Short summary of the last chapter:
Spoiler :
Voice managed to kill off all of the worms except the last nine and the boss. He tried researching outside info, but the system updated the game. The update basically told him to stop or he would get banned.
Also, let me know if anything is wrong with the chapter! Be sure to comment!
I started a contest last chapter. The winner will have a character in DIVE. If you wish to participate all you have to do is write a brief paragraph. You must include: A character name, description of the character’s body(race, sex, and features), what type of class they would have (i.e. a merchant, a fighter type etc.), and a brief personality synopsis(do they play well with others, are they arrogant or humble, stuff like that). At this time I do not need the information about what they are like on the outside world, unless it pertains to something vital in-game.
I will pick the best few and have a poll. The readers decide the winner. I will put the poll up in chapter 45. You have until I finish that chapter to submit. I have a few character designs already made, but they will take a backseat for a few chapters to let the winners of the poll shine.
The characters are more likely to be put into the poll if they have at least one character flaw. If they are not given one, and win the poll, I will make one. I will obviously ask the person that created the character for advice on it.
You will be able to choose multiple characters in the poll, but only the top two will make it into the story. I really like the amount of characters I’ve gotten already. A few replies in the chapter, and even one person messaged me. Anyone that makes a character, even if they are not chosen for the poll, or lose the poll, will have a brief cameo in the story at some point.
Also I’m sorry about not posting for a while. I’ve had a lot of work recently. It’s been really stressful. I am deeply sorry.
Voice’s POV:
We made it to the room before the queen’s chamber. It wasn’t hard since I had a map that excluded only one large circle in the middle.
Getting to the room was a bit of a hassle, we had to crawl in a tight hole to gain access, but we managed.
The room we entered was plain. It was a large rectangular room, with only nine things in it not including my group. The only way in was the hole we came from, the only way out was at the other end of the room.
Just as I expected, there were nine guards blocking the way. The had become practically human. They were identical to humans with only a few exceptions. Their bodies had rivets going along them, and the clothes the wore were made from worm skin.
They had feet, hands, even complete faces. The hair was peach, and reached down to their shoulders. These were the most human looking worms I’d ever seen.
Worm-Queen’s Defender Level 56
Queen’s Personal GuardHealth:3000/3000Stamina:300/300
I had Tear create a giant ball of water. The worms already noticed us, so there was no chance for a sneak attack. The worms simply guarded the doors though. They did not move from their posts.
While the orb of water was forming, I fused it with dark mana. As much as I could. The painful feeling I had gotten would be replicated on one of the worms.
When the orb was done, I had Tear send it to the worm on the far left. We all got ready for the biggest fight of our lives.
The worm howled in pain but the others didn’t attack. Hm, I thought the worms were immune to pain.
The worm I filled with pain, ran at me, after drawing its samurai sword. Heather jumped on it, ready to suck its blood.
Heather caught the worm by the neck. Blood poured from the pierce wounds it now sported. Heather eagerly drank the blood.
She seemed to be, enjoying it. No. it can’t be. That’s too easy.
I shot a fireball at the wormman Heather was attacking. The worm burst into flames. Screaming in agony, it tried to continue to charge at me. “EDI KILL IT!”
I shouted at her, but all she did was start to block its way. She didn’t attack. I guess it’s good to be cautious, but you better do what I tell you!
“ATTACK IT! IT CAN DIE!” I shouted again. This time she obeyed. The blood flew from the wormman. Tiny worms attacked us. YES! The wormmen somehow reverted!
I knew it was too good to be real, but I could think of several reasons this would be beneficial for the queen.
EDI battled the thing. I wanted to see how it played out, so I called Heather off of it for now. EDI shot me an angry glare. “If you can’t even beat one of the guards, how are you going to fight the queen?” I gave a reasonable response to her anger.
It must have worked, because she turned back around to attack the worm. Sadly for her it had taken the moment she turned around as the start of the fight.
The worm flew at her with a speed hard to match. It sliced in a downward motion aiming to cut EDI along her stomach and chest.
EDI caught the blade with her right Sai. She hit the back of her left Sai against the worm’s wrist. The worm momentarily loosened its grip.
She quickly lifted her left Sai, and brought it up to the worm’s neck. She sliced the worm across the neck. Blood splashed her face.
She continued undaunted. She turned her right Sai to the side, trying to disarm the worm.
The worm quickly drew back its weapon, and stabbed at EDI. EDI knocked the weapon away with a flick of her right wrist. She stabbed the worm in the chest.
Blood soaked her face. I took over inspect to more carefully watch the fight. Bitch was 76% ecstatic and 10% bloodlust! I wondered why I was surrounded by crazy people.
EDI was pretty badass though. The worm tried to do a powerful overhead slash, but EDI blocked it. She turned her shoulder towards the worm, and guided his sword away from her by blocking with her Sai.
She seemed to be enjoying toying with the wormman. I couldn’t say I blamed her though. The worm continued to attack her with increasing speed. She deftly blocked every strike. The worm went for a horizontal slash.
EDI caught the blade with one Sai. She stabbed as if to attack the ground, even as the monster began its slash. She perfectly caught the blade one third from the tip. She took her other Sai and planted it on the sword.
