System message
Congratulations player on the defeat of Maggoth. As a demon slayer you have been awarded 5 points to all attributes. He was not the only demon in the dungeon of dreams. Find the other 8 ultra-rare bosses and defeat them for exponentially greater bonuses. If you manage to defeat all nine secret demon bosses, then you will be eligible to face the secret demon boss defeat it and earn a Legendary skill.
On a side note there are seven angel bosses scattered throughout the dungeon of dreams feel free to take up the angel addition to this quest line. If you manage to get both legendary skills a third legendary skill will be awarded to you.
I’m pleased you are progressing through the dungeon of dreams quickly. Continue on and perhaps, you will learn why you’re here.
The Creator
“Fuck you man.” Nobody yelled, as he sat by his camp fire. Jenny was slowly thawing beside him and Salome was pacing. She was still missing an arm and he didn’t want to unsummon her and waste 1,600MP. There was something more important to worry about.
Ability Unlocked Mana Manipulation lv1
Abilities: Rarer than skills abilities are difficult to unlock and don’t give attribute points. Abilities can’t be fused and are all considered beyond legendary in value. All abilities are different but extremely powerful.
Mana Manipulation lv1
Requirements: Use one of the fundamental parts of mana manipulation to perform an action. All those who wield mana can unlock mana manipulation. This ability can’t be unlocked due to the affects of a skill.
Description: Enhance, Imbue, conjure, project, detect, and conceal there are six expressions of mana manipulation these sub abilities determine how effective you are in Mana manipulation itself. This ability is the bread and butter of mana wielders.
Effect: This ability allows the user to freely use mana through the six expressions of mana manipulation. +5% effectiveness in expressions per level. This ability evolves at lv25 into Mana Control.
He couldn’t stop staring at the screen. Was this a joke, this really shook up the skill system. It must have been, when he used Chad to pierce through the blizzard and the shield. But how did pouring some mana into something increase the effectiveness of his weapon. It didn’t make sense. Runes worked with set amounts of energy. They could only take a set amount of mana, before the runes gave out or burned through the weapon.
So, why did he suddenly have an ability, something rarer than a legendary skill? Something, he didn’t know existed. He thought skills all the same. Nothing about the pop ups eluded to a ranking system. Could skills be traded, could monsters, why didn’t this make sense? It was so frustrating he needed someone to talk to anyone with answers.
“Master, could you kill me please, I miss my arms.” His head turned his to slave, Salome Bitchtron. The biomechanical dryder he created. The woman’s purple eyes gave him a meaningful look. Her submissive posture was almost genuine. It laughed in the face of the trouble she had caused him. Why wasn’t she submissive, when he was much weaker? Was she submissive, really or was this blatant manipulation? He had too many questions and not enough answers. With a wave of his hand, she and Jenny were unsummoned.
He picked a hunk of heart out of his teeth and slammed it back in his mouth to chew. His blood was boiling from the heart he just ate. As it turned out, demon meat was delicious. Nobody liked the taste of the damned creatures. With a knife, he cut strips from the creature’s flesh and fried it like bacon. The smell nearly stung his senses, but he stayed and took it. This place nearly killed him again, so he would enjoy his conquest.
Letting his rage go, he was able to admit it. He had nearly lost to the demon. Maybe that was why he was eating pieces of it. Hell, he had poured a good portion of the creature’s blood in a wooden urn. Why did he do it, he wasn’t Nora?
After a moment of contemplation, he blamed Katara for it. That dragoness had fed him nothing but raw meat for a month and he got a taste for blood. Pouring himself a glass, he put the urn back in his inventory. After taking a sip, he looked over the demon. It was hanging upside down by metallic spider silk. Its blue corpse was 3 times better muscled than a goblin’s its massive, oversized genitalia nearly touched its mouth. Its chest alone was five times as thick as a goblin. Large silver sacs hung out of the creature. Nobody thought they were tumors, until he cut one out.
They were thermal glans. when the creature used its mist skill the glans heated up to keep the creature warm. They were the only part of the creature warm to the touch. Once cut from the demon’s body, they rapidly burned up. The demon’s body kept the sac from overheating. It was possible the mist was also a factor. It was just a hypothesis, he would need to kill other demons to find out.
Flipping the demon bacon, he took a sip of the creature’s blood. It was metallic and very cool going down. He allowed himself to relax and whistled the opener to the Andy Griffin show. He wasn’t very good at keeping the tune as his dad was, but he kept it slow while the bacon crackled. Grease popped and splattered against his face.
After piling his plate full of Bacon, he decided to call Katara. It had been a while and he missed her. Going to his friends-menu, he saw both her name and Nora’s. Blinking, he went ahead and called Katara.
… … … “Hello, who may I ask is calling?” He blinked for a moment.
