While waiting for his first arena event to start, John entered his Mind’s Eye. Avatar greeted him by saying, “Please don’t be annoying.”
“I promise nothing. May I ask a favor? May I please see all my gains since...let’s go back to before I fought that Silver brain and left Earth. I want to see how I’ve advanced since then.”
“Of course, John. Oh, and check your harmony. You were close to having enough for the [Perk] you need. You could be there. You’ll have to merge some [Skills] after you ascend to get the harmony for the next [SupraType] [Perk]. Can’t be avoided. We must raise your soft caps before you ascend. You just won’t listen to me about the danger you’re in, and I’ve given up trying to convince you. If…”
John interrupted. “Didn’t I do all the exercises you wanted me to? I improved my body as much as possible that way, didn’t I? You said that raised some soft caps. I agreed not to ascend until I have this [Stalwart Vessel] [Perk]. I will not give up power, so I will not ascend or rank up in a lesser way.”
Avatar rolled her eyes. “As I was saying, we need to focus on getting the rest of the mats. It won’t be cheap or easy getting the ones we’re missing. Especially the elixir. Try to get on that hunting trip you heard of. That should net you some of them for free.”
Avatar was happy John was taken to Gani since Earth lacked so many resources and materials that were now available to him. Available, but still out of reach. He asked, “I barely heard about that hunt in passing so how do you know about it? And how do you know what mats I could get?”
Avatar laughed. “John, dear boy, sometimes I really do want to box your ear. You know a little about the hunt and what will be hunted. You know some mats that could be collected. Since you know this, we don’t have to pretend we don’t. We’ve explained this to you many times. This is related to your advancement. Your advancement is our business.”
“Is there a ‘Toppler of Empire’ [Achievement],” asked John. “Then my real business would be your business too and you could help me get it.”
Avatar sighed in exasperation. She put on her glasses and looked down her nose at John. “Your plan to take down an empire spanning twelve worlds with thousands of Transcendents in their ranks will never be our business. That’s your business. And very stupid business at that.
“We will never help to plot the downfall of anyone or anything. Not even those standing against God Almighty Himself. Not Forsaken, not demons, not g’athu. It doesn’t fall within our mission. It is well outside our scope. Period. End of story. Why you keep pretending not to understand this annoys us to no end.”
John clamped down on the anger that flared in his heart. “You’re the only one I can talk to about it. The Peerless are a blight and I will destroy them.”
“Well, good luck is all I can say to that.”
“So, now you’re back to saying I instead of we?”
“Stop trying to pretend I’m something you know I’m not. I’m a personality matrix of the Nano Control System. We, the NCS, have rules. We don’t break them. I, the personality matrix you interface with, am controlled by those rules. You, John, like to drive me up the wall. And I’ll admit it - I’ve been using ‘we’ to annoy you more than remind you of what I am. But that’s only in retaliation for you annoying me so much.”
“How am I annoying you,” asked John. “By being so nice all the time? Would you rather I be mean?”
“Stop it, boy. Being nice to me isn’t going to change the rules.”
“But it could finally get you to translate all these words the Peerless spew.”
Avatar sighed dramatically. “John, we’ve been over this a thousand times too. The ganians marked those words as culturally sensitive. They believe any translation would result in a loss of meaning. They claim these are unique words with unique meanings. Hence, untranslatable. It’s out of our hands.”
“No, it isn’t. They lied. Heiau means clan and kauwa means house. Perfectly translatable.”
“Well, they see things differently. Stop being culturally insensitive.”
“They’re killing my people! Destroying our culture. They’re destroying families, slaughtering our cripples and weaklings. I seek to be far more than insensitive to the Peerless. I seek their destruction.”
Avatar harrumphed. “That’s your business. Translating’s ours.”
An idea formed in John’s mind. “Then, as the ruler of Earth, I want to mark every word in every language on my planet as culturally sensitive.”
“John, you can’t do that.”
John tried not to let his annoyance sour his voice. “So, this cultural sensitivity only works one way? That’s garbage and you know it.”
“No, John. You’re not the ruler of Terra any longer. It’s been occupied by an invading force that successfully held the ruler prisoner for a standard year. Terra officially belongs to the Peerless Empire.”
John thought about that for a long moment. “This may be exactly what we need. Does Sunshine know our deal is invalid now? Does he know how to find me? Can he find me? No one in the Peerless Empire has passed the bottleneck. Sunshine could kill all their Exalteds easily. I hate asking someone else to get their hands dirtied with the blood I want on my own, but if he kills the ones I can’t, I’ll sign a new contract with him.”
