Benjamin - Delta Zone #2 Level 80 – 99
You have entered Delta Zone#2 Level 80 - 99
The world reasserts itself into the familiar volcanic and ominous surrounds of Delta Zone #2. Despite having just cleansed another Dimensional siphon my multiplicative mood is dour due to the thoughts on one of my minds, while the others irascibly scan for threats.
The situation is looking pretty dire right now.
At first I thought it was just from lack of fiber and fluids.
Something an inordinate amount of buckwheat smoothies and ancient whole grains coated in chia paste might fix.
Alas it was not to be friends.
No matter which way I look at it.
I’ve truly become a monster.
Near as my perfect recall can, well, recall.
I haven’t taken a shit or piss for close to two years.
I even experimentally tried to suffocate and starve myself.
Yet its not as dramatic or mentally unstable as it sounds…well mostly…
Mainly on account of how it mainly consisted of me just refusing to inhale or exhale for a whole week while simultaneously forgoing food intake.
Given that I was already used to not talking to a living soul for weeks at a time and not feeling in the slightest lack of energy from lack of eating, the reality of what I have become gradually peaked its unsightly head over the horizon, like a super heated gigantic fuck off ball of gas, slowly illuminating the darkness of a comparatively minute ovoid rock orbiting it.
So naturally having had my once human bodily functions removed leaves me's with a sense of loss we can barely describe…Though giving it a red hot go. It’s like you were brought to a grudging understanding through numerous trials and errors, that certain things had to be done in order to be able to keep doing those things, for example:
Eating.
Sleeping.
Breathing.
Urinating.
Defecating.
Then one day you lost the necessity for their expected indignity.
More damming still, the habitual urge still remains and the more time you go without fulfilling it, the more it leaves you with proverbial blue balls worse than a month of no fapping can even come close to. Some webnovels I used to follow used it as a hallmark of stepping into the realm of the gods, but all it feels like is that I’m becoming a monster.
And that is another unsightly topic that is necessary to breach.
Ejaculation.
Near as my multiplicative enhanced mental functions can deduce, it goes like this.
When your body’s muscular functions have been enhanced to roughly a hundred times their previous vanilla state, you could be forgiven for not immediately including the act of semen excretion.
I won’t bore you with the sordid logistics of how it was achieved, but when my enhanced member reaches climax.
Well let’s just say, what was once a lethargic water pistol has now effectively been turned into a hypersonic phallic organ of destruction.
And the less any of me dwell on the supremely awkward kill notification that enshrined its true lethality, the better.
So unless I wish to become the equivalent of a female praying mantis and kill my hopefully beloved, sexual partner post coitus.
All sexual related activities in, near or around the opposite sex are effectively cancelled…Yet knowing my current run of luck I will doubtless not have the opportunity to refuse it anyway…
But it’s best not to dwell on the darker things right?
RIGHT?!?
Now for some good news…
I have a discovered a remedy for the overload of smells, by way of my near pathological need to collect all the things.
It oddly enough came in the form of moss of all things:
Green Doi’Kol Moss
Resource Rank: Initiate
Condition: Pristine
Properties: Used as a fragrance nullifier to counteract particularly odorous alchemical processes
Storage Requirements: Once picked must be placed in a humid environment or it will rapidly lose its efficacy.
Description: Green Doi’Kol Moss is a useful alchemical aid. A common moss that requires a humid and near dark environments to thrive in nitrogen rich phase 1 worlds.
The moss’s fragrance itself is like a fragrance version of mono sodium glutamate, in that it has hints of mint and basil but also citrus whilst also completely overriding even the most ghastly of stanks.
Initially I took to keeping a pouch of it nearby so as not to have to keep smelling everything, but the pouches string kept snapping due to sanic based reasons. So one of me finally came up with the genius notion of putting it closer to the organ that was the cause of the problem to begin with.
And before you ask, why yes indeed, I do have a generous portion of [Green Doi’kol Moss] stuffed in each nostril as I monologue.
Moving right along…
I finally found some Orcs!
Well technically they are called ‘Wo’Dan’ but that’s besides the point!
