[Pseon Replicator]
[???]
“Alice, I’ll assume manual control of the monsters, check the threat,” Vuer said before it disappeared into the aether. Alice tore open a gate near the spot one of the creatures entered, and as she stepped in, she felt something shift, the sensation similar to the hairs on her skin standing on end.
[Tower has entered defense mode.]
[Energy consumption increased.]
[Tower manipulation speed increased by 30%]
The moment she arrived, one of the creature’s tendrils lashed out towards her. As she tilted her body to dodge, it ended up mere centimeters from her face, before one of the wolves bit it off. Next to the monster, five wolves have spawned, all surrounded in the same grayish mist as the creature.
Then, Alice felt her energy drained as more wolves appeared, and without further ado, the wolves engaged the wolf clones in a battle.
Alice took a deep breath, then she tapped on her connection with the tower, attempting to summon more monsters to deal with them. She called for another horde, this time opting for something less organic.
[Summon Basic Slime]
Liquid bubbled out from the ground, and Alice felt a bit of her energy sapped to beckon the creatures into existence. Most of them are red, while the others have random colors ranging from blue to green and even pitch black.
As if sensing a drug, the creature shifted its attention quickly, transparent tendrils lashing towards one of the newly formed slimes. Though the tendrils pierced the slime creature with ease, it was unable to pull the tendrils out, and the tendrils started to sizzle, giving off an unbearable scent similar to burnt metal.
On closer look, within each transparent covering, there were metallic tendrils, all twisted to create one singular whole.
However, she had no time to figure it out beyond that observation.
Once again, the creature let out a series of broken shrieks, creating five more wolves, one of which was summarily devoured by the tower’s wolf.
The other four proved more difficult than the first one to take down, but she had no time to be concerned about it.
Vuer, focus on controlling the slimes instead!
Alice tapped into the tower’s remaining energy and summoned more slimes with most of it. This time, she willed the tower to create more red ones, enough to fill the forest-like territory of the tower. Just like before, small pools of crimson liquid bubbled out from the ground, killing the plants they touched, before they proceeded to advance towards the three enemies. Their slug-like movements were slow and their liquid body looked cumbersome, but it was enough to get the job done, as the Replicators’ tendrils would sizzle and burn every time the three tried to defend itself.
The three creatures screeched, their bodies sputtering and letting out loud, successive broken screeches one after another. Like a malfunctioning machine, its body shook, its thin, long legs shaking as if no longer able to support its weight, while its shining eyes kept on blinking. In time with the cacophony, copies of gray, smoke-wreathed wolves kept appearing, though this time, they spawned with missing limbs, eyes, or even without their hind legs.
Despite that, the malformed copies of creatures continued struggling towards their singular purpose. Even as they were engulfed by the fire slimes and reduced into blackened corpses, they continued struggling towards Alice, whom they had recognized as a threat.
She opened the interface and gritted her teeth. Something in her balked the moment she decided she wanted to summon something else.
[Mana Capacity: 7.132/150.000]
Like an implied warning, the notification appeared in front of her eyes
“To hell with that.” Despite how she trembled, Alice proceeded with her plan.
[Summon Basic Elemental Construct]
The earth beneath the three strange creatures started to shift, forming golems just barely bigger than the three of them. Under Alice’s order, the three golems punched the Replicators into submission with a series of slow, yet relentless punches.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!!
The punches produced sounds similar to hitting sheets of metal, while strange, colorful liquids bled out from the cracks. The colorful liquids shimmered under the light, its texture seemingly viscous and almost slime-like. Under the repeated punches, the three immobilized creatures finally stopped moving, the light shining from its three eyes fading out as the smoke veil clinging to it finally dispersed.
Then, there was silence. Alice slumped to the ground, dizzy and spent despite not being in the thick of the action.
[Mana Capacity: 1.301/150.000]
[Defense mode lifted]
[Tower has entered power saving mode]
“What were you thinking?!” Vuer appeared right afterwards, her glare sharp enough to burn metal. “Go just a bit further, and you’ll get hurt!”
“I think you also felt that these aren’t threats I can just ‘check’, Vuer,” Alice replied. She ordered the tower to reabsorb the creatures she summoned, and she could feel her body became a bit easier to move.
