The plan my duplicate came up with is to give Vega one of his eyes, which will most likely give her a weaker version of our Mana Wavelength Iris. Of course, that's not the entire plan.
The duplicate has more experience with inscriptions than me and he’s come to the conclusion that placing an inscription in his eye and giving it to Vega might be the best course of action. It might work better than trying to inscribe some random mana stone or other material, and we do have a lot of experience with creating constructs.
Of course, the problem is that he can't create a personality imprint. Even after weeks of practice, he’s not even close. That's how difficult it is.
So his plan is to have the asshole from Beyond, the bored intent, help him with that.
Giving his eye to Vega is also part of the plan as she will leave the tutorial fairly soon. Outside of the tutorial, it should be safer for him than inside where he would be constantly worried about getting deleted while crossing the floors.
It's an interesting plan, and I don’t fully understand how the heck this could be the best idea he could come up with. But he has spent a lot of time thinking and theorizing, so there must be something to it.
He is a smart guy, even if he is slightly mad.
However, one last piece of the puzzle remains, getting that asshole intent to help store his personality imprint in the eye that he wants to give Vega. When I questioned him, my duplicate would only say that he knew where to push. The intent seems to be bored, so we might be able to broker some kind of bet or deal.
I won’t try to stop him, I’ve already determined that it won't put Vega in danger. Worst case, my duplicate fails, and Vega gets a weaker version of my trait. I’m certain that she can inherit my trait the same way Min-Jae did with the eye we got on the 4th floor.
As I’m thinking all of this through, I float in the air and watch as tens of people from the Sanctuary rush into the Bastion which has settled nearby, crushing a small hill in the process.
In the distance, a burst of mana explodes, marking the Housekeeper’s battle against a big group of veilshriekers. Meanwhile, my duplicate is fighting a group of veilbinders in the air, a flying variation of those monsters. Even though they are human-like they have two sets of creepy wings instead of arms and their legs are fused into a single tail, limb, thing with a spike at the end.
I, on the other hand, have a dozen or so highly compressed projectiles floating beside me, and shoot them when needed. Sometimes I infuse them with kinetic energy, sometimes with thermal, or I just compress them further, making them extremely durable so that I can launch them at mach speed. It's something I'm quickly getting better at.
Under my barrage, no monsters manage to reach the people boarding the Bastion, and I even level up once.
Lvl 231
Strength: 111
Dexterity: 109
Constitution: 266
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 897 + 897
When everyone is aboard with everything they could take, I watch as a pulse of mana is sent through the Bastion’s barrier and rushes to the bottom. A shockwave erupts from the flying island’s underside, and the massive inscriptions covering the bottom light up.
With a dull humming noise, the Bastion floats into the air, and I watch as it rises.
I don't think this will ever get old, watching this huge mass just float there. How the hell would something like this ever get old? Just imagine an island the size of a small city floating into the air. Imagine the sheer weight of it all. And then watch it float there as if it were as light as a balloon.
Having dealt with all the monsters I wanted to fight, I fly over to the Housekeeper, and float above her position, before releasing a compressed jet of flame as thick as my finger, piercing the monsters ahead of me, cutting them apart, and leaving behind a series of burnt, even chunks. I sweep it across the area, putting an end to the remaining monsters before landing beside her.
She lowers her defenses, allowing me to touch her shoulder, and teleport us back to the anchor I left on the Bastion, my duplicate appearing at our side at the same time.
The Housekeeper brushes her hair from her face, she has the same smile on her face that she always does anytime she fights. But even now, the Housekeeper doesn't seem like she’s been pushed to her limit and gotten to fight all out.
When she leaves, I turn to my duplicate, and we resonate our mana around us, creating a barrier that makes it impossible for anyone to eavesdrop on our conversation.
"The Bastion's Barrier has changed slightly again," I tell him.
"The Armorer just doesn't want to give up," my duplicate says while looking around.
"Well, let's continue acting like we haven’t noticed. That guy thinks he’s sneaky and he just doesn't like us, and if he is in on it, the others probably are."
"The Housekeeper doesn't seem like it, but the Butler and the Gardener could join him just to fuck us over."
"That’s likely," I agree. "Well, in the worst case, we will kill him. I don't like how creepily he looks at me."
"He’s been that way ever since you burned your eyes out transferring mana to the core. 'Magnificent mind,' is that what he said? Maybe he wants to dissect you."
"He is free to try. If he does, I’ll get rid of him, and we’ll take over the Bastion. But it's nice to have him to drive it around and fend off attacks so we can do our thing."
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"It's not very long until the end of the floor, so let's hold off," my duplicate says seeming to agree with me. "I’m going to meet up with the granny and Irvin. They seemed like they would be inclined to help, but I will ask for more details and continue my work on the eye."
"When do you mean to contact the intent?"
"It said it would talk to me one day before I disappear to offer me the option to kill Vega again, so I’m going to ask then. Anyway, I’m going to keep practicing. I’ll help you inscribe another weapon at night in exchange for some help later."
"Sure," I say, and the moment I do, my duplicate disappears, and I detect him joining Vega, who approaches him as well.