She tore the sword from the worm’s grip. The sword flew towards the wall. It embedded itself in the wall, sticking straight out.
EDI easily beheaded the worm. The worm’s body fell to the ground. As it fell it turned into a massive amount of worms no bigger than a pinky finger.
The worms tried to squirm away, but I blanketed them with a wall of dark-fire. I looked at my worm dissection. It had stopped increasing ever since the worms began to adapt at killing 50.
It was at 90%! That was a 15% increase from what it was before entering this room. Since I gained 5% damage bonus for every 10% dissection, I did 45% bonus damage. If I we killed just one more I would most likely get the 100% damage bonus completion ability. I would do double damage to worms!
I turned my attention back to EDI. She was taunting another worm to come at her. After I finished burning the smaller worms, I sent a tendril of dark/flame mana at it. The skin began to burn. It burned too easily.
It ran at us, but was burnt to cinders before it crossed more than three fourths of the way. At the second worm’s death, the other seven decided to attack.
It must be risky to upgrade the worms. I wonder why she didn’t upgrade these though?
I wasn’t given any time to think on it further. The worms reached us with raised weapons. They all seemed to wield the same weapons. A short sword, with a slight cure at the tip.
Three of the enemies attacked EDI. Two went for Heather. One attacked me, and one attacked Lily. I would have left Lily to die, but killing the worm things was oddly too easy. It was really bothering me.
I cast another dark/fire tendril.
A Mana Crystal has been activated. All mana in the area has been blocked. Magic can no longer target exist in the environment until the boss has been defeated.
The tendril of mana didn’t form, and I got a popup I waved away. I caught the word, mana has been blocked. I knew these guys were too easy.
“TEAR! Get them!” Tear didn’t respond. It was too late anyway. The two wormmen were upon me. One tried slipping past, but I slapped it in the face with my stick.
It fell over backwards, landing on its butt. The other worm took advantage of my momentary lapse in judgement. It slashed at my stomach. Thankfully, my chainmail blocked most of the hit. Just the blunt damage of the slash still caused me 20 damage.
My health was at 80. The hit didn’t even land, and I lost a fifth of my hp!? This is not going to be a good fight.
I prepared myself for death. The only way I could win was to stall the worms I was fighting long enough to get Heather or EDI to help.
-
With my two blades now facing the worm, I charged. The other worm was still getting up, so I kicked its stomach as I passed.
I must have had more strength than I thought. The worm raised a few inches off of the ground, and was thrown to Heather. Geez I’m so nice. Giving her a chance to show me how powerful she is.
I was almost too nice for my own good sometimes. Now I had to make do with one worm to fight. I prepared myself despite the ‘sacrifice’ I had just made.
The worm slashed at me, but I managed to angle its strike towards the ground. As soon as the sword came down, Inspect showed me the best place to aim so it would be deflected.
Nothing ever went as planned though. The sheer power behind the strike caused tremors in my arms. Even if I knew where to block for the best effect, that didn’t mean I could do it.
The worm turned his blade before it hit the ground. The edge was again facing me, but this time it formed an inverted arc.
Inspect showed me exactly where the presumable hit would land. I easily dodged to the side. The worm I kicked earlier was coming back for more.
Damnit! If I kick you, you stay down!
I had to focus all of my attention on Inspect. Two worm monsters were hacking and slashing at me, one clean hit and I was done.
The Inspect skill quickly computed where the hits were likely to land, and so made it easier to dodge. More often than not I would have to block a hit I couldn’t dodge.
Those were the worst. The heavy attacks came quickly, and had enough force to rip off my arms. At least that was what it felt like.
I was getting adept at dodging the strikes. It made me remember about a month ago when I had been training on the animals in my first dungeon.
I never actually completed the quest the armor guy gave me. I wonder if it is still in my quest queue. Guess I’ll check after the battle.
The dodging had become easier. It seemed like the game awarded people that analyzed situations. Every time the wormmen would step forward with one foot, that was which side they would attack you.
When one would raise its left foot, I knew my right side was going to be attacked. Deciphering what type of attack it would be was pitifully easy now that I looked out for it.
They always made exaggerated actions to forecast the type of move they were going to use. I might have learned this sooner, if not for the whole instant regeneration thing the other wormmen had.
After figuring out how they attacked, I had no problem dodging the two at once. I did have to often block, but I didn’t get hit.
My movements were rough, but I could always work on those in the future. I was excited about not having death loom over me.
I couldn’t find timing to attack the worms, at least not without leaving myself wide open for retaliation from the other one. I did manage to make their attacks hit the other’s weapon a few times.
My stamina was going down, but slowly. I gave myself as much rest between getting attacked as I could. Steadying my breathing also seemed to help decrease the amount of stamina I lost.
The red lines were taunting me. The two worms were covered in them. They were so vulnerable. if only I could hit them! At least they couldn’t land any clean hits on me either.
I looked at the two worms in scorn. They thought they could hit me? Not when I had a skill that basically read their thoughts! HA!
My look seemed to taunt them. They began a ferocious series of attacks. Sadly, the attacks had only gained speed and strength.