“Yeah, but… I was worried, your approach was pretty risky. If the tower runs out of energy, it’ll be bad for both of us.”
“I get it, I’ll be more careful next time.”
The earthen constructs was reabsorbed as well, leaving only the broken creatures now slumped on the ground.
Alice approached the three creatures, examining the colorful liquid coming from the cracks on its body. The liquid came in faded red, blue, green, yellow, and white, all shimmering and forming star-like shapes when light was shined on it. Meanwhile, a quick swipe on the creature’s body revealed it was made of some sort of metal, though the slightly rough texture and the oddly light weight all but told her that it most likely wasn’t the case.
The three eyes of the creatures were protected with some sort of glass, though a flick onto its surface revealed that, unlike a sheet of glass, it was hollow.
She then looked at the creature with the most liquid remaining, and then, she concentrated a bit, prompting the tower to change just a little bit of her form. Pointed claws grew on her fingers, then with the tip of a claw, she poked on the liquid. Its texture was sticky and clumpy, almost like glue, and it clung to her claw when she attempted to pull her hand away.
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Afterwards, a notification appeared in front of her eyes.
[Trace amounts of divine essence detected. Would you like to absorb it?]
“Hmm, divine essence? That might be able to strengthen us both and the tower a bit. They should be fine to absorb,” Vuer said.
“I’ll absorb the essence from two of them, but I’d like to keep one. Something about them is… off,” Alice replied. “If it’s possible, I’d like to take a closer look at them. Where did they come from?”
“We both are bound to the tower’s territory, so you’ll have to ask the visitors later.”
Alice touched the rainbow liquid once again, and selected [Yes] when the prompt appeared again. She felt a wave of refreshing cool energy enter her body, while the shimmering rainbow colors faded away from the liquid.
[The divine energy has been absorbed.]
The act left a pile of residue with a black color similar to crude oil. She did the same to the second creature, and another notification soon appeared.
[Congratulations, you have reached level 3]
[Mana capacity increased!]
[1 skill point obtained]
[Alice Ferrophelas]
[System: Vuerga]
[Level 3 Defier]
[Skill Points: 2]
[Mana Capacity: 20.918/200.000 (Rank F)]
[Construction: Rank F]
[Lesser Creature Summoning: Rank F]
[Territory Size: 1km (Rank F)]
[View Skill Tree]
She stared at the notification, wondering just what this “Pseon Replicator” creature could be. For a moment, she weighed whether it was worth it to absorb the last one. In the end, however, her wariness won out, and she ordered the tower to preserve the creature. Following her order, a portal leading to a dark space opened beneath the creature’s remains, and just like that, the creature was stored away.
Then, she decided to check the new option from her previous level up.
[View Skill Tree]
The option opened up a new screen displaying the picture of the tower in the background. In the foreground, there was a bunch of separated points, with two at the base shining while the rest looked faded. She selected one of the dots, displaying the information.
[Fragmentation and Creation - Lv 1]
[Allows the tower to perform a basic analysis and construction of items. Any sufficiently analyzed material and items can be indefinitely replicated by spending energy.]
She selected the other dot.
[Gaze - Lv 1]
[Allows the Defier to bestow a mark upon a visitor with the latter’s agreement. The mark symbolizes protection from the tower, and the Defier is able to receive any information from the marked visitor’s senses in exchange for sacrificing a fixed rate of energy per hour to increase the power of those marked. Only two people could be marked at any given time.]
Alice checked the faded dots, however, doing so gave her notifications full of question marks most of the time, with only the topmost dot having a different notification.
[??? - Lv ??]
[ “The husk of tells the story of abject .”]
She raised her eyebrow at the description, taking a mental note to research about it more later. She tried selecting her other stats instead, and found out that she could use one point to double her territory size, her mana capacity, or even raise her construction and summoning ranks by one.
For now, she glanced at the first dot, before selecting it.
[Would you like to spend one skill point to unlock Fragmentation and Creation?]
[Yes]
Upon selecting the option, Alice felt like her body was about to burst from within. A surge of power entered her body and suffused the entire territory of the tower, and then, just as quickly as the sensation came, it faded away without leaving any trace behind.
