[Reputation Threshold Crossed]
For reaching the 25-point threshold, your Ruthlessness now boosts your damage dealt. All damage inflicted gets a 5% bonus, including damage from any afflictions.
[New Personal Achievement—Great Saviour!]
You’ve saved a whole host of your own kind! When push came to shove, you stepped up and rescued those in need.
Reward
* Reputation: +20 Benevolent, +20 Heroic
[Reputation Threshold Crossed]
For reaching the 25-point threshold, your Benevolence now refunds you the Mana cost of one spell every twentieth spell. Refunded Mana is equivalent to the cost of the twentieth spell used in a chain.
For reaching the 25-point threshold, your Heroism now boosts all your stats by +5 when facing opponents who are stronger than you by even one level.
Oh, there were more. Ray had thought that first achievement was all that he would have gained.
But if this was the case, then did that mean a lot of achievements were scalable in that way? Would he gain fifty Heroism and Benevolence Reputation Points if he saved everyone on the Floor somehow?
Ray would need to remind himself what other achievements he had earned.
The bonuses were good. Heroism especially would be super useful. Ray might just have made it even easier for himself to gain a ton of Essence.
If he wanted to go on a Sylvan-killing spree.
His musings on his personal gains were cut short since he had to tend to the others. Farther in front of him, the people who had freed themselves from their captors were now looking somewhere between shocked and exhausted.
Ray could sympathize somewhat. They couldn’t believe the plan had worked. They couldn’t believe they were free.
Speaking of, just to confirm that they indeed were, Ray glanced back. The Duskshell was still fighting against the remaining two Sylvans. It was a good thing Ray had looked back. He was lucky enough to catch the enormous monster priming its scuttling legs like a cat about to pounce before leaping straight into the air.
“It’s gonna blow!” someone screamed.
Several others shouted in alarm. People began hurling themselves farther away, though that wasn’t really a bad thing.
Ah, yes. The delightful panic of the uninformed.
“It’s fine,” Ray yelled over the rising chaotic hubbub. “The impact won’t reach us.”
Presence of the Primordial had said so. Thirty meters. That was the range of the impact from the Duskshell’s leaping skill. Shell Quake. That was what it was called, if he remembered right.
Ray was proven right. When the enormous monster crashed down, there was definitely a powerful shockwave bursting outwards from the point of impact. It ripped up the ground and anything on it. If Ray squinted, he was certain he saw the Sylvans go flying too, which was very satisfying. He idly wondered if he would get Essence if the monster killed the aliens.
No, that was probably wishful thinking. Just because he had caused the fight to happen in the first place didn’t mean he had contributed to it like his companions had done to his first battle against a Sylvan.
“Still,” Maya said, walking through the crowd. “We should get moving.”
Her eyes were on Ray, like she was seeking confirmation. Like she was advising him, and he was the one to make the call. Ray bit down on a curse. Just what he was trying to avoid.
“We should yeah,” he said. “Let’s go.”
“What about the bodies?” someone asked.
Ray glanced at the corpses of the Sylvans. It looked like some of the people nearby wanted to loot the bodies of their foes. Not an unreasonable request, but unfortunately, Ray had already promised them to the Imps. The little feathered gremlins were already gathering around the dead, ready to cart them off to the Marauder’s Caves and do who knew what.
“Sorry, but let we’re leaving them,” he said.
“Just leaving them?” It was the same guy who had asked the question, a tall man in what looked like a heavy gambeson and a spear in his hand. His beard was matted with blood. The expression on his face was so angry, it was as though Ray had suddenly revealed he was a Sylvan too and this was all an elaborate trick. “These bastards just tried to murder us!”
“Yeah, what’s the big idea taking my kill from me?” Now the woman who had brutally murdered the Sylvan joined in. She was still covered in gore.
“They turned us into slaves. You want—”
“Slaves?” Ray scoffed. “No buddy, these Sylvans were taking you to their dogs’ pens, where you’d have been fed to the Brighthorns. Probably while you were still alive.”
The man was shocked enough to not argue, even if he looked even angrier at that revelation. Meanwhile, the woman slowly swivelled her head to the corpses like she wished they were still alive so she could tear them apart again.
Hmm, so the Sylvans hadn’t revealed their ultimate intentions to their captives. Maybe they were scared of causing the exact kind of revolt that had led to their deaths.
Ray could understand their fear. That Sylvan he had killed first had possessed righteous anger, to a certain extent, but it wasn’t the kind of rage that these people were filled with. Theirs wasn’t anger on behalf of anything or anyone else.
