Bob- and Joram by extension-, really wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, the right person to negotiate with a representative of another continent. He hated political bull-shittery, the two-faced dealings, and especially the part where the other party usually assumed that you were hiding a hidden agenda, treating your words as pretty flowers to be enjoyed in the moment, but ultimately forgotten or dismissed when other “important” things came up. Like their own interests.
That said, Daphi was like a breath of fresh air. She was direct and forthright in her dealings. How could he tell? Well, he had no reservations when it came to using [Read Thoughts]A when dealing with someone chosen as a diplomat, or first contact for the [Demon Lord]. Well, for any power, really.
If anything, Bob was becoming more and more impressed with just how straight-laced Daphi was. And she, in turn, was fast warming to him and his candor. Which, really, was for the best. He didn’t want to have to potentially kill such a nice person one day if the [Demon Lord] decided to get rid of the annoying person on Midway Isle.
Well, given just how duty-oriented Daphitiax was, he wasn’t entirely sure if she would just accept an order like that. Well, given just how quickly she was warming to him, he certainly hoped that she’d recuse herself of such a conflict due to… stuff.
At any rate, Bob was quite happy to keep speaking with her. Even her guards were relaxing as the tea and cookies slowly melted away their hostility. Sugar elicited endorphin rushes could do wonders, it seemed. He just hoped that their sugar crash wasn’t too bad….
“I believe that my lord would be amenable to supporting inter-continental trade,” Daphi said, obviously bringing their discussion to a close. “This will, of course, require much more work and planning to implement, but I’m sure that things will go relatively smoothly,” she finished with a warm smile that could distract someone into getting into a car accident.
“I appreciate that,” he said with his own second-best smile that caused Daphi’s expression to warm further. “Feel free to drop by whenever you want, I’ll be sure to have better accommodations ready,” he finished before everyone got up.
After escorting them to the dock/pier/whatever, they shook hands before Daphi gathered her crew and boarded her ship. He was amazed at just how quickly they got under way, though with magic and Skills, he supposed that was to be expected. Still, coming from Earth, it was an impressive sight.
With that taken care of, Bob began mentally planning out the small port. He’d need an inn or ten, buildings for vendors, warehouses for stock, administration buildings, and a lot more he was certain he was forgetting. Well, it wasn’t like it would take too long to build something he’d missed. Just annoying.
“Ah, I’ll need some rules, or ‘laws’. Damn, I may need to find a lawyer or something…” he muttered to himself, letting a frown form on his face as he walked back to the construction site.
* * *
“Damn, that’s a hug lizard,” Cyd muttered as he regarded the Dungeon Boss, or what he was calling it in his head, anyways.
The thing must have been close to Erys’ size… when in dragon form, that is. Its [Aura: Cold]1 was also radiating such intense cold that even he was starting to feel it. Which was likely enough to freeze anyone solid in mere moments, never mind its [Gaze: Flash Freeze] Skill. Which got him wondering if its aura would make it harder to kill it with fire. Something like the aura having a dousing affect on the flames, leaching away the heat until the flames just vanished.
Still, would the laws of thermal dynamics kick in? Or does magic trump all? Because, if I can warm up the area enough so that its aura is working overtime to keep it from frying, that would certainly make things easier for me… he thought as he rubbed his chin. Well, let’s test things out!
Thus decided, Cyd stepped into the cryolisk’s den, prompting a System Notification that he grudgingly took a look at. More to make sure that he wasn’t going to get punished for ignoring them again than being truly curious about what it wanted to say.
Danger!
The [Cryolisk Patriarch] 20 levels higher than you. It is recommended to retreat.
Cyd blinked at that, wondering why he’d gotten a notification about that now when he hadn’t received any such thing before now. Especially when challenging the Goblin Home dungeon, let alone when Erys had attacked him. Being level 32 now, he was certainly in what people would call “S Rank”, or “Rank S”. But was the difference between S Rank and SS Rank really that profound?
