The snow-white altar was located in the middle of an empty area that was cleared of any traces of demonic haze. Surrounded by eleven pillars from all sides to make a perfect circle, it looked like a huge rock with bluish veins that decorated its surface. The same light was emanating from the floating ball of energy above the altar, which caught Rob’s eyes previously. Flickering from time to time, the odd sphere was periodically changing its form into star-like only to return back a moment later.
Apart from that, the altar couldn’t boast with anything else. However, the same could be said about the whole place. There was no floor, just a familiar stoney ground with a thin layer of sand. The pillars had no decorations or complex images of grandeur events from the past. No engraving of demonic symbols, hellish runic circles, or other similar stuff. No powerful guardians, waiting to meet the challengers with a test of prowess. Robert couldn’t even notice any ruins around, signaling that this was the cathedral or the place of power earlier. No, just a piece of rock with a hologram above and pillars around it.
At least that was what he saw from the distance as an invisible shield had protected the area from his detailed inspection. Like always, the System forbid him to enter the place meant for the players. Rob still made a full circle around the altar, trying to find anything useful. Not expecting a success, he wasn’t disappointed when he found nothing new. The protective layer didn’t show any reaction to his “Energy Blast”, so Robert had to acknowledge the fact that there was no way for him to enter the place. On the other hand, it created an odd idea of a potential experiment.
Checking the EP timer, Rob simply sat down and leaned onto the protective shield, while patiently waiting. Despite the visible motionless, his mind was in full swing, working on the creation of tiny energy attacks right on his fingertips. The process of manual activation without shouting the command at this point wasn’t hard, so Robert tried to make it even more effortless. Conjuring the small steel constructs, he used his willpower to turn them into grains of devastating white mana before sending them into the air. A second later another tiny ball was created, just from the neighboring finger. Sparkling with imbued energy, it flew through the air like a piece of ember before disappearing in the same manner, being absorbed by a dark surrounding world. However, its death brought a life to its next brother.
Continuing this cycle, Robert tried to engrave the feeling into his mind to turn it into a reflex. With the increase in Intelligence stat, the process of recreating the skill became much easier, but it was still far from being on the same level as conjuring the steel. But the progress was there – literally on the tips of his fingers. Despite the rise in numbers in his Status screen, Robert failed to see the difference at once. For the trained athlete, an increase in bench press of 20 kg (45 pounds) might be huge, but it was simply impossible to feel it without actually doing the exercise with proper measures. He needed something to compare, a basic line to check the improvement.
Using “Energy Blast” was completely different because it was a separate absolutely new and complex skill. At first, Rob couldn’t even activate it properly. Now, after achieving this milestone, he still could see the progress in control. Robert was doing it faster, with more precision, with more ability to twist things at will. The latter was filled with possibilities that would have a tremendous effect on his real battle power.
I can turn the ball into a thin membrane, creating something akin destructive layer on top of my weapons… or even armor. Or, on the contrary, I can focus it even more to increase the penetrative force. Yep, it might be easier, but for now, everything is out of my reach. Only for now.
The loud growls signaled the end of his rest, making Robert turn his attention from wet dreams to a cruel reality with six demons that were aiming to tear him apart. However, just a moment later he barely managed to hold his laugh when he found the location of those demons. Half of them were right beyond the invisible shield. The demonic ostrich even tried to jump onto Robert only to meet the protective layer in mid-air. The sudden crash turned the impact into skill execution, leading to an explosion, which sent the hellish creature back. Rob had no time to see the landing, but according to the sound, it was rather painful.
Jumping on his feet, Robert turned his attention to the three enemies in front of him. The trio consisted of different types as if trying to showcase the possible variety. Ostrich, mosquito, and lion. The latter had only remote similarities to the corresponding animal, being named like that by Rob only because of the huge mane around its head. In fact, it wasn’t the mane but a part of the toothy maw, which seemed to be wide open all the time. Taking into account the hole in the center, the thing looked like something entirely different, bringing the word “asshole” to a whole new meaning.
Obviously, the System gave the creature the name, but Robert long ago stopped bothering with checking the targets as they were all the same. The lion had a cat-like torso and paws, no tail, and several long spines all across its body, making it like a hybrid with a hedgehog. The demon was well-balanced in comparison to other creatures, making it a real “thorn” in the ass to kill it fast. At least until Robert raised his own skill to strike with energy attacks from the distance. Even now he started with the same thing, raising a conjured gun that was grotesquely big and had only a remote resemblance to the real one, looking directly from the cartoons.
The following shot disintegrated the weapon, turning it into a ball of energy. Bigger and slower than a bullet that made its flight visible for Rob’s raised perception, it was still too fast to avoid the demons. The projectile pierced the central point of the enemy, going through the opened hole of an ass-like maw as if it were a marked target. The energy charge was enough to burn flesh in one go, penetrating half of the torso.
Bullseye!
Watching how the head of the demon limply fell to the side, hanging solely on the skin, Rob absentmindedly noted that the neck of the creature was almost disintegrated by his shot. Despite the power of the latter, Robert managed to withstand the aftermath of using it. The shock to his body was still noticeable, making it hard to repeat the same attack one after another. Moreover, the demons were not going to give him a break.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The mosquito was already diving down from above, pointing the sharp lance at Robert. Pressing insect wings to its ugly body, the hellish creature turned into a real racing bolide, accelerating to an insane speed in a fraction of a second. Still, Rob was faster, acting even before the enemy started its attack. The System-made demons were like a carbon copy of each other, using the same tactics in the same situations. Therefore, after just several fights it wasn’t hard to predict what they were going to do.
