---Richard--
Richard’s defense was so tight he actually blocked his reward from appearing right away.
It was only when he ‘relaxed’ slightly and began allocating thermal defense to void defense for its regeneration that his achievement ‘arrived’. That took a while – his spare AI was nearly completely fried and his stat shifting heavily took advantage of his AI to actually work. Sure a good portion of his ability was due to the ethereal arms and budding esper abilities…but usually his AI was in control.
It was like using a power drill – typically he directed it towards the wall with his hands, but the drill usually did all the work. Trying to drill a hole with your fingers…well using the same metaphor it was like poking holes in the dry wall with his thumb. Difficult. Damaging to the surroundings and imprecise.
🛡️ Achievement get: Weathered a storm to end all storms.
Description: Theres a common sense reason you’re told not to stand outside in storms – this storm counts as a calamity so that’s a second reason. Did you need a third?
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Stat: +27 Thermal defense.
Stat: +27 Bludgeoning defense.
Stat: +27 Radiation defense.
Passive skill: Stabilizing presence. Apply Soul defense x (Physical Defense/27) to physical surroundings over an area of soul power * cubic meters/9.
🛡️ Achievement get: Blocked an achievement from arriving.
Description: You know achievements are beneficial don’t you?
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Stat: +3 soul defence
Richards eyes slowly began showing him the blackened surroundings. He felt stiff – and even as his insane kinetic defense dropped slowly but surely his body remained restricted feeling. The ground – he was embedded slightly in the ground.
Slowly Richard extracted himself and crawled out of the crater he was laying in. Point blank – he had actually survived one of the blasts point blank. Fuck he was invincible wasn’t he? Better lock that away before it gave him a big head. He should seal it in his right eye and start wearing a bandage…or maybe a eye patch? Richard could cosplay a pirate for a while. How long till people got bored of his arr’s?
Turning Richard scanned the horizon trying to figure out what direction he needed to go. All around him craters lay – the grass had been seared and ripped off the ground in every direction and giant craters dug down to bedrock where every bomb had detonated.
“Fuck I miss my AI, where’s my location services. What way’s even north?” Richard spun eyeing the remnants of the storm on the horizon. Assuming it was mostly linear past this spot…his things should be that way? Was it worth trying to make himself a compass out of the stone around him? No, making an accurate one would take more time than he was willing to use. His memory wasn’t even good enough to remember what direction the sun was in before.
Richard began to walk, pealing off bits of crud that had coated his entire body as stone clothing and whatever surface flesh he had had fused together.
Fresh skin revealed he was mostly naked, so other than cleaning off his arms, face and feet, Richard left most of the crud alone for now. What happened to James? Was he good?
Richard paused. Was James…good? Richard had been pretty certain of his own survival – at least 95% if not more…but what about James? James didn’t have his defense…had he survived? Had Richard even considered his friend might not be able to deal with it?
He felt strange at the thought.
Richard’s brain didn’t really understand the concept of death. It never fully had. Obviously he knew what death was in a general sense – death was like deleting someone from existence…and he understood the concept of loss as not being able to interact with someone again well enough. But besides death being a permanent loss – one a bit stronger than someone just moving away…well he had never really understood the emotions behind it. What was the difference between someone moving countries and someone getting hit by a truck? Assume you can’t keep in touch with the moved person either way.
It just didn’t feel like it had as much weight as people liked to explain it did.
Even now he just felt…strange and empty? He felt empty wondering if his friend had been deleted. A bit tired if he was being fully honest.
…And a bit lost. Where the fuck was he anyways? It felt like he had been walking for hours…where was his built in clock? “Fuck I miss my AI.” Richard sighed for the second time. The loss of James. The loss of his AI. Too very sad losses. AI was not nearly as bad – he could get a new one much easier than he could find a new best friend but – what was that?
Anywhere from a few minutes to an hour after he began walking, Richard noticed something in the sky – how could you even tell how long it had been without a nanosecond precise clock available at a moment’s thought? How did any human survive without an AI? I mean sure they used to have phones but AI’s were just so much better in every way.
The empty feeling began to fade as Richard recognized the figure. “Jamessssss” He called breaking into a jog and waving his hands wildly.
“James you glorious bastard am I ever glad to see you. Let’s get our stuff and set up camp before it gets dark. I need a change of clothes.”
…
Richard felt a wash of relief as his internal slot reconnected with his AI. It felt agonizing waiting the three seconds for it to boot – and then the three minutes for it to fully integrate once again.
The first thing he did as soon as tendrils reconnected to his brainstem and began sending information into the black box that was his brain was query it for his status.
It took a while to load and Richard needed to wait for a seemingly endless number of diagnostic messages to flick past before he got what he was looking for.
Richard's status dump
Rank 3++?*
Total applied stats: 1129*
*=Significant error present. Expand for breakdown?
- Stat total contains unverified values.
- Stat total contains refined elements.
- Rank 3 = 729 total stats.
- Rank 3+ = 1051 total stats.
- Rank 3++ = 1516 total stats.
- Rank 4 = 2187 total stats.
- Status calculated as rank 3+.
