“SYSTEM Functionality Restored”? What the hell? Adam thought as he noticed that he’d taken a bit of damage.
You have been damaged by Supersonic Shockwave.
Damage Taken: 62,761
1,072,694 of 1135,455 Hit Points Remaining in Dragon Form.
Adam checked his Hit Point Regeneration and noted that he was only healing about 1 point every second naturally. Health Regeneration in the SYSTEM was no joke. He activated his skill Heal Would and was instantly back to his full health. As he did so, he felt that the use of the skill hadn’t done the extra healing or that the mana he had did the extra healing. Instead, he’d sent out a command and the SYSTEM had instantly and immediately healed him based on his stats. So, The SYSTEM was suppressing and amplifying him based on whatever attributes he had as known by the SYSTEM?
But, the ritualist? He’d pretty much vaporized her. He knew how much force that would take and accounting for his increased strength as tracked by the SYSTEM he could have only made her explode like a sack of meat with his current strength. Yet, he’d thrown her as if his strength was what it had been in the past. Well, the ritualist had been sitting in a circle and he’d seen it as he’d flown right down to her. Adam closed his eyes and pulled up the image of that circle in his mind and immediately recognized every arcane symbol carved into the stone. Sure, some of it seemed to be unknown to him, like the coordinates it had called forth but in only a second he was able to decipher and know how to make a fissure to hell if he wanted. He wouldn’t do that here, or even in this Solar System but he could see how opening a portal to get access to his previous levels of power could be a good thing. Maybe later.
Adam looked around at the damage as he sat on the ground in his Dragon Form and had an idea. His new skill Mold Chaos allowed him to make 100 bounds of anything he wanted to. While he had only 100 points of Chaos he could use at a time he could use Chaos Conversion to replace 100 Chaos with 1000 mana, stamina, or hit points. His Stamina returned at 26,413 every second while his mana returned at 15,422 per second. More than enough to replace the 100 Chaos with 1,000 of each resource every 10 seconds.
Adam activated Mold Chaos and shaped his Chaos into 100 pounds of nanites, which ended up being a lot of nanites. Next, he activated Technomancy established a link to the nanites, and had the nanites create a control matrix and install it within him. Once that was complete and he was once again linked to the nanites in his immediate area he sent out a command for the nanites to spread out and repair all structures and bring them back to form and function that he had in his memories from other realities. Buildings, trees, etc. out to their maximum range.
That’s when he ran into this first hurdle. After a little trial and error, he learned that this SYSTEM was being a little bitch. His nanites could destroy any non-living item he wanted them to. No issue, they could break it down and continue to break it down. What the nanites couldn’t do was rearrange anything. Once the materials were destroyed they effectively disappeared. Adam had watched the process. One of the damaged buildings was completely removed by breaking down the matter into its component atoms. All of the energy that was created from that process just vanished.
To get around this lack of materials to rebuild with Adam started pumping out 100 pounds of nanites every 10 seconds. The nanites could take the form he wanted and then solidify into that shape. Once that happened the Chaos in the nanites converted to the form and function of whatever Adam needed them to. In this way, Adam used the Chaos he was spending to create nanites to replace everything that had been destroyed, including the bridge and all the holes that were in it. At 100 pounds of mass, it was slow going.
While Adam waited for Ansfrin and his team to catch up, he continued to let his nanites spread out and fix things while he opened his notifications.
Congratulations you have killed ??? level ? .
XP awarded 646,000
12,281 Credits earned.
Hidden Quest: Close the Portal to Hell, Unknowingly Accepted and Completed
Level: Epic,
Reward 1,000,000 XP and 1,000,000 Credits
1,646,000 XP? Nice. The credits weren’t bad either. The next few notifications were all level-up notifications. Adam skipped to the last one.
Congratulations, You have reached Level 33...
Adam skimmed the rest of the notification and learned that he had gained 336 attribute points plus the 3 bonus attributes every 5 levels. Before he figured in any changes based on his attributes he’d gained 112 Hit Points, 28 Stamina, 140 Mana, 280 Psychic Energy, 84 Skill points, 28 Spell Slots, and 56 Psionic Ability Slots.
