Chapter 33: Impatience Multiplier
The following two months were filled with Spiritual and physical training. Trint progressed under the instruction of Jung, and Iliana spent most days working in the shop. It turned out she could use her subsystem experience as a blacksmith to rapidly advance the blacksmith class here. She had started from the bottom, and now she could attain levels by proving to the system that she knew what she was doing. It was much more fun to create and craft weapons than doing basic tasks like hammering on nails or something to get a level or two. The difference between profession and killing monsters for Exp was that the Exp didn’t pass to Trint when Iliana was crafting. They were considered a fighting party if Trint did not unsummon her. But for professions, the labor and the fruits of it were all given to the blacksmith.
Their evenings were spent sharing meals and stories, and they all became like family. Iliana connected well with Jung and Befiny. They were all used to living for thousands of years. Iliana had confessed to struggling in her new human form but was adapting well.
Although their days were tiring and full, Trint eventually convinced everyone to let him run local instances to gain Exp and gain levels. At first, Jung and a guard would wait outside the iteration. Jung had not seen Trint fight while in an instance and was thoroughly surprised at the speed of his instance completions. To repeatedly clear the under-level instances above Trint’s recommended level was a shock to Jung.
Eventually, Jung chose to act as a guide to locate good instances and stopped worrying so much. They agreed to allow Trint to keep whatever secret allowed him to complete instance after instance each night and get thrown around like he couldn’t defend himself during their training.
Trint’s level upon arriving in i7 was 32. Instances in i7 started at level 101 and went up to 201, but he completed under-leveled instances that scaled to those born in the iteration. Trint was itching to try an i7 level instance. Although about 70 levels higher than his level at arrival, he was optimistic he could complete one or be able to use an escape token if he couldn’t get through. He wanted to see his family more and more yet understood this was not a short journey. He had come to grips with the understanding he would be at this for a long time. Probably much longer than he was imagining.
After a month of under-level instances appropriate for Trint’s level, he had proven to Jung that he could handle himself well enough that he didn’t need an escort. Trint immediately took the opportunity to explore an i7 level 101 instance. He had made it to level 43, completing instances slightly above his level. They were not difficult for him, but he had to be somewhat convincing to Jung. If he leveled too quickly, he might have a babysitter forever.
‘Pneuma, I know Jung is going to notice when I start jumping dozens of levels but right now, I want the challenge, and I need those sweet, sweet levels,’ Trint wasn’t sure Pneuma would be up for a level 101 or higher instance.
‘You still have several exit tokens from Jung,” Pneuma stated. ‘They will work in any instance on this iteration. I think you have a good chance of completing an instance, but I’m more confident you can activate the token and escape if you need to.’
‘Alright, let’s go for it,’ Trint felt a rush of excitement. Adrenaline somehow now interacted with his whole system, and he would get energy spikes in his Body, Mind, and Spirit. Like his entire system wanted to respond to his adrenaline rush. The same happened with anxiety and approaching this level of danger for the first time.’
They had seen many instances around level 100 since arriving. One happened to be just an hour’s run from Jung’s compound. Trint arrived in the afternoon. He had completed his meditation in the morning and trained with Jung in hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting. Trint was surprised at how fast he picked up the art of fighting. He still knew his best chances were to use his Spirit forms and powers. Nothing else compared to the destruction and strength he could exert.
The skills Pneuma had initially gotten him were used in separate training with Jung, but they too were not helpful when entering his Spirit form. Maybe he could figure out how to utilize Spirit and skills sometime in the future. Jung said that he should wait. But Trint was not one to listen to advice to slow down. He would see his family and wouldn’t waste time if he could help it.
With impatience and his lonely heart as motivators, Trint stepped into the level 102 instance. A familiar sight greeted him.
System Message: Sovereign Status Confirmed
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i7 Iteration Level 102: Privileges Available
You may choose from the following:
Each modifier increases rewards, and Exp gains
1: Increase the level of enemies by five levels
2: Increase the number of enemies by a multiple of 3 and double the number or difficulty of the Boss
3: Lock out the use of skills
Bypass Options:
1: You may bypass the challenges and gain half the Exp of an average completion but lose future access to this instance.
’Trint, I think you should consider option three and lock out the skill use,’ Pneuma suggested to Trint. ‘You don’t use them in our Spirit form, and it will increase the already insane amount of Exp you will be getting. I don’t think it will increase the challenge for you. Don’t even think about the bypass option. It is tempting, but we are here to test our ability to fight at i7 levels, not take free Exp. That will always be tempting, but you will only end up a high leveled incompetent fighter.’
