Now free from anything and everything, Rune could at any time stop to do his usual observation of the environment, a hobby he came to appreciate.
His perception range being 2.5 times that of before, he could perceive when something didn’t belong somewhere.
The joy he got out of those stops only grew as, this time, he had the help of the guide to guide him. The more he learned, the easier learning became.
What he was doing was considered a niche occupation among adventurers, but the fact it existed in the guide proved to Rune it didn’t only have a recreational background. Though for him it really was just a recreational hobby.
“Such plants are found near empty areas where ambient ether light can shine from a very long distance, doesn’t indicate anything, hehe I was right it’s really an indicative plant,” musing while reading info from his guide, he felt joy at being right.
Rune already arrived back at the straight cliff less than a week ago, currently, he was studying a plant he only found near the straight cliff in detail.
This one was present everywhere near the cliff, but not anywhere else, so he thought it was related to the cliff and he was right.
“I knew my talent was as a botanist from the start!” Finishing his loud monologue on this, he departed again, following the cliff towards the north.
He never stepped in this area of the straight cliff path as, previously, he and the Undecided backed up and created another path, ultimately leading to their discovery of the tier 3 jungle region transition and the subsequent Undecided camp establishment.
Yet, as he expected of a tier 2 zone, it was much too early to find amazing things he could truly marvel at or a proper challenge. Despite some monster squads and bird flocks, he effortlessly dispatched himself of them and used them to increase his pocket dimension’s ether density.
The major change however came from other people he encountered on this path because he wasn’t the only one who wanted to use this landmark to adventure deeper without incurring the risk of losing himself.
He even asked himself if he was truly the first to have discovered the radioactive zone via this path.
Obviously, he didn’t stop for them and just went past at his maximum speed, no way he was socializing.
This time, he arrived at the region transition in half a week, a reasonable timing compared to the month the Undecided took, razing forest as they advanced.
Compared to a zone border, a region transition was much easier to localize and had much more prospective fun. So whereas he finally fought his first tier 3 monsters coming here, they were only alone or accompanied by a group of tier 2s, so it was still the pure juggernaut style in their face that Rune used.
After he placed the mini ether tower and activated it, he didn’t receive a call from Olivia.
The only thing he gained was limited access to the internet, but as he had nothing to do, he just let the tower do its things while he trained his perception and awareness, which he was rewarded for.
*Ding* Spiritual Fundamental: Awareness Division reached Tier 3 Level 2
‘1 week and a half for 2 levels… 5 days per level… Much better than the maximum 7 days for 1 level, but at the same time I’m not training everything at the same time…’
It was truly a snail pace compared to the 15 levels gained by his 2 body control masteries, though it was still a normal rate for just passive training.
Apart from this, his reinforcement, body control, and fighting instinct fundamental masteries all gained some levels. Only, his fighting instinct leveling process was slightly slower as he wasn’t involved in challenging fights that asked him to carefully observe his opponent.
Hearing a beeping alarm, he stopped the tower and sent it back to his pocket dimension, where it’d only get out once he reached the faraway radiation zone border.
In one week and a half, Rune went from apartment to tier 3 jungle that no one could say was without danger.
In such a short time, he reached the true front-line of the war involving the IGS future development and the Endless wilderness, for his greatest pleasure.
Like a welcoming gift from the Endless welcoming him back to his fold, a squad of 12 tier 3 panther-like monsters entered his sphere.
Without accounting for the fact that they didn’t look like peak tier 3 monsters that would put them at equal footing perception range-wise, with his passive perception training, he would still have the advantage.
If none of them miraculously had a sound, smell, or sight-based build made by their instinct, he wouldn’t be detected.
It was time for his first-ever tier 3 monster squad deathmatch, with all the odds on his side. His damage output was completely different, his ability to take hits and evade was similarly much stronger.
At 400 meters per hour, he rushed towards them. Once he entered their perception some seconds later, he reduced his permanent reinforcement from 83 energy per second to 10.