Now slightly uncertain, he used [Analyze] on it, then blinked.
[Cryolisk Patriarch]
Level 52
Is the colour-coding new? He wondered as he seriously contemplated backing off for now.
Joram: Let’s reduce the number of [Fission]s to just me, Kinkade, and you, Cyd. Maybe that’ll be enough.
Bob: No worries.
Doug: Just give me a sec to finish placing this…
Aegis: I’m good here.
Dax: I’m good whenever.
Nodding, Cyd was glad that he wouldn’t have to risk actually dying here…. Well, he hoped it would lessen the risk of dying. And, a moment later, he felt a surge of power as the other four [Fission]s reintegrated with the remaining three of them. The boost wasn’t insignificant either.
Going from 425 HP to 991 was certainly a good boost, but the boost to his mana and power pools, let alone his regeneration rates, was where it was at. Mana went from 1,278 to 2,984, and his power pool went from 1,993 to 4,651. A much better buffer, in his opinion. Let alone his regeneration rates more than doubling from what they’d been.
Well, it was enough of a power boost that the [Cryolisk Patriarch] went from lazily regarding him like one would regard a snack that just walked into the room to suddenly taking him very seriously, even going so far as to get up and then settle into a pouncing stance. Amazingly, it even managed to lift its “lips” into a semblance of a snarl.
Feeling a bit more confident now, Cyd had M7 remanifest [Energy Immunity: Cold] to be sure that the duration wouldn’t lapse during the fight. Then M8 pulled up his mindblade while M9 brought up his own mind armour, taking the form of one of his favourite armours. The “Blood Dragon Armour” from his favourite videogame series was just great, in his not-so-humble opinion.
Still, there were a few modifications he’d made. For one, the breastplate was made a bit larger, as something that small wasn’t terribly effective from his point of view. For another, he’d reduced the slight crest of the helmet to just make the top smooth, a bit similar to a Mando helmet. Other than that, it was basically a non-tech version of the sci-fi armour that he so loved. And since it was made of his own psionic energy, he didn’t have to worry about pesky things like weight and the armour itself getting in the way of his movements.
As he dashed forward to engage the cryolisk, he made a mental note to see about adding the Aegis class to his roster of known abilities. But before he could finish that thought, the cryolisk proved to be much faster than its lesser kin. A claw swept out, catching him off guard and slamming him hard enough to send him rocketing into the cavern wall a good thirty metres away.
“Ouch,” he muttered as he quickly got to his feet, wondering if he should pretend to spit out a mouthful of blood or something. Because, that’s what a careless protagonist did after a hit like that, didn’t they?
Shrugging, and now paying closer attention to the undersized Godzilla wannabe, Cyd readjusted his mindset. Even though he’d powered up considerably after having reintegrated the other [Fission]s, a level gap as wide as theirs wasn’t something to take lightly, especially at the levels they were at.
Lower levels came with low risks. Jumping rankings wasn’t entirely unheard of. But Cyd now had a greater respect for the difference between a newly-levelled S Rank and something that had been in an SS Rank for much longer than he’d been in this world. Well, he supposed that if it was created by the dungeon, it might not be that old, but it certainly came with pre-loaded experience. Experience that he would only get by fighting on a more regular basis.
Something that he’d get right to doing.
Now unconsciously grinning, Cyd took a more measured approach. No dashing in like a fool. No, he took his time stepping across the slightly uneven floor of the boss’ cavern, careful not to slip on the ice as he went. Mostly due to his boots’ soles reforming to produce ice cleats.
For its part, the cryolisk didn’t seem happy that he’d basically shrugged off its attack. Which got him wondering just how intelligent the creature was. A dumb creature didn’t get a look like that, after all.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Still, it wouldn’t stop him from doing what he needed to do. Dungeon creatures weren’t something that could be reasoned with, nor would they do anything but murder you given the chance. Sentience and sapience just made them more dangerous.