My stamina dropped like a falling star, but I managed to dodge. Left, right, left again, duck, back step, left foot pivot, block, right, right, left.
I felt like I was playing a certain famous dancing game or something. I was descent at dancing, but I could never get really good at that game.
The only time I had to block was when I was about to be cornered by both the worms. I slowly dodged and weaved my way towards EDI. I might not be able to handle these two, but Heather and EDI could deal with one more each.
As I dodged and led the two worms towards EDI and Heather, I sent a quick glance at Lily. She was watching the entire fight with a dumbfounded expression.
I guess it was the first time she had actually seen us fight monsters on par with ourselves. While we were moving one of the worms staggered, just for an instant.
I took the opportunity to throw myself to the side, and slash across the worm’s left leg.
Worm-Queen’s Defender Level 56
Queen’s Personal GuardHealth:2990/3000Stamina:300/300
Seriously!? Ten damage! What the fuck!
EDI had dealt a large amount of damage to the worms. I had hoped to do something similar. I knew she was a melee type, and had a higher level than me; but I thought I could at least partially match her.
It seems the only thing my class allows me to do is use mana. What a waste.
I finally made it to where EDI and Heather were. Or where they should have been. When I got there I noticed that they were standing against the walls, watching me try not to die.
Anger welled up in my stomach. Why would they just watch!?
Oh. That’s right. The last dungeon we went through I made them wait for me to finish off an enemy. *Sigh* I should probably fix that, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad habit to have.
The worms were getting closer and closer to hitting me. My stamina was draining quickly. In desperation, I called out to EDI. “GET ONE! EDI PLEASE!”
I put all of my anxiety into those short phrases. Luckily, EDI did take one. It took her an entire five seconds to deal with the worm.
The worms seemed to dissipate after initially being shot at by the wormman. I bet these are the original wormmen. The others must have been modified somehow. I thought dungeons only modified levels. Maybe it’s a trait unique to the dungeon boss.
For coming to a correct conclusion about an enemy you have zero verified data about, you have gained 5 intelligence.
Defending against one opponent, even one that was twenty levels higher than me, was an easy task. With Inspect picking up all of their future attacks, I was confident in my ability to dodge.
If I was hit, I might lose a lot of hp; and when I hit it did not do much damage. I was still pretty excited though. Every time I dodged the worm seemed to only grow in anger.
I tried not to block too much though. The more I blocked, the less I could block in the future. My stamina was slowly increasing. Many hits came too close for comfort, but with Inspect I just laughed them off.
Eventually I got to the point where I could attack back. Whenever I sidestepped, I would slash at the worm. Dozens of smaller worms would launch at me when I managed to deal damage.
Inspect had a difficult time keeping up with the addition of the worms spewing from the wounds. I took light damage, but my health was at full after battling for a few minutes.
The battle raged on for quite a while. The worm slowly lost health, but I remained at full. It was fun to systematically destroy the enemy that has caused you trouble. EDI occasionally threw in a helping hand, er, Sai.
After another few tedious minutes of dodging and attacking, I finally dealt the finishing blow. I was notified that I had mastered the dissection of worms!
I couldn’t wait to try this on the queen. I took a moment to read through my other message.
Magic nullification has been neutralized. Mana Crystal Resonance detected.
I summoned out Sol and Tear right away. I was curious about the resonance thing, so searched for any mana crystals. Inside the room in front of us was a large mana crystal.
I licked my lips in anticipation. I couldn’t wait until I had that delectable little nugget inside of me.
Making sure everyone knew the plan, and after making a small safe room for Lily, we entered the Boss Chamber.
The boss chamber was a large, unadorned, empty cube. The room must have been at least 3000 cubic feet. The room was almost pitch black, the only light coming from a small square hole in the ceiling. There was only one monster in there.
Even though it was dark, the monster could clearly be seen. At first I didn’t believe it. I mean we had spent so much time fighting enemies slowly progressing towards human/worm hybrids. I finally accepted it, but it would cause a lot of problems.
Since the monster was so vastly different than anything I had expected, none of the plans I made could help. I didn’t even know how to deal with this situation.
This monster was often seen in games as the weakest of the monsters. I could understand why it was the boss though.
Like the worms it would be difficult to kill with weapons. It could presumably split itself apart to attack, and might even be able to put itself together when it needed to.
The monster was a light green color. Even with the green, it was almost transparent. The monster looked to be holding the shape of a cube for no real reason.
The boss monster was no bigger than an adolescent wolf-pup. The worst thing about it? It was somehow a boss at level 1.
Slime Level 1
Worm Queen’s VanquisherHealth:10/10Stamina: N/ASpecial Qualities:Hyper regeneration
I had absolutely no battle plans ready for this. I mean, slimes were usually basic opponents in most games.
I sent a burst of fire mana at it, just to test it out. About a quarter of the overall mass evaporated instantly. I shot three more. The entire thing was evaporated, yet I didn’t receive the notification for beating the boss.
My group talked for a few seconds. We had no idea why the battle wasn’t over.
EDI tilted her head slightly. “It must have to do with the fact that it’s a slime.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I don’t seem to have any information on slimes though. That’s odd. This thing must be a super rare enemy. I don’t know why we haven’t killed it yet.”