For a while, I stand on the wall and watch the constant barrage of attacks assaulting the barrier as the Bastion floats through the air. The attacks in question originate from a horde of flying monsters between level 100 and two hundred.
None of the attacks damage the barrier at all, and their only reward is a rebuke from a series of sharp beams that proceeds to tear through the monsters with ease. Even the Veil Guardian I see watching us from a distance doesn't bother to attack as it continues to trail us.
The fully powered, floating Bastion is formidable enough to deal with these monsters. Even after a hundred years have passed, leaving some of its functions broken and mechanisms damaged.
That makes me wonder what could have been able to take it down at its prime with its Lord, a man over level 300, defending it.
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A few days have passed, and my handling of black mana is getting better and better, and I'm increasingly satisfied with the purchase of my new epic passive.
I am also going through the upper rare items I took from the Veil Ignition Station and finishing their inscriptions, turning them into epic weapons which I then proceed to sell.
By working with my duplicate, we’ve even managed to make a few mid bordering on upper epic grade items out of them.
Back on the 4th floor, I turned two epic items into an upper epic, but that was with the help of that floor’s Craft Guild. A lot of help. It seems like I'm still a ways off from being able to make epic items all on my own, but I will get there.
Just looking at the damaged arcane ax that belonged to Nevan's father humbles me a lot. The weapon, no matter how damaged, is something that I can’t help but admire, and it shows how much there is left to learn. And arcane weapons probably aren't even the peak.
Rather than demoralizing me; it awakens my competitive spirit.
Even on Earth, I used to excel at anything I put my mind to. It didn’t matter if other kids were more talented or had better opportunities. I have always put more thought into it, always been more deliberate, and I’ve always trained more aggressively. I possess a hunger that more talented people often lack.
And if I meet someone with talent at the level of genius and hunger equal to mine?
Well, in that case, I will push even more. I will risk my life. I will sacrifice my limbs. I will hurt, and I will bleed. People may call me crazy. But I will push even further.
Savant? That weirdo who started in Beyond? Who cares?
It will be me coming out on top.
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A week remains, and I have sold everything I can sell. Metal ingots, lower-quality alloys, any mana stones I can’t use, and much more. I sold any items I couldn't inscribe and inscribed all I could. I went through the Bastion and sneakily sold a lot of items from their storages.
All of this has gained me enough shards to get to 49,725.
My duplicate and I also hunted a few more Veil Guardians, and I sold a few of my voidsteel blades.
As we’ve been returning to the Bastion after our hunts, I’ve noticed the way the Butler and the Housekeeper look at us change. Their behavior has changed as well.
The Housekeeper seems more interested, and I notice her keeping a hand close to her weapon every time I pass by.
The Butler keeps one rift open at all times so he can activate it quickly.
The Gardener spends most of his time in his garden, where he has plenty of defensive mechanisms.
The Armorer seems to be more and more interested day by day. I feel his gaze on my back. I feel his senses within the floating island as he keeps observing me. The little bit of cooperation we did have seems like a house of cards, each side ready to collapse. Them against me, the duplicate, and Vega.
Caught in between us are Granny the Vitalist, her father Irvin, and Nina.
Nina seems to hate me, but she doesn't dare do anything. I think it is part of knowing she wouldn't be able to do anything and partially she also realizes that it was largely her father's fault.
The granny and Irvin spend a lot of time with Vega and the duplicate. They theorize, discuss, and plan.
Vega seems to be excited at the thought of getting a new eye, but that eye could disappear the moment my duplicate disappears as well. It just sounds like something the system would do.
So in the end, it relies a lot on the intent and whether or not my duplicate can amuse it enough to broker a deal. The logic is that even the intent probably can’t save my duplicate without giving him some more permanent “status,” and on this floor, that means me or Vega.
I won't agree. No matter how much I might consider it to be a bit of my fault or even if I pitied him or regretted it. I won't do it.
As for Vega, the duplicate won't do it.
In the end, the plan is simple. The eye being a body part makes the duplicate hope it will be less susceptible to erasure than a mana stone. He also said he found it easier to work with. It is a piece of his body with mana circuits and bearing his passives and mana.
I don't understand it fully, but he’s spent more time thinking about it, so I can’t argue. Something tells me that he hopes that even if he fails, he might be able to get the intent to ensure that Vega can keep his eye. One last gift to our disciple.
Just in case, we will also keep Vega's original eye. It would be unfortunate if the duplicate failed and Vega ended up without an eye.
That's where the two healers will help. They also seem to be planning to weaken the eye further so it will awaken gradually. Mana Wavelength Iris is a powerful trait, and we don't want our minion to melt her brain by using it too soon.
Overall, things go well. I progress with black mana, and my handling of my eyes improves. I made a lot of shards. And Vega is getting stronger by the day.
But it all feels off, and I don't think this floor will end well for my duplicate. No matter how much he plans, trains, and hopes. He was put in a shitty situation, and the only way out seems to be killing me or Vega and striking a deal with someone he can’t even trust.
I have gained a lot thanks to our cooperation, and I thought I knew what I would feel if it came to this, but… this is a shitty way to feel.
That's when I also decide to never do anything like this again.
And I'm sorry.
I won't say it out loud, and I don't think I need to. I'm sure he knows.