Given that it had attacked when he was within comfortable range for it, Cyd guessed that its range limit for a claw attack was roughly fifteen metres, give or take. So, at the twenty metre mark, he opened up with his long-ranged mindbolt, using [Block the Sun] and [Vicious Volley]. It was especially effective due to the damn lizard being so massive, as his number of attacks didn’t even cover the entire area of the cryolisk’s body. Still, it was especially devastating to the lizard due to his current load-out.
He’s swapped out [Distance] in favour of [Flaming], but had kept [Collision], [Linked Striking], and [Psychokinetic Burst] along with its normal enhancement. He’d considered getting [Flaming Burst], but had decided to add the force damage instead just in case the boss had managed to get some [Resistance: Fire] somewhere.
Well, it hadn’t. He watched as the monster’s eyes widened in shock and pain as it roared out its anger and pain in response to having large chunks of its scales and hide blown away, sending gore everywhere. With it now distracted by the numerous holes in its body, Cyd used [Running] to get close and brought his buster blade up to start making new holes.
Unfortunately for him, the [Cryolisk Patriarch]’s name wasn’t just for show. Just before he got to it, he felt mana gathering as it cried out, sending ripples through the dimensional membrane around him. And just like that, the cryolisk used an almost clichéd ability of most bosses, especially bosses that were labelled like it. “Patriarch”, “Den Mother”, or even “Brood Mother”. Though, he was glad that he wasn’t swarmed with countless spiders.
Just thirteen more cryolisks in this case. And one of them appeared right in front of him to take the hit for its summoner.
Now annoyed, Cyd danced back several metres to give himself enough room to maneuver, then grinned when he remembered that the giant lizard wasn’t the only one that could [Summon] or [Create] backup. Suppressing his inner chuunibyou syndrome, he specifically didn’t go through the motions of summoning like if favourite ninja did.
Instead, he just summoned an ancient red dragon, but paid extra to give it [Energy Immunity: Cold], as well as to strengthen its breath weapon by several times. Because he was a cheater like that.
As the dragon appeared behind him, M3 manifested [Energy Immunity: Fire] for him. Friendly fire- lol- was certainly a thing in a cavern this small, after all.
* * *
Joram sighed in relief as he stirred the cooking pot that evening. He’d been putting off the actual levelling until he was done with the [Cryolisk Nest] as well as the [Troll Den]. Now? He’d gone up another seven levels, bringing him to level 19 as a [World Architect], along with a couple more abilities that were quite… awesome? Broken?
To sum up his gains from [World Architect], he’d say that he gained four new abilities, or class features. The other things were basically just buffs for what he’d already had, like changing the duration of anything he summoned or created to “instantaneous” if he wanted to. Which meant that he could summon something ridiculous and have it stay forever. Or many, many, ridiculous things if he felt like it.
The other buffs were basically abilities to improve his creation of any sort of dimensional or spatial areas, as well as the ability to strengthen or weaken dimensional or spatial boundaries or walls. They made making them much easier to manifest/cast, reducing the time and resources even more than they were already reduced. Which turned the original 7 days’ manifesting time (8 hours per day) of [Genesis] into a mere 1 minute. One minute, once. No multiple days’ worth of manifesting. Just one minute! To his gamer brain, that was beyond ridiculous! But it also made his plans for his Tower much easier to realize if he could just task one of his Minds to less than two hours per day to keep re-manifesting [Genesis: True] on each of the demiplanes that he’d created to keep them growing at ridiculous speeds.
Thinking about it more, he decided to add a few features to the planned levels’ growth. Maybe he should plan for the long term. Like, including the plans for an entire solar system in the demiplane’s growth, let alone moons for the original “planet”….
Nodding to himself, Joram made a mental note and got back to reviewing his class features.
They were, in no particular order, [Manipulate Gravity], [Manipulate Electromagnetism], [Manipulate Nuclear Force]- he had wondered on more than one occasion if the System knew the difference between Strong and Weak Nuclear Force-, and [Manipulate Time]. Sure, he’d gotten the [Planeshift] and [Teleport] Skill Trees, but that wasn’t anything close to being as insane as those four class features.