Theirs was a burning hatred that came from the core instinct of humankind.
Survival.
“If you’re worried about loot, we know of a couple ways we can get more,” Maya said. “For now, let’s get moving.”
Smart of her to be conciliatory and appeasing, while still having a bark to her voice. Certainly a lot more effective than anything Ray could have summoned up. Despite a few grumbles, and no small a number of scathing looks at the bodies Feathered Imps were starting to carry away, they got moving.
While Ray was allowing the Imps to cart off the dead Sylvans, he wasn’t so foolish as to believe they could just give up everything useful. The effects of the Tower Node were still active. As such Ray impressed another command upon the Imps, though once more, he made them see the reason behind it so that they would comply of their volition.
The Feathered Imps ultimately wanted shinies. There were only so many things they could take off the Sylvans’ bodies that they would value.
As such, Ray asked them to give up anything that was “dull”. He impressed upon them the memory of the Sylvan using a small capsule to free itself from the effects of Insanity. The Imps had no use for such things. Tiny, plain pellets had no place among their wondrous, glimmering hoard.
So, once they completed their looting of the bodies and divided up everything they found, Ray requested that all the things that didn’t attract them should end up with the humans.
Only time would tell if they would comply. There was no resistance from the Imps to his request, unlike the recalcitrance they had displayed when he had asked for their direct help against the Sylvans. It left him hopeful that they would comply in time.
They walked fast, putting some good distance between them and the battlefield behind them. As they moved, Ray took a proper look at his Status after who knew how long.
[Status]
Raymond Dominick
Race: Human
Class: Arcanist [Common] [Tier 2]
Vocation: Tower Conqueror [Epic]
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Path: Lifeblood Chaos [Legendary]
Level: 12 [2,510/6,400]
Mana: 432
Recovery: 362
Perks: Riotous Life
Gear
Raiment: Gold-Chased Shaper Raiment
Footwear: Drakescale Boots
Headwear: Gold Wyvern’s Helm
Handwear: Supple Gloves
Accessory: Mana Infuser Ring
Accessory: Diamond-crusted Ring of Temporal Evasion
Armament: Valorous Back Shield
Armament: Talisman of the Scourge [Tier 3]
Armament: Talisman of Focused Fury [Tier 3]
Stats
Vitality: 26 [+10] [Tier 1]
Resilience: 4 [+30] [Tier 1]
Strength: 4 [Tier 1]
Agility: 8 [Tier 1]
Intellect: 58 [+22] [Tier 2]
Spirit: 40 [+27] [Tier 1]
Reputation
Knowledgeable: 91 [Intellect boost: +15]
Chaotic: 70 [10% Insanity (Tier 2) buildup]
Tenacious: 30 [Vitality boost: +5]
Indomitable: 10
Cunning: 40 [5% critical chance]
Thorough: 30 [Pierce Tier 1 defences]
Benevolent: 35 [Refunds 20th spell Mana cost]
Heroic: 35 [+5 to all stats when foe stronger]
Ruthlessness: 25 [5% bonus damage]
Cooperative: 25 [+5 to all stats in a party]
Spells
Shatterclaw [Offensive] [Tier 2]
Presence of the Primordial [Passive] [Tier 3]
Lifeblood Sense [Utility] [Tier 2]
Chaos Chymify [Offensive] [Utility] [Tier 1]
Lifeblood Crucible [Passive] [Tier 2]
Primal Summons [Summoning] [Tier 2]
Mottling Membrane [Barrier] [Tier 1]
Occultic Apparition [Utility] [Tier 3]
Lifeblood Construct [Summoning] [Tier 1]
Skills
Goliath Eater [Buff] [Tier 2]
Dual Wield [Tier3]
Alright, damn. That was a lot to take in at a glance. His Status had grown.
It was nice to see that his stats had improved, just as it was cool to see how his repertoire of spells had advanced too. Then there were the new skills he had earned, plus all the gear he could now call his own. Ray had come pretty far in just a few days.
Though, it didn’t look like the Status indicated anything about his bag of holding. It also didn’t inform him about stuff like the Mana crystals or the Tower Node in his possession. Curious.
He mentally pushed the Status away. In its place, Ray got his first good look at the members of the group they had rescued.
Ray shouldn’t have been surprised there were kids with them. Two children. A dark-haired boy who looked no more than ten and a blonde girl who might have been seven or so.