Adam looked at his unspent Skill Points, Spell Slots, and Psionic Ability Slots and gasped. It looked like Skill Points were not modified by attributes, but Spell Points and Psionic Ability Slots were. He’d earned a total of 99 Skill Points and spent 15. Of the 99 he’d earned, 84 were left. As for his Spell Slots? He had 55,475 Spell Slots and 134,708 Psionic Ability Slots left. If it took 55 slots to level one spell or psionic ability to level 10 then he could bring over 1,000 spells to level 10 and 2,449 Psionic abilities to level 10. Unless it costs more points to continue increasing the ability through the rarities to make them even more powerful. If so, he was going to have to sit down and figure out exactly how many slots it took to increase the rarity of a skill, spell, or psionic ability, just not right now.
While Adam was reviewing his Status, attributes, and everything else as he tried to figure analyze what had happened, he continued pumping nanites into the surroundings. He also had the nanites form into a drone to test the limits of his range with this skill. After a few minutes of testing, it looked like the range was about 50 miles. Adam knew this because he’d received a warning when his drone had almost reached the range and told him so.
WARNING! Control of Technological Constructs will be lost once they have exceeded your Area of Influence.
WARNING! Energy Matrix will destabilize once constructs leave your Area of Influence
Note: Area of Influence is equal to your intelligence attribute in feet.
Area of Influence Range: 264,117 Feet (50.02 miles.)
Adam paused for a moment. Did that mean everything the nanites were making would disappear or did that mean only the nanites would disappear? Adam had the drone land 1 foot short of his maximum range and create a box then had the drone split into two smaller drones and moved one 5 feet closer to him while the other stayed near the box. Then Adam shifted into his Human Form and moved three feet away from the box as he watched through his link to the nanites.
As he had suspected, the box remained, and the drone sitting next to the box which was still made out of nanites evaporated. So, The SYSTEM didn’t mind him using his Chaos to create physical items or the materials he created by converting his Chaotic Nanites into the materials he needed. He tested that idea further by trying to break down materials he’d released and have his nanites reshape it, but no, the energy dispersed, and the box's energy was lost permanently. So, his nanites could be made into whatever he wanted but after that, the SYSTEM actively prevented him from converting matter into anything but energy.
Next, he created a blade of grass at his maximum range and then stepped out of range. Nothing happened to the blade of grass though his nanites were prevented from affecting anything that was alive, including plant life. The SYSTEM was very specific about what it would allow his nanites to do. While he could theoretically create anything with the Chaos he could create…wait…he could theoretically create anything with his chaos?
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No, that couldn’t work, could it? That type of exploit would be worse than some asshole creating a ring that stole XP from a living dungeon. But, if it works…
He would have to check on his idea shortly but right now he needed to make sure the area was secure. For the next 30 minutes, Adam weighed the pros and cons of his new idea while he waited for Ansfrin and his men to show up. While he waited he also finished repairing the bridge and created an actual barrier system that was counterbalanced so it could be opened and closed with very little effort. The Lions Gate Bridge now had a drawbridge at its center. He was quite proud of it. While he couldn’t convert things into other things he could clean up all the inorganic matter, so he cleared the roads of cars in the 50-mile radius around him.
One of the good things about having his nanites spread out in the local area was the fact that it created a sensor net that allowed him to take notice of the nine demons that he hadn’t killed or blasted back through the rift. The demons had come together in the forested area at the south part of the forested area of the peninsula he was on and were working their way back toward Adam. He immediately understood why as Ansfrin and his people had detected them and were herding them toward him.
Adam had a thought. He zeroed in on one of the demon's locations with his nanites and then tried to target and send a Mind Bolt at one of the demons. Not even a moment later the demon's head exploded.
You have struck a Rare Level 1 Ascendent Hellhound for 132,032 damage.
Level 1 Ascendent Hellhound has died!
Congratulations! You have earned 10,100 XP.
NOTE: You have killed a Monster from a Restricted Domain. Reward converted from Ascendent to Rare Equivalent.