[Fragmentation and Creation has been unlocked!]
She did the same to the other available skill, keeping in mind the effects for later use.
Then, she opened the space where she kept her items, and ordered the tower to take out the corpse of the replicator. She focused on the corpse, then tried out the new skill.
[Fragmentation and Creation]
[Pseon Armor]
[Synthetic material made by a mixture of compounds. Trace amounts of coal, gases, metal, and plant material can be found within its molecules. Further investigation is needed]
[Fragmentation progress: 0%]
[Pseon Fluid]
[The fuel the creature uses to replicate creatures the replicator managed to snatch with its tendrils. It contains trace amounts of divine essence, which is what gave it its luster and colors.]
[Fragmentation progress: 0%]
[Pseon Tendrils]
[This organ acts as a way for the replicator to interact with the outside world. The wires within the protective white plastic is full of sensory organs, which enables the creature to feel the outline of the outside world. Despite possessing three eye-like parts, the creature seems to be completely blind, relying on the tendrils and their replication ability to attack]
[Fragmentation progress: 0%]
“We’re still no closer to knowing just what these things are,” Alice commented. She decided to tear a piece of the creature’s armor off and used [Fragmentation and Creation] once more.
[Pseon Armor]
[Components: 0.1% gas mixture, 3% coal, 70% metal, 20% plant materials, 7% space debris.]
[Fragmentation level: 1]
“Vuer?” Alice called out.
“Yeah?”
“Would it be possible for the tower to continue doing the fragmentation and analysis process without my input?”
“It is possible, but it does still take a small amount of energy. So, it will slow down the tower’s energy recovery a little.”
“Sure, I don’t mind. Take the energy, I’ll rest for a bit.”
—
A few hours passed before Alice felt the presence of people passing the barrier.
She opened the system interface and prompted it to focus on the visitors. She saw a pair of girls, one with a long, ash-brown colored hair tied up in a ponytail, and another with mid-back length electric blue hair, wearing a pair of glasses. They seemed to be having a serious discussion before coming, but as they passed the barrier, their attention shifted to the tower, their expressions a mix of wariness and relief.
“Hey, Clara, this seems like one of the towers the ROOT system told us to look for.”
“Should be, but why aren’t there more people here…? It’s too quiet.”
Indeed, she had not summoned the wolves and monsters yet. There was no one here, besides her and Vuer.
“Most likely a lot of people died on their way here. Didn’t you see the corpses devoured by the black… things?” The other girl shuddered as she spoke.
Taking into consideration that there were only two people this time, Alice decided to appear earlier. She opened a portal towards a hidden spot near them, then, she emerged, greeting the two in a casual manner as she stepped out from the bushes and trees.
“Welcome. I am Alice, and I will be your guide to help you do the tower’s challenges.” Alice spoke as she emerged.
The two seemed to not expect the greeting, and the girl with the glasses fell on her butt upon the sight of Alice. The other girl stayed standing, but she took a step back in shock.
“Holy hell! I thought something was going to attack!” The girl exclaimed.
“Not to worry, you are safe here, at least from whatever is chasing you outside. This place is made to train your abilities,” Alice offered her hand, which the girl took with only a moment of hesitation. The girl’s hand felt soft and her skin was pale, a sign that she stayed indoors a lot.
“I heard your conversation earlier, you are Clara, right?” Alice then turned to the girl’s companion, “May I have your name?”
“Ah, I’m Amelia,” the girl nodded, her haste implying she was caught in a daze. “Alice, right? Uh, can you elaborate what you meant by training?”
“Sure. In here, you can learn how to fight. There will be risks of injury, but I’ll stay here and prevent anything lethal from happening.” Alice explained, “and at the end, you will be rewarded with increased power. But, if you just want to rest, that can be arranged.”
“A- are you sure this place is safe?” Amelia asked.
“It is as safe as it could be. I will guarantee it.” Alice nodded.
“It’s better than outside, Mel. Besides, this seems like a safer place to het used to our power,” Clara said, while waving her hand. Light coalesced on her command, turning into a black grimoire with a golden spine and sharp golden lines on its cover. Upon close inspection, the gold lines seemed to have gold liquid flowing through them, like a transparent vein. The book complemented her black clothes and made her electric blue hair stand out even more, framing her pair of ice-gray eyes.