Ok I’ll admit it isn’t all great.
Mainly because they have only been level 60 to 75, and they are a far cry from the noble and intimidating savages that they were advertised as by way of fantasy literature. But as with all things post-apocalyptic. you shouldn’t look a green skinned tusky humanoid gift in the mouth. Mainly because they have atrocious halitosis and spit egregiously when they talk/yell, but still, I feel the salience of the point still stands!
Yay Orcs!
Now all I need to do is find elves and dwarves and I’ll have completed my fantastical magical species bingo!
Sufficiently self buoyed by my internal narrative and finding no immediate threats, one of my minds habitually pulls up my ‘status’ for nonexistent shits and giggles:
STATUS
Name: Benjamin
Age: 32
Titles: Forerunner IX, Dimensional Forerunner, Lone Adventurer, Racial Pinnacle I, Survivor I, One Elevant Army I, Founder, Exemplar, Phasic Bastion I, Manamote Magnate II
Class 1: Initiate Gravity Mage Level: 99 +1 Intelligence per level +1 Wisdom per level
Class 2: Initiate Dimensional Mage Level: 99 +1 Intelligence per level +1 Wisdom per level
Profession: Basic Gathering
HP: 3417/3255 + 162 (3417) MP: 4932/3331 + 1601 (4932)
Status Effects: Abyss Scarred (All non-core attribute effects negated)
Vitality: 1103 + 25 x 1.20 (1354)
Strength: 951 x 1.15 (1094) Dexterity: 948 x 1.15 (1090)
Intelligence: 1096 + 93 x 1.15 (1367) Wisdom: 1012 + 26 x 1.15 (1194)
Charisma: 310 x 1.20 (372) Luck: 303 x 1.20 (364)
Undistributed Attribute points: 0
Passives –
Human: + 5 attribute points per level
Lingua System: Able to communicate verbally with any system integrated entity and be understood
Parasitic Mutator: Ability to absorb a prevalent trait of a recently killed entity by the host. Must be within 1 meter of target, maximum 3 traits at any one time. Current traits.
1) Lesser Primordial Blood: Increase all core attributes by 15%
2) Heart of a Lesser Dragon: 250% increase in health and mana regeneration rate.
3) Lesser Insectile Musculature: Your muscles have increased strength of 150% at the cost of increased metabolic energy.
Loner: +15% all damage dealt when fighting alone, -10% all damage taken when fighting alone, -10% all damage dealt when fighting beside others, +15% all damage taken when fighting in a group.
Forerunner IX: + 9 to all core attributes per level
Dimensional Forerunner: +1 to non-core attributes per level
Lone Adventurer: Non-core attributes increased by 20%
Racial Pinnacle I: +1 to non-core attributes per level
One Elevant Army I: +5 to all core attributes
Founder: +5 Charisma
Exemplar: +1 to non-core attributes per level
Phasic Bastion I: + 5 to non-core attributes
Manamote Magnate II: +15% increase in manamotes received from system quests
Survivor I: Vitality increased by 5%
Improved Instant Renewal: Regenerate 25% of maximum life when below 5% of life once every twelve hours.
Perpetual Regeneration: Regenerate 1% of maximum life per second on top of existing life regeneration rate.
Improved Metabolic Overdrive: Double all physical damage and physical size for 1 minute after which you will suffer a 25% strength penalty for 5 minutes, usable once every twelve hours.
Solid Foundation: Physical resistance and bone density are directly increased by the strength attribute.
Improved Quick As A Flash: Move at double your maximum speed for 1 minute after which you will suffer 25% dexterity penalty for 5 minutes, usable once every twelve hours.
Off The Clock: Dodge a lethal attack if the attacker has less than 750 Dexterity, passively available once per day.
Thrice Minded: You possess three independent cognitive centers.
Predictive Pondering: Able to predict what an opponent within 20 Meters will do for 5 seconds, if the opponent has less than 750 Intelligence. Usable once per day.
Mind Vault: Once a memory has entered your mind, it may only leave it should you allow it to do so.
