even if it would be weird to do so, but [Growing Rage] made the process more difficult. After scratching his head for several minutes over why it was doing this, it finally dawned on him. ¡®It¡¯s focusing on making my mind stronger! That was the entire reason I chose Fortitude as my first affinity to work into my body, because I wanted a powerful mind. Did it take my desire into account?¡± Dei didn¡¯t even know that was possible. He assumed the Skill would do a general fix-up and nothing else, but it seemed it could become more surgical than that. [Growing Rage] was doing its best to lay the groundwork for its next job- rebuilding his body by utilizing a horrible curse, without crushing his mind. ¡®I wonder¡­ Did I subconsciously direct the Skill to focus on my mind, or did Wrath see what I wanted and direct the Skill for me?¡¯ It was unimportant, he was just happy with the results. There was, of course, still a lot of run off. Not all the Concentration was perfectly absorbed by his mind, instead strengthening his body a bit, but it was certainly not as much as it could¡¯ve been. Just to test it out, Dei reeled in the Skill for a second, then gave it a new directive: focus on strengthening muscles instead. [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (169) -> (170)] ¡®Damn, no passive levels, but it goes up the moment I¡¯m actually focusing on the Skill? Aloran was right, intent IS important when training Skills.¡¯ As the new yellow currents of Fortitude went out this time, he watched as they went a much different direction- all swarming up to the ¡°surface¡± of his soul, the part that represented the ¡°current moment¡± Immediately, he felt his body petrify. He tried opening his eyes, but they moved at a glacial pace compared to how fast they should go. It took a full five seconds before he could finally see what was happening to his body. Along the jagged scars, where the Wrath Curse damaged his skin, he was glowing. He saw the golden light of Fortitude emanate from below the surface, pulsing in rhythm with his heart. Retracting the Fortitude once more, he watched the glow slowly recede and felt his muscles relax. Sighing in relief, he flexed his hand several times, trying to notice any significant difference. It was only for a few seconds that he¡¯d suffered under the full-force of his Skill attempting to make his muscles sturdier, but he knew it should have done something. No matter how he moved though, he couldn¡¯t detect any real difference in his body. If he had to guess, he¡¯d need to allow for the Skill to rebuild him for a much longer period of time. The issue with that was how Fortitude mana running through his muscles made it nearly impossible to move, so he¡¯d have to just sit in a single place for an absurdly long time. Luckily, there wasn¡¯t the same issue when it was working on his mind, but he wasn¡¯t looking forward to toughening up his body later on by using this method. Stolen novel; please report. Just to watch it happen, he ran Fortitude through his body again, once more locking into place. This time, he saw a yellow glow slowly begin to bubble up from below his skin, gradually becoming brighter until it settled at a comfortably dim glow. Stopping the process, he set it back to its original task- focusing fully on empowering his mind against outside effects. Next, he went to his Pandora¡¯s Box, to gauge how thin the concentration of Fortitude was. [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8273/10920 Wrath 989/10920 Kindness 205/10920 Soul 864/10920 Fortitude 300/10920 [NULL] ] Exactly eight hundred and fifty Fortitude mana was sectioned off, dedicated to rebuilding his body and turning it into Null mana. The last fourteen were around twelve-times concentrate because he¡¯d compressed a few points into them, before deciding to just let his box expand. Other than that forteen, the other eight hundred and fifty were a good bit below the six-times concentration mark. Perhaps around five-point-five concentration. While the process of utilizing it wasn¡¯t fast, it wasn¡¯t slow either. The [Growing Rage] was clearly working hard to pull all it could from this mana. He knew the speed of extraction would taper off as it became more diluted, because it would be harder to draw from, but for now the Skill wasn¡¯t struggling whatsoever. ¡®I wonder though, Aloran said that mana was a combination of Information and Energy, does that mean that my muscles are becoming imbued with Information? Is my body absorbing the very idea of Fortitude directly, becoming sturdier to match it? Because it has an actual effect, it must be one powerful message to be able to physically change the world¡­¡¯ The next experiment he¡¯d do with this Skill was to see if he could somehow accelerate the project. Bringing his view back to Pandora¡¯s Box, he willed [Growing Pains] to draw faster, yet the Skill remained unbothered, completely ignoring him. ¡®That makes sense. Aloran said that Passive Skills were perpetual, while Toggleable Skills had low-level perpetual effects AND could be controlled actively. If I could make it faster, this would be a Toggleable Skill.¡¯ Either way, he was done with this round of experimenting. There was still the new Training Mode of the Skill which would let him challenge weaker enemies, but he¡¯d need enemies to test that. Shrugging, he moved out of his Soul and opened his Interface, looking for the next Skill in the list. [Empower Self] went next, and it was one he¡¯d never tested. Once, it was [Astral Projection], but that Skill had changed once he changed his Race. It¡¯s description wasn¡¯t super helpful either. [Empower Self - Level 4 - Soul Affinity How a person presents themselves¡­ ¡­meshed together into who you are. Allows one to empower their Identity, emphasizing the sense of self. Variable mana cost] Skipping over the flavor text, all it said was it empowered his Identity. The capital in Identity implied that it was the specific part in his soul that he¡¯d tied into himself to become a Union. Sectioning off five Soul mana from his Box, he unlatched it and put the five Soul mana towards Empower Self. He felt the Skill begin to¡­ crackle a bit, but didn¡¯t actually understand what it was doing, so he turned his sight inwards to try and find its anchor point. It was, predictably, in a dark room. Specifically, a memory from a time before he was born. In this darkness, the representation of the Skill manifested itself as a little white wisp. It looked like what most people imagined a soul to be, an orb with a pure white core, surrounded by a slightly see-through white veil. At the top was a floating ghostly tail of fire that flickered and moved according to a wind that didn¡¯t exist. As he watched it, the white flame at the top of the little wisp flared, and a feeling of warmth passed over him as the five soul mana he¡¯d dedicated to this Skill flew to another part of his soul. Following closely behind him, he watched the white pulse find his Identity, flowing into it and making it flare. He tried to study what it was doing, and found that the mana sort of encouraged his sense of self. It made it adamantly say ¡°You are Dei.¡± He was about to turn around and ask Aloran what this was meant to do when he noticed something odd as the Soul mana continued to bounce around. Rather than all of it being absorbed into his Identity, some was flung outwards. It wasn¡¯t even a full point of mana, perhaps a fraction of a single one, but it saw it form a thin film over his entire soul. ¡®Hm¡­? Wait, I wonder if¡­¡± Diving back to the original wisp, the anchor point of [Empower Self], Dei poured fifteen points into it now, watching the candle-sized flame atop it triple in size, burning brighter. It took around twenty seconds for the Skill to finish working its magic, but when it did, he followed the pulse to his Identity once more and watched as it started glowing for several seconds. This time, when it released the extra soul mana, there was a noticeable barrier around his soul. Checking his Interface for a result he hoped, he was not disappointed. [Soul Strength 1/192] ¡®Yes!¡¯ The process reminded him of how he used to pour the excess soul mana from his Projection into a barrier around his Identity, helping to protect him from spirit attacks. Now that his Identity was merged into his soul, this was a useless process- or so he thought. Much like his defined Skill though, he discovered that this process had instead translated over, creating a new kind of barrier around his Soul. It had an awful conversion rate of around ten Soul mana per one point of Soul Strength, but he didn¡¯t need to kill spirits to earn it anymore. He could earn it all here, in the cave. Best of all, this didn¡¯t seem to be the main effect of the Skill, just a fun little bonus. He still wanted Aloran¡¯s advice on what his Skill was doing, so he exited his soul and asked ¡°Hey, what does it mean to empower my Identity?¡± to the open air. Without missing a beat, Aloran asked ¡°Could I get the full function description of the Skill?¡± ¡°Yea sure. ¡®Allows one to empower their Identity, emphasizing the sense of self.¡¯¡± ¡°I see, that makes sense. That has to do with both mental effects, and possession. Because you are a half-spirit now, you have the ability to sort of¡­ challenge other souls for their bodies. I say sort of because that¡¯s not actually how it works. It¡¯s more like you merge souls with them, and the dangers of possession come about because you will become confused on which soul is yours, you¡¯ll forget whether you¡¯re the invader or invaded. This Skill must help mitigate that, temporarily strengthening your sense of self to help you keep track of who you are. As for mental defenses, it won¡¯t help against most- but there are some that involve making you forget who you are, and those it will help with.¡± By the end, Dei was practically vibrating with excitement. He¡¯d forgotten that possession was possible, but now he really reaaallly wanted to try. ¡°When you say merge souls, what do you mean? How do I fully take over? Or are am I just going to eat the soul of whatever I merge with? Ah, also, you said it would temporarily make the process easier, it¡¯s not a permanent boost?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll answer one by one. When I say merging souls, I mean that your soul will essentially grapple with the opposing soul, a very complicated and embarrassing process. It involves exposing a very vulnerable part of yourself to the enemy and hoping they aren¡¯t mentally powerful enough to take advantage of your weakness. I say it¡¯s embarrassing because, I¡¯m told, that the feeling of beginning possession involves fully shuffling the memories between you and the one invaded. I¡¯ve watched people go through it for the first time before, and they always come out of the experience completely flustered because another being was able to look into their most private thoughts and moments.¡± Dei grimaced. ¡°Does that mean I¡¯ll have to kill whatever I take over if I want to keep my secrets? There are some things I can¡¯t have others knowing¡­¡± ¡°Not all, luckily. After your souls separate, both of you forget what you saw in the others.¡± Dei breathed out a sigh of relief. While it was true he would probably never do this to something he wasn¡¯t willing to kill, he didn¡¯t want to rule out the possibility. ¡°To win the battle of souls,¡± Aloran continued, ¡°You have to remember which person you are- the invader or invaded. Then, when you¡¯re positive, you can suppress the consciousness of the other. Once the losing side is suppressed, the winner gets access to all the loser''s memories, and can choose to kill them with a thought, if they so desire. As for how you remember who you are? I have to say, I¡¯m not sure. I heard there are many exercises you can practice, but I don¡¯t know any of them because it was never one of my focuses. It is supposedly easier on weaker-willed enemies though, so I would practice with some creatures that are dumb. ¡°And in respect to the ¡®temporary¡¯ aspect of your Skill, I say that because it says ¡®Empower.¡¯ Generally speaking, when something is Empowered, it reverts to its previous state over time.¡± He made a humming noise as he digested Aloran¡¯s words. It wasn¡¯t as clean as he was hoping possession would be, but that was perhaps for the best. He was, after all, taking over the body of another being. If it was easy, he might not show the process the proper respect it deserved. Whether it was interesting to him or not, possession was doubtlessly an evil act if used against sapient beings, and that was a low bar in this new world. Many monsters gained supernatural intelligence on Avium. He would practice and use it when necessary, but possession would probably remain in the back of his toolkit. Either way, he knew the next thing he had to do: figure out the inner-workings of this Skill a bit more. Right now he needed the by-product of Soul Strength far more than he needed [Empower Self] to strengthen his mind, so his next goal would be to tweak the Skill slightly and get what he wanted. Chapter 94 He already knew most of the process, so he didn¡¯t waste time watching it from the beginning again, instead checking how much Soul mana he had left to work with [190/10920 Soul] Not a bad amount, but Dei wanted to turn as much as possible into Soul Strength. He needed another way to give Fendrascora more efficient Soul mana. Now that he didn¡¯t have his Projection ability, the trickle he gave her was rather inefficient. Perumah didn¡¯t struggle with the same issue, but Perumah wasn¡¯t reliant on his Soul mana to heal. Soul Strength was the best way to get more efficient conversion, and it¡¯d help him test what taking damage is like as a half-spirit. Moving on, he looked at his Identity as a singular point of Soul mana entered it, willing himself to see through the outer wall of his Identity and into the halls of himself. The first effect was a looping instance of himself, where his Identity looked into itself looking into itself, looking into itself, like standing in a house of mirrors. It was disorienting, and he couldn¡¯t actually understand what was happening. To help fix this, he broke off most of his mind, making it exit his Identity and do something else. For simplicity purposes, the larger portion of his mind began to exercise- which raised some complications, but he¡¯d tackle those later. For now, studying his identity. It¡¯d only been a few moments, so the point of mana still bounced around within him. Now that he could actually see, he knew what was happening. Each time the Soul mana hit the looping corridors of Dei, it was re-flavored slightly. It began to absorb concepts from Dei, the idea of a Union being imparted onto the Soul mana. Only a small portion absorbed this concept, and whatever did was no longer fit to be absorbed by his Identity. Many other concepts were imparted onto the Soul mana, but only the portion that absorbed the idea of ¡°Union¡± was not absorbed again. It became an irritant in his Identity, as it was too far from Soul to be useful again, much closer to the Spirit affinity. Union concept mana was like a pearl in a clam as the Identity just kept rejecting it, until eventually the mana became something incredibly valuable, namely Soul Strength. Luckily, unlike a pearl, Dei didn¡¯t need to die to extract it. Once the concept of Union was too strong, his Identity just spit it back out, and the process he learned earlier of ¡°crystalizing¡± a barrier around his Identity took that mana, putting it to use. To get more Soul Strength, Dei needed to more quickly impart the concept of Union on the Soul mana, before his Identity could absorb a large chunk of it. ¡®Now the question is how to do this¡­¡¯ In the best-case scenario, he would slightly impart the concept of Union on it before it¡¯d ever entered his Identity, meaning his Identity would absorb exactly none of it, instead simply strengthening the concept. That meant he¡¯d need to edit the anchor point of [Empower Self]. When he looked into this Skill, he found a veritable library contained within. The Soul affinity gave this Skill enough information for hundreds of thousands of failsafes and situations, imbuing every scrap of that into every single point of Soul mana that flowed through it. It felt like a massive supercomputer, running trillions of simulations when activated. It robotically trained each point of Soul mana into some kind of AI until deeper concepts were achieved. He found the part of the Skill that dictated the ¡°Goal¡± of the Skill, of what it wanted each point of Soul mana to become, and saw that there were actually empty slots. Soul had left room for the Skill to grow, and Dei had an epiphany of exactly what needed to be done. He called forth his single point of Soul Strength that¡¯d been made so far, bringing it into the Skill. Hesitantly, he slotted it into his Skill, watching as the Skill absorbed it and obliterated the mana itself, leaving only the knowledge of Soul Strength. Exiting the Skill, he activated it with one more point of clean Soul mana. He was afraid that he would¡¯ve broken something in it, but¡­ nope. The Skill worked like a charm. When it released the Soul mana, now carrying many concepts and traveling towards his Identity, Dei studied it closely. Almost imperceptibly, the mana was just barely different. This time, when he saw it enter his Identity, that portion of his Soul didn¡¯t start glowing. Several seconds later, it exited his Identity as a full-fledged point of Soul Strength. ¡®It worked!¡¯ The only issue, though, was his new notification. [Skill Altered: Empower Self has been altered into Living Barrier] [Living Barrier - Level 4 - Soul Affinity The slightest scratch would- normally- drain precious information from your soul. Unideal would be an understatement, as this could prove disastrous if vital memories or functions of the soul were to bleed out at inopportune times. To prevent such a disastrous situation, a barrier around your soul-flesh is needed, leading to the necessity of Soul Strength, a far more intangible and meaningless- though still valuable- middle point between soul-flesh and Spirit mana Allows one to create Soul Strength from Soul mana at a conversion rate of 1:1] He frowned. ¡®I¡­ don¡¯t want this. I want BOTH Empower Self and Living Barrier¡­¡¯ Scratching his chin, he thought of something. ¡®Soul mana is much like a computer, with countless yes/no statements, if/and, logic gates and all that. What if I¡­ What if I hit copy and paste?¡¯ The thought was simple. He wanted two Skills, almost exactly the same, but with a tiny key difference. Finding the new Living Barrier Skill, he attempted to undo the change first, mentally hitting ¡®Ctrl-Z¡¯ on it, but having nothing happen. ¡®Perhaps that was a bit too literal.¡¯ Instead, he imagined it reversing to its former state, but that, too, didn''t exactly help. It didn¡¯t feel like he was actually exerting himself, just that he was thinking hard. Normally, that was enough for his internal soul, but this was a process that wasn¡¯t happening just in his soul anymore. Skills involved the System and affinities, he¡¯d need something of substance to edit it, but Soul mana just wouldn¡¯t do. It carried information, it didn¡¯t destroy it. Still, he pulled yet another Soul mana out of his [Pandora¡¯s Box] and tried to imbue it with the idea of reversal, pushing it into the Skill, and failing. He sighed, putting it back in Pandora¡¯s Box. Mana came in two parts. Energy and Information. He didn¡¯t need energy, only information. ¡®I need something that carries an idea but has no substance¡­¡¯ he tried using his Rights, if he could somehow manipulate that, but it didn¡¯t respond in any meaningful way. Perhaps he could if he¡¯d had more practice freestyle manipulating it. The only other way he¡¯d ever conveyed information without mana was his Visible Presence, as it showed the world what he was without costing any mana. Was there something he could do there? Focusing on a time when he¡¯d used a computer in his previous life and undone a mistake on his paper, he Meditated on the link, getting a small portion of Visible Presence imbued with the idea of ¡®Ctrl-Z.¡¯ With the small ball of Presence, he pushed it towards the Skill¡­ and got a response. His face lit up, but he noticed that the concept of Union was still imbued into the Skill ¡®I need more. More information, but that was a pathetic amount to be fair.¡¯ So he did. Meditating using approximately fifteen minds on the same link to produce a significant quantity of Presence at once for a minute. He was left with much more, and turned it into a stream,slowly pushing it into [Living Barrier] After half it the Presence was gone, the Skill reversed [Skill Altered: Living Barrier has been altered into Empower Self] Grinning, he did something else, Meditating on two links: ¡®Ctrl-C¡¯ and ¡®Ctrl-V.¡¯ After fifteen or twenty minutes, he got a notification. [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (100) -> (101)] Taking that as a sign to, for now, stop, he streamed ¡®Ctrl-C¡¯ towards Empower Self. After the same amount it took to reverse his mistake, he felt the command take hold ¡®Huh, it costs the same as it did for me to reverse it. Do all the commands cost the same? I way overdid this then.¡¯ Moving to a spot in his soul directly next to the Skill, but still part of the empty blackness of this memory from before he was born, Dei sent forth ¡®Ctrl-V¡¯ in a stream. Again, after shockingly little Presence was used, a new copy of the Skill appeared. He felt the new copy of the Skill reach out towards Soul, then the System reached out to intercept the two¡­ but locked onto the original Empower Self, not interposing between him and Soul. Dei¡¯s eyes shot wide open and he quickly cut the bond between Soul and this Skill, refusing to allow for Soul to connect with him at all. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It did not try again, instead simply retreating and letting Dei breathe a sigh of relief. ¡®I don¡¯t want a Skill that connects directly to Soul! Even if Soul can help me grow it, I don¡¯t want it if the System isn¡¯t working as the middle man between us.¡¯ Curiously, he looked at the new, copied Skill. He tried running ten Soul mana through it¡­ and it worked, empowering his Identity and providing a single Soul Strength. He looked over his Interface, but there was nothing different about it, no ¡°copied¡± Skill to see. Right now he had two identical Skills, and he decided to turn his ¡°disconnected¡± version of Empower Self into Living Barrier, because he was almost positive that if the Skill wasn¡¯t connected to Soul, it would remain stagnant. Without something to help the Skill grow and develop, it would remain unchanged. Living Barrier would just become a factory for Soul Strength, he didn¡¯t need much more than that. Perhaps when it leveled up and evolved, he could get a stronger barrier around his Soul, but he¡¯d get the same effect from pouring more Concentrated Soul mana into the Skill. Empower Self would be better to grow, because it was a directly combat-useful ability. That in mind, he used his one piece of Soul Strength he¡¯d received from the Skill, slotting it back into the place he¡¯d put it originally, and the Skill [Living Barrier] existed once more. Oddly, though, he received no notification. To be sure, he opened his Interface again and¡­ nope, nothing. This version of Living Barrier, disconnected from Soul and the System, was completely invisible to his Interface. [Empower Self] was there, and that¡¯s it. Just to test it, he put one point of Soul mana into [Living Barrier], and was rewarded with Soul Strength. It clearly still worked, it just didn¡¯t show up anywhere. ¡®Curious¡­ I thought I¡¯d at least get an Achievement or something for that, but I suppose I didn¡¯t do anything particularly difficult or impressive.¡¯ It was an interesting application of his abilities which made him think of how [Meditation] lost its original capabilities as well, and he sort of wanted to try copying and reversing it to its previous versions. Something to try when he was experimenting with that Skill. Almost done with this Skills experimentation, he quickly poured fifty Soul mana into the invisible [Living Barrier] Skill, getting fifty Soul Strength out. He now had to test what exactly his new Soul Strength actually did. [Soul Strength: 51/192] ¡°Fendrascora¡± he said, getting her attention ¡°I supposedly have a barrier of mostly-Spirit mana around my body, wanna test it out? Take a couple swipes?¡± She gave a verbal shrug then used one sharp tendril to swipe at the air around him, of course, getting nothing. ¡°Ok that¡¯s on me¡± he said with a laugh ¡°I mean it¡¯s like, skin-tight, I think? Take a chunk out of my skin.¡± She attempted to gouge out a piece of his bicep but his skin was still incredibly tough, so she could only scratch him slightly. That scratch, though, revealed the white beneath. Rather than bleed red, he felt a small portion of Soul Strength drain from him, and the wound quickly closed. [Soul Strength: 51/192] ¡®I¡¯m a little tougher than I thought but that can only be good.¡¯ He saw Fendrascora swipe the air, absorbing the small amount of mana that¡¯d leaked out. It wasn¡¯t enough to even make a full point, which was something he knew could happen but rarely saw. His next test was to see if deeper gouges would reach flesh, but he genuinely did not think Fendrascora had the strength to do so. ¡°Okay, so, you can just keep doing that and draining Soul Strength while I keep testing my Skills.¡± he told her Giddily, she said ¡°Thanks! This mana is even better than the last!¡± And wasted no time, forming tens of tiny water blades and opening cuts all along his arms, after moving his Praerel leather clothing out of the way of course. He couldn¡¯t feel it at all, but it was quite the sight to see his arms covered in white slashes. It would be good training for Homeostasis too, he supposed, as that was the Skill dedicated to repairing openings in his Soul Strength. [Connection] was the next in the list to experiment with, but he didn¡¯t have a way to produce more and he¡¯d already done a lot of experimenting with it recently. He didn¡¯t want to manipulate what was already tied into his body, unless he already had some kind of plan in mind, so he skipped it. [Solidity] was next, but he¡¯d already experimented with that, so he ignored it too. [Fortress of Denial], an interesting Skill which he had used exactly ONE time, but got it up to level thirty six during that time. He pulled up the Description again. [Fortress of Denial - Level 36 - Fortitude Affinity Control. You fight it, you demand it. Your entire life, you¡¯ve exerted control over yourself, and resisted the control of others. In every instance where others attempted to control you, you have denied them their goals. The only one to control yourself is you. More than any person, affinity, or magic, your body is yours alone. Creates a Domain of Denial where all intent is muffled, making control over all magic more difficult. Variable mana cost.] There were also the three hidden clauses of the Skill from last time he¡¯d used it: the Domain only extended to his Skin, no further beyond. It worsened his control too, not just the control of others, and it inhibited his perception of mana outside his own body. The last clause didn¡¯t matter anymore after he became a Slaughterer, so it was the first two he had to worry about. Pouring a trickle of MP into the Skill, he felt the domain activate at a low-level, just barely hindering the ¡°intent¡± of all magic within him. Now that he studied it closer, he noted that it protected the area that Fendrascora was in, suppressing all mana within it, but Fendrascora herself didn¡¯t say anything or even seem to note any difference. Curiously, he used one of the fourteen highly concentrated points of Fortitude mana, feeding it to the Skill to heighten the effects immensely. He felt his mana-sense within his body clear perfectly, seeing several different types and gaining an understanding of many. Flesh, Blood, and Flow were there, of course, but there were some lesser-known ones such as Beast, Passing, Water, Dark, Earth, Kinetic, Air and many, many more. It didn¡¯t feel like the Domain increased his perception, it just¡­ cleared out some ambience, so to speak. There were natural forces of the world manipulating all the mana within him subtly that compounded with all the others, causing his view to blur slightly. It felt like he suddenly put it all under a microscope, letting him see closer without actually moving anything around without removing it from the microscope first. He found that this would be a wonderful tool for studying himself more closely and potentially figuring out what different mana types did, such as Passing. He¡¯d seen the Passing affinity once before on some random insect. It used this affinity to make things age super quickly, and he saw that Passing was representative of this concept. Passing lived by the mantra ¡°everything ends eventually,¡± and it caused several things in his body- the most obvious being his aging. More than that though, any process that had an end, a small amount of Passing mana was created. Each breath and heartbeat produced it and, oddly enough, his digestion too. If it had a beginning and end, Passing was present. He found that it was much like Void in this sense, but more general, and peaceful. Void was an aggressive swap between two states, like a thunderous punch. Passing felt like a martial arts master redirecting a strike by utilizing their bodyweight. He wanted to sit here and study all the different mana types for a while, but his time ran out as the point of Fortitude wasn¡¯t enough to maintain such a pure state for very long. His mind was brought back to the original reason he¡¯d tried to use his domain to suppress all the mana within him- Fendrascora. She still hadn¡¯t said anything, and he saw her movement around his body was completely unhindered. ¡°Fendrascora, did you notice anything different happening in the last couple seconds?