Heather licked her tiny lips. “I wanted to see if it had any blood though.”
While she said that I noticed something odd. There was bits of liquid circling each other. They slowly drifted towards the ground.
When they touched down, they all raced towards the largest glob. Oh no. You’re kidding me. Is that what it meant by hyper regeneration?
My fears slowly came real. The slime was piecing itself back together. EDI noticed as well. She ran at it.
She hacked, and slashed with her over-powered Sai. Tiny droplets of the slime flew off in all directions. With a plan already thought of, I created an ice jar to hold the bits of slime.
I only captured one, but that was enough for me to start understanding the situation. The slime moved lowly in the jar, but seemed to be up to something.
After a second, I realized what it was. The slime particle was absorbing the water mana in the jar! The more ice I made, the more water was in the jar. The more water the larger the slime creature got.
I released it when I realized what was happening. EDI was still hacking and throwing slime my way. I burnt all of the slime, but that only started a slow cycle of regeneration.
I had Tear throw a water ball at it, but the slime absorbed it as soon as the ball toughed its skin. Usually in games slimes had cores you would have to hit, this slime didn’t.
I tried every tactic I could think of, but nothing worked. If I froze it, it would thaw out. If I burned it, it would just rain down and reform.
Creating a completely sealed prison worked, but we could not harm the thing while it was in there. I was tempted to let Heather see if it had blood, but a foreboding feeling made me stop.
While slicing at the slime, EDL got covered in slime goop. The goop simply travelled along her arms, and rejoined the rest of its tribe. The slime seemed to be pulled magnetically towards the largest group of slime.
After twenty minutes of trying everything we could think of, I sealed it. At least that way it wouldn’t be able to pull any tricks on us. I looked at its mana signature. Much like how I looked for the worms.
The worm had four types of mana escaping from its body: water, nature, light, and dark. I didn’t know how that would help me, but I had a nagging suspicion it was the key to beating it.
After making a semi-plausible plan, I unleashed the slime again. I was thorough while I used every mana combination of two mana types I could.
The more mana I used, the more the slime seemed harder to hurt. EDI continued to attack it. The first movement we actually saw was a thick slime tentacle shoot out. The tentacles would snatch any slime particles that EDI flung from it.
I obviously destroyed the tentacles when they showed, but the slime only sent out more tentacles to retrieve those as well.
After another round of fruitless battling, one of the tentacles attacked EDI. She easily managed to parry it, but the slime came apart and regrouped.
When EDI blocked the attack, another tentacle shot at her. Every attack she blocked caused more to happen. Soon it was all she could do to stop the tentacles. I even had to step in to keep the slime from overwhelming her.
The attacks were coming towards EDI at rapid pace. The slime seemed to even be evolving the way it attacked. Many of the tentacles now were in the shape of basic weapons. Blades and blunt hammers were wielded as if they were nothing.
Any tentacles that possessed weapons were quickly severed by a blast of fire. At that point I thought it would be cool to cut it with wind, but I needed to be able to actually concentrate the wind to that point.
I managed to do it, but the slice was imperfect. It sliced the slime apart, but the wind slice was basically dull. It also took time for me to actually force the mana into place, even though it was my own mana.
EDI was starting to tire. Heather wanted to join the fight, but I kept getting the feeling that something bad would happen if I let her.
I wasn’t really worried about her, but I would hate to lose the asset she provided. Sweat dripped down EDI’s face. Her clothes were damp from the exertion. Her movements were like dancing. It was a little bit attractive. The way she moved her body was-.
I cut off the thought. It wouldn’t do to actually get attracted to someone. Especially when there was an invincible enemy right in front of us. I concentrated even harder on defending EDI against the slime.
I continued to blast the tentacles coming for EDI, but they kept multiplying. Every time I shot one down, two thinner ones took its place. The slime was even hardening the ‘weapons’ it used to attack EDI. The more tentacles the slime created, the more like a ball it looked.
Many times EDI was almost hit, but I managed to cover for her in the last second. The slime seemed to grow progressively more powerful. The tentacles became almost impossible to destroy.
It was even able to break out of the prisons I created. After almost an hour of fighting it managed to land a hit on EDI. The hit was light, but it did draw a small drop of blood.
The slime shivered slightly. As soon as it ‘saw’ the open wound, it sent a tentacle to attack it. It became slightly easier to block since it was aiming for one spot the entire time. Destroying the tentacles still grew harder.
It eventually did land a hit on the open wound. The slime, the only word to describe it is forced. The slime forced itself into EDI. It went inside her almost instantly. It was far quicker than I could react to. By that I meant into her open wound of course.
Large grey lines began expanding from the wound across her body. The lines seemed to be following the path of her veins. Her veins began to bulge, and one busted.
A grey liquid oozed out of it, but quickly forced its way back in. EDI screamed in pain, but only for a moment. The grey ooze that was traveling through her veins quickly made it to her eyes.
The entire mass seemed to congeal there. EDI’s eyes glowed with a faint grey glow as she looked around, seemingly bewildered.