He estimated 10 energy per second to be an acceptable compromise between reinforcement training and adaptability.
He also had his grand and fine manipulation to train after all, and energy manipulation was the most problematic thing to answer to in battle due to energy being so flexible, only limited by pure imagination in its effects.
Fortunately, Rune had yet to encounter tier 4 monsters who were starting to become more human-like in their battle tactics.
When they sensed him approaching, they similarly started rushing towards him. Believing he was a prey they could feast on, but the initial shock, the moment Rune was pounced upon by 3 panther-like monsters at the same time was when they started a losing fight.
Against a pounce, a normal one, Rune simply side-stepped to the position where not one of them was going for. Arriving there he plucked one that was still in the air and slammed it at his feet.
He had so much time to think, plan and react… Even after slamming it on the ground, its companions only just started to react with a second wave of pouncers and some simply rushing.
Slowly and methodically, he adapted and changed his momentum to keep himself on the ground because what he was going to do was violent.
With the best punch he could imagine himself doing, Rune executed the perfect strike against his downed opponent, transmitting more than 11 000 strength into its fragile side, piercing through its body completely.
“Oops, I forgot it was possible,” surprised that he could even do that, Rune let his thoughts out.
He at least took 1 200 health with that strike, he was finally back in business, now he was able to kill even a tier 3 amidst a squad of tier 3 monsters with a mild effort.
‘Seems they are just a squad of early tier 3 monsters, so I can enjoy it.’
Striking another 2 times with normal punches, he finished his combo with a kick, and immediately another punch to keep the body near him. The next moment the body disappeared, sent into his pocket dimension.
As soon as he killed the first one, the other monsters showed faint signs of going berserk, but it was going to take at least another 5 kills before it truly happened.
The next wave of pouncers arrived, to which he responded with the exact same move, side-stepping and grabbing one of them, except this time he grabbed it to use it as a weapon to strike his companions.
Acting like a baseball player and launching the panther at 200 meters per second towards one who just landed was fun. With an evident weakness appearing when they collided and ended entangled together, this time he became the pouncer.
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The exact same punch towards the ground, except this time he pierced through one body but stopped at the second. After doing that he took the first panther and launched it against a coming panther, interrupting its charge.
‘Tier 3 monsters…’
Finishing the one on the ground after stunning it with a heavy blow to its head, he similarly sent its body into his pocket dimension.
‘I could even go full juggernaut you wouldn’t be able to do anything…’
He collided with a panther that charged at him and grounded it into mush before another one even came close to him.
‘The guide clearly told me that only when I encounter a tier 4 would I understand how truly weak I am, and that no build could save one from such an encounter…’
Deciding to act like a true behemoth, Rune just charged at one of them and like an adult bullying a child, he only took some thousands of damage, exchanging armor for direct strikes.
‘Maybe having 2 times my reaction speed, which corresponds to 10 000 perception, while also having twice as much time to analyze everything makes me a bit of an anomaly?’
Having the luxury to use his energy to launch offensive spells was the utmost disrespect he could show monsters.
It was proof he didn’t consider his most important resources, his energy, worth saving.
The panther-like monsters couldn’t react at all and 10 minutes later, Rune’s ether pocket dimension was filled with 12 disintegrating tier 3 monster corpses.
*Ding* Cohesion: Specialized Cohesion Infusion reached Tier 1 Level 86
*Ding* Energy Compression: Basic Energy Structure reached Tier 1 Level 11
*Ding* Body Control: Basic Humanoid Body reached Tier 1 Level 16
*Ding* Body Control: Basic Prolonged Body Use reached Tier 1 Level 16
‘I should just continue in perfection mode, juggernaut style. I really like how it shows my disrespect and in the end, it really is the most overbearing way to pave my way into a hostile zone. It’s fun too.’
Walking away from a short clearing resulting from his fight, Rune decided to change his approach till he found monsters worth fighting at his most serious.