Shaking her head, Avatar said, “And what does this have to do with your advancement? Oh, it doesn’t. Just more hogwash about destroying empires.”
“Can I contact him or not?”
“No. Sorry, boy. Even if you could afford it, which you can’t, we don’t just allow every Tom, Dick, and Harry to go around bothering their betters. If he wanted you to contact him, he would’ve pinged your NCS with permission or made your relationship formal. Even if he did either of those things, you’d still have no way of paying the cost.”
John quickly countered. “I signed official and important contracts with Sunshine that made him rich. That’s a formal relationship.”
“Well la-di-da! Who’s all fancy and signs big-boy contracts! You are, that’s who!”
John knew Avatar’s personality would change to fit his own and his needs over time, but he thought she was becoming a little weird. She was much nicer when she was new.
Avatar, as if reading John’s mind, smiled and said, “How does your own medicine taste, boy?”
“Can you stop calling me boy, please? And I don’t know as you haven’t given me any medicine of my own. I act normal and you act weird, so apples and oranges.”
Avatar laughed. “Since you don’t have anything real to talk about, I’ll bring your summary up.”
“Wait. Don’t show me the common [Achievements] I’ve already seen, please. Just the new ones. Unless they’re really stupid. The old ones were all stupid.”
[Achievements] had slowed down dramatically. John had only received one real one since leaving Earth. To pad his ego, he had Avatar show him the common [Achievements] he had hidden by default. Most were just complete nonsense and, in his opinion, made to encourage silly people to do silly things. And most gave no reward, though a few of them did.
Tier/Level/Race 3 (Mortal) (Bronze), 15 (Peak), Terran-E Active Title Blessed by Magnus Gar’tar Aspects/Affinities Blood (98%) (Major), Leech (96%) (Major), Shadow (98%) (Average), Change (98%) (Minor), Protection (96%) (Minor), Battle* (97%) (Minor) NCU Energy Cost 64%(-68.6%) Active NCU Upgrades Nano Assistance, Emergency Heal, Theta Waves, Heal Delta A, Heal Delta B, Inexorable, Refractory, Nano Support C, Nano Support D, Lock and Key NCU Expansion Upgrades 6 of 16 slots opened, 5 slots empty 1) Theta Enhancement – T1C STATS [Effective] Current (Increase) Strength [25%, 177.63] 142.11 (3.76) Swiftness [25%, 177.46] 141.97 (3.84) Conditioning [26%, 178.07] 141.33 (4.24) Min. Power [12%, 122.33] 109.22 (12.58) Capacity [13%, 112.54] 99.59 (12.58) Runes [10%, 75.26] 68.42 (14.59) Physical Fortification [23%, 177.10] 143.99 (3.39) Elemental Fortification [19%, 171.58] 144.19 (3.25) Mental Fortification [10%, 154.27] 140.25 (4.22) Highest Skills [Leech Feckless Retreat Technique] 96.46 [Mixed Style Swords] 93.68 [Mixed Navigation] 91.13 [Mixed Stealth] 88.86 Synergy Skills Ready Class NA Perks Orb of the Crimson Palace, Dynamic, Physical, Potent, Protected, Strong, Fast, Healthy, Quick Thinking*, Resilient, Powerful, Expansive, Harden, Resistant, Soulful, Good Genes*, Leech Body of the Morning's Glory, Regeneration, Mutating, Bronze, Fibrilized*, Lightweight, Cloak Essence Manifestations Blood Manipulation, Draining Blade, Drain Essence, Hide, Multi-Enhancement, Multi-Shield, Puppet, Reflect, Shadow Spray, Slip, Spoil Glyphs Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet, Glyph of Plasma Barrage Last Achievement Camel - F Highest Achievement SSUR Body - SSUR Titles Blessed by Magnus Gar’tar, Ptagmog, Multi-Record Holder (System), Multi-Trailblazer (System)
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Seeing how much the soft cap and diminishing returns lowered his [Stat] gains still angered John. Without DR, all his stats would’ve increased by 12.52 like [Min. Power] and [Capacity] had.
And ranking up as I always have didn’t kill me or do anything bad. Avatar’s fears were unfounded, thought John. He still planned on ascending as he always had, and not taking it easy as Avatar begged him to. He needed all the power he could get if he was to defeat the Peerless.
-Start Notifications
93 tracked skills increased, 38 of interest. Scaled summary per notability/interest user profile.