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± she said, temporarily putting a stop to all her dicing of his arms. ¡°Oh yea, I guess it was slightly easier to move around?¡± ¡°Easier?¡± he said, bewildered. That was the opposite of what it was supposed to do. ¡°Yea! It felt like your body wasn¡¯t fighting against me as much.¡± ¡®Ooohh boy, that¡¯s dangerous for me. When we first attuned to one another, we¡¯d entered some sort of pseudo-pact where we would both be able to hurt one another more easily. Now, it seems another facet of this pact is coming to light: I cannot suppress her with my Domain of Denial, only myself. She¡¯s somehow exempt from the effect. ¡®But is this really bad? Based on the benefits I received when I strengthened the connection between us, she really does respect me, so I can¡¯t imagine a betrayal at this point. Perhaps I can use this¡­ in a time of emergency, if I¡¯m being taken over for some reason, I can suppress everything within my body, then leave it to Fendrascora to purge it all. She¡¯ll be the only one unaffected by the Skill. I wonder why she¡¯s not hindered but I am, if the Skill can clearly exclude certain people. Perhaps the option to exclude myself will be a future evolution, or maybe one of the costs of the Skill is that I have to deny myself control as well. I don¡¯t know.¡¯ Either way, he¡¯d have to leave himself even more vulnerable to Fendrascora to utilize this part of the Skill. That wasn¡¯t all bad though, so he told her exactly what his Skill was and what it was doing, as well as a potential situation where she might have to save him if he was overwhelmed. [Fortress of Denial] was expensive to use and wildly simple, so he didn¡¯t push the tests any further than what he¡¯d already found. At last, that left him with a new and unique Skill to test, [Value Sense] It was a Skill granted to him by the [Risky Business] Achievement, most likely a blessing from the Business affinity. It was considered an Inner Skill, meaning it wasn¡¯t granted by the System, but it was also part of the to the Business affinity- an affinity he didn¡¯t even have. He opened the description now. [Value Sense - Business Affinity A merchants worst nightmare is to sell a useless object for cheap- only to later find out it was a long-lost priceless artifact. The only way to prevent such a situation is to study even the most mundane of wares that pass through the doors for any sort of unique marking or identification- and even then, there is no guarantee. Truly, there is no way to understand the value of something completely¡­ unless acknowledged by the master of all wares Allows the user to appraise the value of anything in relation to a chosen group, understanding how much that group would be willing to pay, on average, for your target] ¡®So I can pick an object, then see how much people would pay for it? I suppose everyone has different values of course, so I have to choose which organization or group too, because they would all pay something different.¡¯ He thought about the GreenGrow Beetles in the cave around him. He¡¯d long-since suspected that they were a wildly valuable alchemical ingredient, so he put it to the test now, looking at one of them curiously, he activated [Value Sense], trying to get a feeling for how much someone in his original village would pay for it. ¡°Around eight BIG favors¡± popped up into his head, making him smirk and shake his head. ¡®I forgot that the village worked on a favor system. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s good. How about¡­ can I do governments from my previous world? How much would the US government pay for such a beetle?¡¯ ¡°Three billion dollars, then either recruitment or assassination.¡± ¡®Oh¡­¡¯ He could get the value of stuff from his previous world, and such a response from the government was very¡­ on brand. They¡¯d pay him the money to get the bug, then see if they could get more out of him. If not, they wouldn¡¯t give him a chance to fall into the hands of their enemies as a weapon, so they¡¯d try to kill him. He also suspected, from the large price tag, that the US government knew what to do with such a beetle, if they had it, which basically confirmed that magic was a known factor in his previous world. That meant he¡¯d need to be cautious when he made it back, as he no longer felt like Earth would be as harmless to him as he¡¯d first assumed. Next, he tried to see what the Gem Dweller society as a whole would pay for such a beetle. ¡°Seven tier four encrypted Greed coins.¡± ¡®Again, no clue what that means. Can I change the parameters? How much would they be willing to pay in regular gold coins?¡¯ ¡°Two billion.¡± So¡­ a lot. These beetles were pricey motherfuckers. It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d be selling them though, so he just shrugged. They were with him during the start of this all, they were basically his first friends. ¡®A little sad to think about, but who cares?¡¯ [Value Sense] would prove to be his best friend when it came to integrating back into society when he got there, of that he was sure. Chapter 95 [Homeostasis] didn¡¯t need a closer look because he¡¯d already studied that process in his previous life. He knew how the body worked, and all magic did was upgrade the already existing process to keep him balanced. [Meditation] on the other hand, wasn¡¯t as simple, and required a small amount of testing. Not as much as he would normally because it was a Skill he used a lot and knew a lot about, so he already had the limits solidly in the known. He could shunt off damage to another being, strengthen a bond with something to gain benefits or burdens, Meditate on his link to certain things and gain Visible Presence, and he was solid. He simply had to test out his ability granted to him by his link to Fendrascora, allowing him to share a portion of his Spiritual stats with anyone under his care. Fendrascora wouldn¡¯t need it because she was physically protected by his body, but Perumah certainly would, as she was still very vulnerable to outside magic. ¡°Perumah, do you mind if I scan your stats? I might have a way to help fix your Spiritual a little bit.¡± ¡°Certainly, however I do warn you¡­ it may not be as necessary as it once was¡± she said smugly. Shrugging, he Identified her level and stats. [Biting Flesh Trap of Allure bulb (Charged) - Level 232 Physical: 178 -> 191 Mental: 44 Spiritual: 9 -> 33 Magical: 112] He raised his eyebrows at the difference in stats from the last time he¡¯d Identified her. It wasn¡¯t good, but it was a lot better. ¡°Alright I¡¯ll bite, what¡¯d you do to gain so many Spiritual stats without leveling up that much?¡± ¡°A simple matter! Upon rejecting The Mothers influence, I gained several Titles that granted Spiritual stats,¡± she told him proudly. ¡®Oh yea that¡¯s right, Clever mentioned Titles as well. I¡¯ll ask Aloran what they are later because humans clearly can¡¯t get them¡­ I hope. Unless I¡¯ve been doing something way wrong.¡¯ She clearly wanted some praise so he said ¡°That¡¯s awesome Perumah! Good job.¡± He felt her begin preening at the attention, but he brought it back to the matter at hand. She did, of course, still only have a third of his Spiritual stats, despite being more than double his level. ¡°To be absolutely sure you¡¯re safe from outside magic though, let''s go through with my plan yea?¡± Getting her wordless confirmation, he tried to share his Spiritual stats with her, knowing instantly when it activated as it did a bit more than just protect her. He felt four of his Spiritual disappear as his magical defenses weakened slightly. ¡®So it takes my Spiritual and gives it to her?¡¯ Perumah cleared it up though. ¡°I feel that my Spiritual stat has risen by one point.¡± ¡®Bad conversion, but probably better than I could hope for.¡¯ If it were any other stat, he¡¯d be worried about giving it away. With his [Pondering Sage] Profession though, he knew he would have Spiritual to spare by the time he left Alorans garden. Short test of Meditation over, he looked at the next few Skills: [Disconnect], [Identify of the Stout Protector], and [Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed)] Nothing could be done about them because Disconnect took too long to work, Identify he already knew about, and Unleashed would probably consume every scrap of mana he had- something he couldn¡¯t very well test without detrimental consequences. That left [Fine-Tooth Comb], a Skill that was invaluable early on, but fell into obscurity with his higher mental stats. It helped him sift through overwhelming amounts of information, but he could already do that with how incredible [High Mind] was. He tried investigating it, seeing if he could edit the Skill at all, but ran into a problem rather quickly. He simply couldn¡¯t find it. His brow scrunched as he got the general impression that it was anchored to his soul in the same memory that he¡¯d accepted his first class, but it failed to manifest in any complicated way. ¡®I think that means¡­ Outer Skills don¡¯t exist within my soul at all, so I can¡¯t edit or change them in any meaningful way. That¡¯s why they¡¯re called OUTER Skills. Because they¡¯re outside my soul.¡¯ The only thing he could do about his Outer Skills now was to find or form a Skill close to their function, then merge the Outer Skill into his own in order to turn it into an Inner Skill. Just like that, he was completely out of Skills to look over or experiment with. He had a better idea of both his capabilities and everything that would be useful in the upcoming fight, so he could more easily plan out a training regime. He would, of course, work out physically while [Growing Rage] rebuilt his body using Fortitude mana for now while [Homeostasis] learned how to resist vibrational damage from Fendrascora. [Good Samaritan] would slowly consume all his Kindness mana to suppress all the tracking marks on him, buying him some extra time. His MP would be split between training [Empower Self], [Fortress of Denial], and his new Void affinity until he learned how to produce some Void mana for himself. He checked his clock, marking the time and date. [Since the Fall: 10/30/809 - 12:42:59] ¡®No time like the present.¡¯ * * * [Since the Fall: 11/30/809 - 10:19:08] [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 16) -> (Level 17)] [Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (57) -> (72)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (44) -> (50)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (170) -> (186)] [Total Stats Gained: +6 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Empower Self (4) -> (12)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (100) -> (105)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fortress of Denial (36) -> (42)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (100) -> (107)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (101) -> (106) [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (64) -> (68)] [Affinity Strengthened: [Void: Low-Common 99%] has strengthened into [Void: Mid-Common: 8%]] One month since he genuinely started training, he finally stopped to take a break for the next step. The reason for this was clear. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (273) (10920/10920)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8323/10920 Wrath 712/10920 Kindness 492/10920 Soul 231/10920 Fortitude 1150/10920 [NULL] ] 12/10920 Void] He¡¯d just filled the box completely, and was just waiting on one more piece of mana to begin the process of leveling it up. Before that, he quickly reviewed all the changes over the last month. Talking to Aloran about all the changes in his Skills helped solidify his knowledge and netted him one more level in Pondering Sage. [Good Samaritan] was almost guaranteed to evolve before the hunters found him, and he was hopeful that it would provide a path to breaking apart the tracking marks for good, maybe even allowing him to escape rather than fight to the death. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. [Growing Rage] finished stripping the Fortitude mana of its Concentration just the day before, granting him eight hundred and fifty more Null mana. He decided to put off on using the Curse until after he found out whether [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)] would hurt to level up or not. Now that it was repaired, he was hopeful, but that didn¡¯t guarantee anything. He came to realize that practicing with manipulating his physical form leveled up [Solidity], which implied the Skill would make it easier over time. It did make his mind and soul more malleable with each level up now that he¡¯d changed it, which would seem to help his [Fluid Shape] Racial ability. Identify was leveling up slowly, which was a problem. Dei wanted to work as many Skills into [Connection] before he left Alorans cave as he could, so he was going to start a new training with the Skill soon: Identifying Aloran. That would lead to a slew of problems because he was not equipped to understand a divine soul, but Aloran said it shouldn¡¯t kill him if he tried, just hurt really badly. He also discovered a way to produce Void mana- though only in small quantities so far. If he split his mind into multiple pieces, then either grew or shrank the minds on different tasks, thus rapidly swapping his main focus between what he was training, it would grant him the tiniest slivers of Void, as well as a percentage of his Void affinity. The affinity was actually getting stronger at a solid pace, which he attributed to how the personality requirement was completely removed for him, so it would be much easier to level for him compared to anyone else. During his training, he began to sift through his knowledge of the Void granted to him by his Contract, though it was slightly difficult to find. Instead of appearing in a packet for him to look over, the knowledge was simply found within his head, as though it¡¯d always been there. He discovered this when he went back to study the shard of Void contained within his soul, and had various facts spring to mind; mainly the fact that it wasn¡¯t a true window into the Void. Instead, the place in his soul was imbued with incredibly deep Void concepts, something he gained from both his blessing from Void and traveling through its plain of existence. It served to store the things he subconsciously learned about the Void during his time there, and if he could tap into it, he would gain access to many Void Skills. The knowledge granted to him by his Contract also clarified why he wasn¡¯t able to enter it, telling him it was because he had a physical body right now. Only certain intangible things could freely enter and exit the Void, but that wasn¡¯t a problem to his goals. Because the Void technically had no space or time, it didn¡¯t actually matter how far away or near something was. If Dei figured out how to transport himself between points, any two points, it would cost the same if he was teleporting one inch or a trillion miles. That brought him to his study of how to create a Void teleportation spell. It was odd, but he never actually had to enter the Void to take advantage of it. He could like¡­ merge the idea of two points into a single one, closing the Void between them. Those two points would become a single point, and if he stepped into the area of uncertain reality, he could decide which place he wanted to exist in. So that was his plan for now, figuring out how to eliminate the Void between two things, conjoining the space. If he learned how to do that with freestyle mana manipulation, then the next step would be to work out how to direct the spell into his old reality, somewhere back on Earth. All in due time though, because he had to worry about his current step first. It wasn¡¯t a very safe step either, because he could only manipulate the mana within his body, so all the experiments involved merging the tip of his index finger with the tip of his thumb and hoping the Void mana didn¡¯t severely damage his health, and that it would be a reversible process when complete. Breathing deeply, he held it for several minutes, only exhaling as he felt another Soul mana enter his body. It moved with deceptive slowness towards [Pandora¡¯s Box] for how much pain it would cause him, but he made no moves to either accelerate or stop its journey. When at last it found the wall of his Skill and went to press inwards, displacing the hundreds of Soul mana already there, the Skill creaked dangerously, stretching itself to accommodate for the new guest. Dei felt¡­ bloated. But no pain! He sighed in relief despite the uncomfortable sensation, because he now knew he wouldn¡¯t want to die by the time he had to fight against his pursuers. He continued to practice other things while waiting to see how long it¡¯d take to level up, getting a bit of a dangerous estimate for how long each level up would take as he realized it was thirty five minutes per level. He was almost positive that it would level up faster if he tried to force the mana into [Pandora¡¯s Box], but that would probably hurt, although not as much as the first time he was leveling the Skill up. Now that he knew casual leveling of [Pandora¡¯s Box] wouldn¡¯t cripple him, it was time for something that would push his mind and self-control to the limits in the form of a Wrath Curse. Now, there was no possible way he would be going through the entire curse in the time he still had, but with how Concentrated it was, his Skill would never have to strain itself like it had with Fortitude. There were just a few more preparations he had to make before activating it. ¡°Fendrascora,¡± he got her attention, ¡°I¡¯m finally going to begin utilizing the Wrath Curse, and I don¡¯t want you hurt. Is there any way you could enter the Great River through the stream?¡± he said, referring to the only water source in Alorans cave, a trickle of water from the wall. It wasn¡¯t a random decision either. In the month they¡¯d been stuck in Aloran¡¯s cave, Fendrascora was slowly getting more and more antsy as boredom set in. She was, after all, a creature of Flow, she needed change and new experiences to heal, and her level was not as low as it had once been [Corrupted Ancient Embodiment of the Flow - Level 241] The ¡°Damaged¡± adjective had been removed at level two hundred, which is apparently when Fendrascora chose to upgrade her ¡°Careful¡± adjective to the ¡°Ancient¡± adjective, an option she¡¯d gained after sitting in place for a hundred or so years back when she was still preying on the villagers crystals. ¡°Damaged¡± caused Fendrascora to be physically fragile, so without that she was now a genuine threat, especially considering she was potentially a hundred levels higher than anything in the area. All ¡°Corrupted¡± did was prevent her from creating Flow mana herself, but that would barely hinder her combat capabilities. Fendrascora was an actual threat now, and could take off on her own adventure if she wanted, which is why he considered letting her put herself in danger at all. At his request for her to re-enter the Great River, she seemed to snap out of whatever stupor she was in, exclaiming ¡°I hadn¡¯t even considered that I could do that now! I¡­ absolutely! Wait¡­ is there a tracking mark on me too?¡± ¡°I can check¡± Aloran chimed in, somehow able to tap into the connection Dei and Fendrascora spoke through. Fendrascora was also quickly learning the Gem Dweller language, or ¡°Undercant¡± as Aloran called it, because The Mother included information on human language when she turned Fendrascora into an Embodiment. Dei felt several of Alorans tendrils enter his body but made no moves to stop them as they made their way towards Fendrascora¡¯s primary body, the concentrated Spirit mana in the shape of a short girl within his bloodstream. After several seconds of searching around, Aloran said ¡°There is a tracking mark here, but only one. I can actually walk you through the process of finding it if you¡¯d like, but it would require me to sift through some of your memories. This isn¡¯t something Dei can do though, because he has a few hundred, so it would take too long and be incredibly invasive.¡± When she heard Aloran would need to go through her memories, she tensed, not sure what to say, so Dei stepped in. ¡°I think you should do it, Aloran has made similar mistakes to you, I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll have any room to judge¡± he told her through [Gesture], thinking of how Aloran said there was a time in his life before The Fall when he excused morally despicable things because it was the ¡°Trend¡± at the time so to speak. If there was anyone in the room who could judge Fendrascora for her mistake in killing a village of innocents, it was not Aloran. Aloran of course made an unhappy humming noise, but did not deny it. Dei¡¯s words seemed to ease Fendrascora¡¯s mind and she agreed to his help. Just a few minutes later Fendrascora was tracking-free and Aloran made no comment on anything he¡¯d seen in her memories. Dei watched her slip through the wall, where the spring of water was pushing its way though, and she was soon gone. Clever looked curiously at the point she¡¯d left for a few moments before continuing his own training. Now that it was him alone to be destroyed by his bad decisions, Dei was about to begin the process of rebuilding his body when Aloran spoke up. ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°Yea?¡± ¡°This is the same curse that Lani had, right?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ yea?¡± Dei asked, wondering if Aloran would also try to talk him out of using it. ¡°I want to give you a warning, it is an old curse, and one that doubtlessly has a lot of complexities to it. I¡¯ve been observing the Skill you¡¯re using to improve your body, and it¡¯s likely that this curse is going to manifest in multiple ways once you¡¯ve worked enough of it into your biology. I¡¯m not going to tell you not to use it, because I would use it in your situation, just be aware. Once it¡¯s a part of you, you¡¯ll just have to live with it.¡± Dei frowned. He¡¯d assumed it would be the same as using simple Wrath mana, but the curse being different made more sense now that he thought about it. ¡°What do you think will be different about it?¡± ¡°May I see a piece?¡± he asked, and Dei sectioned off a point before tossing it out into the open air and losing track of it. A few seconds later he said ¡°It seems this is a curse dependant on hating the world in general. It¡¯s antagonistic towards esoteric concepts such as fate or luck, but also the idea of unplanned attacks. I¡¯m correct in that, at the very least, this is a complex curse, but I don¡¯t even know how a tenth of this exists in the first place. I wish I could say more, but all I can tell you is that it holds a strong hatred for the idea of everything, while not actually caring to focus that intent on any one person or creature. I suppose it might manifest as a general damage boost to everything? But no¡­ No, that would be too simple for something with this much conceptual depth. I¡¯m sorry, but I was wrong. I have no idea.¡± ¡°Thank you for trying at least, and I appreciate the heads up. Do you think I¡¯m making the right decision though? To turn this curse into more power?¡± ¡°I do, yes. It¡¯s a dangerous world out there, and there will always be those more power-hungry than you that wish you harm. For something with as little risk and incredible potential as this? I made dumber gambles on my own ascent to Godhood.¡± ¡°Well, thanks for the pep-talk. I suppose it¡¯s time to get this done.¡± Aloran said nothing, and Dei simply took calming breaths for several minutes. When he felt he was ready, he opened his eyes, and activated his Skill. Chapter 96 The pounding of a second heartbeat thrummed through his body as lightning and fire tore through his nerves. Channeling his Meditation to help him work through the pain, he felt his mind center, clearing. Though the pain did not go away, he was no foreigner to it. He quickly realized that the foreign rhythmic thumping was not another heartbeat, but the Wrath Curse slamming against the wall of its containment. Its intent echoed through the concepts draining from it, giving the curse a path to inflict him with damage. Now that Dei was a Union, his Vibrational weakness had turned into a weakness to Echoes, which seemed to include the concept of Vibration, and more. The curse took advantage of this weakness, bursting a few of his blood vessels by echoing its will through the ideas Dei squeezed from it. The revelation did not worry him though, instead making him grin. Its attacks were not enough to overwhelm his natural regeneration, so the damage was quickly repaired. Instead of killing him, the Curse was providing Dei with a new way to train as [Homeostasis] began learning from the damage, working to quickly counteract it. This Echo damage was an incredibly deep concept as well, encompassing much of what it meant to be an echo both literally and metaphorically. He could not have asked for a better example for Homeostasis to learn from. He felt the building rage in the back of his mind but it was¡­ manageable. If he were in the middle of combat, he didn¡¯t doubt he would struggle to remain clear headed, but his work in Fortitude combined with Meditation to grant him agency over his own actions. Fortitude helped his mind remain sturdy in the storm of emotions, while Meditation helped it bend and disperse the force of each mental attack. Slowly, carefully, he moved his head down to look at his arms and the cracks that ran along his skin. Similar to how Fortitude boiled upwards from below to release the golden glow, Dei saw the deep rose red of Wrath now, as a blindingly bright light Looking closely, he saw how the source of light shifted and moved gently. When he brought his arm closer to his face, he noticed that the shimmering changed position as well. The light was not a simple glow, but a genuine window into somewhere deeper, perhaps even directly into the Conceptual Plane of Wrath itself. He moved his arm around a few more times, watching as the shifting flame changed positions, even bringing it very close to his face so he could have a wider view of it. It looked hellish, as one might expect, and he couldn¡¯t see much else. Focusing completely on keeping himself stable and not lashing out at those around him, Dei sat perfectly still as he adjusted to the sensation. * * * Several hours later, he saw a piece of Fendrascora¡¯s peripheral body flow through the wall, moving around slightly to get a good look at everything. Taking that as a sign to stop for now, he released the Skill, and saw the cracks dim to a weak glow, disappearing over the course of a few minutes. It lingered for far longer than the Fortitude training had, but that was to be expected. When at last it was gone and he no longer felt it pushing against his mind, Fendrascora slowly expanded her presence in the cave, and he turned his back to her so she would have easier access. It took her a few more minutes to pierce his skin and make her way into his bloodstream, which actually answered one of the questions about his Soul Strength defense- deeper wounds would probably not be blocked by Soul Strength. Gargeth could block deep wounds because that was a specialized constitution, similar to how Dei specialized against MP and into HP, Gargeth gave up some HP, MP, and SP in favor of using loose Spirit mana to block any and all damage. ¡°Good outing?