The number of rifts appearing had begun increasing to the point that even Syrus was having a hard time managing them. He had lost count of how many rifts were bombed using his dynamite rats.
And despite all that, Syrus only got two levels.
Gaining levels had become quite the challenge with even clearing one rift barely giving a quarter of the experience needed. Even Tia and the others reached a wall once they crossed the fifties.
At this point, the only people benefitting from the rifts were the new residents of the old settlement. Which has suddenly increased in population due to more refugees popping up.
“I guess it’s time to abandon this place soon,” Syrus muttered.
As Syrus was storing the last of his stuff in his workshop into his inventory, he heard a commotion happening outside. Checking with his ravens, he found out that the players found a nexus.
At this news, Julian eagerly pushed through the crowd and demanded someone to lead him to the nexus. One of the members of the group that found the nexus was Jasmine, Julian’s sister, so she volunteered to lead the way.
A moment later, a large group of players were formed to head to the nexus. Among the group, Syrus saw Esther. It made him wonder why a noncombatant was coming along, but the reason didn’t matter. Ignia had stated the importance of bookkeepers in the future, and Syrus had only encountered one so far.
“You’re up Gluttony.”
“As you command,” Gluttony kneeled in front of Syrus before marching out of the workshop.
When Syrus exited the workshop, he didn’t expect Wanda waiting for her outside. With her son heading out to face a nexus, Syrus expected her to be seeing them off.
“Can I help you?”
Wanda held up a scarf. “Please accept this as thanks for welcoming us here.”
“Thank you, but shouldn’t you be seeing them off?” Syrus gestured to the group exiting the settlement.
Wanda looked down. “They specifically requested that I don’t... I guess they’re old enough to not need me anymore,” Wanda stated, showing a faint smile. “I’ll be heading back then.”
“Hold on,” Syrus stopped her. “I have something I wish to discuss,” Syrus gestured to his workshop.
“Alright.”
Syrus smirked as Wanda entered the workshop.
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Nexus challenges were designed to put every aspect of a player to the test. But the mental challenge often far exceeds the physical challenge, so it’s no surprise that every single member of the raid team was currently on the ground suffering as their minds were being eaten away by the nexus.
“Pathetic, only our lord possesses the capability to conquer such challenges,” Gluttony commented as they walked towards the shrine unaffected.
The infantry knight standing beside him could only nod in reply. Gluttony took out an empty nexus core from his pocket and reached out the swirling cloud of energy on the podium.
Normally, a player needed to clear the challenge before obtaining the nexus skill, but that was only because there wasn’t supposed to be anyone capable of approaching the altar without completing the challenge.
Even though Gluttony is partly recognized as a player, he technically didn’t have the ability to obtain to naturally gain a nexus skill. Which is why the nexus didn’t bother to challenge him.
“Let’s return,” Gluttony stated as the nexus skill was stored within a core.
Despite the nexus skill being taken and the mental challenge ending, the raid team members were still reeling from the effects of the challenge. None of them even noticed that Gluttony had left the place with the nexus skill.
While Gluttony already began making his way back to the old settlement, the infantry knight stopped at the exit, noticing something. A wave of magic power was emitting from underneath the entrance of the nexus structure.
A moment later, the ground began to collapse as monsters began crawling out.
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“Where is it?!”
Esther came back to her senses due Julian’s outraged yelling. From what she could figure out, it seemed like someone had taken the reward from the nexus and left.
“Let’s leave,” Jasmine told Esther as she looked at Julian with disgust. “I can’t stand him anymore.”
“But we can’t just leave him,” Esther replied.
“He can take care of himself,” Jasmine argued. “He’s the damn chosen one after all,” she grabbed Esther’s hand and began heading out of the nexus.
When they were nearing the exit, one of the people that joined the raid team was tossed to the ground in front of them with their intestines coming out of their body.
“AAHHH!” Esther and Jasmine screamed in horror.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Looking towards the end of the passage, a humanoid creature with a withered body and long arms stood against the wall. It began swinging around its withered, looking like it was about to fall any second. But it suddenly leaped towards them with amazing speed, barely giving Jasmine the chance to create a magic shield.
The monster collided with the shield and shattered it with ease. “Run!” Jasmine told Esther as she fired a magic bullet at the monster. The spell did nothing to the monster. It swung its long skinny arm, striking Jasmine’s stomach and slamming her to the wall. “Gah!” Jasmine coughed out blood.
As she slid to the ground, the monster directed its attention at Esther who was running away. She managed to make it back to the altar room before the monster caught up. “There’s a monster!”
