I leave Dennis and Aaron so they can decide. We still have 2 weeks until we need to know, so they have time to think about it. It’s not an easy decision, so it will probably take a while.
(Yo, we accept,) Dennis says through group 4’s connection.
(We know the training will be hellish, and we’ll trash-talk you behind your back as a result, but we don’t want to be left behind,) Aaron adds.
(We have some pride of our own as well and we’d be lying if we said we didn’t appreciate the opportunity. We also know Tess probably had something to do with it, but still, thank you.)
(Yeah, thanks. We’ll show you we aren’t as weak as you think.)
(Do you think he called us weak on purpose to fire us up? Comparing us to Izzy like that?)
(Maybe, we…)
(Okay then, no taking back. If you fail, you will switch to Hard Difficulty even if I have to force you.) I say, speaking through the link before disconnecting from the conversation.
Weirdos, at least take some time to think about it. But, they are in Hell difficulty, so I probably could have expected that. It’s not like they’re actually weak.
Sitting in my room, like a true leech, I let extroverts deal with stuff outside and finally get around to crushing the mana stone containing the Restrictive Training Emblem. The one the Cockroach made for me. Back then, she said it was invented by some new Champion with powerful mana so that she could train her body while continuing to invest in her mana stat.
A kindred spirit. A genius. I would love to speak with her as a fellow mana enjoyer and shake her hand.
The moment I break the stone I received from Cockroach-Sandra a web of inscriptions begins seeping into my body and covering my skin, almost in its entirety. It’s extremely dense and delicate. At some points, it may as well be microscopic, difficult to even observe, even with my eye trait activated.
It serves as a good reminder that I will always have a long way to go as if I needed one.
Then comes the part I’ve been waiting for.
Immediately after the web covers my body, an emblem etches itself in the skin of my chest reminding me of a tattoo, positioned right over my heart, a dense web of circuits that serve to create some sort of circular and pleasing if functional design.
Upon taking a closer look I find an option that should allow me to strengthen and tune its effects. And of course, the results speak for themselves, resulting in an instant backlash that sends spasms through my muscles. Very painful ones.
I’m glad I didn’t use it in Beyond.
A decent chunk of my mana gets pulled away, tying up nearly half of my generated mana, seeping into the emblem now covering my heart and flowing into the web behind it, and dispersing throughout my body. The effect is immediate, the immense pressure applying itself evenly across my body. Unlike the Burden Enhancement Inscriptions that rendered me incapable of moving without the use of kinetic energy, this one does multiple things.
It makes my body feel heavier while putting a lot of strain on it. It’s almost like Active Tempering on a lower level and left running at all times. The strain forcing my body to adapt, as it takes damage and recovers, making me stronger in the process.
The extremely delicate and microscopic web of inscriptions connected to the emblem forces my body to fight me, applying constant pressure with my own mana. There is even a “switch” that I can use to decide how much mana I want to feed the Emblem.
As I examine it more, I think about the difference between inscriptions and emblems. As far as I can tell, emblems seem to be more permanent when applied to the body, while inscriptions have always felt like temporary measures. The emblem just seems connected to me on a deeper level.
Maybe I’m wrong. The emblem might be a higher level of inscriptions, or inscriptions work better for items while emblems work best with the body.
I still remember the Emblems Nevan had, the ones that allowed him to create his amazing flames - a gift from his Absolute. I totally want to dabble in the process sometime in the future, and I think that my constructs might be the first step toward an emblem. Or maybe they’re all just constructs, emblems, and inscriptions. I don’t know, and the system won’t tell me. And who cares anyway.
I wait for a bit, but there are no notifications miraculously offering information.
Well, fine, I’ll just have to learn on my own.
For now, I let it set at a 50% rate of mana consumption, even though I notice my body starting to hurt as if I’ve just finished a long workout. And I’m only a few minutes in. How crazy is that, but I bet it’s effective so I take note of my current stats to compare them later.
Lvl 258
Strength: 123
Dexterity: 116
Constitution: 274
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1078 + 1078
I lovingly examine the emblem currently torturing me. The Champion who made it was truly a kindred spirit.
Next, I have three mana exercises. They are as follows:
Evil orb - an orb with ever changing frequency and mana requirements to keep it from popping or disappearing. I already have three floating at my side.
The next is the infinity orb, an orb with another orb inside and another inside of that and another, and so on, continuing for as far as you can. Each one, growing progressively smaller. The exercise promotes control and delicate manipulations, the goal being to see how small an object one can create while maintaining the proper shapes. The third one is the Spinning Orbs. I’ve given each their own fancy name. I can't be bothered to remember their original names.
The last exercise involves making two spinning orbs with separate, intersecting orbits. The goal is to make them both spin as quickly as possible without crashing. At some point, even the slightest mistake will cause them to collide, and I can’t find any reason not to add more orbs as I go, all with their own orbits, connecting at one point, though that would increase the difficulty by a lot.
For a moment, I stop looking over the mana shaping exercises and close my eyes.
Holy hell, that emblem is evil. I feel like I can barely breathe, and it’s been a long time since I felt my muscles burn like this. Even lifting my arm is getting pretty tough, and the Restrictive Training Emblem, or RTE for short, isn’t even working to its fullest.
Just out of curiosity, I change the setting, and it takes another chunk out of my mana regen.
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Yup, totally evil.
Just that short test tore some muscles.