XP Earned 10,100
Treasure Granted:191 Credits
Adam sent out eight more Mind Bolts and killed the other eight demons which earned him another 80,800 XP and 1,528 Credits. More importantly, he learned that anything within the observation range of his nanites counted as being within his Line Of Sight. Also, he learned that his Mind Bolts could go through solid objects. Finally, he earned Level 34. Level-wise, he had a little ways to go to get to his Tier 2 class, but he didn’t believe being at the bottom of the five-tier Class leveling system was going to be a problem much longer if the idea he had worked.
Adam kept creating nanites and repairing and replacing everything that had been destroyed by the hellish fire and also created a very comfortable chair with an end table and a Long Island Ice Tea on it. Ah, the classics, Adam thought to himself as he took a seat while he waited for Ansfrin and his team to get to him. They were moving forward cautiously, even though everything that could have been harmful to them had been dealt with.
While he waited he considered the last couple of notifications he’d received. What did the System mean by restricted? Adam had thought that the areas outside of the SYSTEM weren’t governed by it, yet, The SYSTEM had been able to classify the Hellhounds as Ascendent and then converted the XP award. That meant that even though the SYSTEM wouldn’t show him the logs while the Dimensional Rift was open, it had been aware of what happened. Adam was getting the feeling that the SYSTEM was present in a lot more places than Adam had thought it was.
His display of strength had been a lot more in line with his previous level of strength. But that made no sense if The SYSTEM was actively suppressing his attributes and preventing him from pulling on his abilities. That didn’t make sense either. His abilities had been reset. Sure, his attributes had increased while in the vicinity of the rift but that was pure attributes. Additionally, his SYSTEM interface had stopped conveying information which could mean a couple of different things. Adam was betting it meant only one of two things.
Either there was one SYSTEM and a threshold had to be met to unlock functionality that would give his SYSTEM Interface access to information while in the “Restricted” Areas OR there was another SYSTEM on top of this SYSTEM. Adam was pretty sure it wasn’t the 2nd possibility which meant that he needed to do something to unlock that access. Adam weighed the pros and cons and theorized that he probably unlocked access when he reached Tier 2. Unless that designation of Ascendent meant that he’d need to max out Tier 5 and then cross that threshold.
Well, he had an idea about how to test that but it would have to wait, Ansfrin and his team were walking up to him as he sipped on his Long Island Ice Tea which kept being refilled after each sip.
Adam had a couple of tables appear and created glasses full of Ice water as Ansfrin stepped up to him. Ansfrin on the other hand looked around questioningly as he asked, “What happened?”
Adam grinned, “Not much. A Demon Lord, at least I think it was a Demon Lord, tried to open a portal to this world using the woman who was standing next to the leader on the bridge as an anchor port, you know the guy I told you I killed. Anyway, I picked up the trash and threw it through the portal at him. She exploded and died and the Dimensional Rift, Portal, whatever closed.
“What about demons that made it through? We found nine scorch marks on the way through the wooded area but we didn’t see any others,” Ansfrin asked.
“Most got blown back through the dimensional rift when I brought a supersonic shockwave down right in front of it. Well, except for the 64 that happened to be within 8 feet of me. Those were turned to paste. Nine were blown into the forest and tried to circle back to get me, they died. Everything else was, as I said, blown back through the rift before it closed.”
“How can you be sure there are no other demons in the area?”
Adam thought about answering the question and then said, “Trade secret though I will say unless they’re more than 50 miles away from this position I’d know if they were in the area.”
“But I’m the City Owner, that information can only be determined at the City Node or I guess it could be purchased from the SYSTEM Shop,” Ansfrin said.
“Don’t sweat it, I’m not tied into the node, I just have a skill that allows me to scout out a really big area,” Adam explained, even if the explanation was very vague.
“So, what will you do now?” Ansfrin asked.
Adam looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked in return, “What would you like me to do?”
“We need to clear the city of monsters so we can expand…”
Adam cut him off as he said, “Sounds like you have a plan then. Just so you know, I’ve repaired the bridge and set up a draw bridge on counterweights so you can limit access to those coming across from the north. Some wolves up there are getting pretty big. That’s not to say they can’t come in from farther east, just that they won’t be able to cross the bridge into the city. Also, there are some big ass monsters in the inlet, so don’t go swimming. That should also keep the wolves from trying to swim across.”