“Katara,” He heard a loud roar, and chuckle.
“Phil your alive! I’m so happy. Why did you wait so long to call, I’ve been worried that something ate you?” Nobody chuckled. Same old Katara thinking that her weak human friend would get eaten by the local wild life.
“No, I’m very much alive. I just killed a demon and I made bacon out of him. I’m thinking about turning the rest into hamburger meat. How have you been, eaten anything interesting.” Nobody asked.
“Yum, I bet you wish you were a dragon. Demons normally have at least one really high attribute. Are you alright, it must have been a harsh battle, demons are no joke to you humans. They have bare minimal 5 times the stats of any human their level. That’s if you were fighting a measly demon imp. They look like goblins. If they have horns of any kind, then add a zero to the end of that number. If they also have wings, then add another three zeroes. Yea, horns and wings normally mean demon lord or worse a baron. Dukes are the next rank up and their equal to adult dragons. Then you get the princes, overlords, and deities. Those are above both of our pay grade.” Katara said. He was honestly thankful for the lesson in demonology.
“I fought an imp, I think. He had an overpowered ice skill and incapacitated Jenny right off the bat. My spear ranked up though and I got an ability.” Nobody said.
“Probably mana manipulation and if you have a cursed weapon I recommend throwing it away.” Katara said.
“It was mana manipulation and I have a holy weapon. So, did anything happen while I was gone?” Nobody asked.
“Some little tramp tried to get in on my territory. I ripped her neck out and devoured her corpse. It was fun and mana manipulation. That has the be the single most useful thing to have. I mostly use it to conjure. Though its called Dragon force now. I might teach it to you, if you can beat me into submission. But for now, work on enhance, that is the best move to have for a fleshy armor-less two legged like you. Right now, you should be able to blow up your muscles and make yourself stronger. The more you use it the better off you will be in the long run. If I was in your position, I would devote a quarter of my mana to it at all times.” Katara said. Nobody took a bite of demon bacon and washed it down with the demon’s blood.
“Wait, is enhance permanent then?” Nobody asked. He heard cackling on the other end.
“It is until you remove it. As I recall, it can stress your muscles out at first. Over indulgence could lead to damaging your body. Take it slow and get a feel for the mana, blue doesn’t instantly do anything but its excellent for gathering information. Go slow and see how your body reacts. Well later, I have to burn some more adventurers.” He heard screams and an explosion, then the line cut out.
He held out a hand and gathered a hundred MP into an orb around his palm. The orb was as large as a basketball. He could feel the mana bumping into each other. It was so weird; his senses weren’t limited to the mana in the orb. Nobody could feel where his mana came from. It never touched his body. The mana came from something inside of him. Was it his soul or something else? His mana gathered around his head rotating around his body.
It was only through the feeling of movement that he was able to ascertain where his mana was. His body was pure a virgin as far as mana was concerned. He had never infused himself with this power. She had told him to start with his muscles. But why, was it easier to infuse muscles or was there some other reason. Could he infuse his mind, how would he know his limits? An eye moved to his health bar, he would know.
He returned the orb of mana to the ring of mana flowing around him. Well it was more like a cloud. Now that he could feel it, it itched, he could feel the smoke from the bacon rub against his mana. It felt uncomfortable, he didn’t know if that was from the smoke or the demon essence. He decided to do a test. After cutting off one of the demon’s arms, he began to slowly flood his mana into it. It was strange. Like forcing thousands of tiny sensors into a stringy construct. He could feel things, but it was still alien to him. He had no real context of what was muscle and what was bone. Well the answer was simple.
He cut out a piece of muscle and flooded it with mana. The muscle seemed to be the stringy part. It was sturdy, that was for sure. He moved through it and explored the blood vessels and various fibers that made it up. After taking a crunchy bite of bacon, he started to enhance the bones and various organs.
By grouping his mana together, he could make them stick to muscle fibers and increase their structural integrity. It was his first step in finding a way to increase his physical power. Surely, with different body types to study, he would get better at enhancing his own body. By filling in the cracks in the muscle he was able to increase lifting power.
New skill Reinforce lv1
Reinforce lv1 +3INT +3PER
Active/Passive
Requirements: enhance an object with mana repeatedly.
Description: A skill built to increase the physical durability of objects without altering their appearance. By filling int the spaces within objects with mana you increase their physical durability and performance.
Effect: Increase physical output of objects by 1% per skill level passive. Increase the physical output of objects by 10% per skill level active.
Cost: 100MPM/passive 1000MPM/active
He barely looked at the skill. Sure, it was nice, and the boost seemed more than worth it, but he didn’t have any need for half measures. He needed something to boost himself permanently. Dead muscle seemed insufficient.