The thick huge shield appeared right in front of Robert, while he stepped to the side. A moment later the lance pierced the steel, going deep through the protective wall in mere centimeters from his face. He didn’t even blink, commanding his construct to hug the mosquito, trapping it into a self-made cage. Gripping the sharp proboscis with his hand, Rob raised the creature upwards, simultaneously moving the steel – everything to expose the weak spot underneath the demon. The conjured blade finished it in one thrust, breaking between bony plates that served as armor for the enemy.
Two are done, one to go…
Throwing the corpse right onto the ostrich, Rob caused an explosion of the dead body from the lighting-fast peck of the bird-like demon. The abrupt interruption of the skill led to a short delay in the creature’s actions, giving Robert a short window of opportunity. Lunging forward, he immediately dived under the huge figure, sliding on the conjured plates over the sand. Stretching his arms to both sides, he gripped the reversed knees of the demon and paused. In the next moment, when the ostrich tried to activate its jump two balls of destructive energy tore both limbs, dropping right on the Robert. The shield above covered him from the impact, pushing the heavy body of the hellish animal to the side.
Pushing him into a roll, Rob distanced himself from the disabled ostrich. Standing up and observing how the creature tried to crawl to him using its huge wings and a long tail with a scythe on the end, he smiled before charging. Blocking a swing with a shield, he kicked the demon into the head, breaking a few curvy teeth. Deflecting another badly aimed hit, Rob conjured an axe before striking it with all available strength. The blade penetrated the skull, alas barely. Still, the hit was powerful enough to drop the demon back to the ground. In the next moment, the steel disappeared with a white flash, destroying part of the enemy’s head.
Stepping back, Robert looked around before turning his attention to the raging demons inside the barrier. Despite all the constant attempts to break through the invisible shield, they failed miserably. Still, the mindless creations of the System had no limits of patience, attacking again and again, no matter the result. It looked like whole their word was narrowed to the hated figure of Rob, not noticing anything else.
Yep, that went much easier than before. Interesting, how long I can exploit it?
It appeared that for long. Like really, really long. Even when Robert had to meet ten demons at once, part of the still was summoned on the other side of the barrier. It seemed the System had put the spawning point around him at some distance, but on a random spot, making such a situation possible. And because of the absence of any specific location, Rob periodically had to meet with a full pack of enemies, while the next cycle could easily have only a third part. It was a complete lottery. However, Robert didn’t have any thoughts of changing it as a chance to decrease a threat was much better than no chance at all.
The steady growth inside this endless cycle of violence against artificial demons gave him enough time not only to train “Energy Blast” to the point, where he could describe it as usable. It wasn’t complete mastery, but he started to feel the boundaries of backlash and where was the point of ignoring it. Rob made a first step towards manipulating or forming energy outbursts, getting a vague sensation of how to proceed further. And of course, he upgraded his stats by a lot.
Robert Flop (Mysterious Uprising Demon)
Combat Power: 155
Experience: 312
Mana: -/- [+5 mana per second]
Title: The Transcendent Tower’s Guardian
Class: Transcendent
Might - 39 [STR 60, SPD 57, END -]
Agility - 27 [CRD 25, FLXB 6, RCT 50]
Body – 30 [VIT -, TOU 60]
Mind - 31 [PRC 30, INT 50, WIS 13]
Magic - 0 [PWR -, SPRT -]
Personality - 8 [CHA 7, CUNN 9]
Skills (2/2):
1. Master of Steel [Rank 1 MAX]
2. Energy Burst [Rank 1 MAX]
The problem was with the speed of improvement. Even if he spent everything on a single stat like Toughness, it would need around eight hundred demons to support the needed number of experience points to reach 250 CP. Any spreading into a category with triple stats would increase that value by half. Plus there was a constant drain from the environment’s conditions. However, the biggest obstacle would be the ever-growing waves. He already had to meet with ten demons at once and only using the barrier Robert managed to cheat the System, but it wasn’t a guaranteed scheme. There was a chance that all the demons might appear in front of him. And if there were not ten, but twenty of them, Rob really doubted he could survive that.
Still, it is my best bet to do it easier and earlier. And I guess with the System balancing, I would have only a single “shot”. Or not, as I will definitely need much more than one shot, heh.
Glancing through the invisible shield where at least a hundred demons were gathered, slowly overcrowding the place with their ugly bodies, Robert conjured a tiny steel piece before turning it into a ball of white energy. The projectile quickly reached the barrier and simply bounced back, not able to penetrate the force layer. There was no energy loss from his observation as if his energy attack simply changed its location, not meeting any obstacles.
Touching it with his hand, Rob once again felt how the air itself became so tough, almost forming an ethereal surface. The previous comparison with a magnate once again emerged from his memory, despite it being from the paladin’s shield – so close was a resemblance. Raising his head upwards, he smiled. A few seconds later he was already climbing on a created ladder. Squeezing all his available mana, he made the construct as thin as possible, just to hold his weight. The steps were also disappearing constantly, staying only to keep the thing together. Soon, he had to change the ladder into a singular long rod and protruding short platforms that were coming to the side to be used as a step. Balancing at a twenty-meter height (66 feet) appeared to be a challenging task that almost led to a fall, but luckily Rob finally reached the end.
Yep, around twenty-five meters. The System was lazy enough not to create a spherical dome around the altar… and idiotic enough to limit a mosquito’s flight beyond this point, so they can’t get out. Okay, then it might be doable. I will just need a lot of Toughness to survive the backlash. Or more likely – multiple of them.