¡± He asked Fendrascora. ¡°Mhm, it was nice to finally return to somewhere familiar¡± she responded, happy but¡­ strained. She was exhausted, either mentally or physically. He could imagine a bit of both, with nostalgia over her past hitting harder now that she wasn¡¯t even the same creature. ¡®Actually, this was the first time she¡¯s ever entered the Great River as an Embodiment and not an Elemental, yea? I can imagine it was a bit of a journey.¡¯ When her primary spiritual form was fully within his blood stream, she said ¡°Dei, have you¡­ moved at all since I left?¡± ¡°Hm? No? Why?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re wildly dehydrated and currently in a state of starving¡­¡± ¡®Oh yea, haha. I forgot that my body probably requires food and water when rebuilding itself.¡¯ ¡°My bad, any way you could fix it?¡± he asked her, only just now feeling the different flavors of pain in his body. The pain of Wrath reconstruction outshined all other sensations, which is why the pain from starving or dehydration didn¡¯t seem to really hit him. Now that he could feel again, he was dangerously close to death. Even before he¡¯d finished asking Fendrascora to help, he already felt the dehydration disappear, followed by an explosive bout of energy pushing against the walls of his stomach. Normally, she would just inject the pure energy required for him into his body, but it seemed she¡¯d decided to transport small pieces of the dried rations instead, letting his body decide what to do with it. Quickly, he felt himself approaching a state of balance, [Homeostasis] even working to accelerate his digestion and get everything where it needed to go. Still standing, he stretched his body, feeling several pops throughout it as he went through his routine. While it was easiest to sit still during his body rebuilding, it was also clearly not healthy. He would have to move in order to eat, and potentially find a way to work out or even just stretch his muscles. Now that the Training Mode of his [Growing Pains] Skill was gone, replaced with a new Training Mode of [Growing Rage], he had to do some roundabout process to weaken himself in order to continue building Physical stats. His new training mode made it so that his body would be weakened to match the physical level of a creature of his choosing, so Dei usually just chose Clever, letting his body weaken to such a considerable degree that even Clever could knock him down if he really put his mind to it. He wasn¡¯t sure if that would be a good idea during his rebuilding though, because a strong body might be required to withstand the process. He¡¯d try it tomorrow, instead quickly checking his notifications from the day before going to sleep. [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (273) -> (274)] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (72) -> (73)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (186) -> (188)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (107) -> (112)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (106) -> (117)] * * * [Since the Fall: 12/1/809 - 9:38:18] When he woke up, he was ready to begin training, more carefully this time. Once again, Fendrascora left, and Dei decided to test out his new way of training. He sectioned off a smaller piece of the curse- maybe around a hundred points of mana. Using this smaller pool, he began reconstructing his body. It was a much less painful, much more manageable sensation than the full brunt of the curse, but he wasn¡¯t interested in toning down his training to something like this because it wouldn¡¯t be good for his power levels during the upcoming fight. This was only a proof of concept. Once he saw how much less dangerous this form of training was, he focused on Clever and entered Training Mode and¡­ not much changed. The pain was the exact same and the rate of rebuilding hadn¡¯t slowed down or sped up. The only thing different was that the Echoes from the curse attempting to escape hurt him more without a powerful body, but with how weak this curse was, it was manageable. The process of rebuilding his own muscles was more conceptual than literal, so it didn¡¯t actually matter what his literal muscle mass was. He was imbuing the concept of Wrath into the concept of his muscles, which was odd but unchanged by how strong he was. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. He sectioned off more and more of the Curse, bringing it into the pool of mana that he was drawing from and slowly strengthening it. He managed to begin using around half the Curse on his weaker body before the Echoes from its attacks overwhelmed his healing, forcing him to stop strengthening it. [Homeostasis] was still getting stronger, adjusting to the strength of the Echoes. Over time he hoped to be able to use the entire Curse on his weaker body as he became nigh immune to Echo damage. Settling on his current state, Dei took some time to eat and drink. Even if it hadn¡¯t been long since he¡¯d awoken, the process of rebuilding himself still took quite a bit of energy and made him sweat buckets. Though the changes were conceptual, his body still fought to adjust in ways he didn¡¯t understand. When he was settled into his new state, he began experimenting on the second way he was going to improve his training in the next month: by Identifying Aloran. They¡¯d already talked about it before, so he didn¡¯t waste time with another lengthy conversation. He simply gave Aloran a heads up, got confirmation, and sent out a web of Kindness mana into the open air, hoping to catch something. Clever told him that the mana levels in the air changed in response to Alorans emotional state, so he focused on that for now. Was there something he could Identify in the mana? It felt ephemeral, slipping through any attempt he made to grasp at it, but he could sense that there was something there if he really tried. It would take a long while, but Dei could spare some attention from Meditating to resist the pain, focusing it instead on working through Identify and exercising his body. It would just be a bit of a longer month than he¡¯d hoped. * * * A little over a week after starting, Dei began to notice a difference when he trained. At first, he assumed it was placebo, but it was now undeniable. The pain from [Growing Rage] using the Curse was beginning to recede, his body adjusting to the process of having Wrath imbued into it. That was despite him slowly using more of the Curse at once too in accordance with [Homeostasis] getting better and better at countering echoes. He knew there was an upper limit to how much Homeostasis could account for per level, but it was higher than normal because he¡¯d taken the Resistance upgrade, and each successive level raised the cap just a little bit more. On the front of Dei Identifying Aloran¡­ yea, it was certainly happening, but not very quickly. He would occasionally catch glimpses of something in the air, and he was learning to pinpoint Aloran better, but the progress was both difficult and slow. When he found a piece of mana that was ¡°Aloran¡± himself, or had a trace of Alorans soul, he would try and glean what he could from it- but the vastness and depth of what he encountered left him puzzled, trying to navigate a maze of interconnected ideas he was unequipped to process fully. When he found a piece of Aloran it was just another piece of the biggest, most complex jigsaw puzzle he¡¯d ever seen, each individual square holding enough information to hold him there for weeks before he could get anything of substance out of it. And that was if he could hold onto the same piece of mana for several weeks at a time, when in reality it would slip away after only half an hour or so. He didn¡¯t despair at the thought; If it was difficult, it was better training. * * * [Since the Fall: 12/30/809 - 25:50:00] [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (274) -> (300) [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (73) -> (100) [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (188) -> (200) [Total Stats Gained: +14 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (50) -> (57)] [Skill Leveled Up: Empower Self (12) -> (21)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (105) -> (111)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fortress of Denial (42) -> (53)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (112) -> (146)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (117) -> (158) [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (68) -> (100)] [Affinity Strengthened: [Fortitude: High-Uncommon: 99% has strengthened into Fortitude: Low-Rare: 12%] Temporarily, he paused his training as he looked at the clock. In just ten minutes, it would be the new year. Eight hundred and ten years since the Fall. He had multiple Skills ready to evolve but chose not to, because he¡¯d need to leave Aloran¡¯s cave to evolve them. He wanted to try his hand at weaving them all into [Connection], and he needed the Leviathan watching him to bear witness to his actions. He wanted to get as many Skills concentrated into a single trip as possible, because that would mean less time vulnerable to tracking. He, of course, couldn¡¯t wait too long though. If he did, then the Skills would waste time stuck at an evolutionary bottleneck, not gaining EXP from actions like they should. He would go out soon, probably tomorrow, because [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)] was the one Skill he especially couldn¡¯t let sit stagnant. [Good Samaritan] had reached level one hundred about a week and a half ago, while [Growing Rage] hit level two hundred just six days ago. [Identify of the Stout Protector] was right alongside Pandora¡¯s Box though, having hit level one hundred yesterday. The experience for everything was slowing down, and Dei discovered a second part to the multipliers Aloran spoke of- they worked in the other direction too, dividing experience in certain circumstances. Aloran said that trying new things would net more experience, which was correct, but Dei later found that if he did the same thing over and over again, he would eventually receive no experience at all. Dei would have to switch up the training for the next month if he still wanted to continue leveling his Skills up, but that would be fine. He wasn¡¯t doing this to level his Skills, he was giving his body time to absorb the Wrath Curse. Dei sighed, the bloated feeling from his box not going away. Aloran said that loose mana produced by his connection to certain affinities should just fade away with time if they were not placed within a storage Skill, but Aloran didn¡¯t account for his Skill being determined. There were a few points of Fortitude and Soul mana, glued to the walls of his box as the Skill refused to release them to their own devices. He checked how much mana he had in his Skill now. [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8552/12000 Wrath 379/12000 Kindness 1142/12000 Soul 710/12000 Fortitude 1150/12000 [NULL] ] 67/12000 Void] A shocking amount. His Wrath mana production had gone up ever since he¡¯d begun channeling the Curse, probably in response to the way it affected his mental state. On top of that, Soul from Meditation and Fortitude from trying to resist the curse''s effects made for rapid mana production. By this point, the pain from imbuing himself with Wrath was all but gone, reduced to a dull ache. The only mana type that was going down was Kindness, continuously drained by his [Good Samaritan] Skill in an attempt to buy him just a little more time. He¡¯d expected the mana to run dry by this point, but more Kindness continuously found its way to him through his affinity. Kindness seemed to recognize his actions, rewarding him, though he didn¡¯t quite agree. Helping Fendrascora was beneficial, it shouldn¡¯t be considered kindness. Nonetheless, it was. There was so much to do, so much to worry about. He didn¡¯t feel like it was smart to put a hold on his training, but he found that he just¡­ didn¡¯t want to for now. He could grant himself a small reprieve. The others in the cave, Clever, Fendrascora, and Perumah, were all fast asleep. To them, today was no different than any other, but Dei recognized it as a holiday. At least it should be, even in this world. ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± Aloran asked, surprising him. The God was generally very quiet, content to simply observe the training of Dei¡¯s group. It seemed even he felt a bit different with the coming of the new year. ¡°I guess not¡­¡± A mutual silence fell between them for a few moments, Aloran being the first to talk again. ¡°It¡¯s been an eventful year for me, I¡¯ll tell you that much.¡± ¡°That makes two of us. I¡¯ve been in this world for almost a year and a half by this point but it feels¡­ so much longer. I¡¯ve had more experiences in my time here than I ever had in my entire previous life, and Earth just feels so distant now. I still care about the people there, I still want to go back and finish up my business, but the journey feels more like stopping by to visit the city I lived in as a kid rather than returning to kill the people who wronged me.¡± ¡°I¡­ know where you¡¯re coming from. It¡¯s a different life, with different people. You aren¡¯t the same person you were when you left- quite literally in your case- and now you don¡¯t know how you¡¯re going to act when you finally get there.¡± ¡°Eh, I won¡¯t worry about that. If there¡¯s anything I¡¯ve learned since coming to Avium, it¡¯s the ability to think on my feet. I don¡¯t know really, I guess the new year just makes me think over where I¡¯ve started and how far I¡¯ve come. It¡¯s nice. It didn¡¯t start nice of course, but I can¡¯t complain about what I have now, and it¡¯s a solid foundation to base the rest of my life upon. When I get back to society, my experiences out here? I think it¡¯ll make everything else easy by comparison.¡± Aloran laughed. ¡°You have no idea how right you are. Slaughterers are certainly something, and they all hold their own vital places in the battle against the demon, so they¡¯re granted some special permissions.¡± The idea of others like him made Dei smile. He really wanted to meet a few. He wanted to share his experiences, and have others understand what he¡¯d gone through. ¡°Could you tell me about them? Other Slaughterers?¡± ¡°Well, it is almost the new year, I wouldn¡¯t mind talking about some of the things I¡¯d seen before ending up here¡± he said wistfully, no doubt thinking about the past. Dei made himself comfortable sitting against the wall. He quickly checked his clock. [Since the Fall: 1/1/810 - 26:00:00] ¡®Happy New Years.¡¯ Chapter 97 Of Dei and Aloran, neither could sleep, and it seemed like the others weren¡¯t bothered by their conversation, so long as it stayed reasonably quiet. Because they were both awake, Dei finally took the chance to ask something he¡¯d wondered for a while: what were other Slaughterers like? Aloran was happy to satiate his curiosity. ¡°I suppose I should tell you what Slaughterers are like and what role they play in society before getting anything specific. Slaughterers, as a people, are a bit¡­ disconnected. There is not much commonality between them, and each Slaughterer is wildly unique in their own way. Of course, everyone is unique, but Slaughterers are the difference between colors rather than shades. The only two traits between all of them are that: each of them have a weakness which they intentionally created to gain more strength in their niche, and each of them were socially isolated before the age of eight in lethally dangerous situations.¡± ¡°Situation? Not environment?¡± Dei asked. That sounded like a drastic differentiation, as a situation could be very small, while an environment provided some wiggle room. ¡°Yes, though you¡¯re jumping ahead a bit. We¡¯ll get there when I bring up some examples of Slaughterers. Now, not all Slaughterers are very powerful or dangerous at all, but they are all good at what they do. They have their niche. For this reason, when they make it back to society, it is procedure to placate them. The demon-kin are an incredibly versatile horde, as the demon is able to create a kin for every situation, a specialized tool for everything. This was a completely unstoppable tactic, before Slaughterers came into play. They specialize even more than even the demon-kin can, beating them on their own ground. It would be better to say that demon-kin are a shallow facsimile of Slaughterers. So when a new Slaughterer is found, a new specialty, it is priority number one to get them on the side of Sapients, as they will doubtlessly be able to foil the demon''s plans, if placed in the correct situation. ¡°To get their participation in the war, whichever society the Slaughterer finds themselves in again will cater towards their needs. Most of the time though, the Slaughterers will join the war willingly. Many of them have known nothing but combat and, even when they are safe, they have a sort of craving for danger. For this reason, they are granted advisors. It is the duty of a Slaughterer¡¯s advisor to help them integrate back into society, negotiate their desires, and direct them to places their niche is needed. ¡°If the Slaughterer only wants blood, the Advisor''s job is actually rather easy. Just point the Slaughterer at problems until they¡¯re gone. If the Slaughterer legitimately wants to integrate back into society, it is the Advisor that teaches them. But if the Slaughterer wants payment for its participation in the war, the Advisor usually has its work cut out for them, because Slaughterers never want ¡®money¡¯ as payment. It¡¯s always something crazy or weird, something relevant to the experiences that turned them into Slaughterers. ¡°To give an example of this, I¡¯ll talk about one of the three Slaughterers I¡¯ve met, and a rather fringe case of everything I¡¯ve said so far. Every Slaughterer is designated with a number to indicate how many Slaughterers existed before them, then a title given to them that summarizes who they are. What I tell you now is the story of Slaughterer one hundred and twenty six, Empty Past. ¡°Empty Past starts his story at the age of three, when his town was burned down by raiding demon-kin. One such demon used a spatial ability to sort of¡­ knock people out of reality, killing them. When it went to kill Empty Past, supposedly the boy dodged mostly out of the way, but was still clipped. Without a resistance to magic, he was partially dislodged from reality and stuck in place. In the real world, he was gone, but to Empty Past, he watched everything around him shift slowly over time. He couldn¡¯t move, but he watched as the demon-kin finished killing everyone, then left. He spoke of seeing everything pass him by, investigators, mourners, and animals alike came to visit the abandoned town, and none saw him. He said that he had a revelation in this time, seeing the world he was once a part of slowly change. After a month of watching, he finally decided to take a Profession called [Watcher], which did exactly as the name implied. He sat there, unmoving, for three straight years. Doing nothing but watching. In this time, he gained a strong connection to the Passing and Farsight affinity. Passing, because his time spent trapped seemed to teach him what it means to understand that ¡°everything passes eventually,¡± and Farsight because he wanted nothing more than to see more of the world while he was trapped, and his field of view slowly grew as his power did. When his Profession hit level one hundred in this time, he chose to specialize away from combat completely- giving up his Class in order to make his next Profession stronger. ¡°After the three years were up, he decided it was time to move. He said that he felt the urge to escape not because he hated his existence there, but because he was the only thing stagnant in the entire world. Channeling his Passing affinity, he commanded his situation to pass. He would either die, or he would escape. Either way was fine with him. ¡°Instead of falling back into normal reality though, Empty Past spoke of falling somewhere else, into an echo of reality that was fragmented beyond anything he¡¯d heard of before. He made his way through such a place, eventually returning back to the world- but not the one he¡¯d been in before.¡± Confused, Dei asked ¡°Wait, he was part of a parallel universe? I thought you said those don¡¯t exist? Or was he just from another universe entirely¡­ but no, there was a demon in Empty Past¡¯s home world. What happened?¡± Aloran let out a humorless chuckle. ¡°You¡¯re correct, there are no parallel universes, but there are echoes of our own, as Clever has said before. He can take advantage of these ¡®fake¡¯ realities, commanding them to his will. Empty Past was from an echo created by a powerful Time mage, one who was trying to simulate different timelines as part of an unrelated experiment. Empty Past, despite being fake, managed to make himself real, entering the real world as a Slaughterer. They even checked and, the moment he entered the physical realm, he was given a soul. It was absurd, but he came out as a genuinely incredible Slaughterer. He was able to fade out of reality and watch everything, making things pass at different rates. While he wasn¡¯t interested in fighting in the demonic war, he did still participate for a price. In exchange for transportation to very high or scenic areas he could fade out and watch for long periods of time, Empty Past would make powerful demon-kin ¡®pass.¡¯ While it was, like many Slaughterer abilities, very niche, it would cause old demon-kin who¡¯d stagnated to use up all their saved up ¡®progression¡¯ so to speak. If they had Skills to make them immortal, Empty Past would make them age to where they were supposed to be. If the demon-kin existed in an area for a long time, Empty Past could cause natural disasters to make them go away. If they had been stagnant in all their abilities for a long time, Empty Past could just outright kill them. ¡°The best of it is that the demon-kin simply could not find him when he dropped out of reality. At one point, the demon sent several assassins to find him, so he dropped out of reality and- surprise surprise- he waited them out. When they¡¯d sat still too long, he made them pass. ¡°Before I¡¯d become stuck here, Empty Past was actually still an active Slaughterer, as he had not died yet. I sometimes wonder if he¡¯s still around and how he¡¯s doing.¡± ¡°So¡­ Wait, he became a Slaughterer through Profession? I thought you had to be like¡­ a killer or something. The Slaughterer Achievement only grants an upgrade to Class, so I assumed it was a combat-based thing. I was even only able to get my first Slaughterer Achievement because I killed enemies far above my level.¡± ¡°Ah, not so. Each Slaughterer Achievement is tailor-made to the person in order to give them bonuses that they would need, and earn them in a way that person can achieve. When one first joins the path of a Slaughterer, the only requirement is that they begin the process of carving out pieces of themselves for the purpose of survival. True, most do this by killing, but there are some cases like Empty Past. For you, if you¡¯d wanted to become a Slaughterer without combat, you likely would¡¯ve had to never leave my Garden¡­ Ever. Just sat in here doing nothing. If you¡¯d done that and perhaps started cutting away all possible ways to look outside, such as getting rid of your [Tremor Sense] or [Darkvision] Racial abilities at the time, the System would¡¯ve made you a Slaughterer. Maybe you would¡¯ve even gained an ability to help you avoid starving so you didn¡¯t have to leave to get food.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Dei shivered at the thought, that would¡¯ve absolutely been more difficult than killing. Sure, he had moral issues with killing the helpless Lorpee¡¯s, but he still felt human afterwards. Merely flawed. If he had never left his little bubble, cutting away all parts of him that existed outside of it, would there be anything of him left? ¡°The System can just do that? Change the requirements and rewards for Achievements? Why wouldn¡¯t it simply make a new Achievement if it did?¡± ¡°The System can do whatever it wants, but it is likely because Slaughterers are more of an idea than an actual people. It¡¯s the idea of triumphing alone in the wild over impossible odds making sacrifices in the name of survival, and coming back stronger for it. Really, that¡¯s it. There are many cases of Achievements custom-fitting to the user, it¡¯s actually a common trope in organizational Achievements.¡± ¡°Organizational Achievements?¡± ¡°Yea like, consistently repeatable Achievements. There¡¯s a measure of luck or opportunity in most Achievements that demand you take advantage of whatever situation you find yourself in. Organizational Achievements don¡¯t really do that, but they¡¯re always harder, and higher quality. You know of one such repeatable Achievement: Shamans. Shamans go through a period of brutal training, which has a genuinely high mortality rate. Something like twenty percent of those who fail Shaman training, die. The success rate is one in five thousand as well. A lot of people die in the Shaman training, but that¡¯s expected for such a powerful Achievement. With the high mortality rate and heavy responsibilities on each Shaman, the Shaman Achievement provides just as much power as the Slaughterer Achievement. Though¡­ the Slaughterer Achievement is probably very strong despite having less expectations because the mortality rate for such situations is estimated to sit at ninety nine point nine percent. I digress, either way, the Shaman Achievement is known to not only adapt to the Shaman themselves- but even their particular staff, increasing the users affinity growth for that staff. Adaptable, changing Achievements are almost unheard of, which is what makes Shamans so impressive. Their versatility.¡± ¡®Dayum¡­ I get bonuses to all affinities, but based on how Aloran is saying it, Shamans get MASSIVE bonuses to the affinities of their particular staff. I get around double, would a Shaman get five times bonus to certain affinities? More? If I ever challenge one, I¡¯ll need to play into MY niche. Also, I have to find my niche.¡¯ ¡°You said that adaptable Achievements were almost unheard of, how many are there?¡± Aloran chuckled. ¡°Five. There are Five known Achievements that change situationally, though all but two types are basically extinct. Shamans are still around, and Elites are the other, which is coincidentally very relevant to you.