Everyone on Earth had been transported into the Towers. That included children, even if they were far less capable of adapting to their new, frightening existence than full-fledged adults or even teenagers.
Ray swallowed, trying not to imagine any child ending up in a Tier 7 dungeon like his.
Neither child appeared to be one of Maya’s kids, or she would have been with them. The way she soldiered on despite that disappointment and the whole host of other emotions she was no doubt dealing with said a lot about her character. Ray hoped, for her sake, that her family was alright.
“They were with us from the beginning.”
He turned his head to see the woman who had killed the Sylvan with a punch was eyeing him with interest.
Had he unknowingly gotten closer to her, or had she lingered a little behind the rest of the group to walk alongside him? The way she was looking at him, it made him think the latter. Or maybe it was the fact that she had recognized Ray before he could figure out where he had seen her.
It was hard not to stare back. That would have been rude. But the woman was definitely striking.
Spiky, jagged hair like she had chopped it short unevenly with a knife. A ragged tunic that also appeared chopped short to reveal her midriff. Even her damn pants looked like they had been artfully torn, sort of resembling ripped jeans. Tattoos decorated her arms and the side of her neck. Were… were those tats of spinal cords?
“I promise I’ll wash off the gore,” she said. “Soon as we find a source of water, that is.”
Ray laughed a little and shook his head. “Sorry, I wasn’t staring at the blood and bits of flesh you didn’t bother wiping off.”
“Oh?” Her dark eyes glimmered. “You were staring at me then?”
“I was just surprised a nineties punk girl time travelled thirty years into the future, only to end up in the apocalypse.”
She stared at him, then laughed. “Oh boy, I knew you’d be good.”
“Sorry?”
Her eyes sobered up, her expression turning fierce. “I want to know how you did it. How you killed one of those horned sons of bitches by yourself. How you did it alone.”
Ah. So that was her angle. He had suspected they would all be curious how any human could measure up against a Sylvan all by himself. Since the moment the journey had begun, Ray had been entertaining surreptitious looks from basically everyone around him, whenever they thought he wasn’t looking.
It seemed only the woman here had been bold enough to come out and ask directly. Although, the way she had done so, with her eyes alight with murderous fire—the same kind of fire she’d had when she had killed the Sylvan—made Ray really wary.
“Why do you want to know?” Ray asked.
“Are you kidding? You literally killed one of those Sylvans all by yourself. That’s huge. A human killing one of these things…” She shook her head, clearly impressed. “I want to know why because I want to kill them too.”
She said it so casually, so normally, Ray almost tripped. Like he had showcased a skilful display of origami and she wanted to know how to make a fucking paper crane too.
I want to kill them too.
“I got lucky.” Ray essentially resorted to the same reasoning he had given his original group. “A powerful Path, a tutorial zone that helped me level up a lot. The important thing was that I took advantage of it. By the sounds of it, not many people got Paths to begin with, and even fewer still lived to make use of them.”
“No, not many did.” She paused to consider, looking away, and Ray was suddenly glad those burning eyes weren’t on him any longer. This woman was scary. “Hm…”
He suddenly got the sense he was being evaluated. And not just in a judgmental sense.
[Warning!]
Presence of the Primordial indicates you are under the effects of an appraisal skill, Blood Tinge [Tier 1]. A section of your status is now available to the skill’s user.
Presence of the Primordial didn’t just tell him that he was under the influence of a certain skill or spell, it also directed him to the person using it. In this case, it was the strange woman walking alongside him. Intriguing that she had the kind of skill no one else but Ray had shown yet.
Interestingly, Presence of Primordial didn’t block it either. Maybe it was because the evaluating ability didn’t have any negative impact on him directly.
Well, since turnabout was fair play, Ray used Presence of the Primordial directly on the woman.
[Presence of the Primordial]
Patricia “Gritty” Colmire [Denizen]
Path: Path of Broken Blood [Epic]
Class: Sadist [Rare] [Tier 3] at Level 9
Perk: Blood Boon
Skills:
First Blood [Tier 2]: Wreathe your weapon with blood and strike out. When used at the beginning of a battle, this skill will always be a critical hit. Inflicts Bleed.
Pain Tolerance [Tier1]: You are now immune to the distracting effect of status conditions, afflictions, and any attacks. Pain is your companion, not your adversary. At Tier 1, this skill only blocks the debilitating effects of Tier 1 status conditions, afflictions, and attacks.