Unfortunately, even 2 weeks later he didn’t encounter a peak tier 3 monster.
His only comfort back was finding the rainbow flower again and using his guide to perfectly identify it, allowing him to know it was the ‘peace’ variant of its kind.
Rainbow flowers weren’t that rare it seemed, but some of their characteristics could mean something, in particular, its cloud of color differed with the ambient situation. The one he had before his eyes was linked to a variant indicating it was a zone where very few fights happened, so it was named the ‘peace’ variant.
As he was overbearingly annihilating a squad of 23 spiders, all medium tier 3, Rune felt something change in his energy, a sudden lightness in his steps accompanied this change.
He knew the cause of this, he read about it “a long time” ago.
‘Tier 2 specialized cohesion infusion mastery, it advanced so naturally…’
Wrapping the fight as fast as he could, he voluntarily dove into the embrace of those spiders, exchanging a hug against their death.
It was really worth it for him accounting for the fact he regenerated 442 armor per second with a permanent reinforcement of 10 energy per second turned on.
Coming from his masteries, he gained 403% additional efficiency, with his class path giving him an additional 100%, he ended up at 503% efficiency.
Once he confirmed there wasn’t any remaining monster alive in his perception, he gave attention to his notifications.
*Ding* Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression reached Tier 3 Level 35
*Ding* Energy Compression: Basic Energy Armor reached Tier 3 Level 34
*Ding* Energy Compression: Basic Energy Defense reached Tier 3 Level 34
*Ding* Cohesion: Specialized Cohesion Infusion reached Tier 2 Level 0
*Ding* Energy Compression: Basic Energy Structure reached Tier 1 Level 25
‘Yet another defensive masteries cycling, maybe I’m really abusing the juggernaut style a bit too much? No regret, it’s so much fun.’
The important part in all that was his specialization mastery reaching tier 2.
So Rune opened his masteries window first.
Masteries
Tier 1 Masteries
Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement: Tier 3 Level 13
Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct: Tier 3 Level 36
Physical Fundamental: Body Control: Tier 3 Level 37
Energy Fundamental: Fine Manipulation: Tier 3 Level 6
Energy Fundamental: Grand Manipulation: Tier 3 Level 5
Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression: Tier 3 Level 35
Spiritual Fundamental: Perception Control: Tier 3 Level 7
Spiritual Fundamental: Awareness Division: Tier 3 Level 5
Spiritual Fundamental: Momentum Manipulation: Tier 3 Level 8
Tier 2 Masteries
Energy Compression: Basic Energy Armor: Tier 3 Level 34
Energy Compression: Basic Defensive Energy: Tier 3 Level 34
Cohesion: Specialized Cohesion Infusion: Tier 2 Level 0
Tier 3 Masteries
Energy Compression: Basic Energy Structure: Tier 1 Level 25
Body Control: Basic Humanoid Body: Tier 1 Level 31
Body Control: Basic Prolonged Body Use: Tier 1 Level 31
‘1 month and that’s the result… Not even past the easy first 10 levels, Sigh… Anyway, let’s see what my subconscious has to say about my cohesion stat, hehehe.’
Rune then opened a detail of his specialized cohesion infusion mastery.
Cohesion: Specialized Cohesion Infusion
Specialized Slotted Mastery (Tier 2)
By carefully infusing health into your energy, you can directly give it the cohesive property only found in it, such manipulation can now be used at a practical level.
You have reached the point where you can perfectly find the most important cohesive property in your health, you can now infuse cohesion-based health in your energy at a ratio of 1 health for 1 infused energy, regardless of quantity.
Cohesion isn’t just a stat, it’s also a part of your being. You’re the only one who can discover more use to it, bend it to your will, and impose what you want this cohesion to be and become.
Current effects: Isolation, Rejection
‘Woah… Do I really fear for my life at this point or did my subconscious link my cohesion to my asociality? Or maybe the neon white ether marked my very being as the first unique scenery of the Endless?’