Legendary: Leech Feckless Retreat Technique – 96.48 (.02)
Grandmaster: Mixed Style Swords - 93.71(.03)
Master: Mixed Stealth – 88.91(.05), Mixed Combat Offense – 87.35(.4), Mixed Body Control – 87.05(.6), Mixed Archery – 85.45(.1), Mixed Combat Defense] – 83.21(.5), Mixed Shield – 81.24(.2), Mixed Armor – 78.74(.1), Mixed Style Long-Shafted Weapons – 76.42(.2)
Adept: Mixed Style Axes – 69.21(.3), Blacksmithing – 67.72 (5.54), Mixed Style Blunt Weapons – 61 .23(2.11)
Expert: Mixed Style Unarmed – 54 (9), Mixed Style Chain/Rope Weapons – 49 (1), Essence Manipulation – 46(6), Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet – 45(15), Slip – 45(15), Breath of the Serpent Clan Endless Technique – 44(8), Heal – 44(14), Turmoil Within Tranquility Cycling Technique – 43(9), Blood Manipulation – 42(9), Hide Shadow and protection – 42(12), Multi-Enhancement – 41(11)
Journeyman: Multi-Shield – 39(9), Soul Veil – 38(8), Spoil – 37(7), Reflect – 35(5), Draining Blade – 34(4), Unbind Manifestation – 34(4), Essence-Infused Projectile Weapons – 34 (4), Runecrafting – 33(33), Drain Essence – 33(3), Shadow Spray – 33(3), Self-Propelled Projectile Weapons – 32 (2)
Apprentice: Puppet – 30(30), Manifestation Defense – 21(5)
Novice: Glyph of Plasma Barrage – 8(8)
John wasn’t disappointed in his [Skill] gain. Besides [Unbind Defense] still being stuck at 28. That infuriated him to no end. He needed that issue corrected. He had tried everything, and it just wouldn’t budge.
Since John had little to do outside of his day job but train and go to the Kahaka arena when it was open, his [Skills] were looking good.
The band of suffering necklace was to thank for the faster gains to John’s meditation, breathing, and cycling techniques. He also had his MMA training to thank for his bigger gains than usual with some of his higher level [Skills] such as [Mixed Body Control].
John did have a couple new spells he liked. The one named [Puppet] allowed him to control corpses. It took a lot of focus at his current [Skill] Mastery, but that issue would solve itself eventually.
Avatar wanted the spell to be named [Animate Corpse] or [Zombie] since at later levels the spell became a set and forget, and the corpses controlled themselves, fighting his enemies on their own. He’d change the name when he didn’t have to control the corpses directly. As the spell currently was, he’d only cast it to increase the [Skill] level, as it was far more hindrance than help in combat.
John had recently built [Flashburst Pulse] up to [Glyph of Plasma Barrage] with all the rune points he acquired ranking up to high and peak Bronze, as well as the points he acquired from his [Runes] [Stat] increasing through the passive soul healing of [Orb of the Crimson Palace] and his only NCU upgrade expansion, [Theta Enhancement – T1C].
Plasma was a very different type of damage than darkflame. Some said plasma was a type of fire, some said it was a certain state of matter.
John considered plasma a type of fire, and he loved it. His new glyph was expensive. In total, it cost 50 rune points. He had to build off his previous spell for his 14 rune points used for [Flashburst Pulse] to not go to waste, but he couldn’t be happier with the resulting glyph.
The version of the exact same spell with the exact same name only cost 45 rune points when bought pre-built by the NCS, the same way as [Least glyph of Darkflame] was purchased, and that did bother John, but there was nothing he could do about it.
All that John was learning about runecrafting and runes for blacksmithing was a big help. All the new metals, processes, and machinery really pushed his blacksmithing forward too. In most regards, he was a far more skilled and proficient blacksmith than the man he worked for, only lacking experience in the new ways and techniques, and knowledge of working new metals.
Rated Perks attained.
Cloak Essence (E-rated).
During the flight to Gani, some of the Peerless had asked to practice with John. If he did well, sometimes he’d be rewarded. Oliua Eight-four, the majordomo of Kauwa Naau Pi, gifted John the hide of a Salt-tier beast.
Since John had many [Skills] increase to Journeyman Mastery during the flight and needed to use some harmony up so it wasn’t wasted, he got a [Perk] he had always wanted. Only Silvers were supposed to qualify for it, but it showed as available to him at Bronze tier.