Mana Fount: Increases your own mana regeneration by 75% and those within 20 meters of you by 25%
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Speak For All: Convince anyone within 10 meters of you of a single idea for 5 minutes, once every twenty four hours.
Golden Gift: Transfer your Luck attribute to an ally for 1 minute, however upon activating the skill you will have your Luck attribute reduced by 50% for 5 minutes, only usable once per day.
Gravidic Sense: Sense gravity around you within a 20 meter radius
Dimensional Sense: Sense the dimensional fabric around you within a 20 meter radius
Skills – Initiate Gravity Mage
1) Decrease Gravity (LvL 10): Decrease a single targets gravity by up to 1000% for a duration of 100 seconds. Target must be within 25 meters for the skill to take effect (Range, duration and gravity multiplier scales with skill level). Cost: Variable, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 45 seconds
2) Increase Gravity (LvL 10): Increase a single targets gravity by up to 1000% for a duration of 100 seconds. Target must be within 25 meters for the skill to take effect (Range, duration and gravity multiplier scales with skill level). Cost: Variable, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 45 seconds
3) Lesser Repulse (LvL 10): With you as a fixed center of gravity, repulse a single target with a force of 1500% of your current mass weighted against 75% of the targets current mass. Target must be within 40 meters for the skill to take effect (Range, mass multiplier and cooldown scales with skill level). Cost: 40 Mana, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 1 seconds
4) Lesser Attract (LvL 10): With you as a fixed center of gravity, attract a single target with a force of 1500% of your current mass weighted against 75% of the targets current mass. Target must be within 40 meters for the skill to take effect (Range, mass multiplier and cooldown scales with skill level). Cost: 40 Mana, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 1 seconds
5) Lesser Field of Gravity Manipulation (LvL 10): Manipulate gravity within a radius of 20 meters around you with an increase or decrease of up to 1250%, for a duration of 1 minute. You being the locus of the field are excluded from its effects (Range, gravity multiplier and mana cost scales with skill level). Cost: 100 Mana, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 2 minutes
6) Lesser Gravidic Focal Point (LvL 10): Create a lesser gravidic focal point within 50 meters of yourself for a duration of 1 minute with an alterable gravidic value increase or decrease of 1000% and a radius of effect of 20 meters. Given that you are the point’s creator you will be immune to its effects (Range, gravity multiplier and mana cost scales with skill level). Cost: 100 Mana , Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 10 minutes
Skills – Initiate Dimensional Mage
1) Lesser Dimensional Pocket (LvL 10): You have the ability to create and maintain a minor dimensional pocket adjacent to your current dimension, the proportions of which are linked to your wisdom attribute’s total value. The aperture radius to the pocket is 10 meters and you may only access this pocket 2 times in a 30 minute period for a duration of 2 minutes (Aperture radius, frequency of access and mana cost scale with skill level).Cost: 2 Mana per second, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 30 minutes
2) Lesser Dimensional Instability (LvL 1): Create a minor dimensional instability within 15 meters of you that has a radius of 1.5 meter, the targeted area experiences the very fabric of your dimension shift in unpredictable ways for 15 seconds (Range, radius and duration scale with skill level). Cost: 20 Mana per second, Cast time: Channeled, Cooldown: 5 minutes
3) Lesser Dimensional Size Increase (Lvl 10): Increase the total size of an inanimate object that is within 100 meters of you by up to 250% for a duration of 2 minutes (Range, percentage increase and cooldown scale with skill level). Cost: 50 Mana, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 30 seconds
4) Lesser Dimensional Size Decrease (Lvl 10): Decrease the total size of an inanimate object that is within 100 meters of you by up to 250% for a duration of 2 minutes (Range, percentage Decrease and cooldown scale with skill level). Cost: 50 Mana, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 30 seconds
5) Lesser Dimensional Portal (LvL 10): Create a lesser dimensional tunnel which origin is within 2 meters of you, that connects with two known points. The tunnel bypasses physical space and has a 5 meter radius for its termini for a duration of up to 5 minutes. The distance between to termini is dictated by your Wisdom attribute 1186 AU’s (Termini radius, duration and cooldown scale with skill level). Cost: 300 Mana, Cast time: 5 seconds, Cooldown: 30 seconds
6) Lesser Dimensional Absence (LvL 10): Create a lesser dimensional absence within 50 meters of you that has a radius of 50 centimeters, which nullifies all matter within the target location for a duration 50 seconds (Range, radius and duration scale with skill level). Cost: 250 Mana, Cast time: 1 second, Cooldown: 1 minute
Huffing at the persistent Abyss Scarred debuf, I once again endeavor to look on the sunny side of things, And seeing as it’s been weeks since the discovery the big green men, the actual bright point of my day that I collectively focus on, is my manamote total:
Personal Manamotes: 50,057,108
It’s almost payback time.