Rending Bond [Tier 3]: Create a bond between any part of your foe torn from the original body and the original body itself. Damage dealt to the torn part will also be inflicted on the main body.
Excruciation [Tier 1]: Pierce through enemy defences and land a devastating blow. If defences are successfully broken through, the strike will always break the foe’s flesh to land the blow upon the innards. At Tier 1, this skill can break through up to Tier 2 defences.
Crimson Song [Tier 1]: The more pain you deal to your opponent, the more pain you can further inflict. At Tier 1, damage dealt increases by 2% for every wound on your foe.
Blood Tinge [Tier 2]: A sadist always recognizes another. When anyone deals any damage to anyone else within the spell’s vicinity, you can now learn their inner workings. At Tier 2, this spell’s range is 10 meters.
“I’m sorry, but Gritty?” Ray said. “The hell kind of name is that?”
Patricia—Trish? Gritty?—didn’t even have the decency to flush. “Don’t judge someone’s name, asshole.”
“Sorry, sorry. Filter broke. Been alone too long.”
Gritty’s face was a deadpan. “We got teleported into this Tower barely a couple of days ago. Not more than three. You’ve been alone for less than a week.”
Ray’s life flashed before his eyes. “Yeah… let’s go with a week.”
They didn’t ask each other about their appraisal abilities. Just as Gritty had seen enough of Ray to know he possessed Presence of the Primordial, he now knew that she had a way of checking out others’ capabilities too.
Though, unlike Presence of the Primordial, it didn’t come with the handy ability of telling her when someone else was using some sort of ability on her too. She just had to infer it as a possibility.
“You said the kids were with you from the start,” Ray said. He recalled how Maya, Dory, and Randall had all been in one tutorial together. The only survivors. “Was that how they captured you guys? By taking the kids first?”
Gritty’s expression turned a little grim. “Their parents are long gone, so our group more or less adopted them. Those bastards were a lot more devious than I thought.”
The bastards in question had to have been the Sylvans. Gritty went on to explain how the humans had killed a few Brighthorns to get to some Mana fruit but had been spotted by some Sylvans while doing so. The Sylvans had then attacked, threatening to execute them for the “crime” of killing the Brighthorns they were only supposed to be capturing.
After a short fight, the Sylvans asked them to surrender. Some agreed, preferring to be punished instead of killed outright. That had led to them all being captured and bound.
They hadn’t been told their punishment would have been being the Brighthorns’ next meal, though.
“And those chains?” Ray asked. “Were they just normal ones, or…?”
“They were Mana-disabling chain. Made for prisoners, or so they said. But I can use blood instead of Mana, so you know, fuck the Sylvans.”
Ah. He wondered if that was what her Perk was. “Pretty cool you freed yourself and everybody else too.”
Gritty looked a little smug. “I just told them I was freeing myself, damn the consequences, and the rest scrambled to make sure they could all protect themselves.”
Ray blinked. Well, that was one way of advertising that she probably had a lot of Ruthless Reputation Points.
“Was everyone in your group inside your tutorial zone?” Ray asked.
“Not everyone, but most of us,” Gritty said. “A handful of them are people we met outside the tutorial zones, like we met your little group.”
That made sense. There had to be people all over the entire First Floor. How many of them had banded together into groups just like Ray’s?
And how many had ended up dead?
“How far away is your tutorial zone?” Gritty asked with a little gleam in her eyes. “Are we heading in its direction?”
Ray tried his best not to look at her weird. “I’m not telling you where my tutorial zone is just so you can go murder all the Imps who just helped us.”
She tutted in dissatisfaction. “I’ll be careful, promise. It’s like, unchecked growth, you know? Like that thing of removing all the foxes, so the bunny population just grows and grows until the entire ecosystem collapses cause too many fucking bunnies.” She grinned. “Literally.”
“What?”
“Just think of it as me trimming the Imp population so they don’t—”
“Ray.” Maya was pulling herself to the rear of the group. Gritty clearly looked like she wanted to ask more, but the appearance of the other woman made her go quiet. “Did you get the notification?”
“Notification?”
It arrived an instant later.
[Base Node]
You can now be a member of a Faction.
The Party has grown! Now that the 10-people threshold has been crossed, the Party can be upgraded to a Faction. A Faction enjoys greater communal benefits compared to a Party, such as creating Bases and assigning Communal Roles that.
To upgrade the Party to a Faction, a Base must be established using a Base Node. Use 1,500 Mana from the communal pool to create a Base Node?
[Yes]/[No]