“You are leaving?” Ansfrin asked.
“I could run around and clear out the city in short order but that wouldn’t give your people the ability to earn XP and level, which they need to do. Right now everything is comparable in levels. If your people don’t keep up, they’ll fall behind and then I’m going to go elsewhere and figure some things out. Also, I need to find my wife.”
“Will you come back this way someday?” Ansfrin asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Adam said thoughtfully before he continued. “As I said, I don’t care why your race came here. Just don’t turn into the bastion of evil that the good guys have to burn to the ground because while I’m not the good guy all of the time, I can pretend to be one when I need to,” Adam said as he locked his gaze with Ansfrin.
“Understood,” Ansfrin said.
“Cool, just don’t forget to come clean to the humans in charge at some point. Humans don’t tend to react well to creatures they didn’t know about in their midst…Yeah, I know, I’m kind of a hypocrite. Then again, I was human the 1st time,” Adam said as a look of shock filled Ansfrin’s face. Adam took that as his cue to leave, jumped into the air, and transformed into his Dragon Form as he flew straight up.
He accelerated to just under the speed of sound straight up while he continued to monitor his nanites in the area so he could see what happened to the structures he’d repaired as he moved away. When he was 50 miles away he used nanites at the end of his range to watch those below and watched as any nanites he’d left in the area evaporated. Items that had been created, like his chair, end table, glass, and the tables and glasses he’d set out for Ansfrin and his men remained but any of the nanites that were taken out of his range simply stopped working and then just evaporated. The SYSTEM wasn’t playing around regarding the range of anything he created and controlled.
Adam flew up to 100,000 feet or about 18.9 miles. He knew he was that high because his wings stopped generating lift. He rolled over and dropped almost 5,000 feet as he started heading southeast. He was high enough that the sun had come up over the horizon and he could see it. Unfortunately, his ability to move through Space, Time, and Gravity as an Adamantium dragon hadn’t appeared, or it had been unlocked under the New SYSTEM. So, his ability to fly, while helped by magic was not solely magical which meant, no flying in space.
Adam altered course and began heading toward New Mexico. It was just over 1,400 miles to where his house should be. He increased his speed to Mach 4 and started descending when he saw the outline of Albuquerque. He did see some lights far below as he flew across North America but from their intensity, they were either campfires or lone buildings in cities that someone had lit up with magic or generators that had been shielded against mana. Those lights were few and far between. There was no moon in the sky which allowed Adam to travel with no issues.
As he neared the ridge his house was usually on, he noticed that nothing was there. Adam slowed down and came in for a landing. The ridge was the same, but there was no house, nor had the road been extended up the mountain to this point. Adam started creating nanites and used his mana to replace the chaos he was using. As he curled up and rested a little way from where his house would be. With a range of 50 miles, his nanites should be able to tap into and create a generator utilizing the heat in the mantle as well as have plenty of room for his base. He was also going to recreate his house exactly and create an underground base large enough to house a few thousand people.
He'd have to visit a SYSTEM shop and purchase the area and then get it designated as a Safe Zone to prevent monsters from spawning but that was fine. He could create it and then put monofilament wires throughout so that anything that spawned in would be eviscerated into very tiny pieces. Once it was a safe zone it would only take a few moments to remove the wires and clean up the mess.
That wasn’t the main reason he’d decided to rest on top of the mountain though. Adam began pouring nanites out and put them to work creating the foundation for his base while he reviewed a couple of things from his past.
First, the Adamantium Ring had granted him XP each second because it had stolen that XP from the Labyrinth.
Second, during one of his reconfigurations Chaos had been feeding him Experience. It hadn’t been a lot but over time it had added up significantly
Third, his Mold Chaos Skill seemed to be able to create anything.
If XP could be granted by a SYSTEM and Chaos could be converted into XP didn’t that mean that his Mold Chaos skill should be able to create XP?
So, if all three of those points were true in this real universe under this New SYSTEM, and Adam had no reason to believe they wouldn’t be, the only question he had left was, How much did XP weigh?