I can finally construct the ‘Dimensional Siphon Insertion & Recall Platform’.
Seeing as that other people are now competing for Siphon's regularly in the Gamma zones, I don’t have to worry about a rampaging horde of inter-dimensional nasties whipping out humanity...at least for a little while... If only they weren't all so weak...
Anyway, first I have to take the delinquents on a weekly outing.
Still regretting that decision.
Though say what you like about irreverent teenagers, they have more than already held up their end of the bargain by showing up everyday for ‘work’ and behaving themselves whilst under supervised monster eradication, or as they like to call it ‘Monster Mayhem’.
So as anticipation starts to build at the new flashy toy I’m about to purchase, I can’t help but smile as I activate [Lesser Dimensional Portal] to bring me to the blank white canvas that is my Citadels, Command Center:
You have entered Citadel #1 ‘Keep Out’.
Willing away the notification and moving to a point in the 360 degree window, I do a lap and unanimously confirm that the area around my home is unchanged, at least based on my enhanced cursory inspection.
Left with paranoia still tickling at my triplicate brains I pull up the holographic display of ‘Keep Out’ and reconfirm that things are indeed working as intended. Then before I literally begin to salivate from anticipation a mind brings up the ‘Citadel Upgrade & Maintenance’ sub menu and selects ‘>Manifest Dimensional Siphon Insertion & Recall Platform – 50,000,000 Manamotes’.
Feeling the majority of my collected wealth disappear from my perception, the me's more than a little underwhelmed at the lack of fanfare and flashing lights.
Collectively worried that there was some sort of system malfunction, I flick an attention to the holographic display of the place and breathe a sigh of relief, which seems even more redundant now that I apparently don’t even need fucking oxygen anymore.
At the base of the hologram, under the citadel itself, is a circular room, only slightly larger than the command center I’m in. Focusing in on it the thing looks to be accessible only by the lift shaft and is effectively empty, save for a divot in its center and a small console.
Triplicatly intrigued now, I eagerly make to inspect it in the flesh.
Mentally summoning the elevator capsule, I feel oddly reassured as it projects out of the floor near me, without so much as a whisper. Hopping in and willing it to take me to what is effectively now my expensive basement. The opening closes in complete silence and if it weren’t for my gravidic sense telling me that my weight is increasing ever so slightly, None of me would have absolutely any fucking clue something was happening.
The wall parts again to reveal the well lit, all white of the room I paid a large fortune for.
Wasting no time inspecting from afar, I head for the console next to the depression in the rooms center, which appears to gradually slope downwards to about twice as deep as I am tall.
Reaching out to the blank, white console a holographic menu springs to life:
Dimensional Siphon Insertion & Recall Platform – Inserted Elevants = 0
>Establish Siphon Insertion to random Phase 1 World – 250,000 Manamotes
>Establish Siphon Insertion to specific Phase 1 World – 500,000 Manamotes
>Establish Delphonis Siphon Insertion to random Phase 2 World – N/A
>Establish Delphonis Siphon Insertion to specific Phase 2 World – N/A
>Establish Hyrogiate Siphon Insertion to random Phase 3 World – N/A
>Establish Hyrogiate Siphon Insertion to specific Phase 3 World – N/A
>Generate Retrieval Bracelet – 10,000 Manamotes
>Recall specific Elevant via Retrieval Bracelet – 250,000 Manamotes
My eyes try to water but my ridiculous Vitality rejects such foolish notions.