“Oh!” Her voice was light and airy now. Almost as if it was a different person. “This is the first time I’ve actually possessed someone! OW! Her muscles must have been killing her.” The imposter EDI rolled her shoulders as she massaged them with one hand.
Her gave eventually landed on me. “Ohhhh, a male now is it? I’ve always wanted to know what it would be like to be a man. Come here honey, let me take you. In exchange I’ll let this pretty little thing go. It’s not like you have any chance at stopping me. I know all about how you humans hate to kill your comra-”
Without any hesitation, I sent an earth spear to impale her. The worse thing that would happen to EDI was she would respawn later.
I mean, thinking someone is attractive is all well and good, but actually letting that effect you isn’t. Although I might have let that affect me with the metal incident. I decided to chalk that up to bad luck and hormones.
The spear went straight through the imposter, impaling her while exiting with a foot of earth extending behind her. The imposter coughed grey liquid. She was pulling herself off of the spear, even as bits of entrails slid out.
She looked confused that I would actually attack my own ‘friend’. Unfortunately for the slime, I viewed EDI as an object to be used. Not an actual college.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The scene was turning gory. To turn my attention elsewhere, I looked at its stats.
Slime Possessed EDI Level 59
Player PossessorHealth:955/955Stamina: 25/1000Special Qualities:Hyper regeneration
The basic stats were the same as EDI’s. I could have viewed the entire detail of her stats, but that would have taken too much time.
I sent many attacks at EDI to slow the thing down. The grey ooze coming from her dripped with every attack, but quickly went back into her body.
I sent a blast of black fire at EDI. That, at least, seemed to scare the thing. I was guessing that killing the host killed the slime. The slime instantly starting pouring from her eyes, almost as if she was crying. The slime flew across the room.
I threw the fire to the side with a gust of wind. The fire flew at one of the walls, where it burned continuously.
The slime blob reformed a dozen feet from EDI. She gave me a look of confusion, as if to ask “How could you just attack me?” I ignored the look, and concentrated on the slime.
The slime slowly hardened into a humanoid form. The outer slime was obviously harder than what the slime cube was. It didn’t have any facial structures, but it looked slightly like EDI.
I put it into an earth cube, then turned the cube to magma by infusing it with fire mana. The slime was a little uncomfortable to say the least. I smiled at its displeasure.
“Heather!” Heather, who had been laying around until then, went rigid in an almost military salute. “Your turn.” I grinned. “Help EDI protect me from the slime.” I didn’t ask EDI for help. Mainly because I didn’t want to hear her complaining about how I had not hesitation in attacking her.
Heather readily complied. She seemed a little overly eager for battle. I guess she was a battle type pet. Heather ran at the magma ball before it was even cool. Just as the slime broke out, she had made it close enough to pounce.
Heather literally dived into the slime. The slime seemed to think of this as amusing. After all slimes in most games got nutrients by absorbing things.
Heather began to actually drink in the slime. It was a little creepy to see the slime be sucked into her whenever she opened her mouth. Heather would spit out the slime after a few seconds, and inhale it again. I was surprised she didn’t need to breathe.
The slime might have tried possessing her, but EDI intervened. She began a complex series of attacks, most of which I couldn’t even keep up with. The slime seemed to have a lot of problems fighting on two fronts at once.
At least I hoped it did. If it could possess Heather, then things would take a turn for the worse. I began my plan as soon as the slime broke through the hardened rock.
I could feel the mana seeping from the slime. I had earlier wondered if I could directly sense or manipulate mana within another’s body. Necessity makes the best inventions as it were. People were more creative during times of stress.
I decided to try a bit of a new tactic. Instead of just trying to see the mana inside the body, I concentrated on the aura of the slime.
Aura’s were different than mana in that they typically seemed to be around those that have high levels of training with that element type. The slime didn’t have an aura, but that wasn’t a problem. My plan continued undaunted.
I focused on both the aura of the slime, and the mana. My vision swirled, and I almost fell over. It seemed like looking at two distinct types of magical interfaces was not a good idea. I steadied myself, and tried again.
If the system was trying to keep me from something, then I was going to force it. I would not be denied. I focused on only the water mana in the area around the slime. I slowly adjusted my focus to include auras. After another episode of vertigo I changed the plan slightly.
I felt like I was almost on a breakthrough. I focused on the aura of the slime. I zoomed into it as much as possible. I was completely ripe for the killing, but I at least trusted EDI and Heather to not let me die.
After I was sure I was focusing on what would have been the slime’s aura, I started looking at water mana. With slow and precise concentration, I focused more and more on the water mana.
At first, the water mana in the air almost made me fall over, but I managed to control it. It felt like being drunk and riding an amusement park ride. The water mana slowly gained clarity.
Sweat beaded down my neck. I was doing my utmost to not lose focus. This was the furthest I’ve come on this experiment type so far. For some reason my body began to become stiff. I still kept going. My entire being began to feel numb. I still kept going. Pain started to shoot through my body. I kept fucking going.
By that point I was sure I was on to something. There was no way in hell I was giving this thing up. Even though my entire body began to ache I continued. After two eternities of endless concentration, and pain, I finally did it.