I kind of like it. Of course, it’s not like I’m a masochist, but it uses plenty of mana that I don’t have to cycle now and spends it inside of my body. It’s almost like some sort of limiter, a weight I can cast off to reveal my true power. Or something like that. Maybe I’m just a tiny bit childish when it comes to that sort of thing.
After a long while, I decide to check my quests.
Floor Quest:
Escape the Astral Prison
Rewards:
???
Epic grade passive skill
5000 Shards
Communication with your disciple for 10 minutes
Send a single item to your disciple (up to rare rarity)
Increased daily Community limit
I already know from my conversation with Tess that escaping this place won’t be a simple matter. The moon we find ourselves on has some sort of protection against just that, the kind of stuff that prevents people with spatial skills from teleporting out of here. Even flying too high is discouraged on account of a range of defenses that are rumored to be capable of killing level 400s with ease.
Building an array to try to connect it to somewhere outside doesn’t work either.
We don’t know much more than that, to be honest. Apparently, we’re in one of the more rural areas of this prison, which fits with the system’s tendencies, with the floors gradually increasing in difficulty. Central regions tend to have more and stronger people with a better knowledge base.
So far, it’s been interesting to see so many people from different planets, and there are more arriving all the time. Almost as if there were scheduled dropoff times.
There’s also been talk of a coalition, powerful monsters, and the remains of some kind of ancient civilization. What interests me more is the regions no one dares to enter, chock full of powerful sleeping monsters. I even hear the word Calamity from time to time.
As much as I complain about dealing with other people, Tess was able to collect quite the hoard of information, and she’s planning to scout out the central region sometime in the next two weeks, force a few more answers from some of the other groups, and then we’ll go our separate ways. And I don’t mind doing it.
Coming back to side quests, I find some new ones as well.
Side quest: Get all skills over level 40
Reward: Beyond 1 day stay token
Side quest: Get all skills over level 50
Reward: Trait strengthening token (1st stage)
Side quest: Reach level 275
Reward: Beyond 1 day stay token
Side quest: Defeat 1000 monsters over level 200
Reward: Beyond 1 day stay token
They go on and on too. I almost ran out of side quests before, but now there are dozens. Some offer food and water, others offer epic passives and items. A number of them offer beyond stay tokens too, but only for a day at a time.
None of the quests happen to be anything simple either, except, perhaps killing 1000 monsters over level 200. Kaboom, am I right?
It just seems like access to Beyond is purposefully limited, at least currently, almost as if the system’s forcing us to keep climbing the floors here in Hell difficulty.
Is there more the system wants to show us?
While examining the effect my new RTE has been having on me, I stand up and nearly fall, barely managing to catch myself. The inscriptions before didn’t allow me to move at all. It’s like they turned off my body and kinetic energy was the only thing that would make it move.
This emblem feels like I’ve been covered in weights. Weights that have the sole purpose of damaging my body with a single objective: force it to adapt to the strain and grow stronger in the process.
Curious, I use kinetic energy to support my movement, but the moment I do, the emblem stops working.
Well, that’s straight-up evil. Nice one, Cockroach-Sandra.
I stop using kinetic energy and let part of my mind focus on the inscriptions Lissandra used back then. I can mimic them and use them to train my kinetic energy, switching between that and my new RTE.
Plus Lissandra’s mana shaping exercises. Then throw in the stuff Miwa left to help me work on damaged arcane items. Plus the body modifications I’ve been planning with Lily. Plus my plans to improve my current constructs. Plus my efforts to level my other skills, and using the twins' skills to improve my own. Plus… more, just more.
But first, I want to see Noodle, and so I start heading for the place I sense his presence, I grab a few of the bone shards I’ve acquired. One from the Bone Fortress here on the 6th floor and the other one from the snake skeleton next to the pyramid.
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I find myself in a smaller room, facing Izzy who has her arms crossed against her chest, “I won’t let you feed Noodle weird stuff!”
Noodle is next to her, looking between her, me, and Biscuit, who is currently sitting on my lap, with curiosity in his eyes.
Sophie ignores all of us, focusing instead on some weird mana construct floating in front of her as she practices. I notice myself starting to examine it, but I force myself to stop and turn back to Izzy.
“Look, he kept staring at me and drooling over it. I’m just curious. Also, why the hell is he still the same size?” I ask.
“Noodle can’t drool! And he’s stayed this size because I asked him to; he’s just cuter that way.”
In answer, I lift a piece of bone from the 5th floor and wave it.
Noodle follows the bone from side to side as if hypnotized.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Izzy nods seriously.
I move it up and down, and Noodle continues to track it perfectly. He keeps it up too, even as I start zig-zagging.
At this point, I start to wonder if I can make the pearl-white snake dizzy, so I start moving faster, spinning the fragment in circles.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Izzy sighs.
It might just be me, but Noodle seems to perk up at that, turning to her, ignoring the fragment of bone for the first time since I brought it here. He slithers closer, lovingly coiling around her arm and licking her cheek.
What a tricky little creature. Snakes use their tongues to smell as far as I know. They do not, however, lick. It must be something he picked up from Biscuit.
Indeed, our future overlord is great to affect others so profoundly.
I reach down and pet Biscuit who looks up to me and yawns slightly. Using that opportunity, I put a finger into his open mouth, and when he closes it, he bites my finger gently.
His expression is confused, as always when I do it, but he then pulls away and licks my hand before laying back down on my leg, his intelligent eyes focused on the duo in front of us.