So instead the triumvirate elects to settle for a grimacing at the ridiculous usage fees. Granted, I have no other reference point for costing interplanetary travel across what is presumably gazillions of kilometers, but does the system always have to try and do me like this?
On the bright side, this explains why new earth isn’t being overrun with hordes of sentient invaders, which also makes me crack a smile when I get a sneaking suspicion that I’ve been facing the cream of the phase 1 level 99 crop already and crushing them….er I mean it.
Still, a mind points out while one of me is busy doing the running man, I have yet to see someone higher than level 99, which speaks to restrictions of some sort.
Judging from the fact that I can’t hop to a Phase 2 or 3 world also reinforces the minds point and the triumvirate concurs.
There is also the issue that if I do in fact go intergalactic, how the fuck am I going to getting back?
Sure, the function is there in the menu…But who the hell do I trust with yanking my galactic bungee cord back?
Just as importantly when should they?
And how the shit do I communicate if something goes wrong on my end?
Spaghetti monster sauce it!
I just wanted an easy revengening scenario where I popped over to another planet, whooped some alien ass, then jumped back with no questions asked!
Why the fuck does everything require non-jolly cooperation?
As much as I want to, I am still not entirely trusting of the delinquents I have employed to yank me back without fail, as they are more likely to leave me stranded and claim ‘Keep Out’ for themselves.
So did I just buy a fiddy million manamote all white elephant?
As one of my minds enters meditative breathing mode for the first time in what has to be a year or two, my others reluctantly shelve project ‘Max Strikes Back’ and turn themselves to more immediate matters, like keeping up my end of a bargain.
After a mind takes a well earned moment to scream obscenities into the seamless white walls of my useless basement. The triumvirate regains cohesion and summons the elevator to meet up with my not so trustworthy, but mostly dependable delinquents at our usual spot.
Exiting the magical lift into the central district, I’m still taken aback at the amount of people going about their business. I remind myself that it was entirely the point when I allowed anyone to enter and make the place their home, strewth, I mean I even encouraged it with the cheap rent.
But as I make my way through the busy, black colored street, it collectively feels like I should be engaged in some fractious and protracted malarkey, about something or other, rather than just existing with everyone else.
And like that, the illusion of being an average joe with no place to be but here, is shattered.
Nearing an intersection, a group of six people in white robes are standing in the middle of it as they aureate in fervent tones at passers by.
Moving out of the thoroughfare, many me’s stand at the edge of the hustle and bustle, opting to observe the white robed preachers for a time, in a bid to understand why they think my home needs what their selling.
Turns out that their sales pitch is a tried and true simplification of the old world’s major religions, and it goes a little something like this:
“The end is coming!”
“We are divided by our selfish avarice and indolence!”
“Become a member of the Shakti!”
“You will perish at the hands of monsters if we do not unite!”
“We will provide for you or your loved ones while you defend us against the monsters!”
“All humanity should join our righteous purpose!”
There were some minor variations mixed in during the fifteen or so minutes I watched them at work, but for all intents and purposes, those seemed to be the main themes of their macabre pitch.
The alarming part though, was that every few minutes one or two passers by would stop and engage with a member in a back and forth that left the questioner looking both guilty and swayed.
I leave the place alone for a week and I have a bloomin cult infestation!
So, what do?
After a quick round of internal conferral, the triumvirate decides banishment is the only way to go.
Why banishment and not negotiation?
Simple.
They are spreading an all or nothing doctrine whilst making people feel guilty about their way of life.
While on the face of it, they aren't actively harming people…Coercing people to fight for you by telling them they will die otherwise is morally dubious to say the least.
A mind also hypothesizes that given their obvious level of organization their unflinching doctrine coupled with the behavioral restraints forced upon them by the citadel’s law enforcement protocols. That should they have free reign, the methods they would employ at enlistment would be far less passive...Or friendly...