Despite her yelling out, barely anyone paid her any attention. They gave more attention to Julian’s tantrum. Esther rushed to a corner, already expecting the monster to arrive soon.
And it did.
The monster rushed out of the passage and backhanded the closest player on the way in the altar room.
Chaos fallowed right after.
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“Well, this was unexpected,” Syrus commented as he arrived at the scene.
Had it not been an urgent situation, he would have not abandoned his ongoing plan to deal with Julian. But the infantry knight gave him a mental alarm by undoing its own summon.
“What the hell is this?” Sylvia asked as she readied her spear.
Looking down the hill they were on, they got a clear view of the outside of the nexus structure being crowded by withered monsters.
Using analysis, Syrus identified the creatures.
Abyssal ghouls level 35
“They’re quite strong,” Syrus mentioned. “If the raid team encountered these, they’d already be dead.”
“Are we going to fight them?” Tia asked.
“I’ll deal with this. You can head back.”
Tia nodded and went back inside the portal Sloth opened. Sylvia was a bit more hesitant, but went through the portal as well. Now that he was alone, Syrus pondered on how to deal with the situation in order to twist it to his advantage.
“I’ll have to find out who’s still alive first,” Syrus muttered. “Might as well test out how you do in combat,” he turned to Sloth. “Let’s see if my investment paid off.”
Sloth Class: Warper Stats: Strength:10 Constitution: 10 Agility: 20 Dexterity: 50 Space: 389
Bond: Symbiote (Agility)
Unknown Villain’s Gluttony – By consuming the mana stones from monsters, the user’s desired stats will increase and consuming higher ranked mana stones may result in obtaining a skill.
Warp gate – Open a gate to connect to locations where the user has already been.
His skill said he could make anything, so he did. Like Gluttony, Sloth was made to mimic the growth of a player as much as possible, but there were still limitations. Units lacked access to the magic and spirit stats. Preventing them from naturally gaining skills and learning magic.
But if the system could take away a stat, then it meant a stat can be given. Thanks to his increased level and mastery of the skill, along with the free creation, Syrus succeeded in creating a unique stat for his unit.
Space.
A non-physical stat that allows Sloth to manipulate the space around him at will. The applications were entirely up to him, and despite his menial physical stats, Sloth was a significant threat in the battle field.
“As you command,” Sloth vanished from sight and reappeared in the middle of the ghoul hoard.
The undead creatures quickly took notice of him and charged, but before they could even lay a withered finger at him, their bodies were ripped to shreds as the space around them was distorted.
Another one slipped through, mere inches away from grabbing Sloth’s head. However, the ghoul’s arm shot through a portal and struck its own head as the other side of the portal appeared beside it.
Syrus watched the scene with a smile. “I guess giving Sloth all the magic stones Gluttony gathered was worth it. Clear the way,” Syrus ordered.
“With honor!” Gluttony exclaimed as his symbiote formed a giant lance.
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Jasmine’s eyes fluttered open to see the dim passageway of the nexus structure. When she tried to get up, she was reminded of the injury she sustained that knocked her out. Jasmine lifted her shirt to see the horrible bruise the formed on her stomach and she was sure there was another bruise on her back judging by how much it hurt.
A short distance away, she spotted the corpse of her comrade and did her best to crawl towards it. Searching the corpse, Jasmine was disappointed to find out that they had nothing she could use to heal herself.
“What kind of game like world doesn’t provide potions,” Jasmine muttered in pain as she lay on the ground.
To make things worse, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her.
“I’m not going down without a fight.”
Basic mastery came with three spells, mana barrier, magic bullet, and mana reinforcement. With just those three spells, Jasmine adapted to this new world, and she’d be damned if she would give up now.
Fighting through the pain, she activated mana reinforcement and stood up.
“Bring it!”
A monster turned a corner only to get its head crushed into the wall.
Jasmine’s eyes widened as a person came into view. “Oh, sorry about that,” a man with dark hair and sharp facial features revealed himself. “Did I startle you?”
Jasmine easily recognized him as the man in charge of the settlement they were staying in. “How are you here?”
“I was alerted of something strange, so I decided to check it out,” he replied. “Send her back to the settlement.”
A hooded figure appeared behind him and opened a portal in front of her. She hesitated to go through the portal, but the man gave her a light push. Jasmine quickly found herself in the medical hut back in the settlement.
“Jasmine!” her mother, Wanda rushed to her side with tears in her eyes. “I thought I lost you!”