¡± ¡°How so? Are Elites related to Slaughterers?¡± ¡°Yep, just so. Elites are like the social mirror to Slaughterers. They are people who have reached the top rung of whichever society they are in, either in academies or armies or whatever they find themselves in. They shine brightly when facing other sapients, but struggle horribly against monsters- the opposite of Slaughterers. Elites are just a catch-all term for those who were raised specifically to be the best, through incredibly brutal training. They¡¯re relevant to Slaughterers because they are what keep Slaughterers in check. The Achievement for Elites grant them insight into the enemies weakness, and Skills to take advantage of such things, but it only works against people. When a Slaughterer goes rogue and starts killing people, Elites are dispatched to put them down, and they do so with ease against Slaughterers because Slaughterers base their entire powerset around a weakness. I won¡¯t say they win every time, but the odds between an Elite and a Slaughterer are clearly weighed in the Elites favor, and they almost always come in groups.¡± ¡®A mirror to Slaughterers. Dei thought while looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. ¡®It makes sense for such a person to be needed. As society progresses, it¡¯s supposed to leave behind fighting against wild predators. On Earth, how many people fought tigers in their day to day? Practically none outside of isolated communities. How many fought people? A lot more. This world is still skewed towards brutal, animalistic fighting because of its age, but I don¡¯t doubt that over time the challenges would become more about other people.¡¯ ¡°Ah wait, but why are Shamans an independent Achievement to the Elite, if they seem so much similar to one another?¡± Dei wondered. ¡°Because the Shaman have far different purposes. Elite are not legally tied to any one organization and can move around or be hired as mercenaries, though they usually do tend to be biased towards whichever organization trained them. Shaman are required to stay in the Gem Dweller system and serve honorably and legally, bound tighter by their own laws than the common person. It¡¯s a system that only works because Gem Dwellers are very cold, calculating, and honest people. Though honest does not mean good, as I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve seen. Most Gem Dwellers simply see leaving to explore the world as¡­ unnecessary. They would rather have a stable life at home, where they grew up and know all the rules of.¡± Dei couldn¡¯t agree with that. It was likely his past experience of being a different variant human, but he still wanted to go out and explore. He¡¯d seen way too much to think his narrow view was enough. If he was going to see a variety of the world though, he would need to play into his strengths, avoiding places that took advantage of mana sight or required outside manipulation to get through. This brought his mind back to the question of what his niche was. All he¡¯d done was give up his outside magical sense for more strength, but strength wasn¡¯t a niche. He was tempted to ask Aloran, but felt like that would be giving something private away. His weakness could easily be taken advantage of, and he was still cautious of everything. Even if Aloran meant him well right now, Dei was worried about if they ever had a falling out. He didn¡¯t know what would cause such a thing, but it wasn¡¯t impossible. When he remembered the existence of Elite though, he sighed. ¡®I suppose it doesn¡¯t really matter, does it? When I get back to society, there will be an entire mercenary group of people dedicated to killing me if I go nuts. And if others know while I don¡¯t, wouldn¡¯t that be even worse? Because I can¡¯t account for my own weakness?¡¯ ¡°Aloran, would you mind helping me figure out what my weakness and niche is as a Slaughterer?¡± he asked, the entire train of thought taking only a second. Aloran made a shrugging noise. ¡°Sure, I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t know yourself. Would you mind sharing your Slaughterer Class with me, the Skills you got, and the benefits of your Slaughterer Achievement? Those should summarize what your strength is.¡± Dei brought up his [Watchful Slaughterer] Achievement, which spoke of protecting those under him, and the descriptions of the Skills it gave: [Empowered Rage], [Join Arms], [Dispersed Burden]. Though he didn¡¯t have them anymore, the Skills were still part of the Class. ¡°Hm? I think it¡¯s actually a little obvious what your build is based around, though you¡¯ve only just started taking advantage of it. Your niche is taking advantage of other monsters by engaging in symbiotic relationships with them. Empowered Rage improves your body as a natural treasure using certain mana types to make you more appealing so you can give away tiny pieces of yourself, Join Arms helps you draw strength from your relationship with these monsters in the form of micro-improvements that build up the more you have, and Dispersed Burden encourages you to get a variety in your entourage, so you can harmlessly disperse damage types to those under your protection. When you got the Slaughterer Achievement, didn¡¯t it give you upgraded Beastial communication? That will help you on your path greatly.¡± Dei was stunned. He hadn¡¯t been doing¡­ any of that. Well, sort of, but not intentionally. Aloran seemed to understand his confusion, and continued. ¡°You have to remember Dei, you JUST became a Slaughterer. Your path was just solidified. You began taking advantage of this before you were officially a Slaughterer, but you only now have the correct skillset to really take advantage of this path. I¡¯m sure that, when you¡¯re out in the world again, you¡¯ll find it much easier to use your abilities to their fullest.¡± Still, he would need to change his style a bit. Not much, as Dei would likely continue to be the bulwark for whatever symbiotic relationships he found along the way, but he¡¯d need to start putting some active effort into finding smaller creatures or monsters that could attach to him and provide some benefits. Looking back over his journey so far, he started to wonder if there were any of the creatures he¡¯d seen that he might¡¯ve been able to negotiate with for certain benefits. Chapter 98 [Since the Fall: 1/1/810 - 18:56:28] After his talk with Aloran, he¡¯d gone to sleep and woken up late. It was now time to alter the four Skills he had at an evolutionary threshold, and he¡¯d been planning out how. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)] was one he needed all the information he could have on, so he actually decided to go over the options and see if he could draw inspiration for what direction he should take it. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Separated Enchanting Focused Mitotic] Separated allowed him to break the box into multiple smaller ones so they wouldn¡¯t be close to one another. It did almost nothing except finally let him separate the Wrath Curse from regular Wrath mana. He didn¡¯t think it was worth it, so he disregarded it. Enchanting would let him use mana to enhance objects. He¡¯d rather use the mana on himself, so he again threw it out. Focused allowed him to concentrate his mana further by using the Sectioning upgrade as lenses, but it wouldn¡¯t stay in the box, which was an issue. He¡¯d have to use the concentrated mana immediately as it was focused then fired out of the Skill. Mitotic let his box produce its own mana, so if he could get a sample of mana then he could designate the box to produce it. It would allow him to create mana from types he didn¡¯t actually have, but was limited to one affinity at a time. Overall, they were cool, but not what he was looking for. Since he was going to manually evolve his Skill, he decided to open his mind a bit more and asked himself what he wanted from it. Of course, the first thing that came to mind was a way to produce more strings of [Connection], because it was a massive hassle to rearrange the parts in his soul to use it. In order to do this he would make use of the music box-esque shape of it, adding a crank to the side. Spinning the crank would pull the mana together into a string-like material as though it were a spinning wheel, concentrating it down further. It seemed like every possible way to Concentrate mana got weirder as the mana became stronger, with its own caveats each time. First, it was a mandatory process. Then, he had to manually crush it down by sectioning it into walls and compressing it. Now, he had to either shoot it through a lens or spin it like fabric, neither of which were guaranteed for Dei to even have the ability to store them. For [Good Samaritan], he struggled to imagine what it would even do. He knew he wanted to give it the ability to break tracking marks, but how? [Connection], as a Skill, was chock-full of concepts he couldn¡¯t understand. Dei¡¯s new idea for the Skill was to take advantage of something he was sure the Skill hid somewhere- a Leviathans danger, consciousness, or something of the sort. He would make it so [Good Samaritan] could summon tiny Leviathans using [Connection], sending them out to hunt down anything in his soul that didn¡¯t belong. That was the plan, and he¡¯d stick to it unless it was proven impossible. [Growing Rage] was easy. He¡¯d work [Connection] into the Skill so it would slowly rebuild him with more Leviathan-based concepts in mind, turning him from a Union into a Reaper, as he wanted in the long term. That left [Identify of the Stout Protector], which he had an idea for. It was very good at piercing spiritual defenses, but all it did was gather information. Dei wanted to try tying a rope of Connection to the back of its Wrath Identify¡¯s needle, forming a link between Dei and the target. If he succeeded he would be able to push spells through the link, directly past the soul¡¯s natural defenses. Dei truly did not want to go on some massive endeavor of rearranging Connection over and over, so he decided that the first Skill to change would be [Pandora¡¯s Box]. When he did that, he¡¯d produce more of [Connection], and use the new lengths to redo his Skills. Looking inward, he plotted the path Connection would take, finding one of the winding paths that came close to [Pandora¡¯s Box] and studying what memories he¡¯d have to remove from it. When he felt he was mentally ready, he told the others what he was doing and let Fendrascora slip back into the Great River. Aloran said that it would be fine for him to do the changes right outside his cave because Aloran would be unharmed by anything the Leviathans could do, as they were clearly unable to see him. His divinity would protect everyone, so there was no need to keep a distance. Dei wouldn¡¯t rush the process, but any time he went outside the cave, his pursuers would be able to get a bead on his general location again. Aloran said that they still traveled closer, even when they couldn¡¯t see Dei¡¯s location, because they could still remember what direction he was in, though they did slow down significantly so as not to overshoot. After this next excursion, Aloran guessed they would get close enough to pierce the concealment slightly and begin making their way to him. In a month or two, his hiding would be useless. Keeping that in mind, Dei finally pushed his way out of Aloran¡¯s Garden, not even going five feet before sitting on the ground and beginning the process of separating some [Connection] out of his memories to use. He had to split his mind in half, dedicating one mind to keeping his body under control while the other quickly finished the process. He still spasmed violently, same as last time, but Meditation helped him keep his mind from wallowing in the horrible sensation. When he had enough, he dragged Connection closer to [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed)]. To work it into his storage Skill, he¡¯d need to somehow tie the middle part in, then allow the Skill to continue on through his soul, because it still needed to weave up and onto the surface. The only way to turn this Skill into an end piece would be to break the string in half, which he felt would be a very bad idea. He¡¯d prepared for this to work though, so Dei quickly edited the manifestation of his Skill. He wasn¡¯t changing its function at all just yet, so the Skill simply reshaped itself. It was easy to do, because all he was adding was a small turning crank on the side- something a music box should¡¯ve had in the first place anyway. With the manifestation of the hand crank, Dei continued to modify the inside appearance of the Skill so it contained a cylinder and small metal pins to play music, though the cylinder had no bumps for the pins to play. Taking connection, he pushed it into the crank and out the other side so it looked like [Connection] went in through the crank, twist around the central cylinder, then go out through a hole in the other side. Now it was looking much more music-inclined, but Dei still needed to make it function, so he went into the box and frayed [Connection] slightly. He didn¡¯t want to break the Skill, but he took two incredibly fine fibers and linked them into the Soul mana of his Pandora¡¯s Box. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. His goal was for the Soul mana to rush into Connection, which would then twist around the cylinder and slowly tie the two paths of Soul into one another, concentrating them down further. He tried to impress his intent on both the Skills he was using, and felt [Connection] respond slightly. Like most Skills, it had a lot of innate information contained within. He found that it was different though, because the Skill was borderline alive, so he just prayed it was feeling generous enough today to help him out. When he finalized the changes, he wasted no time in testing out the new upgrade. Dei had preemptively compressed the Soul mana down into twenty five times concentration, so if it worked, the Skill should turn it into fifty times concentration, just barely enough to create more Connection for him to work with. When he fed this mana into the Connection upgrade, two surprises reared their heads. First, Dei realized that he¡¯d forgotten how his own Skill worked. He needed to use smaller sections if he wanted to use a smaller quantity, and he¡¯d just linked Connection with all his remaining Soul mana. The result was that the Skill drew it all in, and he was immediately bottomed out of Soul mana. The second unexpected result was probably a product of all his music-box imagery he¡¯d been using. Dei¡¯s hope for the Skill was that it would spin around and slowly merge, turning into a string he could use. What happened instead was that he saw [Connection] change shape, smoothing itself out around the cylinder before small bumps began to appear, retexturing it. He was confused for only a second before it began to spin itself, and play. The pins made their quiet tinkling sound for a few seconds, but the metallic twang slowly shifted into other instruments than should be physically possible. Instead of sounding like a music box, it began to play a haunting melody that sounded like it¡¯d come from a gramophone. There was a loud background static, but the tune was still beautiful, and he saw as hyper-concentrated Soul mana began to emanate from the box. ¡®HA! It may not be the solid rope I was hoping for, but that¡¯s fifty times concentration mana right there! It worked, and I don¡¯t have to use it immediately. I can clearly grab hold of it and store it in my body, though for some reason it will not enter Pandora¡¯s Box. Hm, problems for later.¡¯ It took time, perhaps thirty seconds, but the Skill slowly but surely created fifty-times concentrated Soul affinity mana. Previously, he had over eleven hundred Soul mana. Now that it was concentrated down from so much, he had only one hundred and thirty seven. When the Skill was done converting the Soul mana, the song finally stopped playing. That was an odd weakness he¡¯d have to account for, because he just sort of¡­ emanated music for while the Skill did its thing. If there were any monsters around, they would have heard him. Ignoring that for a moment, he quickly pushed all of it into his [Connection] Skill, one that¡¯d sat completely unchanged since he¡¯d first gotten it from Soul. Finally, finally, he received a beautiful, blessed notification. [Skill Leveled Up: Connection (1) -> (8)] He even allowed himself the luxury of looking at the opened Skill window. [Connection - Level 8 - Soul Affinity A rumbling echo of the deep, feel as it flows through your body and out, connecting you to the world. The pulse journeys through all, taking and giving. The web connects all, pulling and pushing. Gives the ability to form the strings of the Connection spell Cost: 1 mana point with 50 times Soul Concentration per inch of Connection] With one hundred and thirty seven mana poured into it, the Skill produced just over eleven feet of [Connection]. It was incredible. He had new Connection to work with, that he could break apart as he pleased without having to worry about major soul damage or a Leviathan smiting him!. Still, he didn¡¯t dilly dally, moving on to the next Skill he¡¯d need to evolve, [Good Samaritan]. The Skill manifested itself in his soul as a weird freaky little voodoo doll thing made of straw, which he was still a bit unsure of what it represented. For some reason, in his head though, the manifestation made sense. Using his new just-over-eleven feet of [Connection], Dei sheared off the excess length, leaving him with a perfect eleven feet. Using the sheared off string, Dei tied a knot around the neck of the doll. It seemed to do something, but not enough. Instead, Dei sheared off two more feet of Connection, tying it around each of the strings holding the doll together. Before, the doll was held by mundane plant fiber. Now, it was held by glowing white fishing line. When he finished replacing the last of the mundane plant fiber, the doll seemed to absorb the glow of Connection. The concentrated spell dimmed, but the doll as a whole now emanated an eerie white light. He didn¡¯t need to activate the Skill in order to test it, because he¡¯d honestly never turned it off. Now, he was receiving some sort of feedback from the Skill that he was pretty sure told him where to locate the marks in his soul, but he¡¯d have to check later, because it was time to move on. [Growing Rage]- again, super easy. He went to the room with the Skill and looked around for some way to use Connection, seeing all the workout equipment. It was all representative of what the Skill did, so if he could work [Connection] into the equipment, he was sure it would begin to permeate the concepts the Skill was using to rebuild his body. He was tempted to replace the jump ropes with all the [Connection] he had left, but doubted it would leave enough slack for his last Skill evolution. He¡¯d keep it simple for now, but Dei thought Growing Rage had the most potential, and would require the most strings of Connection. If he could work the Leviathan Skill into all the equipment, it would probably turn him into a Reaper much faster. For now, he settled on just a small piece getting replaced- the chain that held up his punching bag. Mentally he cut off around two more feet, then reshaped it into an ethereal glowing chain. Deleting the existing one, he replaced it and felt the meanings the Skill would focus on suddenly shift. Seven feet of Connection left, he moved on to the last evolving Skill: [Identify of the Stout Protector] It existed as a pair of floating eyes above the red forest he¡¯d created them. The right eye, his ruby colored one, glowed with Wrath, while his left eye, the amethyst, was tinted slightly pink to show his Kindness. The white sclera of the floating eyes released the typical ghostly glow of Soul. For this Skill, he needed to link Connection with the needle of Wrath, so he mentally expanded the ruby eye to look at its inner mechanism. There wasn¡¯t actually anything in the eye, but his mind quickly conjured what he was looking for, a needle floating just behind the lens of his pupil. The change he put in place was simple, as he took the remaining seven feet of [Connection], linking the needle with the back of his eye. Now, instead of the needle being sent free-flying, it would stay linked to him so long as [Connection] didn¡¯t snap, which he hoped it never would. All the Skills done, he made a quick test of Identify, looking down the tunnel and firing his needle. Again, it went flying, but instead of going very far, it stopped dead seven feet away and dissipated. Quickly making his way over to a patch of moss nearby, he hit it with a Wrath Identify, and the Skill didn¡¯t immediately disappear. He found that he was able to pump more MP into it to continuously disrupt its spiritual defenses rather than just a short burst. When he tried channeling Wrath mana into it, the function changed completely. It didn¡¯t simply disrupt the defenses, but actually started ripping through the moss. He tried cutting it off quickly, but it only took a second for the moss to inflate, then pop like a firecracker. He grimaced, feeling slightly bad for killing it unnecessarily but like¡­ it was moss. True, plants could be sentient in this world, but his one wasn¡¯t, so he just quickly made his way back to the cave and slinked to safety All things considered, his experiments were going well. The Skills weren¡¯t turning out to be exactly what he hoped for, but their functions were close enough that he wasn¡¯t really disappointed. Chapter 99 Escaping back into Aloran¡¯s cave, he checked his clock and realized the entire process had taken around six minutes. It wasn¡¯t much, but he was sure that was enough for his trackers to realign themselves in his direction, an inevitability considering he was running low on Kindness mana and when he ran out, [Good Samaritan] would no longer fully silence his marks. Speaking of, he was most hopeful for that evolution. While it was true he was unlikely to remove them all in the time he had, especially considering he had hundreds on him, it would be good practice for a future situation. He saw that he had a new notification and quickly checked it. [Affinity Strengthened: [Soul: Low-Uncommon 99% has strengthened into Soul: Mid-Uncommon: 5%] Not unexpected at all. Leviathans were closely tied to the concept of Soul, so it would be more than enough to break another threshold. Then, seeing no reason to delay, he temporarily waived off questions from the others and looked over his new evolutions. [Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) - Level 300 - Kindness Affinity - 10872/12000 Mana Stored To contain your sin, you have created¡­ ¡­ Level 300 evolutionary upgrade - Gain the ability to concentrate mana up to 2x its original. During the process, release a melody custom to whichever affinity was chosen. This melody will act as an attracting call for entities with an active affinity for the song. Strength of call is dependent on concentration being refined] ¡®It¡¯s not just a mana concentrator, it also works as an incredibly effective taunt. If I can find a way to increase the radius that monsters can hear it, I could lure a certain type. I could even synergise this with my Slaughterer build, finding unique monsters that I need. All I have to do is pull enough of a mana type into my box, form a bond with the monsters that show up, then use them to get more of that mana, slowly building in strength until I¡¯ve got some strong allies.¡¯ It was a blessing and a curse. He¡¯d have to be careful to not make enemies swarm towards him, but if he used it carefully, there was potential. [Good Samaritan - Level 100 - Kindness Affinity - Toggleable No good deed goes unpunished, but perhaps one can avoid the hammer of judgment, if only the hand holding it fails to find you. When committing an act out of the goodness of your heart in a way that is more detrimental to you than it is beneficial, gain the ability to make either your face or all your actions obscured. Become more difficult to trace the higher leveled it is Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - When something attaches itself to your soul to track you, find which area the mark is contained within.] It said ¡°area¡± and not ¡°exact location¡± so he would have to test its effectiveness, but it was generally what he hoped for. [Growing Rage - Level 200 - Wrath Affinity - Passive Working out or fighting to the death, what¡¯s the¡­ ¡­ Level 200 evolutionary upgrade - Imbue ??? into body with every ??? rebuilding yourself towards ???] He smiled at the description. Though it was unhelpful, that meant the System would¡¯ve had to reveal stuff about the Leviathans to say it. Before, he thought the System blotted certain things out because it didn¡¯t know them. Now that he had some more experience, he was starting to realize the System had to deal with various divine entities and cater towards them. It seemed like whatever [Growing Rage] specifically did, the Leviathans didn¡¯t want it spelled out for him. Still, he was pretty sure it was doing what he wanted it to, bringing him closer to becoming a Reaper. He would have to strengthen this evolution further when he got more length of [Connection] by replacing more and more of the training equipment in his Skill, but that was more of a long-term goal. He hoped it wouldn¡¯t be too hard to do after the Skill leveled up a bit, but he was pretty sure if it passed level two hundred, he¡¯d be fighting it with each change he made. [Identify of the Stout Protector - Level 100 - Soul/Wrath/Kindness Affinity There are many unknowns¡­ ¡­ Level 100 evolutionary upgrade - Wrath mode upgraded] ¡®Hardy har har, yea, I see that. It does give me some information at least. If the System can¡¯t tell me everything it does, that probably means channeling mana through it isn¡¯t the limit of its abilities, it¡¯s going to be more complicated than I first assumed.¡¯ When he¡¯d reviewed them, Dei told the others how his evolutions went and the effects he¡¯d ended up receiving, as well as the cryptic descriptions of the System, and why he believed they were presented in such a way. Aloran was quick to speak up about his own opinion in the matter. ¡®You are mostly correct, though it is not just because the System has made deals with the Leviathans. It may also be because the System deems it more beneficial to not tell you, but there is no way to know which of the two is the reason for its vagueness. For your Identify though, I am reasonably confident that it says nothing because there is nothing it¡¯s allowed to say. Usually, it at least tries to give you something to work with. If it doesn¡¯t, I would say it is likely that your Wrath Identify did not dilute the concepts in Connection, nearly at all. Instead, it contains a pure version of Connection within, and the System cannot describe what Connection is.¡± ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t all of them do that? I¡¯m pretty sure I infused each of them with Connection, why would Identify be any different?¡± ¡°True, they each have parts of Connection within them, but it is partially changed by the Skill. Your Identify supposedly did not do that. When you cast your Wrath version, it manifests pure Connection, not a muddied down version of it. As for why? I can¡¯t be sure, but it is a Soul affinity Skill, yes? Maybe it was easier for Connection to integrate? But that is only my guesswork.¡± Dei didn¡¯t have any idea for what it might be either, but Alorans explanation made sense. ¡°What does this mean for it though? I¡¯m playing around with [Connection] a lot, but ultimately, I don¡¯t actually know what the Skill does. Its description is cryptic and what it can do has always been unclear. If I¡¯m using pure Connection, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m properly equipped to utilize it efficiently¡­¡± he said, worrying about what the Leviathan would do if he wasn¡¯t taking full advantage of his Skills potential. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you for certain what the Skill does, but I know some tidbits and speculation that might help. As far as I know, [Connection] is a small fragment of the Leviathans true Skill: [Right of the Leviathan]. Every Leviathan is born with this Skill, but it can be broken up into four parts: [Connection], [Command], [Alter], and [Know]. It¡¯s theorized that if you gained all of them, you could merge them into the full Skill, but again that¡¯s a bit unsure. As for the Skills themselves, it¡¯s believed that they function based on the word that composes them, and the domain of the Primordial Child. Similar to [Right of the Leviathan], there is [Right of the Titan] so on and so forth for all the others, and each of them are structured similarly. ¡°To clarify what I mean by the word and domain, [Command] would be the ability to Command things within the domain of Leviathans, such as souls. This means that [Connection] would be the ability to connect to anything with the Leviathans domain. I know this is vague, but this is truly all that is known of the fragmented Primordial Child Skills.¡± ¡°Damn¡­ So I got like, the second weakest of the Leviathan Skills? Command and Alter would¡¯ve been insane to have.¡± ¡°That¡¯s intentional. Command and Alter are absurdly hard to earn and Soul never gives them out, ever. Know and Connection are usually what people use to break into becoming a Reaper.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Okay okay, so I can connect to things within the Leviathans domain. What does that mean?¡± ¡°Dunno, really. Souls? Spirits? Life in general? Creation? You¡¯re on your own for this one kiddo.¡± Dei hummed thoughtfully. It couldn¡¯t just be souls, otherwise it would be called the Leviathan affinity, not the Soul affinity. Experimentation time indeed. Probably¡­ later though. For now, he would use it as a simple Identify, and save the complex stuff for after his battle. No blowing stuff up with it either, lest he anger the Leviathans for using it as a common weapon. He would make it clear that now just wasn¡¯t the time to figure stuff out. That in mind, he quickly began testing the limits of his new abilities. He already knew Pandora¡¯s Box, so he ignored that. Instead, activating [Good Samaritan]. * * * He¡¯d fidgeted with it for a while and finally figured out how to track the marks down. The new mode of his Skill led him to this memory, because there was an intangible connection between this memory and the voodoo doll of his Skill. He assumed that Connection took itself literally in this case, connecting to where he needed to go. The memory he was now looking at supposedly carried a tracking mark, but he wasn¡¯t sure how. It was one of him walking down a random cave some time after saving Clever and before meeting Fendrascora. It was this specific memory too, this one moment. He looked at it now as a still-frame. He could move his vision outside of his field of view, because his mind naturally remembered what was there before, and could extrapolate what it looked like around him. Not sure what else to do, he got to looking. * * * It¡¯d taken him two hours of searching to finally find it. Most of the memory was alterable, but would sort of stutter back into place if moved, reasserting its existence. One random pebble on the ground though, one random pebble didn¡¯t glitch when moved. Studying it for a time, he could see nothing special about it. He crushed it. Dei sensed the link between [Good Samaritan] and this memory fade, and a unique mana type was expunged from the memory. More than that, [Pandora¡¯s Box] actually kicked into action, absorbing the unknown mana type. [Pandora¡¯s Box: 8556/12000 Wrath 358/12000 Kindness 23/12000 Soul 721/12000 Fortitude 1150/12000 [NULL] ] 72/12000 Void 10/12000 Tracking] ¡®Sweet! When I break down the tracking marks, I get to keep them!¡¯ He didn¡¯t know how to turn them back into a tracking mark, but he had some experience using freeform mana manipulation without the affinity. He did it every time he caused an explosion using Snap mana. Now that he knew how the Skill worked though, he wasn¡¯t interested in continuing this experimentation. He moved on to [Growing Rage]. * * * It was just as simple as he¡¯d hoped. Now, when Concentration passed through the Skill, it was upgraded slightly with Leviathan-based concepts. These concepts didn¡¯t take away from the original, simply adding onto it. He did note, though, that it was very little. As he suspected, he would need more of [Connection] in the Skill. * * * ¡°Luckily, it will be easier to strengthen the evolution now that a small amount of Connection is a part of it¡± Aloran said in response to his question. ¡°It won¡¯t be as easy as it is now, but not nearly as difficult as forcing an evolution on the Skill outside of its threshold. Once it levels, you can put more changes into the Skill- so long as it is only to strengthen what is already there.¡± ¡®That¡¯s good. That means I can keep training with the Skill without worrying about wasting its potential. With my Identify as well, I¡¯ll be able to lengthen it from seven feet. That¡¯s way too short of a distance, but if I add more Connection to it, the Skill should respond accordingly and give me more range.¡¯ Now it was time to get back to work. This might be the last full month he was able to take to improve himself, as Aloran confirmed that his enemy was closing in much faster now. Even if they couldn¡¯t track him because of [Good Samaritan], they were still getting closer because they knew where he was before. If he was able to keep Good Samaritan up, Aloran said he would have around two months¡­ but Dei knew he didn¡¯t have the mana for two more months. It was getting harder to contain the marks as the enemy got closer, he would run out this month. This would be his last training session. ¡®Better make it count I suppose.¡¯ * * * [Since the Fall: 1/25/810 - 17:03:44] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (100) -> (113)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (57) -> (59)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (200) -> (231)] [Total Stats Gained: +11 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Empower Self (21) -> (27)] [Skill Leveled Up: Connection (8) -> (10)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (111) -> (124)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fortress of Denial (53) -> (61)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (146) -> (160)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (158) -> (167)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (100) -> (103)] His Kindness mana didn¡¯t last the full month, as he¡¯d hoped, but it was close. In the time he had, Dei continued to use his [Connection] to produce more, upgrading both [Growing Rage] and his Identify. He could now Identify things up to nine feet, rather than just seven, and the concepts in Growing Rage were slightly more potent. That Skill would take a looong time to use to its fullest. The conversations between their little group had all gone quiet. Each of them were getting stronger as fast as they could in preparation, and it was showing off. Fendrascora was just shy of level three hundred, and Clever flickered in and out of existence a lot. Dei asked what he was doing, but Clever remained purposefully vague for now. Now that his cloak was down, Aloran told him the plan he¡¯d created. ¡°While I could continue to obscure you slightly and give you a day or two more, it won¡¯t change much about the battle. As it is, they will get here in five days. If you leave the cave, it¡¯ll go down to four if they maintain the speed they¡¯re at. ¡°You should use this time to earn what levels you can. More than that, you need to find your battleground. It¡¯s very clear you¡¯re going to be a powerhouse, and there will be a lot of collateral. You won¡¯t want the caves coming down on your head, so I suggest going to the remnants of the city nearby. If the cavern is still as large as I remember it to be, there should be no risk of it collapsing. ¡°Now that it¡¯s a Convergence, likely of Decay, the extra four days will also give you time for you and your adaptation Skill. When the enemy rolls around, you¡¯ll know the terrain better, and you¡¯ll be more resistant to the toxins in the area than them. I don¡¯t recommend trying to remove or use the anchor there, as such a large cavern is almost guaranteed to have a guardian, but just learning to resist the mana and poisons will help a lot. ¡°Lastly, since you are about to leave, it¡¯s time I give you some homework. If you find time to ponder during this battle, it will be wonderful experience for your Profession- that being said, don¡¯t do this if you are pushing yourself to win! If it ends up being easier than you thought, go for it. If you¡¯ll die by getting distracted, DONT. ¡°What I want you to think about are two things, and the first is one you¡¯ve brought up: Classes. You asked ¡®How does a Class affect the soul¡¯ and it¡¯s time for you to figure that out. The only information I will give you, for you to put together during your fight, is this: What else works on a scale from zero to one hundred? Don¡¯t think about it yet, but later. ¡°That won¡¯t be hard to figure out though, so the next bit of homework I want you to ponder is this: what are the echo realities, the planes between planes? For example, between the plane of Dragons and Leviathans, you have the Spirit Realm. Between Dragons and Titans, you have the Conceptual Planes. You don¡¯t know about The Mothers realm so I¡¯ll tell you now: it exists entirely within her own head. A reality, entirely dreamt up by her. So, what you must ask yourself now is this: what exists between the plane of Dragons and the plane of The Mother. Then ask yourself, what exists between The Mother and the Titans, then, what exists between The Mother and the Leviathans. So on and so forth, until you¡¯ve figured out all the echo planes between each.¡± Dei stopped himself from trying to get them all now, but he couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d never thought of it in the first place. Of course there would be mixed planes outside of just the Physical one. Physical wasn¡¯t the most important of the four, so why would it be the only one that could merge with the others? No, there had to be¡­ six types? And he only knew of two: the Conceptual and Spirit. This was certainly a grand mystery too, so it would give incredible experience for Pondering sage. ¡°Thank you, Aloran,¡± he said genuinely. ¡°I can already tell that if this works, I may not be as stuck in my Profession levels as I¡¯d previously thought.¡± ¡°Pay me back by rescuing my friends later,¡± he said seriously, ¡°But for now, get going. The more time you give yourself to get a few levels, the more likely it is you¡¯ll survive. You¡¯ve trained a lot in the time you¡¯ve been here, You can win.¡± Dei nodded. ¡°I will see you in¡­ a while. I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯ll last, but I¡¯m not going to rush into battle. If I think running will help me live, I will run.¡± ¡°Good. Now go! Go!¡± Aloran said, and Dei listened, moving quickly through the crack in the wall. When he was out, he wasted no time in turning towards Alorans old city and breaking into a sprint. Chapter 100 It¡¯d been a long time since he¡¯d left Aloran¡¯s cave. Several months. Now that he was using his body and moving again he felt¡­ powerful. Different, wildly so. From the small amount of Fortitude he¡¯d absorbed, he was generally sturdier, but that wasn¡¯t the largest difference. Dei did not feel like a level one hundred at all. Each step cracked stone and send him flying. The Wrath mana infused into him gave him explosive, nearly destructive power. He felt his bones creak when he pushed himself to the limit, even feeling some tears appear in his muscles. Wrath infusion provided him with more explosive power, but he was not as sturdy. Without something to make his body tougher, he could easily break himself in half if he went all out, so he slowed down. It would take some effort getting used to everything, which he supposed was the point of leaving the cave slightly early. He had four days to adjust to his new state, and he was confident with it being enough time. He¡¯d use three to get used to the bog and pick their battlefield, then rest on the fourth. While his healing helped to keep his body in tip-top shape, that same healing would put a weight on his soul that slowly wore it down. His body needed no rest, but his spirit did. He wouldn¡¯t need to sleep either. In the time with Aloran, Dei had finally perfected a restless rotation. He could split his mind into multiple parts, each taking shifts and keeping up at all times. True, this limited the thinking power of those minds that were awake, but he could easily rouse them if he was in real danger. He released a pulse from his [Soul Echo] Racial ability, searching for any danger he could. He counted danger as any particularly powerful souls, or anything that was able to detect the pulse. Dei didn¡¯t have much practice in gauging how loud it was, so now was the time. Aside from his unhappy companions, Dei saw that nothing much reacted to the pulse. It didn¡¯t work exactly as a sonar ping that provided a still image, instead it provided several seconds of view into everything around them. He guessed that this was because whatever mana type used in the ability, probably Echo, didn¡¯t immediately return to him or fade away, bouncing around slightly in whatever it encountered before going another direction. Almost every monster did not react, though two notable ones did. His familiar friend, the Spirit Frog, and an odd skeleton-like entity buried below a clearing in the middle of the Convergence. The Spirit frog twitched under the earth, glancing around itself and generally facing his direction before going dormant again. The being in the middle turned its head to look at him directly. He was just barely able to see it turn its head to face upwards once more before Dei¡¯s Racial ability lost sight of it. [Soul Echo] was far more effective than [Tremor Sense], even allowing him to glean some information from the beings it passed through- albeit very little- as if it were a low-level Identify. What he saw from the buried skeleton was an aura of power, and he knew it to be the guardian of the Anchor. ¡®At least I know which area to stay AWAY from during my fight¡­¡¯ He also noted that the Spirit Frog was the second being able to detect his [Soul Echo], so he knew it wasn¡¯t just Echo mana bouncing around. He decided to take its name as a direct hint of it being Soul and Echo based. Quickly, he found himself at the entrance he¡¯d used back when he first came here, and it had not changed much. The thick wall of spiked Growberry bramble protected this entrance, and he could see some bugs buzzing around. Identifying them, none really jumped out at him. The bloodsuckers started biting him and the non-magical ones exploded from his soul-infused blood, while those with affinities prominent enough to show in their description fared a bit better, until he slapped them. With each bite, he could also feel a minute amount of Decay mana infect his wounds, doing exactly what one might think it would do by causing rapid necrosis. It wasn¡¯t a threat with how rapidly he could regenerate, but it was irritating because most of his body was protected by Praerel leather, with only his head, hands, and ankles open, so they tended to swarm his face. He was happy to note his Homeostasis doing something to the mana, fighting against it. It would take time for its efforts to show, but Dei had four days. After slapping the fiftieth bug, he sighed and stopped. He needed to adjust to the Decay mana anyway, might as well just let it happen from the endless swarm. Stepping forward, he was surprised when his foot started to sink in the muck. Last time he was here, he could easily walk atop the loose dirt. Of course, that was when he was in his projection form, so it wasn¡¯t exactly a surprise that he sunk now. Because of how light his body was compared to how much force it could output, Dei was easily able to skip across the mud. It was a weird feeling, realizing he could do something so absurd, but when magic was involved he supposed physics tended to become a bit wonky. ¡°Would you like me to carry us across?¡± Fendrascora offered. ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll need to get used to moving myself in this terrain for the fight. You¡¯ll be good for making micro adjustments later, but I have to do the majority of it myself or you¡¯ll tire far too quickly.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ But also! Not as quickly as before. I managed to earn my own Homeostasis Skill called Balance that does the same thing. It¡¯s only level forty, but it should help me move on my own for longer.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, I¡¯ll keep that in mind¡± he said, then focused back on trying to manage his movements. Any time Dei walked, he carried his, Clever¡¯s, Perumah¡¯s and a lot of Fendrascora¡¯s weight. Even with all that though, he didn¡¯t struggle. When it came to skipping across the water, his focus was on releasing enough that he stayed above the muck, but not leaping into the air. It required a lot of fine control, but his mind stats and abilities made the task possible. In a pinch, he could also use his SP to fly or even just lighten his weight slightly, but he didn¡¯t want to rely on such a tactic because it consumed SP far too quickly to be viable in a drawn-out confrontation. When he felt like he had it mostly down, He went about moving through the bramble wall that blocked his sight. He was tall enough now that the top of his head was just barely above the thorns, and this is where Clever moved himself to. Dei also held fang above the thorns, just letting them scrape the surprisingly sturdy hide he wore. He came out the other side generally untouched. Looking around, he saw a weird¡­ hilly bog-like area. Pete and water everywhere with a few sparse trees, the only solid land he could see were large mounds of moss. He knew from his [Soul Pulse] that these mounds were filled with loose dirt, but he imagined that they were actually the broken remnants of houses, walls, or other structures; the strong Decay mana would have caused these to fall apart or erode much faster than natural. He noted that it was dark, but that wasn¡¯t an issue for anyone in their party except maybe Clever, who still had the ability to detect shifting heat. Dei confirmed with his Korgonda buddy that he was solid, then started looking around for something to hunt. Dei knew he could punch above his weight class with his current enhancements, so he¡¯d go for things in the one-fifty to one-seventy range. To find them, he would need to let out another pulse, but he really didn¡¯t want to anger the guardian in the middle. ¡®Even if it can''t stray from the anchor, I don¡¯t want to test its patience. Not to mention, that stupid spirit frog¡­ I know it¡¯s clever. I remember watching it for a time. If I draw its attention, then the thing is likely to attack me during one of my fights if I ever become vulnerable.¡¯ Two hazards he¡¯d need to watch for. To this end, he would need a much weaker pulse. Dei wasn¡¯t sure why he hadn¡¯t tried to do that so far, and felt a little silly. He¡¯d been releasing it full-strength, because that was the only way for him to get the same range he had on [Tremor Sense], but this Racial ability was different. It was active, not passive. Fendrascora was more sensitive to the ping than Clever, so he asked her if she could still feel it when he released a very weakened pulse. The space he could see was a little pathetic, just five feet around him before it lost its power, but Fendrascora¡¯s silence as she tried to listen for something told him that it was invisible. Next, he went for fifty feet around him, still getting her silence, and he moved up in strength until around one thousand feet, when she spoke up about feeling a tickle at the back of her head. ¡®Okay yea. Full strength is a few miles, which has been unnecessary this whole time. One fifth of a mile should be okay. I could probably push it more because no other creature will literally be INSIDE me when I ping them, but it¡¯s better to be safe. Some things will inevitably outclass Fendrascora in the perception department.¡¯ Letting out more quiet pings, he scanned the life around him. Most everything was over level one hundred, as that seemed to be the bare minimum to exist in the open. Nothing caught his eye as a challenge right now, so he started moving around. It felt incredibly strange, being able to just¡­ exist. He¡¯d spent forever hiding, and only now could he walk freely, yet the sensation wasn¡¯t foreign. Maybe he¡¯d mentally prepared himself for a time like this, but it just felt right. Walking around in the open, unbothered by almost everything. He found that the wilderness wasn¡¯t as actively deadly as he thought. There were a bunch of killer creatures, sure, but they all just stayed out of his way and away from each other. Occasionally, one would growl to warn him off, but as long as he backed away he was solid. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. He also noted that these creatures were not as afraid of Fendrascora as those he¡¯d encountered as he walked through the caves. Maybe they were used to water-based creatures, because he saw a few around him that looked like green slime-like things. Each of them were also quite large, which was a recurring theme in general for the caves but especially so for water creatures. Maybe they needed more room in their body for some reason? He finally found what he was looking for when his ping flowed over a soul that was stronger than those around it, and he made his way over. The entire time he¡¯d been moving, Dei was charging heat in his body in preparation for a fight. The explosion at his fingertips, Dei readied himself. He wouldn¡¯t use the convection mana just yet, he would wait until he saw how the monster fared under his normal punches. Its body was shaped like a large orangutan, with a bulging torso atop two stubby feet and long, clawed hands at its side. It was covered, head to toe, in green moss that made its shape a bit muddled compared to the area around it. It was a suspiciously strong effect, which made Dei assume it was at least slightly magical in nature. As he approached it, it remained unmoving. If he didn¡¯t have such honed perception of souls, he still would have struggled to see it because everything around them contained souls. The dirt and water were alive, and this creature managed to blend itself well. Still, not perfectly. When he crossed some imaginary threshold, Vigilance activated and the world slowed. Despite his incredible senses, Dei was barely able to keep up with the snake-like movement of its arm, the claws whipping towards him in an attempt to cleanly bisect him. With time to process what was happening, Dei used [Fluid Shape] to harden the point it was going to impact him, tilting his body as well. He had to push himself past the healthy self-imposed limits, feeling certain things crack as he let the claws tear through his Praerel leather, scraping across his forearm and over his head. In the same moment, he cast Identify on it as its arm passed within range. [Bargoben - Level 163 Solo ambush predator. Uses Shadow, Snap, and Growth affinity. Physical: 131 Mental: 15 Spiritual: 98 Magical: 42] He didn¡¯t need its history, so he didn¡¯t try for a full description. Battle tendency, active affinities, and stats would do. He knew there was a Darkness affinity which suppressed light, but he assumed Shadow was more for camouflage- a more passive affinity. Snap for ambushing, Growth for¡­ growing the plants? He wasn¡¯t sure. He saw his Identify react to multiple things within the creature. He¡¯d shot the Bargoben in its hand, as that was what was closest. When it tried to pull its hand back though, Dei felt something tug him forward, and pulled back to keep his footing. The invisible connection he still maintained with the needle really was physical in nature, and the bargoben glanced at its hand, no doubt confused, when it was still held slightly aloft in front of it rather than back in a resting position. Normally, Dei wouldn¡¯t have been able to detect any mana outside his body, but he was granted access to the bargobens body in much the same way as he would his own. A flicker of understanding passed through his head as he realized this was a new effect of his Identify- connecting him to the other monster''s soul and, consequently, the way it moved its mana. Dei had used Wrath mana in this Identify, and he saw the curse spill out now- but the monster resisted it surprisingly well. Dei also noticed the mana spilling out began to target the Shadow mana in the bargobens arm, and the blurry shape of its arm became more defined. Now that he had a very physical attachment to it in the form of his new needle, Dei went for a contest of direct power, and jumped back as hard as he could. With hardly any resistance, he heard a loud popping, a yelp, a squelch, and the beast was pulled out from where its legs were buried in the mud. It fell forward and, without giving it time to reevaluate, Dei jumped forwards and punched upwards at its vulnerable head. It tried swinging at him with its good arm, but the length of its limb worked against it here, and it stuck in the mud. Without much fanfare, his fist met its forehead, and its body rocked back. ¡®Sorry dude. It¡¯s kill or be killed, and I¡¯d rather not die.¡¯ [EXP gained for killing the Bargoben (Level 163). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Watchful Slaughterer (Level 100) -> (Level 101)] [Stats Gained: +2 Physical] Dei grunted at the notification. This was what he assumed was going to happen. Alorans multipliers for experience worked in both ways. When he was in danger, he¡¯d get more experience. When the enemy overleveled him a lot, but had no hope of winning against the unnaturally built mana in Dei¡¯s body, the experience would be penalized. He was surprised he¡¯d even gained one level. He supposed that this was where the new Training Mode of [Growing Rage] came in. He could weaken himself to increase the danger of an enemy, gaining more levels. Looking at the corpse of the enemy again, Dei wondered when scenes like this had become normal to him. It was just a monster, just another thing standing in his way. His clothing was already repaired by Fendrascora, and he wasn¡¯t phased by the blood on his hands from where he¡¯d caved the skull in. He sighed and shook his head with a rueful grin. He wasn¡¯t bothered by the changes his personality experienced in the wild, and he didn¡¯t hate who he¡¯d become. Life was about change, and he wouldn¡¯t have wanted to stay the person he was before anyway. Leven did not have a happy ending, maybe Dei wouldn¡¯t have an ending at all, if he succeeded at Ascending. Resigning himself to killing monsters over the next few days, Dei walked out in search of his next target. * * * POV: Justin Tabrey After months, months of requesting a meeting with Oura, Justin was finally here. Oura insisted that the meeting be held directly in front of the Seers Rest, because he could not waste a single moment. As time passed, Justin saw the hive of activity that was the Gem Dweller system become more fervent. Oura was pushing them. He was becoming impatient. Dei would be around a year and a half old by this point, and Oura¡¯s panic at him getting any older seemed to stir even the ancient councilors from their seats. Justin had to admit, he¡¯d never seen Oura so¡­ frantic. If he weren¡¯t already wildly suspicious of him, he might¡¯ve actually considered listening to his orders mindlessly. Yet still, Oura refused to share even a peep of information about what their enemy was. The only good that¡¯d come out of this was how a few of the other councilors were also beginning to get suspicious. Oura was supposed to be calm and collected, if he was frantic, he might be making mistakes. Without him telling anyone, there was nobody to double check his work. There was noone to keep him in check. Their suspicion wasn¡¯t to the degree that they would oppose him just yet, but it was enough that he was now forced to acknowledge his loudest protestor- Justin himself. Justin was the only one to outright refuse to work with Oura until he had answers. All the councilors were, after all, technically of equal rank. Oura had no right to boss any of them around if they didn¡¯t want to be. It would be more efficient if Oura gave Justin any explanation in order to get his help in the search, yet still Oura refused to relent. He would rather be inefficient than give up his little secret, which was very telling of his goals in this. That was fine by him. Justin did not actually need Oura¡¯s answer, not anymore. He had given up on getting that long ago, and was going with a much more brute-force method. The plan was simple- the moment Oura stepped out of the Seers Rest, Whisper would slip in. He didn¡¯t even consider the possibility that she would be detected, as she was a stealth Slaughterer. Sneaking and tracking was her every specialty, even if she lacked proper karmic Skills to track Dei. With the artifact at her back, it would take her mere seconds to find Dei¡¯s location, then they would set out. ¡®I should have him in my sights within the week. I wonder how far his mother hid him to have evaded everyone for this long?