Thus, a me mentally pulls up the “Citadel Law & Order” sub menu and will the six white robed and caramel skinned individuals to be ‘Banished’ a white and bluish light instantly obeys to engulf them whole. And as it illuminates my smile whilst pedestrians jump back in shock and alarm I turn back to head to the storefront the delinquents have claimed for their headquarters.
And as I make my self imposed human speed limit journey, all of me is delighted to find a new spring in my step whilst I slip between the bustling and recently protected crowds of my home.
Eventually coming to the uniformly white and unadorned shop front in one of the south eastern mall’s, I find the black platemaile’d Toni and two of her black plate wearing lackeys, lounging in stuffed seats behind a counter.
Upon seeing me enter the young woman in question perks up and presses a finger to a button on the counter while her armor rasps, as she adds jovially.
“Alight ya lazy bones, he’s here! So quit ya nappin or yu’ll miss out on tha portal ta Monster Mayhem!”
My lips twitch at their far more relaxed nature than when I first encountered the standoffish and frightened teens.
Still, there is business that needs discussing before I can relax into caretaker mode, leading to one of me asking in a curious tone.
“Anything to report?”
Far from the fearful or sheepish reaction I had expected, she nods seriously as her brown curls bounce in their utilitarian pony tail, before she answers with a stone faced question of her own.
“Which would you like to discuss first?”
Intrigued I counter.
“Which what?”
Small smile creeping on to her face, she rejoins.
“The easy one or the hard one?”
Nodding like I understand what she means, a me replies.
“Hard one first.”
Drawing in a breath and keeping eye contact, she launches into employee report mode.
“So we’ve been keepin an eye on tha place like ya asked, an everything’s been runnin jus fine, couple o people auto banned fer fighting an such but nothin out o tha ordinary. Then mid last week. This procession rolls inta town of like two thousand people all wearin high level gear, with a serious an organized look.”
Toni pauses to search my face for a reaction, trying to give nothing of my growingg confusion away, a me nod’s encouragement before she shrugs and continues.
“Then their leader starts makin a big song an dance bout how he’s decided ta call this place his base o operation an he’ll be meetin with you real soon ta enter inta an agreement on how tha place is run... And like ya asked us, we kept an eye on tha guy without interferin an it turns out hes from tha royal family or so he claims an is gonna re-found Britannia in all her bloody glory…”
At the last sentence from the young aboriginal woman, the me on face time loses the ‘keep my face straight’ game, leading to our eyebrows rising in surprise. Looking to the two lackeys for confirmation as the other teenagers file out eagerly from the door to their right, they both nod in agreement with their leader.
Certainly not what I was expecting the hard one to be, I sigh redundantly and query for the news I was expecting.
“What’s the easy one then?”
Toni snorts before adding.
“Tha others are just a bunch o white robed loonies clamin ta be representin tha Shak or some such, ere ta save us from tha end o tha world...Completely harmless if ya ask me...”
Nodding, one of me prompts.
“How many of the white robe guys are there?”
Waving a hand dismissively she furthers.
“Last count it was thirty, but they seem ta operate in Party’s, so really there’s only like five groups o em.”
Not wanting to launch into a lecture about subversive insurgencies, or have to defend my completely rational mistrust of people in white coats, one of me turns to the excited and murmuring gaggle of teens.
“Sorry guys but the er…monster mayhem is on hold for an hour or two.”
Groans erupt from the gathering and Toni steps in to placate and mediate and after having done so, she faces me with a grin and elicits.
“So wats tha plan boss?”
Shrugging like the triumvirate hasn’t already played out several workable courses of action, one of me farcically hazard’s.
“I guess first order of business is to take me to wherever the Shakti guys are, then we’ll go for a meet and greet with the supposed royalty.”
Looking at me warily she queries.
“Yur not gonna hurt anyone right?”
Waving her off a me scoffs.
“Course not, you know me, I wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
Toni glowers and falls into step beside me while I exit the storefront with her two black plated lackeys clanking in tow, before adding.
“I think ya might be forgettin tha first time we met…”
Unable to stop myself from laughing at the memory, I counter.
“Nonsense that was just an initiation exercise!”
Leading her to grumble something truly unkind about crazy gray buggers as her two lackeys snicker behind us.