“Piercing spears,” He chanted and felt hundreds of MP fill out a pattern, as his mind rejected the new form the mana took. The rejection forced the spears toward his target, the wall. When the spears left the orbit of his contained MP, it ceased to be part of his mana cloud, and he began to regenerate MP. Spells from that point felt unnatural to him. They were patterns alien to him forcing his mana to take on shapes.
Feeling the gentle rotate of his mana cloud, he realized his mistake. His cloud was unprotected. Anyone with the knowhow could form a shape with their mana and scoop into his cloud. Worse, they could make hoses and suck the mana out of his cloud. Nobody concluded, that his MP was unsafe out in the open. He needed to keep it hidden until he could come up with some sort of defense to ensure its safety.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He focused on his body and ignored the skill reinforce. This did not concern skills. Nobody began to pull all his mana into his body. Barely 200MP down, his health bar dipped, halting his progress. “Already,” he had filled every muscle in his body with MP. His MP bar had already recovered acting as if his MP was lost. It was clearly in his body coating every muscle fiber and existing in-between.
The answer was clear, he had to go further without damaging his body. He had studied the bones and skin of the demon. There were spaces in both where mana could fit. Mana began to slowly infiltrate his flesh and bones, coating, filling in, and in some parts cushioning. There were places where his knees had worn away at the cartilage. He expanded a layer of mana to assist the joints. When his health bar dipped he stopped his progress in one direction and changed his approach.
What Nobody was doing would be considered insane by any blue mage, in fact only the most insane red mage would dare to try what Nobody was barely achieving. He was attempting to force his full mana supply into every nook and cranny in his body. He had only managed to enhance himself with 600MP, something unheard of for an initiate mana user.
Nobody was at an impasse, there wasn’t enough space for anymore MP without adding it to his organs. His mana was already bumping against his major organs. When he moved it started in the muscle instead of signaling from his brain. His mana acted before his nerves could send the signal.
“My mana is like a ton of socks wadded up in a drawer, if I folded them, then perhaps more would fit.” He folded the mana into triangles, then squares, and finally columns. Slowly, he increased the space between the muscle fibers allowing more mana in. His health bar lost 50 here and a hundred there but he could fill himself with more mana. He was still being safe, he stopped when he lost HP.
New Skill Body Expansion lv1 +2STR +2INT
He watched the effect the new skill had on his muscle fibers. They began to knot, snap, and recombine stronger than before. Parts of them were more tightly bound.
Looking at Nobody’s body, you would think he had be working out all his life. His body was twice as thickly muscled as a normal human. Every part of his body looked like it had been worked. Even his fingers and toes were thicker than a normal human. His skin glowed an unnatural color. His movements were wrong too quick almost inhumanly so. This was the power of mana manipulation an ability higher than legendary skills.
Nobody looked over himself and felt his cloud of mana recover. This was clearly not working. He wouldn’t give up, but for now, he needed to leave and find Nora. He walked out of the cave and headed north towards the ever-growing darkness.
He held a rabbit in a sphere of mana, as he studied the creature. The creature’s pelt pealed away as muscle was exposed. Nobody had long since cut off all nerve endings. There was no need for the creature to panic and squirm. Muscle ripped away to expose bones and vital organs.
His mana ripped apart everything it touched to learn everything he could. Soon nothing was left but bloody pulp inside an orb of mana. He had torn the creature apart to feel everything. It was something his mana was more than willing to do, if it was to learn something new. That’s what blue mana was all about, learning new things.
The grass was dead, leading up to the village. For miles there was only the dead terrain. Once grassy hills were little more than dirt mounds now. There were no more animals, they were either hunted by the vampires for blood, or died from starvation. It left the first floor of the Dungeon of Dreams looking bleak.
Hillside wasn’t a nice village anyway. He had come there weak and looking for a job only to be attacked by vampiric NPCs. If not for his mount Inca, he would have died there. He still didn’t know what happened to the zepher.
The ranch where the zepher were fenced in was covered in splatters of blood. The NPC was hung by his entrails from the roof of his barn. His hat lay in a pool of blood and bile. Claw marks covered the man, it looked like he struggled for a while. As Nobody approached, the man opened his eyes. They were two pools of red.
“Blood give me blood. It will be a quest, give me blood, and I will reward you. Blood give me blood. It will be a quest, give me blood, and I will reward you. Blood give me blood. It will be a quest, give me blood, and I will reward you.” Before the NPC could repeat itself a fourth time, Nobody rammed Chad through the creature’s heard.
Bolts of lightning and gales of wind exploded from the spear, blowing the vampire into bloody chunks. The blood covering Nobody’s body was taken by mana studied and dissected. He was learning how to feel with his mana in ways, he had never thought possible. Truly there was a gap between skills and abilities.