Trint had no arguments with that logic and mentally selected the third option and locked out any skill use. His insane impatience was a multiplier of the difficulty and danger. But the Exp he could earn was worth the risk.
Besides the system message for his Sovereign privilege options, the first thing Trint noticed was the smell of moss and stone when entering the instance. He wasn’t in another cave. He was surrounded by rubble and ruin from crumbling and collapsed stone buildings. The remains of a large city spread out before him. With his Spirit perception, he could sense over a dozen humanoid creatures scattered around various fires. Some were cooking, some sleeping, others playing some game he didn’t recognize. But from his initial inspection, he could tell they were sentient beings.
‘Pneuma, do you think they know my Sovereign status?’ Trint asked. ‘Should I try to talk to them before I attack?’
‘That is risky,’ Pneuma cautioned. ‘From our talks with Iliana, not all the subsystem creatures are followers of the Sovereign sect. We haven’t worked on our stealth or subtlety yet. Why don’t you use your Spirit to shroud you in a mist and billow it out ahead of us for cover? Try to capture one of the creatures and question it. But be ready to fight and go in already transformed for a fight.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ Trint agreed and changed into the Alpha form, then transitioned quickly from that form to the nine-limbed variation. Since coming to i7, Trint had been adapting and growing more creative in the forms he fought in. This one was his favorite, but he had begun making it larger. He hadn’t hit an upper limit for using the Spirit form. He never found himself drained, and he continued to feel he could press farther and faster since being a Sovereign. Now that he had been named and absorbed the lineage blood, he noticed other changes.
The book he returned with had been a mystery he didn’t initially make time for with all the training and meditation. But his curiosity led him to study it a bit every day. Unlike the other books he’d seen in the system, this one was difficult to read. His familiarity with ciphers and love for puzzles made him wonder if the book’s text was not the actual message the author wanted him to find.
The sheet of blank indestructible paper continued to remain as he received it. He couldn’t help but think it was connected to the book and might have something to do with unlocking the truth about it.
Trint increased his bodily form to about ten feet tall, making the additional appendages a little longer. He didn’t thicken them but concentrated on making them much more dense and sharp. Since stealth was the initial goal, he made the ends of the vipers, and the crushers padded to absorb and soften each step. Rather than walk on the crushers and appear over fifteen feet tall, he allowed his body to lay forwards like he was lying face down on the ground but splitting his vipers and crushers into additional pairs of legs to move him forward. Now with eight long limbs, he looked a lot like a crazy giant spider with eight long limbs and another four short ones. His tail was low but resting above his head, ready to snap and grab his first victim for interrogation. His eyes could only see the ground, so he used his Spirit sense to navigate. He was able to augment and segment the new legs to keep him about four feet off the ground.
While transitioning his form, Trint also allowed a large portion of the liquid spirit to billow off him and form fog. He could control it and pushed it towards the closest group of enemies. As it slowly surrounded them, obscuring their view to about 10 feet away from their fire, one of them because alert and began scanning the fog, looking for signs of movement. Trint was pretty sure from its lack of focus on his position that it couldn’t pinpoint the source of the mist. Before any more became alert to his plans or be alerted by this single lookout, Trint moved in.
With rapid but silent movement, trint covered the remaining distance. Before any creatures noticed, Trint used his slightly modified Tail to reach over a wall and grab the lookout. None of the others saw as their comrade was silently extricated from their midst.
Trint retreated a hundred yards from the campfire towards his starting location. Now that he was far enough away, he allowed his limbs to lift his body upright and had his tail bring the creature around front to see what he was dealing with. The creature’s face was covered, but Trint had been able to allow it to breathe, only covering its eyes and mouth. It had a nose, but with the tail wrapped around its throat and limbs, it stopped squirming and just remained tense, heart pounding—all signs of intelligence. Trint was hopeful he could get another bond from whatever this creature’s boss was. He didn’t want the regular troops.
‘Am I getting a bit greedy now?’ Trint wondered.
‘Yes, you are, but your logic is sound,’ Pneuma commented.
“What are you?” Trint softly growled to the bound creature. His tail loosened slightly to allow it to speak.
“I am a clax. We are a tribe of scouts and warriors.” The creature spoke. “How do you speak our language? Are you not from the system? Were you pulled here with us? Let me go. I won’t alert the others,” the clax rapidly spit out to Trint.
Trint wasn’t ready to trust them just yet. So he covered its mouth and uncovered its eyes. The muffled scream was quickly cut off as Trint’s tail began to crush the wind from its lungs. It was shocked but was aware enough to not want to die.
“I am not part of your subsystem.” As you can now see, I am a Sovereign. The creature began to make muffled noises. Unable to talk, it squirmed against his hold. Trint decided to let it speak.