[Clara Zosimos]
[Class: Spirit Summoner]
[Strength: 12]
[Intelligence: 29]
[Endurance: 10]
[Fortitude: 15]
[Agility: 15]
Zosimos? That sounded kind of familiar, Alice thought. She decided to shelve the question for later.
In response to her friend, Amelia nodded and activated her own power, as well. A gold-white aura surrounded her, before it turned into a transparent, phantom-like shield.
[Amelia Cassius]
[Class: Shieldbearer]
[Strength: 19]
[Intelligence: 15]
[Endurance: 27]
[Fortitude: 20]
[Agility: 5]
“You seem to be ready, would you like to start?”
“Sure.”
Alice did a quick check, and confirmed the towe had recovered almost 75% of its maximum energy. Then, she summoned four wolves a few hundred meters away from their location, before she prompted the animals to run towards their location. She stepped back, leaned near a tree, and said.
“There are monsters heading here, and it will reach you in a couple of minutes. Work together, use your abilities, and… good luck.”
“As for you?”
“I am here to observe. If I interfere, your training will be moot. I will keep you safe.”
Just like with the previous group, they didn’t seem satisfied with the answer.
“… that was pretty close to the truth, though,” Vuer appeared next to her and piped up. “That aside, they seem a bit stronger than the previous group. I don’t know about how they work together, though.”
“Well, we’re about to find out,”
“Mel!”
“I know!”
Amelia raised her phantom shield, and a blazing black and purple aura shone from her body. The wolves, as if driven by unnatural rage, began to focus on her, their eyes turning red while black ichor bled from the corners of their eyes.
It was an unsettling sight. Alice focused on the shieldbearer, and the move’s information appeared in front of her eyes.
[Bastion Enrage]
[Force an unnatural anger onto enemies in a certain range, causing them to all focus on the caster. It also increases the caster’s Endurance by 5 points. The primary effect will not trigger on enemies immune to mental control.]
Using the chance, Clara touched her book, prompting a pair of bright green spirits to appear. The spirits took the form of a pair of rodent-like animals with long tails, featureless except for the swirling, dark green tattoos that moved with the light and a pair of white, pupil-less eyes. When Clara pointed towards the wolves, the spirits dashed forward, creating crescent-shaped slicing winds with their movements.
Small scratches appeared on the wolves’ body as the animals pounced through the slicing winds. Clara stayed behind her friend, while Amelia bashed her shield to keep away the wolves that got too close to the pair.
It was like watching a game of extended, magic-enhanced keep away.
Small cuts appeared on Amelia’s skin, while Clara remained relatively unscathed. She touched her book, and this time, a small blue spirit appeared. It took the form of a flying fish, with wing membranes that reflected rainbow as it glides through the air in a graceful dance. When it touched Amelia’s scratches, the wounds slowly knitted together, healing them away within a few minutes.
With time, the wolves succumbed, the scratch wounds accumulating to down them with blood loss and excruciating pain. Amelia approached two of the downed creatures, and she brought her phantom shield down on their heads, ending them. Clara did the same, as she ordered the two wind spirits to sink their sickle-like limbs into the remaining wolves’ head.
“I see, you are a versatile type,” Alice said to Clara as the book disappeared from the latter’s hand. “With your ability, you could focus on offense or play it safe as a supporting unit, but…”
She paused for a moment and gave the exhausted girl an once-over.
“You might do well to find a team member who could focus on offense in your stead. It seems like doing both takes a lot of toll on you. Here, let me help. Do you want to rest or go to the next challenge?” Alice offered her hand.
“Give me just a bit, I’ll be fine… I… have to get stronger.”
“That is a good resolve to have,” Alice gave her a sincere smile. “Rest, then. You’ll be safe here.”
Right as she finished the words, Alice felt the presence of a few people entering. She turned around towards the barrier behind her, only to see an angry middle-aged man walking towards her. He has a mousy
“Welcome. If you are willing to wait, I will—“
The man didn’t even let her finish her sentence before Alice saw the cold metal of a gun barrel pointed towards her.