When I adjusted myself to fully view the water mana, something amazing happened. I could perfectly view the dark, unpurified, water mana within the slime.
I couldn’t stop the laugh coming from me. I lost my concentration, but a blinking in the corner of my eye told me I most likely gained a new skill. I fell to the floor laughing. My stamina and mana had somehow both reached zero just by doing this experiment.
The group that was battling stared at me. Even the slime was unsure of how to react to this new situation. Heather was still inside the slime, but stopped absorbing it.
I tried catching my breathe, but it was hard. This is too good. Oh Elder Gods! No fucking way! AHAHAHA! I was too impressed with myself to actually use the fruits of my labor right now. I was laughing hard enough to actually hurt my sides.
The game kept fucking nerfing me for outside knowledge, well I just figured out a MOTHER FUCKING GAME MECHANIC!
When I realized the entire group was watching me I managed to stop my giggling fit. I smiled as I shook my head at them. “I’m… *Inhale* WHEW! I’m sorry. Haha. It’s just… I basically just broke the game!” The grin on my face seemed to confuse the trio.
I decided to show them what I meant. “Go ahead and try to kill them Slime.” This seemed to knock the senses back into the group. They began to fight instantly.
Well I say fight. The slime tried to strike at EDI, but realized its arm somehow disappeared. It turned angrily at me. I simply shrugged as motioned for EDI to continue to attack.
Every time the slime tried to block, that part of it would disappear. I didn’t evaporate it, nor did I try any of my other tricks I had tried before. I realized something way too good to be true. The slime was made of 100% mana.
Now that might not matter since I couldn’t do something as overpowered as, say, manipulate the mana in other beings. Still, the slime was somehow rapidly disappearing. I smiled as the slime realized I was the culprit.
The slime came at me to attack. For every foot it came, it lost a huge chunk of the water mana it was made of. The slime dwindled in size. It was originally the size of a small wolf, now it was smaller than a roach.
When it came the final few feet I dissipated the rest of its water mana. I smiled at EDI and Heather, who were both looking at me in stunned surprise.
I shrugged as I explained the reason for my laughing fit. “I managed to view the mana inside the slime. After that it was easy to steal the damn thing’s water mana. Now it only has nature, light, and dark.” I was obviously already taking care of those.
I put on my best fake-worried expression. Aided, of course, by my Con Artist skill. “I was angry for the slime possessing you EDI. I knew you would revive if you were defeated, so I tried to end it quickly. When the slime left you I couldn’t bare what it had forced me to do to you. I’m so sorry I did that.” *Fake tear.*
EDI seemed a bit uncomfortable, but one look at her using Sense Motive told me she was just confused, and sympathetic. Good enough for now.
It was weird to think the system could read player’s minds, but then again EDI wasn’t re-NO! It was getting harder and harder not to think of the conclusion my subconscious had already drawn. I had to work on that.
The only thing left of the slime creature was a bit of dust. I went to pick it up with an earth jar, but the dust suddenly began spinning too fast for the eye to see.
It shot like an arrow at Heather. Before she could jump away the dust hit her.
Pet: Heather has contracted a disease.Heather has contracted the diseases Slime’s Vengeance. Heather will lose 100 hp every week(in game) until it reaches 0. This health reduction is permanent. Cure for Slime’s Vengeance is unknown. The rate of health consumption Slime’s Vengeance takes, cannot be reduced. An NPC effected by Slime’s Vengeance cannot be revived when killed. Players effected by Slime’s Vengeance will lose 10% of all stats upon death from Slime’s Vengeance.
I tilted my head while reading the notice. I blinked, not understanding. It was an incurable disease? WTF! I JUST FUCKING BECAME A GOD AND YOU DO THIS!? SHITTY GAAAAAME!!! I didn’t let my emotions show. Apparently Heather didn’t get the notice.
I’ll admit I was slightly attached to Heather. She had never actually let me down. It was mostly the attachment one would have for a really reliable car. Still, to be given a time when the car would be destroyed was not something I liked. I frowned as I thought about the situation.
Heather and EDI had gone to get the girl. I decided to try to find a way, in game, to extend someone’s health pool. Either that, or I would have to find someway to cure a disease no one knows. I shook my head angrily. Rage was forming inside of me. It kept increasing, so I began meditating. While I did, I looked over my notifications.
Quest Updated!
Worm Subjugation has been modified.
Success: Killing at least 99 worms, and the monster that slayed the Alpha Worm.
Difficulty: Moderate
Failure: Leaving the dungeon before completion of the quest.
Reward: Found in the Alpha’s Lair.
Failure results in overpopulation of worms and eventually slimes.
For learning all eight types of magic, and reaching Force Mage level 10, you can become the sub-class of Force Mage: Mana Mage. For learning how to manipulate mana in every conceivable way, you can become the sub-class of Mana Mage: Mana Enchanter. Would you like to become a Mana Enchanter? If you decline you will not be able to unlock the sub-class Mana Enchanter.
I know enchanters already exist, since I had some of my stuff enchanted. I bet it is different somehow. It must have to do with the fact that it is a ‘Mana Enchanter’ not just an enchanter.