What appeared before Rune’s eyes was the power of a tier 2 specialized mastery.
More precisely, it was the power of stat manipulation and how one could specialize a second, a third, or even a fourth time. The elemental specialization path had something similar, though theirs wasn’t affected by the person’s subconscious, it was affected by their personality.
Reality bending for tier 2 specialized masteries started weak, so weak in fact that they were insignificant, for everyone.
Only if you decided to make a second specialization mastery on one of those characteristics, would it become relevant.
In short, stats manipulation specialization masteries at tier 2 birthed special properties that your subconscious linked to those stats, like what they represented for you.
As for the elemental path, the tier 2 masteries birthed a minor boost for personality-assigned parts of it, making those properties stronger than others, though still in the realm of minor and inconsequential boost, only pointing the way your personality wanted you to take.
‘Isolation and rejection, let’s see what the guide says about them, hum… As a specialization, isolation reduces environmental effects, interesting. As for rejection…’
You can’t reject who you are, was something that passed through his mind when he saw this effect.
‘It also reduces environmental effects…’
Surprised by the outcome of what his subconscious associated with his cohesion, Rune stopped thinking for ten seconds.
‘I didn't get anything else… And the guide clearly says modifying those subconscious will-based properties demands months of meditation…’
Who could really control their subconscious after all?
‘How to say that? I don’t want to do it! Why didn’t I get a divine effect or an explosion effect?! I also want to be a protagonist!’
Complaining about the outcome, Rune of course didn’t really take it seriously, the path of stat hyper-specialization was something never ever found in adventuring builds.
Often, those dedicated to this path didn’t have any offensive or defensive ability. They were just people with a path created so artificially they were even called “ether-bender” back on the board, all due to the fact that they took one of their stats and warped its use so much it became unrecognizable.
‘Well, if one day I decide to join the army, I’ll become a walking black hole hazmat suit, resisting anything the environment throws at me! Oh! I like the sound of it, maybe not for the army then, maybe just another hobby! Just another thing to do in my life, maybe diving straight into a million degrees celsius hot magma would be even more fun… Wait, stop thinking like that Rune! Bad Rune!’
Rune’s ability to be an optimist and realist at the same time successfully bent the fact that his stat specialization path would probably be a supporting path in the future, only ever useful in situations where conditions similar to that of the radiation land appeared.
But a sudden realization took place, ‘My element will hide me from everyone… And my stat specialization wants me to be isolated and rejected by the environment… Oh sh*t!’
After starting to run again because he stopped moving for too long, Rune’s ideas organized themselves.
Who said the guide was always right? Maybe a third specialization mastery could remedy his problem of being the loneliest future entity? And if not a third then a fourth specialized mastery?
Onboard, he read about tier 5 having specialized till the 8th degree, and by this time even the Ether law started to give something uselessly specialized as there was nothing remaining to specialize in from the fifth or fourth time.
‘Happy to not have taken the spirit ripple path, this temporal path is so awesome.’
Having organized his thoughts after running for 10 minutes, he got back to his current adventure, and more precisely the incoming radiation land.
‘Those effects are minor at best and will not have an effect, and from what I calculated, by going from 2 000 cohesion to 5 000 cohesion, I gained an additional 30 kilometers per armor point, so let me update a bit…’
‘503% now, so every point of energy will be equal to 6 armor, and I’ll be under the effect of 1 loss of armor every 90 kilometers with my now 1 to 1 ratio for infused energy.’
‘So… Current maximum regeneration of 502 armor per second, translating to… 45 180 kilometers… Not accounting for future level-ups I’ll get, of course, let’s hope it’s enough.’
After finishing actualizing his mental maths, Rune focused back on training his future deadweight masteries, grand and fine manipulation, as well as perception control and awareness division.
He was approaching his target quicker than expected, as already some black trees were appearing in his perception sphere.