Red eyed zephers began to make their way around the ranch. A heavy weight landed on his back driving him to his knees. Only for the zepher to be lifted off him and torn apart. The others stared in horror as their herd member was ripped asunder by an invisible force. His skin changed slightly.
New skill Insect Armor lv1 +3VIT
A small layer of mana in his skin replicated the toughness of a zepher’s chitin hide and made a small layer of it under his skin.
“That’s the thing about mana manipulation. I’m going to dust all of you.” Nobody said with a chuckle. The skills he could gather were nearly infinite. What else could he gather from the vampire zephers.
He grew bored of waiting for them and leapt forward stabbing Chad, then retreating before a solid kick could take his head off. A claw reached out from the side ripping through his iron armor and nearly gutted him. That’s when shadows formed solid stakes and shot up. Nobody clutched his stomach and took a step back. Whoever did that had done more damage than he was capable of now.
“Honestly, Nobody why didn’t you just use your firebombs?” Nora said behind him.
“Probably because, if forgot to make them in preparation. I thought I had time to make them on the way. Its good to see you again Nora, how’ve you been.” He turned his head to see his raven-haired friend. She wore a solid black leather armor and a red hooded duster.
He cupped his hands and launched five piercing spears at a creature that sprung up from the zepher’s blood. It was a giant leech creature with a multitude of bladed tentacles. The spears exploded in flames causing the creature to shriek and retreat.
“They evolved, fuck.” Nora said.
“What do you mean by evolved?” Nobody asked. She smiled and crossed her feet.
“Well, its good to see you too Nobody. Well, I guess I didn’t tell you that my type of vampire isn’t really the old-fashioned virus kind. We are kind of parasites. When born like me we are the host. When infected, we take over the host. In the case of Dark, well he somehow took over the parasite.” Nobody rubbed his face, things were getting better and better.
“Alright, what does that mean as far as power goes. Are you stronger than him still?” She turned her head to the side, then shook it.
“From what I can tell, this place has made him much stronger than he should ever have been. He is about as strong as he would be a thousand years from now. Since supernatural creatures grow stronger with age, that makes him rather powerful.” Nobody nodded.
“What does that make you, an eldritch horror?” He said and chuckled.
“Yea, pretty much, I’ve seen humans lose their minds when they see me feed.” Nora said. Nobody blinked not liking what that entailed at all. Thoughts of getting into Nora’s pants were starting to get bleak. He slumped and ignored the part of his mind demanding he dissect her with mana.
Name/Jobs Traits Abilities Skills Array/Spells Summons Nobody: lv60 +60VIT +60WIS +108INT , Sentinel: lv14 +70INT Transdemensional +10INT, TrailBlazer +5AGL, NPC Killer +5% damage to NPCs, MP Battery x2MP +50% Mag Dam, MP Hole x2MR -20% MP Cost, Demon Hunter +5%vsdemons +5 all stats. Mana Manipulation lv1 Dodge lv4 +12AGL, Throw lv10 +10STR +20DEX, Sneak lv5 +5AGL +15DEX, Magical Trap Mastery lv10 +40INT, Pain Resistance lv6 +18END, Remote Detonation lv5 +20INT +10WIS, Amateur Surgeon lv2 +8INT +2LUK, crafting lv4 +12WIS, Bomb Factory lv1 +2DEX +3END, Riding lv5 +10DEX +10END, MP Rage lv1 +3INT +2WIS, Siege Arts lv4 +13WIS, Rune Mastery lv10 +20INT +10WIS, Mana Arms lv10 +10FOC +10INT +10WIS, Summoning lv3 +6FOC +6WIS, Heavy Training lv1 +5STR, Gardener lv10, Dig lv1 +1STR +2END, Running lv10 +20END +30AGL, Climb lv10 +50, Calisthenics lv10 +10All Phys, Weight Training lv1 +5All Phys, Flattery +50CHA, Meditation lv5 +15FOC +10WIS, Poison Resistance lv3 +9END, Mining lv1 +3STR +2DEX, Turn Monster lv2 +2INT +2FOC +2CHA, Wood Carving lv4 +8DEX +4FOC, Study lv1 +2PER +3FOC, Insect Armor lv1 +3VIT, Body Expansion lv1 +2STR +2INT, Reinforce lv1 +3INT +3PER Fire Trap, Electrical Trap, Frost Trap, Mana Pulse, Lightning Rod, Piercing Spears Salome Bitchtron/Biospider golem lv3, Jenny lv3 Dragon Slime Attributes Health 440(+8sec) Mana 4430(+29.5sec) Stamina 335(+4.2sec) STR 88 VIT 88 DEX 80 END 72 AGL 42 INT 443 WIS 149 FOC 45 LUK 22(27) PER 10