¡¯ Standing at the threshold of the iron doorway, Justin finally saw it crack open. Oura was here. The tall Gem Dweller stepped out, fancifully adorned staff in hand, looking down at Justin with cold eyes. Not because he hated Justin, it was simply how every Gem Dweller looked when not actively emotional. ¡°Justin¡± Oura nodded to him. ¡°Oura¡± Justin nodded back respectfully. Oura took the time to fully exit the rest and close the door behind him, what little good that would do when Justin''s compatriot was already within. What came next was a lesson in tedium as Justin described in detail, including visual and numerical graphs, exactly why it would be beneficial for Oura to tell everyone their enemy from preparation, to morale, to how helpful Justin''s personal involvement would be. He was, after all, a user of Foresight- he had prepared for such a day for a very long time, predicting any and all apocalypses that might befall them. The efforts of Gem Dwellers would rise in efficiency by up to twenty three percent if he mobilized his resources. Through it all, Oura remained stoic and emotionless, giving no indication that he was convinced at all. Justin used up every moment of his allotted half-hour meeting and, in the last ten seconds, gave Oura the time to voice his own thoughts. ¡°No.¡± Oura said, and Justin perfectly recreated the scowl he should be wearing if this was his only idea. Without further ado, Oura opened the door to the Seers Rest again, went inside, and shut it behind him. Justin kept his stormy expression up as he left the city, awaiting Whispers good news. * * * POV: Oura Oura perfectly schooled his expression, keeping any sign of joy from him. Justin, the young hot-blooded fool, had finally fallen to his trap. Oura was no stranger to planning against Foresight users. They were terrifying and efficient, with wildly effective plans and ways to reach their goals despite the best efforts of any others. They were also, notoriously, predictable. When the most efficient plan was found, it often resembled the plans of others to a T. Multiple people would come up with the same idea independently if it was the best, because it was the best. Why settle for anything less? But always striving for the best made it so, so easy to see. Oura, in his old age, had butt heads with three other Foresight users- making Justin the fourth. In that time, they all did the exact same thing when it came to this step in their plans to get what they wanted from him- distract him while sending players behind their backs to take what they wanted. Oura was not ignoring Justin for no reason, he was setting Justin up to reach a conclusion that Oura wanted him to. Oura knew Justins capabilities well, and the limits of them. He wouldn¡¯t have been able to find Dei, with or without specialized karmic tools. He¡¯d need the Seers Rest. For this reason, Oura had waited. When Justin finally took the bait, luring Oura out, Oura laid the perfect karmic trap within. The next being to use the Seers Rest would have it tack on to them. He predicted it would not be so easy though, so the moment he¡¯d reentered the rest, he had strengthened that connection- and it was good that he did so. The karmic connection was slipping off the target, and Oura couldn¡¯t help but feel impressed by whoever Justin had pulled in to help. Using everything he could though, Oura kept that connection to them solid. Over time, the karmic tracking began to attach itself to a second, someone else who had strong karmic ties to Oura, someone who had been resisting Oura¡¯s own attempts at attaching to him. At long last, Oura¡¯s karmic search stuck to Justin, and it was much easier to maintain such a connection with his coworker than whoever he was with. Still, Oura did not release the connection to the original target- lest this be another ploy on Justin''s part. When Justin found the boy, Oura would too. ¡®The weakness of Foresight users is that they often forget to look towards the past. If he had, he would¡¯ve seen that I¡¯ve pulled this exact scheme twice before. ¡®Poor Justin. I do hope you forgive me for this one day. ¡® Chapter 101 [Class Leveled Up: Watchful Slaughterer (Level 101) -> (Level 134)] [Total Stats Gained: +32 Physical, +17 Mental, +17 Spiritual, +17 Magical] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (113) -> (138)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (59) -> (70)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (231) -> (235)] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (124) -> (133)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fortress of Denial (61) -> (65)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (160) -> (182)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (167) -> (173)] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (100) -> (114)] [Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (61) -> (64)] [Skill Leveled Up: In Tune (36) -> (62)] Dei sat upon a small pile of bodies. It was the only stable ground around, the only place he could stop with his mini-hops to prevent himself from falling down into the water. [Since the Fall: 1/29/810 - 16:44:21] Three days had passed and he was most of the way through the fourth. His enemy could show up at any moment, so for now, Dei simply rested. Most of his minds took naps, but at this point he was close to fully rested. He¡¯d been sitting around for about twenty hours by this point, after all. He¡¯d collected all the bodies he created in a large clearing, sitting on them. This dissuaded any larger predator to challenge him because it was a rather threatening sight, and Fendrascora cleared out any of the bugs that got too close. In the time that he was here, he expected the Spirit Frog or whatever it was to attack him. He was, after all, releasing copious amounts of incredibly dense soul mana when he was cut, but it was completely silent. Fendrascora tended to pull the mana from the air, delivering it right back to him. Perumah was silent through most of it, either nervous or apathetic about their current situation, and Clever continued to practice reading timelines during combat. He was getting good at it too, and good at warning Dei. Clever hadn¡¯t pulled out any of the stronger spells he¡¯d supposedly been working on but Dei was fine with that. He should save his strength anyway. Clever was getting a bit large too, finally the full length of Dei¡¯s arm. Now that he thought about it, Dei was also getting large. He had to be close to his full height by this point, as he was around seven feet tall now. His body had gone through one more growth spurt, maybe in preparation for the fight. He wasn¡¯t really sure how aware his Skills were, or if they were sometimes controlled or directed by him subconsciously. His [Growing Pains] Skill, when he had it, hadn¡¯t begun to artificially make him age until after he was abandoned and needed to do so or die. Did it make him bigger now because he was going into a fight? To give him more muscles? Was it just maturing him to make those muscles denser? He didn¡¯t know. He sat completely still. Waiting, listening for anything. It was an oft-neglected part of raising his Physical stat. His muscles weren¡¯t the only thing to increase, his hearing did too. All his senses did. It just so happened that he usually had better ways of detecting things than hearing them, and the first thing most monsters took care of when sneaking around were more mundane tells. He continued to bide his time by removing the marks on his soul. Why not? If he couldn¡¯t win here, he¡¯d have to run. Maybe get away. Again, for the hundredth time in the last day, he checked his Interface. The final version he would have until after the fight. [Name: Dei Grrata Race: Union (Gem Dweller Variant) Class: Watchful Slaughterer (Level 134) Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 17) Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Giants IV, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II), Dammit, Slaughterer, Untethered, Risky Business, Golden Voice and Silver Tongue Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII), Deal of the Almost-Dunce Soul Strength: 387/387 HP: 387/387 MP: 129/129 SP: 258/258 Stats: Physical: 129 Mental: 78 Spiritual: 116 Magical: 79 Affinities: Kindness: High-Rare: 99% Wrath: Low-Rare: 99% Soul: Mid-Uncommon: 20% Fortitude: Low-Rare: 54% Void: Mid-Common: 72% Inner Skills: Kindness: Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (300) (11547/12000), Call for Help (71), Good Samaritan (138), Meaningful (70) Wrath: Growing Rage (235) Soul: Empower Self (27), Connection (10) Fortitude: Solidity (133), Fortress of Denial (65) Business: Value Sense Health: Homeostasis (182) Mana: Meditation (173) Stamina: Disconnect (59) Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (114), Pandora¡¯s Box (Unleashed) (2) Outer Skills: How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (64), Vigilance (100), In Tune (62), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (100)] [Pandora¡¯s Box: 9079/12000 Wrath 28/12000 Kindness 63/12000 Soul 948/12000 Fortitude 1150/12000 [NULL] ] 199/12000 Void 80/12000 Tracking] The full thing was a lot, but he thought that was good. More versatility and power were always welcome. Resisting the urge to fidget, he was about to go back to removing his tracking marks when he felt it. A rumble. He was afraid to release a full [Soul Echo] pulse right before the fight simply because he didn¡¯t want to attract other monsters'' attention, but he didn¡¯t need to. Looking up, he could hear tunnels collapsing, and the shaking intensified. His hunters were not following the maze of tunnels. They were taking a straight line, smashing through everything. The entire bog slowly quieted down as the shaking intensified, animal calls going quiet and the sloshing of movement through the water being put to pause. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Another crash, the violent shaking of an earthquake, and Dei tensed. He stared at the ceiling and the rumbles stopped for only a moment, before a thunderous crack rang out. Up above, he could see the exact point they would enter through as the stone began to give way. Another impact, and the hard stone finally fell through. A torrent of dust, stone, and dirt obscured whatever caused the collapse, but he didn¡¯t need to see his enemy when he could feel them. When Dei had [Tremor Sense], he was perpetually receiving passive feedback of all the vibrations around him. With [Soul Echo], that passive information had gone away. He¡¯d assumed it was something unique to him, a signal only he could see or hear. How wrong he¡¯d been. While none of the monsters in the area could detect it, to him a second explosion went off as the sheer presence of his enemy hit his detection Skill. It screamed not with its mouth, but with its very soul. It roared in fury and pain, in torment and agony. It¡¯d come to collect a debt and the only payment it knew was in blood, death, and hate. He felt something attempt to suppress him but fail, encountering his own sturdiness and, oddly, his blessing. The blessing of Wrath, [No Rulers Above All] It let others know you had been recognized by Wrath, and made Wrath users feel inferior. What hit him now was that same recognition, from another angle. His enemy, too, had been recognized by Wrath, and in the eyes of their affinity, they stood equal. Of course, neither even considered that as a possibility. One stood above the other, it was only a matter of course to find which it was. Dei had hoped to at least try and solve this diplomatically, but he realized now there was nothing to say. His enemy wanted him dead as much as he wanted to live. He didn¡¯t even think Fendrascora was relevant to the equation anymore within the storm of pain that was this creature''s soul. The rubble fell halfway to the ground when he saw the figure within launch itself off one of the larger pieces, directly at him. At last, he could see his enemy. The one who now hunted him, and it was only one. There were no others. It would be Dei versus this enemy, and he only felt cold recognition when he saw the face. He was correct. All those months ago when he first dug through Fendrascora¡¯s memory, he¡¯d seen a man driven to insanity after losing it all in the destruction of his village. When it came to guessing who would be hunting him, this man was at the top of his list of candidates. He was almost unchanged. The clean shaven face twisted in rage, the bloodshot eyes, even the polished grey armor and sword, it was like he¡¯d been transported back into that one moment. Dei was physically larger than him and with thicker muscles, but he wouldn¡¯t assume he was stronger. The force of the man''s soul continued to strengthen into an overbearing tide as he got closer and closer, Dei crouched low, taking a wide stance as he readied himself for the clash. They¡¯d discussed for a while what, exactly, they would do in the case of different enemies. If it was a singular powerful enemy, they had agreed on a singular powerful opening attack. Perumah in his left hand, Dei bunched his right into a fist. He¡¯d charged convection mana as far as his body would take it, and his blood would have begun to boil had Fendrascora not calmed it to keep him alive. The Snap mana sat right in his knuckles. He wouldn¡¯t need to physically Snap, a powerful punch would not only suffice, it would increase the force of the final explosion. Clever charged his beam. His full beam. He usually tried to hold back some to retain a small amount of heat, for safety''s sake, but he said he was more confident in quickly reversing time before the effects hit him. Not only that, but the internal fire within him continued to build for however long he hadn¡¯t used it. He said that he couldn¡¯t release it all in one burst any longer, but could instead maintain the beam for a time. Fendrascora¡¯s job was simple: Keep Dei Alive. She had enough rations to last years and would monitor his nutrients, water, and calorie levels. She would stitch him back together to let his healing Skills repair him when he broke apart. She would try and absorb some of the force from his muscles, the force that caused him to rip himself to pieces when going all out. He would be going all out this time, no longer conserving his power, and he trusted Fendrascora to make sure he didn¡¯t shatter his bones and kill himself. Perumah¡¯s effects would be more internal, releasing a shredding Heart-based soul attack that would cause their enemies'' emotions to rip itself to pieces, taking the soul down with it. The plan flashed through his head one more time as the man fell towards him. The man didn¡¯t even bother to pull his sword out, a tool most likely forgotten in his blind rage. Instead, he reached out, open palmed, in an attempt to strangle Dei. The exact moment the man was within seven feet of Dei, having still not touched the ground, Dei cast Identify. The needle touched upon his enemies soul for only a moment, and Dei gleaned two pieces of information as he brought his fist forward, dodging under the mans wild grasp to instead punch him in the chest. [LEVEL - 142 EDWARD OF RAGE] His eye twitched as the needle collapsed moments after entering the man''s soul, sending a violent backlash as a wall of Rage mana attacked him but was quickly suppressed. Dei saw from the level this wasn¡¯t some incredible, overpowered, over leveled man. It was¡­ a random person. Potentially a civilian, coming to seek retribution for the loved ones lost. ¡®I am sorry. I see within you¡­ there is no other way.¡¯ He did not pull his punch, nor did he stop the explosion that emanated from his fist as the heat violently exited his body. His blood went from boiling to nearly ice cold, as a crack ruptured his eardrums and shattered his arm. Fendrascora prevented the pieces from flying off, quickly pulling them back into place, as the man was sent rocketing backwards- now with a hole in his chest where the heart should be. Perumah did not care, releasing her attack anyway. He felt the mans presence flare and sputter as he was dealt lethal soul damage, his Rage killing him. Finally, Dei was blinded as the world turned red. Clevers beam was almost perfectly efficient, with little to no leakage. Despite that, the blisters on Dei¡¯s skin showed just how much heat was packed within the blast. Dei shielded Perumah with his body as Fendrascora covered her, all according to plan. The beam lasted for six full seconds before it disappeared, and Clever instantly flickered, returning to his full heat. The Korgonda¡¯s head drooped on his shoulder, but Dei resisted the urge to pet him, instead looking for any sign of the man, Edward. There was none. He wished he could say that he was surprised, but he wasn¡¯t. He had two level three hundred monsters- if you included Fendrascora at her full strength- on his side, a Korgonda that could fire plasma, and a powerfully curse-infused body on his side. Against a single man? One not even past two hundred? It was no contest. And yet¡­ as he stood there, no notification was forthcoming. Did he perhaps not kill him, but Clever incinerating the man did? Were Dei¡¯s contributions too minor? Then he felt it- the silent roar of infinity. The unending, undying flame. Edward of Rage. Before his very eyes, Dei saw a flickering figure return. Floating in the air, right where his body once was, Dei saw flesh force itself into existence. Nerves, bones, muscles. The lungs formed before the rib cage was fully enclosed, before the heart was even born once more. Before the brain even came into existence, Edward forced his voice to exist for he only had one purpose. To rage From his position within the air, Edward let out a scream of pure hatred as he twisted his still-forming skull to face Dei. Dei saw eyes born into existence, connected to nothing as the brain had still yet to heal; they contained an unending sea of pure scorn. Edward rebuilt his body from scratch, and Dei could see the soul rapidly regenerating. After four seconds hovering in the air, he fell down to the cold bog below. His muscles weren¡¯t fully formed, much less his skin, before he was plunged fully into the muck. Dei and his companions should have capitalized on his weakness, but they were simply stunned into silence. None of them knew that such a thing was possible. Dei had spent the last four days massacring monsters over level one hundred and seventy, even a few level two hundreds¡­ But he knew that levels did not tell the full story. He, too, was an example of such a case. He simply hadn¡¯t run into anyone else that could match his power per level, pound for pound. That would change today. He emerged from below in a spray of water, whole once more. Not only in flesh and blood, but even his armor was back. Every detail, down to the shine, was perfectly recreated as any mud sticking to him singed black before falling apart, scattering to the wind. Another gurgling scream cleared the water in Edwards throat as he threw himself at Dei once more. It was only now that a new thought occurred to Dei, one of his opponents variant. He was clearly a surface human, a Prime human to be specific. Humans known for their unending endurance. Dei assumed they would simply be able to run further or last longer in confrontations, same as the humans of his previous world. When magic came into play though, that tool became something else entirely. Prime humans endured. When they evolved into existence in his previous world, they succeeded by outlasting how far their prey could run. With magic this became more than simple efficiency. It became more than sweat glands, more than constant walking or for days and nights. More than chasing down a mammoth until it collapsed. In this world, to endure¡­ it took on new meaning as he saw Edward charge in for round two. Chapter 102 His strategy for the fight was restructured in his mind. He sensed attacks from Perumah and Clever charge again, but sent a quick message to stop. It wouldn¡¯t be useful to just repeat the same tactic. Dei began charging heat within his body as he deflected a wild strike, punching Edward in the face with a loud thump that released a shockwave. Edwards neck bent backwards at an awkward angle, then immediately righted itself as he released a flurry of strikes at Dei, each getting faster. Dei reacted accordingly, blocking and deflecting each as he tried to think of what to do. There wasn¡¯t much he could do with a literally undying enemy, but there was one thing: Soul strain. It was the hard cap of everything as far as he knew, the catch-all for even the most bullshit of powers. It strained the soul to pull mana from affinities or use Skills. There were sure to be some terrifying synergies out there that would be utterly unstoppable, if not for soul strain. Edward could rebuild himself from scratch, but how much did that strain him? How many times? And this was where he imagined Edwards state as a Prime Human came in. This was why they were so powerful¡­ because it was likely that all of their Racial abilities were focused on minimizing the damage from soul strain, pushing their limits further than any others thought possible. So was this it? Was he just screwed? His only real tactic was to outlast Edward, a man who¡¯d clearly built his entire powerset around being an undying beast that focused on outlasting everything else. He had to endure longer than someone who specialized in doing exactly that No, not yet. While it was true Edward had more endurance when it came to his soul, Dei did not need to strain his soul at all for most tactics. Dei didn¡¯t need Skills when his regular physical body was enough to push Edward to his limits. If Dei simply cut loose and did as much damage to Edward as possible, he¡¯d only tire himself. He would play right into Edwards hands. He took on another tactic, cutting back on the force of his strikes so that they didn¡¯t damage him severely, but did still deal lethal damage with every strike. Edward couldn¡¯t keep up with Dei¡¯s reaction speed as Dei repeatedly smashed the mans heart and ribcage, as he punched clean through the mans lungs and made him puke blood every second. Dei shattered Edwards skull and shook the brain more times than he could count, but every time ended in the same result. Edwards eyes would flicker with unconsciousness, before lighting up again stitching himself back together at a visible pace. He tore Edwards limbs off, only for that to be an even more dangerous tactic as they would pop into existence faster than he could react, already placed around Dei¡¯s neck. Edwards nails managed to scrape Dei¡¯s throat only once before he wisened up to the tactic, either keeping a distance when limbs came free or avoiding their destruction entirely. After an hour of straight fighting, Dei was ready to hunker down for months if need be, when he blocked one of Edwards strikes- feeling a slight change as he was pushed back. Only a foot, but the punch was clearly more powerful than all the previous. It was not a one-off either, as Dei had to start redirecting strikes if he wanted to remain on steady footing, each blow now just enough to keep him aware. It wasn¡¯t enough to push past his defenses, but it wasn¡¯t easy anymore. Same with his regular blows- they were doing less and less damage. Two hours in, he had to focus on dodging most strikes and each of his own were no longer dealing damage, Edwards body becoming resistant to it. He¡¯d built up enough heat within his body to use more explosions, so he started the process of using small pieces of it, creating micro-explosions to rip into Edward. He didn¡¯t have the dexterity to get the perfect amount, but he did have the time to practice. Time was the only resource he couldn¡¯t imagine himself running out of soon. He considered completing Alorans ¡°homework¡± right now, as he was clearly not being pushed to the limits, but decided against it. Edward was changing, adapting in some way to Dei, and he wanted to remain on guard and conscious just in case. * * * A full day had passed, the cavern they fought in going from dim to bright once again, and Dei was sure he¡¯d figured out Edwards tactic. He couldn¡¯t match Dei¡¯s Physical stat, but he didn¡¯t need to. He would always deal just enough damage that Dei had to use High Mind to redirect or dodge strikes, and force him to keep Growing Rage active. Both were passives, but he was utilizing them to the fullest, and it was a slight strain on him. Even if he wanted to out-endurance Edward, it wasn¡¯t an option- his powerset was based exactly around that. There was, however, one loophole Dei noticed. Edward would pick one person, and adjust to that person, specializing into the best way to endure their attacks. Through the night, they¡¯d taken turns. When Perumah would be the main damage-dealer, he¡¯d switch targets, completely ignoring Dei¡¯s main body to focus on his hand- the one holding Perumah. When this happened, her soul attacks would begin to deal less damage and he began emitting a weak intangible attack based on his anger, Rage mana pouring off him in a sphere and attacking Perumah. Perumah, with her low Spiritual stat, was vulnerable to this. Dei protected her by heightening her stat slightly, which was enough to stave it off when it first started because the attack was comically weak, but it also scared her bad enough that she immediately requested someone else take up the reins. Clever was next, and he realized now that a full-blast beam would be far too much. He tried to limit how much of his plasma attack he released, with moderate success, but he still had to reverse the changes after three or four attacks, whether he¡¯d used all the heat in his body or not. If he didn¡¯t he¡¯d slowly eat away at his reserves for the attack, because he stated it wasn¡¯t even meant to be used multiple times- it was a one off attack that he sort of cheated his way into using by undoing the cost with his Time affinity. After four reversals, Clever had to stop or risk some of his other powers. Clever was still looking into future timelines for danger, providing bleak news that he couldn¡¯t see the end in sight. The only good revelation from that testing was finding how Edward genuinely couldn¡¯t adapt to Clever, at least not in any reasonable time frame. His body was fully incinerated with every beam, no matter how weak. Fendrascora¡­ tried. She wasn¡¯t very good in a direct physical confrontation, so all she could really do was restrain him with her body and try to drown him, but one swipe from his hand caused three of her tendrils to explode, making her reel back and quickly give up. Back to square one, Dei wished it was possible for him to do a deeper scan of Edwards soul. He couldn¡¯t properly get a read on Edward because his soul would heal itself faster than Dei could look into it, trying to calculate how long it would be before soul strain made his enemy drop. From the few glimpses Dei could see, he wasn¡¯t hopeful. It pushed Edward more to actively adjust to something, but not enough. The most efficient thing to do would be force Edward to adjust to each of them in rotation, continuously, but Dei was the only person here with even a remotely endurance-based build. Perumah and Clever were ambush predators more than anything, with a few limited attacks, and Fendrascora wasn¡¯t a real predator at all- she was very slippery prey. So Dei needed other powerful creatures to attack Edward and make him adjust. Other monsters he didn¡¯t have. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡®Damn¡­ I should¡¯ve been collecting allies this whole time¡¯ he thought to himself, but knew it wouldn¡¯t have made a real difference. He hadn¡¯t run into anything particularly strong that would¡¯ve been able to stand up to Edward, so it would¡¯ve been like throwing them into a meat grinder. Though there was one being Dei thought might have the chance to put up a fight, that being the guardian in the center of the Convergence. Dei had kept the fight, generally, in the same area of the bog. The result of this was notably lower water on the ground and strong humidity in the air as it continuously evaporated from their movements, strikes, and Skills. It filled back up of course, but not fast enough as the heat produced by their bodies would boil everything. He wanted to stay in one place so that they could avoid the Convergence in the middle rather than accidentally entering it. The Decay mana, when they entered the actual convergence, was lethal. It was incredibly dangerous, similar to how Clevers original Convection Convergence was, with all the mana imbued with a concept from the Anchor itself. Dei realized that if there was a time for desperate plans, it would be now, when he was well rested and could easily plan on the go. So he thought of something else. Rather than fight Edward on his own, He would get Edward to aggravate the guardian and let them duke it out, giving Dei a break. The fight would almost be boring if it weren¡¯t Dei¡¯s life on the line. Edward didn¡¯t have any flashy Skills or dangerous moves. All he did was swing his hand really hard and hope it hit. He supposed that¡¯s what it meant to be the prey of an endurance creature though. There was no one moment where he would be hit with a crippling strike and killed. He¡¯d just slow down as his soul hurt more and more under its own weight, until he dropped dead. So he began the process of making his way to the center, to the guardian. He wouldn¡¯t turn his back on Edward, but he was more than happy to just block and dodge, giving up ground and having Edward follow him. While he did this, Dei realized that now was a good time to earn a few more levels of his Profession. He was not only in active danger, but he certainly had a lot of ¡°Intent¡± as Aloran said, because he really needed some more Spiritual stats if he was going to resist the Decay. He¡¯d need a way to protect Clever and Perumah from it as well, so he- with their permission- hit them with a Wrath version of his Identify, forming a [Connection] between them. His plan was to take control of all the Decay mana invading them, and pull it into his own body so he could resist it with his higher Spiritual stat. Fendrascora was fine though. She had more than enough Spiritual. As he moved backwards, he started thinking over everything Aloran told him, deciding to get the information on Classes out of the way. ¡®He told me to think of what else functions on a scale from zero to one hundred. Lets see¡­ for one, affinities. They function on percentages though, from zero percent strength to one hundred percent. When I hit one hundred, they roll over into the next tier and the process begins anew. Skills, of course, also go from zero to one hundred and, at one hundred, they become slightly stronger- much like affinities. Does that mean natural processes of magic are from zero to one hundred? More than that, Skill levels aren¡¯t actually measuring in base levels, are they? They¡¯re measuring in PERCENTAGES. So each level of a Skill is one percent to the next evolution, like affinities. The only reason it doesn''t say percent is perhaps to distinguish it from the affinities? Or to show exactly how many times its been strengthened? Such as level two hundred and four means its been completed twice, and is four percent of the way to the next completion. ¡®They also differ in benefits. When Skills reach one hundred percent completion, they gain a new function. When affinities reach one hundred percent completion, they get stronger.¡¯ [Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 17) -> (Level 18)] [Stats gained: +5 Spiritual] ¡®I¡¯m on the right track. So percentage based scales, affinities, only get stronger with each completion, but fixed numbers gain extra functions or change in some way. That¡¯s why Classes use a fixed system too. The Class itself doesn¡¯t get stronger, it changes. So what is a Class? It¡¯s based on the Skill system but it¡¯s not an actual Skill¡­ Is it? Oh my God, it is! It¡¯s a Skill that the System designates as something else! [Growing Rage] can give me stats, and my Classes and Professions do too! The reason why I can¡¯t see my Class in my soul is because in reality, my Class is an Outer Skill, something the System keeps track of for me. So the System invented Classes and Professions by creating a Skill that would attach to my soul and give me stats as I level up rather than getting stronger themselves. That¡¯s why the Classes and Professions don¡¯t become more powerful with each level, despite being Skills. The System rerouted the strength that would normally go into the spells, instead focusing it on my soul!¡¯ [Profession Leveled Up Pondering Sage (Level 18) -> (Level 22)] [Stats Gained: +20 Spiritual] It felt like he¡¯d glimpsed into janky coding to find an absolutely ridiculous way for the developers to come up with something, such as making a train move by turning it into a hat and making an NPC run. His logic was sound though, and it even explained some other wording in the System. The System clearly used both the words Skill and spell, so it differentiated between the two, but Dei still struggled to find examples of something that was a spell but not a Skill. He now knew of two spells that were not Skills. The first was, of course, Classes and Professions. The second was when he created a Skill that the System couldn¡¯t keep track of, such as his Living Barrier Skill that supposedly no longer existed, yet he still used frequently. Spells were the process of his soul connecting to the mana into the universe, usually through affinities or sometimes, weirdly, through his HP, MP, or SP. Skills were a simple sub-category of spell, something that the System named and called a Skill. So it wouldn¡¯t be accurate to say that Classes were Skills. They were spells that the System attached to his soul and worked into a weird, mutually beneficial relationship. All Skills were spells, but not all spells were Skills. [Profession Leveled Up Pondering Sage (Level 22) -> (Level 24)] [Stats Gained: +10 Spiritual] ¡®Aloran you absolute genius. This is the most incredibly efficient tactic I¡¯ve ever used to level up my Profession. All it took was to zone out DURING combat, rather than after it. Admittedly dangerous, but not the worst.¡¯ He wasn¡¯t within range of the actual Convergence yet, so he decided to keep up with gaining more Profession levels, thinking of the next few things Aloran told him about the planes or realms or whichever. He knew the four stats were based around the Primordial Children¡¯s planes, with Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Magical based on Dragons, The Mother, Leviathans, and Titans respectively. He¡¯d refer to the four big planes by their stats, for simplicity sake. Between Physical and Spiritual was the Spirit Realm and all its layers. Between Physical and Magical were the Conceptual Planes of Existence, which contained the affinities. This was something Dei was still confused about- he felt like Conceptual Planes should be between Mental and Magical, because the affinities did have minds of their own. The reason why this might not be true, though, is because affinities were dependent on physical space to exist as a concept. The affinity of Wood needed actual wood to exist, Earth needed earth and so on. Because of that, they needed a physical base to exist. What did this tell him? Well, this told him that any plane disconnected with the Physical plane wouldn¡¯t have affinities. Without something to anchor itself to, affinities couldn¡¯t exist. The Spirit realm still had affinities because it was partially physical. Figuring out the properties of the lesser-planes, or the in-betweens or whatever he should call them would be absolutely vital to deducting what they were. [Profession Leveled Up Pondering Sage (Level 24) -> (Level 25)] [Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual] Because the Physical realm was also the one he knew best, he decided to try and figure out the last Physical one he didn¡¯t know: the one between Physical and Mental. He knew, based on the other examples, that it had to have a partially physical component to it, but it was also based on the mind. The Mothers realm was located entirely within her mind, so what was between her mind and the physical world? Well¡­ the minds of all monsters. Dei knew she held a connection to all monsters- except for apparently Perumah who¡¯d cast her off- and he hadn¡¯t questioned that until now, but why? What would she do with a subtle connection to all monsters? There was a theory back on Earth, one that proposed the idea of all humans being subconsciously linked together. The Collective Unconscious. It was a fun idea on Earth, but that may very well be true here, with the exclusion of all sapient races. The idea of a completely imagined reality, one dependent on the subconscious minds of all monsters, was fascinating to him. Would there be idea monsters in this world? If he found a way to send his mind here, would he be able to kill ideas for experience? [Profession Leveled Up Pondering Sage (Level 25) -> (Level 27)] [Stats Gained: +10 Spiritual] That essentially confirmed a reality existing in the minds of all monsters, but he couldn¡¯t think about it anymore, nor could he spend any more mental energy trying to figure out the next plane of existence between Primordial Children, as he received an urgent notification. [You have entered a Convergence of Decay] ¡®Showtime I suppose. Let¡¯s see if I can shake this guy and give myself a few minutes to breathe.¡¯ Chapter 103 The Decay mana of the Convergence reacted to their presence immediately, but not in the way he thought it would at first. With other Decay-based venoms used on him, rapid necrosis of his still-living tissue was common. It seemed that the concepts within this particular Decay mana were a bit different though, flavored halfway between Life and Decay, similar to how Dei¡¯s soul mana was halfway between Soul and Spirit. The Decay mana didn¡¯t simply rot him, but specifically caused his body to imbalance itself by flaring toxins in certain parts of him. When he activated [Fortress of Denial], he was granted a much clearer view of what was happening. The Decay mana fed itself to different, smaller mana types such as Fester, Toxic, and Cycle. When these mana types showed themselves in higher quantities, Dei could sense his Homeostasis Skill flare intensely, suppressing whatever happened in that area. From this Dei figured out that the Decay mana was causing the bacteria or viruses in his body to grow faster in certain areas, or perhaps boost the toxins they produced. The oddest thing was that the reaction between his body and the mana were different every time. There were, of course, instances of poison buildup, but Dei also saw Blood mana flare in certain areas or Flesh mana condense itself. He quickly figured out that it was encouraging body growth, occasionally healing him but mostly causing outbursts of cancerous cells. His Homeostasis was not for show though, and cracked down on each and every one of these cancers. Better yet, it knew when the effects of Decay were helpful, and allowed those to fester, increasing his rate of healing. The process of checking out his organs and piecing everything together didn¡¯t even take a second. When his view was brought outwards once more, he saw the effects of Decay on Edward, and it was shockingly destructive towards him. When the mana infected Dei, it was mildly irritating. On a small scale it was harmful, sure, but his body could easily counter it. Edward though? Baseball sized growths bulged out from below his skin, and the man stumbled as supposedly more extreme changes happened below the surface. Some of the lumps burst into flame as his body actually burned it away, while others ballooned to absurd degrees. Dei felt Fendrascora pull him backwards, getting tens of feet between them as the growing lumps exploded, spraying a disgusting black liquid everywhere around him. Dei¡¯s face contorted in disgust and confusion. This¡­ was not something he expected. Why? Why was the Decay mana so much more toxic to Edward than him? Edward was an endurance based fighter. His entire goal was to last as long as possible. Something sparked in Dei¡¯s eyes as he realized that Prime Humans Had Weaknesses! They had incredible Racial bonuses, of course they would have weaknesses! He had experience in that regard. The better Racial bonus one was born with, the stronger the weakness too. ¡®The weakness of Prime humans is that of mana types that end cycles or longevity, that cut life short. Passing and Decay are two I know, but what else? Could I use Void, the state between two points, to lessen the distance between Edwards current self and his end?¡¯ Ultimately, it didn¡¯t matter if he could. He didn¡¯t need to do anything except keep Edward distracted now and let the Decay mana do its work, which he saw would be an issue. In his crazed state, Edward showed no recognition of the world around him, but he did recognize enemies, and he looked towards the center of the Convergence now, ready to leap towards it and potentially end the Convergence by moving or breaking the anchor. Dei would have to stop him. ¡®Well, Homeostasis is going to evolve very soon anyway¡­ this is going to be a workout for my immune system¡¯ Pushing Snap mana into the base of his feet, Dei kicked off the ground and propelled himself with an explosion to slam into Edward, sending them both flying, still only on the edge of the Convergence. Dei grappled with him, holding his head under the water to drown out his screaming as his body blew itself to pieces. The water beneath him roiled and popped, the red and black ooze coating Dei as all he could do was close his eyes and mouth to hope for the best. After only a handful of seconds though, Dei felt the skin on his hands peel and melt as Edward superheated himself. ¡®Wha-¡¯ Before Dei could react Edward exploded, releasing a fireball of heat and sending Dei and his entire group hundreds of feet into the air. Fendrascora made sure that none of them were separated, but they had to wait until they hit the ground again before they could move, and by that time he expected Edward to reach the anchor. He tsked, but Clever had other plans. Dei felt hyper-detailed instructions enter his mind on how, exactly, to move the snap mana in his legs to help give him downwards thrust. He also felt Fendrascora reshaping herself on his back, no doubt to Clevers specifications. Dei followed Clevers orders without question, firing Heat and Convection behind him in a series of micro explosions. He expected to start flying wildly, as his control wasn¡¯t that good to reach unhindered flight, but Fendrascora had thinned her body out in certain places and structured itself more sturdily in others, leading to a fifty-foot wide set of blood red wings on his back. Under Clevers guidance, they shot towards an unremarkable spot in the air halfway between where Edward had blown himself up and the center of the Convergence. Trusting Clever, Dei brought his fist down at the same moment a ghostly transparent Edward flickered into existence, feeling his fist make contact and sending the visage plummeting to the ground as his body started to grow itself from scratch once more. It was formed enough by the time it hit the ground to leave a crater in the water, moments before Dei¡¯s legs came down on Edwards skinless chest and punched through Clever sent more instructions into Dei¡¯s mind, and he released another, far stronger explosion to send himself upwards again right as Edward went to grab his legs. ¡°I¡¯m out of stored heat¡± he sent to Clever. ¡°I know, keep doing your usual thing¡± he sent back in a strained tone. They were close enough to the ground that Fendrascora sent out a limb, connecting her with the water and dragging them downwards. They landed a short distance between Edward and the anchor, blocking his way. He didn¡¯t register them as he charged in a straight line towards the anchor. Originally waist-deep in water, his first step towards Dei hoisted him up and out of it. His second step took him across the surface, and his third step was into Dei¡¯s grasp as Dei pushed against Edwards shoulders, trying to stop him with all the effect of a strong wind against a charging bull. Dei was not the focus of Edwards Rage at the moment, and was shocked to find Edwards strength far surpassing Dei¡¯s own. Fendrascora sent her entire body out, gripping the water and rooting him. Dei was hopeful for only a moment that it would stop Edward, until he saw the water and peat start peeling itself back, revealing the soft earth below as hundreds of thousands of pounds arched into the sky Fendrascora grunted in effort as she kept hold of all the weight, until finally, Edwards momentum was stopped. Dei¡¯s grip on the man tightened when he felt the weight Fendrascora pulled up shift and start falling into its original place. The five of them were helplessly pulled along until, with a thud, the ground settled and their momentum carried the five of them further. Fendrascora had to release her hold on the earth as they were flung away from the anchor. They would exit the Convergence but that was fine with Dei, there was always next time to lure Edward back into- Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Edward stopped dead in his tracks as Dei lost grip on him and kept going. ¡®Does Edward have a momentum canceling Skill?! Why?¡¯ he thought frantically as he glanced backwards to see Edward midair- not simply floating free, but with a pink tentacle wrapped around his ankle. Dei¡¯s face contorted in anger as he recognized the monster that¡¯d stopped Edward. It was no tentacle, but a tongue. ¡®THE FUCKING FROG?!¡¯ he screamed in his mind as his eyes followed the tongue to the ground, seeing a torso-sized frog halfway stuck in a pile of mud as it dug its heels and pulled itself back. Absently Dei realized their direction was changing as Clever directed Fendrascora into a paraglider-like shape, but he couldn¡¯t take his eyes off the scene before him as he saw his first personal enemy twist its body, using its tongue to fling Edward back the way they¡¯d come. It wasn¡¯t trying to eat Edward, it was just helping him. Clever sent a panicked apology, saying that he hadn¡¯t seen the frog in any of his other timelines until after it¡¯d revealed itself, but Dei waved him off. Right now there was no time to point fingers or blame, they had the very real issue of a fourth, unknown variable in the fight. Originally, the fight would be between Dei, Edward, and the Guardian, but why did the frog step in? From watching it so long ago, Dei found that the frog was suspiciously intelligent- likely even sapient. If he tried, he might even be able to converse with it. For a flicker of a moment, he considered trying to strike a bargain, perhaps to gain it as a companion in his menagerie, but he discarded the possibility. He really hated the thing. So what did it gain? It clearly wanted Edward to kill the Guardian, likely so it could take the Decay anchor. After that, did it want Edward to kill Dei so it could take his soul mana? Did it have a plan for Edward? ¡®It does! Edward is a Rage based fighter. He¡¯s dangerous to me because he hates me, but if Edwards source of Rage is gone, what happens? He becomes a normal man. If Edward kills the guardian too quickly, then me, the frog will reap all the benefits of the fight. Sneaky bastard!¡¯ It was a smart plan that was reliant on the frog being intelligent enough to gather information on its enemies and potentially even figure out how all of them worked. It clearly knew Edward and what would make him weak again, and it knew enough about Clevers Time affinity to find a gap or loophole of some kind. Did it know of Dei¡¯s abilities? And did it calculate that he¡¯d lose in an all-out battle against Edward? He would have to avoid finding out. No matter how much he wanted to though, they were too far behind Edward to catch up. They glided after him, but Dei could only watch from a distance as a nine foot guardian rose up from below to meet Edwards charge. Its lithe, graceful figure was partially obscured by deep green algae falling from its figure, but Dei knew it was only an empty humanoid skeleton with a goat skull for its head. Edward crashed into it, but was quickly redirected with a supernatural, reassuring ease. Dei worried that the guardian would be turned to paste at Edwards strength, but was again reminded that Edward would only gain just enough strength to keep his enemy on their toes. The Guardian was so much stronger than Dei that even the small strength Edward got from it was enough to push him aside. Rather than join the fight immediately, they glided above and watched as Edward charged in over and over, redirected and flung away from the anchor he still tried to reach. Dei watched Edwards body break itself over and over again, releasing loud pops or crunches as growths exploded inside him. Despite that, his face betrayed not even the slightest hint of pain, and he just kept throwing himself at the Guardian. Minutes passed with no change, and Dei was almost content to wait, but something deep in his heart was unnerved at the sight of this battle. The Guardian was not retaliating for some reason, simply buying time. Even if his Identify had a good enough range to hit it, Dei wouldn¡¯t have, lest he anger it. As he watched its movements though, he started to notice a pattern to them. Not a pattern in the combat sense, but a behavioral sense. He realized that this was his Beastial Communication upgrade from becoming a Slaughterer. He was reading this monster''s body language, despite it being incredibly foreign to his own. What he saw was¡­ not good. It was tense, afraid. It didn¡¯t think it could win. The Guardian was not the only one non-confident in its own abilities though. At his shoulder, Dei felt pain briefly start to leak through his connection with Clever. Clever immediately focused on stopping it, but Dei was now aware of the pain Clever was putting himself in, and it only now occurred to him that Clevers ability to search timelines did strain him. He was searching now, for something. For a future they would win. Dei told Clever to not try and stop the pain from reaching him and simply focus on the future. Dei wished he could tell Clever to not work himself too hard, but that would be a mistake. He needed Clever to find their victory, because he was not confident in doing so. As Clever did that, Dei decided to extend an olive branch. Though his Wrath Identify was limited in range, his Kindness wasn¡¯t. Channeling mana into it, a small cloud of Kindness mana floated down and made contact with the Guardian. He didn¡¯t actually want to Identify the Guardian of anything, just use the Skill for communication, so he conveyed the message of ¡°Let me hear the thoughts you want me to hear, and in exchange I would like to work out a deal for both of us. I want The Enemy (Edward) dead.¡± The Guardian allowed for Dei to hear his thoughts. Dei would have to send long-ranged [Meaningful]s, but those would only have a few seconds of latency before they reached the guardian. ¡°Help¡± the Guardian started the conversation. ¡°I¡¯ll try. What makes you think you will lose?¡± he asked. ¡°I am burning mana faster to kill the being than the being is dying. It will take four days for me to kill it. It will take me six hours to run out of mana.¡± ¡®God damn, how enduring is Edward?¡¯ He felt bad for pushing Edward on this guardian simply to buy Dei some time to rest, but Dei¡¯s soul was already looking in a better shape without having to keep healing him. ¡°I will take the enemy away from you in two hours but I need to rest. Keep delaying him. We can take turns fighting him where I take a break by sending him to you, then I take him away before he kills you. Okay?¡± With a plan in mind, Dei saw the Guardians movements relax and send back an affirmative. ¡°I must ask that you tell me where the anchor is though. There is another [MONSTER] that is hiding from both of us and trying to get your anchor. If you tell me, I can protect it.¡± With the word Monster, he conveyed all the knowledge he had of the frog and its goals, and he made his intentions as honest as possible. He wanted this Guardian to trust him, because he really really did not want it to die, and the only way to protect it was to shield its anchor. Luckily, the Guardian was rather cornered in its options. It knew Dei was its only hope, so it told him easily enough by conveying the location of a rusted metal brooch below the earth. Dei quickly told Clever where this brooch was, and to focus his abilities on scanning the timelines around that one spot- ensuring it would not be tampered with. Clever sent back a pained affirmative, and got to work. * * * Fendrascora kept them in the air by flapping her batlike wings occasionally as they circled above the fight between Edward and the Guardian. Dei continued to rest his aching soul, but he never stopped watching. It was as he started to get confident in everything going according to plan when Clever sent a panicked word to both Dei and Fendrascora. ¡°DIVE!¡± and down they went. He knew the urgency in Clevers voice and boosted them downwards with explosions, but the rest of Clevers communication was a record of the next few seconds. Dei had been keeping watch of the ground with low level pulses from his [Soul Echo], and he was about to find that the frog was close to the anchor, too close to stop, so they were diving down early. Whatever the frog used to shield itself from the Soul Echo and Clevers timeline ability was limited though, and when its future became too intertwined with the focus of Clevers Skill- the brooch- its stealth fell apart. Despite that though¡­ they wouldn¡¯t make it. They would reach the anchor just a moment too late. The frog would grab the anchor and escape. The Guardian would unravel, and Edward would once again throw himself at Dei. This future was solid. It was set. It would happen, and there was nothing Dei could do to stop its arrival. Feeling the wind rush past him, he felt it there, right in front of him. The timeline of failure, the timeline where he lost. The link between him and this timeline was solid in a way he could feel at the tip of his fingers. Mid-dive he felt his body react almost on instinct, reaching out and grasping the space between space. the point between points. The time between time. The Void. It was the nothingness between, it held no substance, yet it was there in everything. Grasping this void with both hands, he stretched the distance between him and the failing timeline, pushing it with all his will as reality turned to putty beneath his hold. The timeline was set to converge with his own, but he threw his very soul into resisting this fact, placing himself between the two and feeling the crushing pressure of both. His will quaked. The failing time shook. And everything cracked. Chapter 104 The world shattered, and Dei ceased to exist for less than a moment. To him though, the nonexistence did not simply pass. He stood within a house of mirrors, around him a dozen or so timelines all in stasis, but all with the same result. They were backwards and forwards copies of himself in fake timelines. Some were seconds into the future, where he reached the ground but the frog was already gone. Others were seconds into the past, yet to realize it was too late, and he stood in the middle. ¡®How did I find my way here?