“Yeah”. I was already on the trail to becoming tier four, so why mess with it now. Unless there was a type of class tree type thing. Damnit! Too late! It was too late for second guessing.
Mana Enchanter level 1
For using the power of your imagination to cause a spell you have unlocked the class Force Mage.
For harnessing the flows of mana that occur in the world you have unlocked the sub-class Mana Mage.
For learning to see, and control, mana within others, you have unlocked the sub-class Mana Enchanter.
You may use any magic that you can perfectly recreate. You may now use the mana in the world around you to fuel your spells. Using mana from Solun requires concentration. Less concentration is required as you level up in Mana Mage.
You can no longer use magic designed by others except in special circumstances, this includes spells learned from spell books. All fairies you summon, or have summoned, are infused with mana. These Mana Fairies can now tap directly into the mana of their element.
You can use all types of magic.
The higher level your Force Mage class is the more control over force magic you have. At lower levels you will not be able to use force magic to be as precise as later levels. The higher level Mana Mage class you have, the more control over mana in the surrounding area you have. Mana Mage levels stack with Force Mage levels, for purposes of precision. The higher level in Mana Enchanter you have, the more absolute control you will have over mana.
This class increases in levels as you use learn more about mana, and how to control it. You can recreate any magic that has been put into a magic book, but you must learn to do the magic by feeling and imagination.
Mana Enchanters were the progenitors of the rare class: Enchanter. Mana Enchanting is a lost art. For learning a lost art you have gained 10 intelligence. Mana Enchanters can move mana with ease, without causing a spell. Mana Enchanters can force mana in one thing, to become mana in another. I.E. Forcing the mana in the environment into an ally to recharge their mana. Mana with an element doesn’t charge mana gauges as fully as pure mana.
Mana Enchanter is a third tier class, out of four.
Class Information Available. View?
Sure I guess.
Enchanters use their own mana to infuse an item with magical properties. The higher the purity of a specific type of mana they have, the greater the effect on the enchantment. Enchantments made by Enchanters must be periodically infused with the mana type they use, except in certain circumstances. I.E. A shield that absorbs fire to create an ice field. The fire acts as the mana recharge needed.
The elves gifted the art of enchanting to the ‘lesser’ races in a vie for influence. Enchanters must use Ancient Elven runes to create enchantments.
Mana Enchanters may take mana from the environment, or even others, to fuel the enchantments. Mana Enchanters understand the true nature of mana, as such they can fully enchant things. Ancient Elven Runes allow for more structured enchantments, but also limit the infinite imagination of the Mana Enchanter, something not many Mana Enchanters are keen on.
I went over the newfound information as the girls talked. I was quite shocked, in a good way. I tested out the new ability I had gained, by increasing my mana. My mana greedily consumed the excess mana in the air. I had to stop absorbing mana from the ground, since it almost started to crack and crumble.
Absorbing mana from the air was quick, as was manipulating mana within another creature. Manipulating environmental mana still proved to take a long time. It had sped up a little, but not enough to please me.
You have completed Ysga’s quest. Your reward can be found in the Worm Alpha’s chamber.
You have gained 15 earth affinity for freeing Gnome’s people from their mountainous prison.
You can now consume Mana Crystals to their full effect.
Without waiting I instantly shoved the large crystal vein I had been holding on to, into my mouth. It felt and tasted like rock candy. I liked rock candy.
You have gained the Trait: Magic Absorption.
Magic Absorption is the perfect trait for fighting mages. You will absorb 50% of any hostile magic cast at you. The mana you absorb will go directly into your mana pool. If your mana pool is over saturated, you will lose one mana per second until you have 100% of your total mana.
Wow, that’s now op or anything. With my new class… hold on a sec. I had basically had one of the best ideas ever. Since I could manipulate mana in every form, didn’t that mean I could harness the power of spells? Too bad I haven’t really seen any mages though. I wonder why that is?
Mental Fortitude is the perfect trait for any who wishes to avoid mind altering curses. You are able to withstand more mental damage and pain before your mind starts to shut down. The more mental damage and pain you take, the more powerful this trait will become. This skill can evolve into better versions.
You have received 1 intelligence for understanding a difficult concept.
Ysga’s last will has been completed. All dwarves will recognize you as the one to fulfil the last wish of their ancient king. Intimacy with all dwarves increased by 10. This does not increase the rank of intimacy. Minimum intimacy with dwarves set to 10. Starting intimacy with dwarves will be at least 10, until you do something to effect this.
Dwarves will no longer look at you with scorn.
Ok, but first of all, I look down on all dwarves. Ehehe, short jokes.
I read the rest of my notifications.
You have cleared the ‘Impossible’ Dungeon. Players will wish to know who to attribute this to. What title would you like to give: Vitamin C King, Bunny Lover, Blessed of Mar, Night Owl, Bunny Comrade, Master of the Green Herb, Man by the Fountain, Surgeon, Hero Of River’s Cross, Demon Wolves’ Bane.
Would you like your player name to be displayed?
I didn’t realize I had so many titles. I chose to go with Blessed of Mar, because I thought people would react even better if the light goddess ‘sent’ someone to help.
I decided not to let the system send out my name. I didn’t want anyone to actually know who I was. Although I was pretty sure they already did if my videos had gotten any popularity.