- Generalized measurement returning tier weight returns 3++ with high degree of certainty.
Combined body defense: ~866.
Inaccessible stats. 18.
Refined stats: ~589.
Estimated effective stat level. 1750±86
Refined flesh with 0 stats. 100%.
Efficiency boost due to refinement. +50%. Measured load on effective stat level. Unknown.
Replace current stat total with estimated effective level?
Expand to see current defense splits?
Body power: 0
Hide empty stat section?
Body speed: 0
Hide empty stat section?
Mental power: 148
Highest leaning: AI processing power.
Separate out AI specialized stats?
Expand to see current estimated effects?
Mental speed: 37
Highest leaning: AI processing speed.
Separate out AI specialized stats?
Expand to see current estimated effects?
Mental defense: 58
Highest leaning: Mental resistance (clarity).
Separate out AI specialized stats?
Expand to see current estimated effects?
Soul power: 14
Unverified: Record kept from memory.
Soul speed: 0
Unverified: Record kept from memory.
Hide empty stat section?
Soul Defense: 6
Unverified: Record kept from memory.
Richard opened a few breakdowns and read what his AI had to say. 18 inaccessible stats? Last he had checked there was only the one – codename fat stat – refined past his point of switching it. What had happened to the others? And really…was he already in the second tier? Was his aetheric weight already reaching that point? And how effective was ‘weight’ as a measurement considering his refined flesh barely added tier weight to him and yet supposedly boosted his stats by a whole 50%.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Was his effective rank actually 4 after all? …considering the defensive calamity was rank 4 and survived a nuke and he just managed the same thing…maybe? His skill was doing some heavy lifting.
“Check out my gains” Richard laughed forwarding a summary of his results to his best friend. “Totals are bugged out after refinement but I’m doing reasonably well.”
“One sec, let me check mine and I’ll send you an update” James muttered his eyes beginning to flick around as he navigated mental windows like an old man. Richard recorded the clumsy AI navigation and sent it over with an old filter and some funny captions.
That’s what friends were for.
“Come on, I know I remember Running stats being separate from leg muscle speed and channel-nerve transfer rate. Stupid AI can’t even name half the monster stats consistently.” James shook his hand vaguly at a point in the air before sinking deeper.
“This might take a bit”.
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---James---
James felt awful. There was a lingering nauseous feeling wafting back and forth across his body he was relatively confident could be called “radiation poisoning”.
All semblance of his body having blood was gone – whatever the liquid that now filled his channels was, it was heavy and black like tar. James had to actively focus to rotate mana through his body and keep moving normally.
What would happen if he blacked out? Would his body keep working?
It was a terrifying thought.
And yet…he had to admit the gains were pretty good.
From the system.
🛡️ Achievement get: Parry this!
Description: That shouldn’t have worked.
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Stat: +27 Channel Power.
Stat: +27 Channel Speed.
Stat: +9 Radiation defense channel carrier (Mutated white blood cells).
Stat: 9 Bludgeoning defense channel walls (Mutated blood veins).
Stat: +9 Thermal defense (Fascia specific heat conductivity and resilience).
Active skill: Explosive burst. Force an explosive amount of power into an omnidirectional burst of kinetic energy. Cooldown 91 days.
From his foundational mutation. Black blood, trouble cycling and what felt like an absolutely immense amount of storage. Monster Kiln of Combat Eater. The mess of a name that arrived after joining two vastly different powers into one.
His foundation had two purposes. One was in gaining stats from monsters stronger than him – a way of increasing his strength “without the system”. Most monsters had at least one thing they were ‘better’ at then him, so most monsters had a chance of giving him something…but in practice he only really got stats from the strongest of monsters. It was a constant reliable source of strength but it often felt small when compared to large achievements with their instant boosts.
The second half was in gaining both short and long term benefits from any attack that hit him. Theoretically that benefit was meant for absorbing mana not raw force…and yet the quality of the attacks that hit him blended that together.
It was like James had been a raw chunk of metal on a blacksmiths forge – the explosions, a hammer pounding external strength into his body. Blasting weakness out and strength in with each pound. How many times had he been tossed back and forth? At least three. James had fallen into survival mode his body flying about almost on autopilot near the end there.
Now he just had to hope there were no long term consequences from the radiation – there couldn’t be right? The whole point of the system was to remove long term consequences? Radiation defense…that should help right? 9 was pretty small comparatively but…well it should help.
James finished poking and prodding his AI happy enough with the new readout. He collapsed most of the granular system stats into brackets – it felt like he could feel the result way better than his AI – and expanded out his monster stats because most of them felt off enough he couldn’t understand what they did.
Status readout
Rank: 3++
Total measured stats: 1175
Unmeasurable weight due to refinement, mantle, permenant domain’s physical state etc: 500
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Defense section: Total 266
Simple Body Stats:
Skin: 24 General + 9 bludgeoning +19 Piercing
Digestion: 23 General (chemical leaning).
Bone defense: 23
Connective tissue thermal: 9.
Latic acid defense: 5
Lung defense: 4
Channel defense:
+59 Blood defense (mutated)
+33 channel wall defense
+9 Radiation defense channel carrier (Mutated white blood cells).