¡¯ he wondered, staring around curiously. He felt no sense of urgency either, knowing that no time would pass where he currently was. He was in a time void, somewhere the concept did not exist, yet he found that his physical body did. Clever, Fendrascora, and Perumah were not here with him. He took a moment to go over all the notifications he¡¯d built up during his fight. [Skill Leveled Up: Pandora¡¯s Box (Sealed) (300) -> (338)] [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (138) -> (143)] [Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (70) -> (83)] [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (235) -> (248)] [Stat Gained: +1 Physical] [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (133) -> (140)] [Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (182) -> (200)] [Skill: Homeostasis (200) has reached an evolution threshold] [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (173) -> (200)] [Skill: Meditation (200) has reached an evolution threshold] [Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (114) -> (120)] [Skill Leveled Up: In Tune (62) -> (87)] [Affinity Strengthened: [Kindness: High-Rare: 99% has strengthened into Kindness: Low-Treasured: 18%] [Affinity Strengthened: [Wrath: Low-Rare: 99% has strengthened into Wrath: Mid-Rare: 37%] [Affinity Strengthened: [Void: Mid-Common: 99% has strengthened into Void: Low-Uncommon: 4%] Two evolutions to choose and three affinity strengthens. Wrath and Void he understood, even Void skipping High-Common tier entirely was expected, but he still didn¡¯t know why Kindness was steadily going up. Even if no time passed, he wanted to get back to the fight as soon as he could- to that end, he also checked his Pandora¡¯s Box and what mana types were in it. [Pandora¡¯s Box: 10287/13520 Wrath 253/13520 Kindness 166/13520 Soul 1573/13520 Fortitude 1150/13520 [NULL] ] 184/13520 Void 80/13520 Tracking] His eyes landed on Void. he didn¡¯t know the exact amount he had before he¡¯d cast whatever Void spell he was currently under the effects of, but he still clearly had a healthy amount. Whatever he¡¯d done, it was¡­ shockingly cheap. His mind was also brought to the fact that he didn¡¯t have a Void spell listed on his Interface. What he¡¯d done was a result of pure mana control which explained why it was only him in this void. He could, after all, only manipulate mana when it was within his own body. Clever was able to do stuff with his Time affinity before he had the proper spells too, so he¡¯d ask later about the process of formalizing a spell. What he¡¯d done would be useful, of that he was sure. His fears of running out of Void mana and being stranded here alleviated, he considered what to do next. Clearly, he had to at least evolve the Skills. Sighing, he closed his eyes and started using [Connection] to produce the materials he¡¯d need to evolve Homeostasis. * * * The evolution went off without a hitch, and the result was much similar to Growing Rage. [Homeostasis - Level 200 - Health affinity - Passive The world is in¡­ ¡­ Level 100 evolutionary upgrade: Raise the maximum level of resistance you can develop to a particular imbalance Level 200 evolutionary upgrade: Body will naturally ??? when met with adversity] For Meditation, he chose once more to not allow Connection anywhere near the Skill. They were both based on connecting with things, and Dei was afraid Connection would devour his meditation Skill by merging with it, and he¡¯d have a super esoteric form of Meditation. Sure, that could be good, but he really did not want to deal with that right now. He went for the more mundane path of regular evolutions. [Diverging paths for evolution open: Puzzling Controlled Intuitive Parasitic] He¡¯d ended up choosing Puzzling. [A tangled knot of fate and life stand before you, yet you are woefully unequipped to see. Gain the ability to glimpse into the web and find what you may] Controlled let him change benefits or burdens into something lateral to it, equal but different. Intuitive would instinctively pass off a small amount of damage to those he was connected with in an efficient way, automatically negating some damage from him while causing no harm to his friends. Parasitic would let him slowly build up a connection to something that didn¡¯t like him, though it wasn¡¯t clear what this connection did, and the risk was too great for it to be useless. Puzzling¡­ he had a good feeling about it, that¡¯s all. When he was done, it was time to decide what to do. While messing around with Homeostasis, Dei found that most of his Skills were cut off, with a few notable exceptions. Connection, Meditation, and Homeostasis worked as intended, but everything else was unresponsive. This actually made Dei sigh in relief, because for just a moment he thought it might be best to sit here, in the Void, for the next few months training and getting his Skills up and training his body with Growing Rage. It would certainly raise his chances of survival, but he still hated the idea of doing that. His soul strain wasn¡¯t going away either, so this space wouldn¡¯t be useful as a resting spot between battles. Worse, whatever he¡¯d done to end up here made the strain worse. He still had a few days left in him, but he shouldn¡¯t try to enter this time void again haphazardly during this fight. So all that was left¡­ was to get back. He looked around at the frozen expression of himself in fourteen different timelines, and considered what to do. Clever said that when he transferred his soul into a fake timeline, making it real, he was the only one to change. It was not so easy to reverse the entire world, but his body was more¡­ accepting of Time mana, accepting of the change. So in his original timeline, Dei had been too far away from the anchor to change anything. If Clever was correct, he needed to enter a future timeline, effectively teleporting himself forwards in a very roundabout way. ¡®Fendrascora will be without a flowing body of water for a few seconds, meaning she will be unable to move, but I¡¯ll get back to her as soon as I can. I just need to stop the damn frog from killing the Guardian.¡¯ He went to his future self- the one furthest forward. This self was already at the ground, watching the frog slip away by digging rapidly through the mud. If he was in this Dei¡¯s position, he¡¯d be close enough to grab the frog''s tongue. Reaching out, he touched the surface of the timeline. And nothing happened. Confused, he pressed harder against it, but the frictionless barrier was unyielding. ¡®I¡¯m not a Time affinitied being, it¡¯s not so easy to just teleport myself through time. I¡¯m a user of Void, I need to do something with that¡¯ he thought, and remembered the sensation of manipulating the area between time, as he¡¯d done before. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. When Clever showed him that branching timeline, Dei somehow had an intuitive understanding of its approach as it started to converge with reality. It was like he¡¯d finally laid eyes on something that was sitting in front of him the entire time, but his mind failed to acknowledge. He lengthened the gap between that time and reality, until the false timeline broke apart- resulting in his current predicament. He¡¯d somehow pushed himself out of time by resisting the inevitable march of it or¡­ not pushed himself out, he¡¯d crushed himself within. He remembered the sensation of two realities- or two moments- fusing together as the future became the present. He forced himself between those moments and resisted the merging of them, meaning that the future stayed the future and the present stagnated. ¡®I know what I need to do¡¯ he thought, and again walked towards the furthest future self. He currently existed in the present, but he couldn¡¯t let that happen. He needed to exist in the future, before it happened, skipping all the middle parts. He sectioned off one hundred Void mana, unsure of how much he¡¯d need. Clearly, Void abilities were rather cheap, but he didn¡¯t want to skimp just in case. Any extra, he could just return to his box. Flooding his body with Void mana, Dei pictured the gap between him and the future. As easily as he could snap his fingers, he willed that gap to close. And he was gone. * * * It felt like nothing happened at all, but he was aware of what did. His mind, the physical brain in his head, stuttered, and he was there. He didn¡¯t blink or flinch at the sensation, as he knew it was coming. He simply punched downwards into the earth, grabbing hold of the bastard frog''s tongue and pulling upwards. It was too long though, and the frog itself did not come up with it. The frog did not hesitate either, digging through the earth to still reach for the Decay anchor. ¡®No!¡¯ he thought, slamming his foot down below to cut off the frogs path, and mostly succeeding. Mostly. The tip of its webbed feet touched the anchor though, and that was enough. It was clear the act of living creatures interfering with the anchor was a catalyst for its failure. It disrupted a delicate magical balance Dei couldn¡¯t understand. The earth around the rusted pin could move it, but if any living tissue consciously touched it, the spell would end. Dei roared in outrage as the worst came to pass, despite his efforts. It did not happen quickly, but the connection between the Convergence and the Physical world began to spiral. Dei punched downwards into the earth, grasping at the frog''s main body, but it clearly had other priorities now that its job was done. It turned ephemeral and fled deeper below, evading the hand reaching for it. Sadly, for the frog, it was not so simple to escape Dei¡¯s hand, and he still gripped the now translucent tongue strongly. Dei felt the tongue start thrashing as his companions finally caught up with him, Fendrascora crashing into his back and quickly burrowing into him. He grunted in pain, but endured it. ¡°Fendrascora, pull us up as hard as you can!¡± he told her, and she didn¡¯t hesitate despite being paralyzed seconds ago. They shot towards the sky, and the frogs tongue went with them. Dei used micro explosions to boost them even further, and Clever took over Fendrascora¡¯s movements to keep them balanced as they rose higher and higher into the air. The frog resisted with all its might, but it was not to be. After thirty feet, Dei saw its white ghostly form tear free from the earth, and it rapidly caught up with them as its tongue returned to its organic shape. Despite still being a ghost, Dei¡¯s hand came down at the base of its open mouth and met the resistance he was looking for. Though only twenty percent of the force would carry through into intangible enemies, that just meant he¡¯d have to hit it five times as much to kill it. He saw panick, fear in its eyes, those emotions were met with cold indifference. It was simply too dangerous, too smart for its own good. If he tried allying with it, Dei had no doubt it would scheme its way free and kill him in the future. He cast an Identify in tandem with his fist coming down upon it. The spell reached first. [Foretold Hyper-aware Belcher of Slinking - Level 299 Affinities of Foresight, Mind, Snap, Earth, Spirit, Patience, Shadow, and Adaptation] The Identify disrupted its intangibility Skill and he kept the needle placed within, still providing him with information about the Belcher. The heat rushed into his fist, Snap mana forcing it out with a volatility unmatched to any of its previous uses, but the Belcher wasn¡¯t ready to die yet, and he sensed its power skyrocket in an instant. ¡®It evolved. It¡¯s been sitting at two ninety nine for who knows how long, and its now using all its stored EXP.¡¯ [Foretold Hyper-aware Belcher of Defense - Level 321] The Convection mana fully compressed itself into a glowing spark, pushed and directed by his fist as the force of the explosion focused in a singular direction- at his enemy. [Foretold Hyper-aware Belcher of Defense - Level 356] He felt the Belchers skin toughen tens, perhaps hundreds of times over. His arm vibrated and bones shattered under strain, his simple and furious strike too much for Fendrascora to fully contain. [Foretold Hyper-aware Belcher of Defense - Level 399] Finally resulting in an explosion that rocked the world, blood exploding from the Belcher as it was sent downwards, Fendrascora spreading herself thin to avoid Dei¡¯s strike making them rocket upwards. The Belcher had hardly gone ten feet before Perumah and Clevers attacks landed as well, spurred into action by Dei¡¯s [In Tune] Skill, shredding its soul and cooking its body for several seconds. The attack was everything they had, and the result was everything it should have been, if Edward weren¡¯t unkillable. [EXP gained for killing the Foretold Hyper-aware Belcher of Defense (Level 399). EXP gain raised due to level disparity] [Class Leveled Up: Watchful Slaughterer (134) -> (146)] [Total Stats Gained: +12 Physical, +6 Mental, +6 Spiritual, +6 Magical] His long-time enemy, the first monster that¡¯d ever truly almost killed him, was finally dead. He felt a shiver go through his body as a grudge Wrath refused to let go finally faded away, but he didn¡¯t revel in the sensation. ¡°Get us down to the anchor as soon as you can!¡± he told Fendrascora, hoping someone in their group would have an idea. He was out of Convection mana, but Clever came in with a save, directing Fendrascora on how to spread her body thinly and swim in the air, forcing them down just a bit faster. They landed close to the anchor, next to the scorch mark Clever left in the earth, but Dei ignored everything else, falling to his knees and reaching towards where he could feel the anchor. It was not hard to triangulate its location, as waves of Decay mana tore through Dei, all from the same direction, but¡­ it was not as strong as it should¡¯ve been. Dei¡¯s mind raced, and he connected to the anchor using his Wrath Identify. The material was completely inorganic, so he could not Identify it, but that was fine. He only wanted Connection to link him with the object, hoping he would be able to glean something from it. He saw exactly what he was afraid of. The Convergence was akin to a spinning top that would go on endlessly, but the moment something interrupted its movement, that perpetual motion would come to an end. The anchor was settling, and it would soon become inert- but not yet. It was still active, if only for a little longer, he rapidly scanned through it, finding what he was looking for- the connection the Guardian shared with the anchor. More than that, he found the sputtering energy source of the Convergence, its link to the Conceptual Plane of Decay. ¡®What do I do?! What can I do?!¡¯ He realized that he still had a ton of Void mana within his body- ninety eight, in fact. Merging himself with the future from his place in the time-between had only taken two points. ¡®Can I merge the Guardian with the plane, closing the void between them?¡¯ The anchor acted as the liaison, a middle man between the Guardian and Decay. It refined the Decay mana into something more usable, but it limited the Guardian in that the creature could not stray far from the anchor, lest it be destroyed. If he closed the gap between the Guardian and Decay, the Guardian would be overwhelmed. The mana it received would be too violent, and it would die. He needed the anchor as his middle man to refine the concepts of Decay, but it was losing that connection. He tried closing the gap between the anchor and Decay, but the anchor resisted by its very nature. It was Decay''s will, and Decay wanted the anchor to end once any living creature moved it. Dei could resist Void when he had all the advantages, but this was Decay in its home, he couldn¡¯t change the anchor¡¯s goal. He needed something with the refining concepts of the anchor that was unbound by Decays will to collapse and could properly connect with the Guardian. He had one idea, one crazy idea as he took hold of the Decay mana rushing through him, bending it to his will and forcing it through his [Growing Rage] Skill. It wasn¡¯t so easy to imbue himself fully with the concepts, but it was a start. Decay enhanced his muscles in some way but that was unimportant to him right now as he found that Decay mana no longer tried quite as hard to kill him, and he found that he could dive just a bit deeper into the plane of Decay. Looking at his Pandora¡¯s Box, he checked for the one number that really mattered. [Soul: 5/13520] He needed ten minimum for this to work but he¡¯d just used up all of his Soul mana on Homeostasis, so he¡¯d need a revelation about himself to get enough mana. He sighed. ¡®Fine. I admit it. I¡¯m being a total kind idiot by helping Fendrascora past what was initially required, and I¡¯m being an idiot again for what I¡¯m about to do to try and save the Guardian despite it being more than likely to kill me.¡¯ [Soul: 12/13520] ¡®Good enough¡¯ he thought, and made a single centimeter of [Connection]. Then, he grabbed the rusty brooch, feeling a pained gasp from the Guardian, ripped a hole in his clothes, and held it to his chest. With the centimeter of Connection, he formed a dangerously dense line between the plane of Decay, through the gate that was the Anchor, into his own [Growing Rage] Skill, finally ending at the Guardians soul. The pieces snapped into place with shocking ease, and Dei felt a rumbling torrent of Decay mana flow through his Skill, but was shocked to find it exit him with perfect efficiency. He sighed in relief as he found that he was correct, and the Connection was perfect enough to keep itself as a closed circuit, so long as it had the right tools to do so. It was a thankfully simple solution, and he expected it to work because- His thoughts were cut off as a flying Guardian slammed into him, pulled by the Connection Skill which now prevented the creature from ever being more than one centimeter from Dei. ¡®Ahh yes the battle. Which I will now have to fight glued to a large skeleton.¡¯ April Fools Chapter (unironically canon btw) Before the fight with Edward ever began, around the middle part of Dei¡¯s training session in Aloran¡¯s cave, he was running a particularly confusing Void experiment, trying to teleport and link space. To transport himself a few feet in any direction. Fendrascora had gone out to the great river, and Perumah sat off to the side, partially in a trance state. Clever, bored with his own training, decided to watch Dei go at it, even telling Dei to form a line of Connection between them so he could watch Dei¡¯s Void training more easily. ¡°Link your hand to that plant¡± Clever told him. ¡°Clever, buddy, I appreciate your attempts at advice, but I already told you that I¡¯m trying! You¡¯re not offering very different advice.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Link it to infinity.¡± ¡°Infinity?¡± ¡°Yea, try infinity.¡± ¡°Literally how am I supposed to do that? Flood my hand with Void and squeeze the area between it and the idea of everything ever? How would that help?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯d only be close to infinity, never at it. You¡¯d approach a limit of infinity, exiting quantifiable possibilities and potentially skipping over a metaphorical asymptote. Whether this helps you teleport or not remains to be seen.¡± ¡°You sound like my college calculus teacher, did you pull those words from my mind? I don¡¯t even know if that makes sense.¡± He sighed. ¡°But I¡¯ve tried everything else I guess. Sure, let''s approach infinity.¡± Again flooding his finger with Void affinity mana, he tried to squeeze the gap between that finger and the concept of endlessness. Weirdly, it did something, so he tried to connect it with something else in the garden, but there was no luck. No response at all. He just had a finger with infinite possibilities, but wasn¡¯t that normal? He could move in any direction he chose, each minutely different and infinitely impossible. It didn¡¯t help. ¡°Nope, nothing.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ let''s do something else. I think what you¡¯re doing is working, but its connection with the rest of you slows its approach to infinity. It¡¯s not approaching it fast enough.¡± ¡°How can you know this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a korgonda, a lava reptile.¡± ¡°No way can reptiles just understand infinity.¡± ¡°Prove it!¡± Clever shouted, then laughed at him. ¡°Cover us both in Void, it¡¯ll work, trust me!¡± ¡°That sounds like a monumentally bad idea.¡± ¡°Yea, how are your good ones coming along?¡± Clever said casually, and Dei¡¯s face fell. Clever again laughed at him, now for his sulking. ¡°Fine! Let¡¯s take a trip to infinity.¡± Clever vibrated with excitement as he felt the transitory mana flow through his body, making him feel completely endless. Much to Dei¡¯s chagrin, he finally got a response from his Void mana. More than that, the knowledge granted to him by Void told him that the result wasn¡¯t dangerous. Sighing, he activated the teleportation, expecting to appear mere feet away. To everyone else though, him and Clever were simply gone. In the emptiness of Aloran¡¯s garden, an old, fallen God spoke with disbelief. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t have worked.¡± * * * When Dei found himself surrounded by jungle trees and sitting on soft grass, he cursed. On his shoulder, Clever shouted his excitement to the world and mocked Dei. ¡°Clever! Can we stop with the celebration for a moment?¡± ¡°Nuh uh, I¡¯m right! I¡¯m smart!¡± ¡°Alright smarty scales, where are we?¡± Dei¡¯s words brought Clevers attention to their surroundings, and understood their predicament. Around them was a silent wall of dense foliage, with a thin gravel path leading deeper in. Looking behind them, Dei sighed as he saw a wall of pure black, extending far in either direction. More than that, it extended over them too. He reached out to touch it¡­ and found that nothing was there. No wall to block him. They weren¡¯t enclosed by walls of shadow, they were in space. He took a step back from the starless expanse, again looking at the winding gravel road. Peeking out over the treetops, he could just barely see the edge of what seemed to be a low-build castle. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Dunno.¡± Clever belatedly answered his question. Dei thought it would be smart to try and do the same thing again, maybe teleport back, but he had to admit that his curiosity got the better of him. ¡°Let¡¯s go check out that castle in the distance, see if anyone is here.¡± * * * The jungle was completely and utterly silent as they went through, not the smallest critter or animal to break the eerie atmosphere. Eventually they broke into a clearing, the stereotypical gray stone walls of a large keep showing itself. The drawbridge was up, even if the mote seemed like it would be easy to jump with his Physical attributes. When they were halfway through the clearing though, a head peeked over the wall. Contrary to what he expected, the woman looked positively average, with cherry blond hair, blue eyes and a narrow face, and the light skin tone of a Prime Human. She wasn¡¯t ugly or gorgeous, she seemed like someone you¡¯d simply pass on the sidewalk and make no note of whatsoever. ¡°WHO GOES THERE?!¡± She shouted from the top of the wall. ¡°Heya! I¡¯m Dei, this is my buddy Clever.¡± Clever waved his tiny clawed hands. ¡°Who are you?¡± Standing up to her full, unimpressive height, she said ¡°Sarah, which is nothing to you considering you are about to die, knave!¡± ¡®Who says knave?¡¯ he thought, and saw what she was wearing. A t-shirt that said ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me until I¡¯ve had my madness¡± with a laughing-crying emoji in the middle and a pair of loose grey sweatpants. ¡°Why kill us? I¡¯ll just leave if you want.¡± ¡°Nay! None leave unless they answer me my riddles three. If you fail at answering any of the riddles correctly, then you must pass the ultimate trial. OR DIE!¡± ¡°Uhhh okay, lay em on me I guess.¡± ¡°Riddle one! How did you get here?¡± ¡®That¡¯s not a riddle.¡¯ ¡°A failed Void-based teleportation experiment.¡± ¡°Riddle TWO! Did you intentionally invade my pocket dimension?¡± ¡°Your riddles suck! No! It was an accident.¡± ¡°RIDDLE THREE! What is my last name?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to know that!?¡± ¡°HA! You can¡¯t answer my riddles, you¡¯re now bound to pass my ultimate trial.¡± As she spoke, he felt invisible chains bind his soul in place, and knew that he couldn¡¯t leave unless he passed the trial. ¡®It¡¯s gonna be something stupid.¡¯ ¡°Okay what¡¯s your trial.¡± ¡°A battle of Rhyme! Using my magic of Rules and Rhyme, you must describe how you would break into my keep if you could, and I will respond how it would not work. You must find a path that would allow you to win. Should you fail to answer my questions in rhyme, you DIE.¡± ¡°A rap battle?¡± ¡°Rap is more rapid And flowing with sound, We speak now in poems for rules we are bound. ¡°So speak now your ways For how you would end, A siege on my castle By tool, spell, or shend!¡± ¡®Nothing to do but get right into it I guess.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯d leap past your moat And scale up your stones, My claws will find purchase And break all your bones.¡± ¡°But fail that you would! My moat can pull, see? You¡¯d slide down my walls A dome protects me!¡± Enunciating her words, Dei started feeling a strong pull into the moat, and a barrier glittered past the top of the walls. ¡°Magic may shield you But what of the trees? Id start up a fire And smoke you out, bee!¡± ¡°I needn¡¯t the plants My bubble has air, I¡¯d feel not the heat Not a singe of my hair!¡± ¡°And what of the food? You need to eat, We¡¯d set shifts to take watch My friends have you beat! ¡°Starve out my fortress? Let your attempts go on! Endless food I¡¯ve stored Even now I cook bacon!¡± ¡°I admit, you are versatile But perhaps not so strong! My friend can break your shield We will test if I¡¯m wrong.¡± Knowing his cue, Clever opened his mouth and fired a beam at the walls. Sarah had a smug look on her face but time seemed to slow, kind of, as the beam went at a snail''s pace towards the wall, giving her time for her retort before it hit. ¡°A little fire beam? What a tale you wove! It¡¯s hardly strong enough to- Wait, did I ever light my stove?¡± A brief look of panic overtook her face as a faint smell hit them both. At the halfway point between Dei and the keep, Clevers beam seemed to light the invisible gas on fire, resulting in a massive explosion that knocked Dei off his feet. Getting back up quickly, he realized that the chains binding him to her game were gone, and he was free to leave. The entire keep was gone as well, leaving behind a perfectly flat blackened area where it once was. The only thing left of Sarah was a pair of smoking shoes. ¡°I wonder where she got that bacon. It must¡¯ve been from somewhere beyond here,¡± Clever said. ¡°Clever I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the important part out of all this.¡± ¡°But I mean it really saved us because she forgot to light the stove after putting the bacon to cook. Thank goodness for her bacon.¡± ¡°Okay sure but why are you saying it like that¡± ¡°Her Bacon from Beyond.¡± Fin