That gave me an idea! I could post most of this dungeon as a video! That would rake in the DI bills. I was getting closer to being able to create a metropolis for myself in that demi-game.
In the middle of the room appeared a chest. Since EDI seemed to be talking to the would-be assassin, I checked it out.
I crept over while slightly hiding myself in darkness mana. I opened the chest slowly. A bright blue crystal glowed in the center of the chest. The light was as blinding as the sun.
My Inspect still activated.
You have obtained Completed Mana Crystal.
Completed Evolution Mana CrystalThis crystal upgrades any being that controls it. The being will gain immunities to all forms of attacks slowly. The being will be able to slightly modify their own stats to meet the situation.
Hidden Attribute: Force Evolution
If you consume this Mana Crystal you will be able to force evolutions in any animal or monster. You will be unable to choose the evolution. The evolution will be chosen randomly based on the current path that monster or animal is taking.
If the being to be evolved does not meet the requirements, the evolutionary abilities will be restricted.
I looked around. Yep, EDI was staring directly at the mana crystal. *Sigh* I really wish the damn thing didn’t glow like that. I knew that if I didn’t at least offer to share this EDI might not play with me anymore. After all, we hadn’t gotten any gear from this dungeon at all.
I brought the crystal over to her. I shuffled my feet intentionally, as I got closer.
“It seems that this is the spoils of this dungeon. I have a special ability to consume these, but that wouldn’t let us share it. It’s only fair you get a share as well EDI.” EDI opened her mouth to say something.
I pretended it was, ‘no you can have it.’ I knew it was probably asking how we could share it though. “Don’t try to let me take it either. You have been way too nice to me. I’m not used to it. I will just have to find an honest merchant that would buy it for full price. Although I don’t actually know if any merchant will buy it. Worst case scenario we would get robbed for it. But if we don’t let people know we have it until we have sold it, it should be fine.”
I made sure to look ‘only a little’ sad at not getting to consume the crystal. A look of longing could easily be seen on my face.
I pretended to think about something. Right before EDI spoke I said, “Oh! I have an idea. What if we trade this to a temple of Gnome, the earth god. I’m sure they would pay nicely for it.”
I let her speak after that. “I don’t really mind you using it, you could just pay me for half of it later.”
I shook my head. No way in hell I was paying for half of a god item. “Nonono, I would never be able to make that much money alone. If you helped that would be the same as being paid with your own money.”
I pretended to think again. I frowned. I ‘didn’t want to give this item up’ after all.
“I have this though. I think it’s worth a lot, I tricked Davros into giving it to me.” I showed her the Soul-Binding Contract. The contract was a very open one. It had about as many blanks to fill in, as it did words. You could put what each party was giving, and receiving. Each party had to sign at each part of those as well.
EDI’s eyes widened when she saw the contract. “Why do you even have that!? That’s the work of the evil god!”
I shook my head. “It’s the work of the god of darkness. Technically being evil was just what he was into. The contract hasn’t been contaminated though. You are free to do with it what you will if you trade it for your half of the crystal. If you don’t want to…” I reached for the contract.
She yanked it back. “Fine. I accept. Do what you want with the crystal.”
I turned around and promptly ate the rock candy.
You have gained the Ability: Forced Evolution.
Forced Evolution
You can force evolution in any being that can evolve. You will be unable to choose the evolution. The evolution will be chosen randomly based on the current path that monster or animal is taking.
If the being to be evolved does not meet the requirements, the evolutionary abilities will be restricted.
This ability has no cost, but has a one week (in game) Cooldown.
After reading the message, I remembered about Heather. I had to figure out how to fix that.
Spoiler :
Stats WindowNameVoice0fReasonClassMana EnchanterLevel 35Health: 100Mana: 1680Stamina: 350Current Title: SurgeonHealth Regen: 1/sMana Regen: 20.4(15.4)/sStamina Regen: 5.1/sStrength41Agility34Wisdom204Intelligence168Endurance51Dexterity44Luck0Vitality35Charisma35Compassion95Leadership66Logic22Piety89Unused Stat Points0Fame850
Skills WindowAutomated Novice Level 9 Exp 25.00%
Speed Reading Novice Level 9 Exp 00.00%
Auto Read Novice Level 20 Exp 50.00%Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy Novice Level 24 Exp 10.46%
Group Skill: Long Distance Inspection Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%
Group Skill: Automatic Nursing Novice Level 12 Exp 50.00%
Group Skill: Con Artist Novice Level 17 Exp 90.16%
Group Skill: Magical Mastery Apprentice Level 37 Exp 00.00%
Group Skill: Skill Mastery Adept Level 50 Exp 21.23%
Group Skill: Tactical Survival Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%
Group Skill: Tactical Combat Training Adept Level 50 Exp 00.00%
Group Skill: Breakdown Novice Level 12 Exp 46.64%
Group Skill: Harvesting Mastery Novice Level 3 Exp 11.11%
Group Skill: Crafting Mastery Novice Level 4 Exp 60%
Affinities WindowLight70%Water60%Wind25%Nature55%Metal25%Earth45%Fire25%Darkness100%