+9 Bludgeoning defense channel walls (Mutated blood veins).
Monster stats:
Toadskin (skin poison defense?): 1
Omnivores Appetite (stomach defense?): 2
Spring tensile strength (tendon defense?): 1
Mental defense: 26
Soul defense: 10
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Power section: total: 462
Simple Body Stats:
Hand/Arm/Chest: 131 general muscle +20 Grip strength
Leg/Feet/core balance (not muscles): 110
Feet touch: 27
Farsight: 18
Taste: 18
Hearing: 15
Smell: 3
Channel power: 48
Mental power: 28
Soul power: 1
Monster stats:
Nerve Decisions (nervous system mental power, subconscious brain spread through whole body) 3 +15 mutated mental power.
Force affinity muscle integration: 7
Adrenalin production propagation effect due to danger and damage: 7
Neck Muscle Might: 4
Tricep Might: 3
Foresight: 3
Throat Brawn: 2
Grit: 1
Appetite: 1
Pith fiber: 1
Appendage moxie: 1
Supremacy: 1
Endowment: 1
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Speed section: Total: 450
Simple Body Stats:
Running speed (leg muscle): 310
Nervous system (reaction speed): 89
Channel speed: 36
Mental speed: 10
Monster stats:
Feather-air resistance (Applied to hair): 4
Gait: 1
James stared at the results. He had a relatively similar total to Richard and his “random other factors” pushed him to the same tier as his friend…at least after some effort.
It was nice to know he was keeping up. James really wished he could querry the average level of the planet – he really just wanted to know how he stacked up. They should have a leaderboard. A friendly competition.
Sending his spread off to Richard, James began making dinner as darkness fell and the monsters began appearing.
A leaderboard…James liked that idea.
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---Maddy---
Maddy was…not sure how to check her status if she were being honest. Her old spell had long since begun feeling lacking. She could bring it up with a push of mana...but she had to focus to see proper totals and even those felt slightly smaller than then should.
Name Maddison Graves. Affinities Life&Death | Light&Dark | Creation&Destruction Mind Wisdom Intelegence Clarity 378 189 135 Body Strength Agility Endurence 13 7 5 Soul Spirit whisper Stability 17.5 13 232 Species sine-faeculentus (Unrecorded Variant) Measure Of Self Collection 98% Stat Total 1045 Major Realm (Rank) 3 Minor Realm (Tier) 0 Outlier notes: High quantity of Eye of M defense. Mental power specialized in visualization. Inate ability increasing effectiveness of mental speed and decreasing mental power.
Rank 3...still. Just barely on the cusp of the first tier at 151. Both Troy and Jess were near the upper end of the first tier – nearly an entire tier higher than her total.
And yet again…it felt wrong? It felt weird. It was ‘her’ and yet not measuring ‘her’ the way she felt she could be measured.
It was with those conflicting feelings that Maddy went on her hunt – ripping through the air in search of a monster with a system core strong enough to fuel her status ritual.
She needed to know.
Hours later Maddy finally killed something with the required spell component and set up shop in a burrow deep within the earth. Chiseling words into the stone she surrounded herself in intent and then with a flex and push of her entire destructive life pool, Maddy peered into the information relevant to her.
Name: Maddy.
Species: sine-faeculentus (Eye of M)
Affinity: Living-void.
Major-Domain: Seeing is power
Minor-Domain: Destruction grows while void reveals truth.
Rank: 4↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓ (collective distribution weight resonance x3, collective independence / 27)
Total stats: 39
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Locked physical/soul body weight: 3(max stability)
↑Mind Power: 14(x4)↑
Mind Speed: 7(x4) Mind Defense: 5(x4) Soul defense: 9(x4)
This was…better and yet strange. It was a step in the right direction and yet…so much of it still felt ‘off’. Like someone was staring at her through warped glass – was measuring a reflection of her and not the real her.
Why was she…rank 4? Rank 4 weakened all the way to rank 1? She was effectively a step into rank 1 using that measurement. Just starting out on her journey as false as that felt. Her total was multiplied by 3…because of her soul being spread across the entire planet and thus increasing its ‘weight’…and then divided by 27 to account for her eye being split off and independent enough to function by herself?
Was this the weird feeling that Maddy had been searching for an answer to? This backwards status?
…yes. Maddy nodded slightly. She supposed it was. Very roughly her stat totals were her previous overall totals divided by 27. Except her locked body and soul stats. Those were combined and higher than they should be? 50% higher?
And then all her stats were effectively 4x as strong due to some synergy bleeding back from her other selves.
The rest of her stats were still held by the collective…shared between them and hosted on the web of connections between each eye – not the eye itself.
Maddy nodded to herself some more, bobbing in her position on the stone wall as she settled into this understanding. Her current self – the mind and personality in her current body was happy enough with this knowledge.
The spell was spent – conceptually used and yet for the current her that felt like a waste. Slowly Maddy built her pool back up and then scoured the surroundings in void teasing out the concepts from the ashes. Turning to her collective Maddy fed the ash of her spell into her old status spell as fertilizer.
Soon her sisters could check their own values whenever they wanted!