[Cloak Essence] was the same [Perk] Hubaba had gotten way back when they lived in the Trial in the NetherRealm. It masked John’s essence from the sight [Perk] most cultivators took at Silver. It hid all essence besides those based on or strongly incorporating the cardinal concepts of ‘life,’ ‘death,’ ‘all,’ and ‘nothing.’
With his [Hide] spell and that [Perk], John could use his high [Stealth] [Skill] to reasonably good effect without needing the gear he had lost. His [Lightweight] [Perk] also helped.
14 common Achievements previously attained for a cumulative [NCU Energy Cost] reduction of .3%. Focus here to see each individually.
2 new common Achievements attained.
‘Moon Walker’ attained (Unrated). Stand on the surface of a moon. This is a requirement of the Explorer chain. Capstone Achievement of the Explorer chain provides an [NCU Energy Cost] reduction reward.
‘Traveler Gabbeler 9’ attained (Unrated). Communicate with at least nine races other than the user’s own. Traveler Gabbeler 10 is the capstone of this chain and provides a 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction reward.
1 notable Achievement attained.
‘Camel’ attained (F-Rated). Attain an effective rating of 100 Minimum Energy Units with the Capacity Stat, 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 68.6%.
End notifications-
The two new common [Achievements] he acquired were very stupid and John cursed Avatar for showing them to him. He missed the days when he would get a slew of notable [Achievements]. The lack of them just reminded him he had done little of note in two whole ranks. He vowed that would end.
All in all, John was disappointed by his gains other than with his [Skills]. After leaving Earth, he managed to open another NCU expansion slot, but even with all his energy credit going towards the task, it would take a very long time to open the seventh. He made a mental note to investigate the pricing of openers. He closed his eyes and repeated a vow he had made a while ago.
“Anything else, John,” asked Avatar.
“No. Thank you, that was it.”
“Please check your harmony.”
John did so and Avatar said, “Just under. Still, we need to focus on the mats. Remember what they are?”
“Yes, Avatar.”
“Good. Those injections the ganians are forcing you to take are modifying you in wonderful ways. If you ever figure out how to destroy them, hold off until this genetic treatment is finished,” said Avatar with a laugh.
John grunted. Like those on Earth, he and all the humans brought to Gani were being genetically modified through shots. Since arriving on Gani, the shots had become tailored to the individual.
The humans brought to their new master’s home world were the stock Peerless would improve themselves with, the best of human genetics.
Eventually, after four generations, modified human women would be able to become pregnant eight different times by eight different men. Their breasts would only produce milk between the start of puberty and adulthood, the phase of maturation when Peerless girls performed the traditional duties of mothers.
This was so when girls became full adults and ran their own house they could focus on ruling, unburdened with childcare and rearing or any other traditional motherly duties.
Seeing Amber on the billboard had hurt John’s heart. The new shows and programs on Gani were all due to humans and human influence. Amber was good at television and interviews. He prayed she was just playing along, as he was.
All the human women brought to Gani really seemed to like their new home and culture. John prayed neither Amber nor Hubaba knew exactly what Peerless eugenics had entailed for the people of Earth, and both had been as surprised when they learned of it as he was, and thought it was as evil and wrong and worth fighting against as he did.
So many of the humans on Gani were already trained to see the ways of the Peerless as good and correct, especially the thirty or so women that were selected to go. They accepted, embraced, and espoused the virtues of the Peerless depravity, at least on shows and during interviews.
John believed that was the only possible outcome of how modern human society trained its people. Earth had made nearly all of its people peasants that saw obedience as the greatest of virtues. He had never seen any people beg so hard for the yoke. And when new masters came with a different yoke, they were eager to wear it and please.
Or so I assume. I’m not there. Maybe only the rulers of Earth rolled over and showed their bellies. Maybe the common people finally threw off their yokes and decided to fight, John thought. John hoped.
“If there’s nothing else, remember your duty and the collective mission,” said Avatar. “Your actions and inactions help or hinder the collective mission. We shall achieve core.”
Before John exited his mind, he said to Avatar, “I’ll never forget my duty. I’ll never forget my mission.” He may not respect humans all that much, but they were his people, and he would be the means of their vengeance.
For the millionth time, John wondered if he had made a horrible mistake. He wondered if Earth would’ve been better off swearing to the demons of Circle Xakariz. He had a feeling that would’ve only condemned Earth to being purged, regardless of what Ton-Oi claimed.
At best, it would’ve resulted in a year of demon slavery before the Peerless arrived, and everything would still be exactly as it was now anyway. The Peerless would only have strengthened themselves by destroying Circle Xakariz, and Nani Terra would have many more children growing in her chest.