He could, if he was insane enough, use those first three to outright create a black hole of his own. Not just summoning one that would go away after a bit. No, he could create one and leave it somewhere to eventually eat up all of… everything. He could also create a star if he wanted, which was cool. Or hot. Shrug.
He really had to hand it to the System, though. When he’d first seen the name [World Architect], he’d thought it was just creative naming on the System’s part. Nope. Between being able to Create any matter he wanted, and it becoming permanent, he could use every aspect of his class to literally build a planet the old-fashioned way.
Like, mosey on off to a nice part of empty space between galaxies and just start making shit.
He really had to wonder what the capstone ability would look like. Would he get something like [Imbue Life]? Well, he could already create life, so maybe not? What about [Imbue Sapience]? Given how [Spiritual Wisdom] worked, he had to wonder how things would turn out if he made a whole new species and let it run loose….
He shrugged, knowing that it was highly unlikely that he would just create a new species, let alone letting it out into the wild, as it were.
Still, with [Manipulate Electromagnetism], he could certainly realize the dreams of his youth pretending to be a certain Level 5 Mutant….
Now grinning, he tasted the stew, nodded again, then called everyone over.
“Oooh, I can’t wait!” Erys said as she wiped away a little drool as her eyes practically sparkled as they locked onto the huge pot.
“It’s been a while,” Myra nodded as she, too, couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off the pot.
“I can’t wait for dessert,” Asami piped in, likely thinking of which tea biscuits she’d wolf down if he let her.
Shae’ra and the three gals just nodded, staying much better composed than the rest of them, though no less eager from what he could read of their body language. As for Avi, she’d gone back to their little… town earlier that evening to take care of a few things. He wasn’t sure what would warrant her personal attention, but didn’t pry, as she would tell him if it was really important.
As he served the stew into nice Corelle bowels, his mind wandered back to what he’d do with the class features he’d gotten. He also wondered what he’d do with the whopping 76 Free Attribute Points he had waiting to be allocated.
Attributes
Total
Mod
Rank
Strength
45
40
S
Speed
45
40
S
Constitution
50
45
SS
Intellect
132
127
Ex
Spirit
142
137
Ex
Charisma
79
74
SSS
Luck
119
114
Ex
Free
76
He’d basically ignored his physical stats, mainly due to just how uncomfortable they were to raise. Though, given that his Constitution was so high now, he wondered if it wouldn’t be so bad to raise them again….
He then looked at his Resource pools and nearly sighed.
Resource:
Total
HP
3374
ST
3358
MP
13105
PP
17462
His gamer brain saw the nearly ten thousand point difference between his HP and MP and only saw “glass canon”, never mind his PP…. So, thinking about survivability and such, he raised his CON by 30 points.
It wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d feared, though the full-body tingling/pinpricking wasn’t exactly pleasant to endure. But overall, it wasn’t bad. Then, given just how bad his STR and SPD looked, he decided to add 20 points to each, though in 5 point increments to hopefully avoid extreme discomfort.
It sort of worked, but was still something he wasn’t ever going to enjoy doing. And if his Free Attribute Points kept on building like they had, he was sure that he’d need to repeat the process again in the future….
Still, the results spoke for themselves.
Resource:
Total
HP
6419
ST
6403
MP
13105
PP
17462
Getting over 3k to his HP, and ST, was a nice feeling. Well, nicer. Though, given his various [Resistance] Skills, it sure went a long way to keeping him alive longer.
Though, given that his resource pools were evenly divided between the number of clones he had going with [Fission], those numbers were just that: numbers. He would still have to be smart about what he did, or whatever, or whoever, he faced in the future.
Now a bit unsure of how his movements would be after such huge gains, he used [Telekinesis] to bring him over to his comfy chair by the dinner table. Since he wasn’t going to be eating, mostly due to having already tasted everything as he was cooking it, he just sat and enjoyed the company. Enjoyed it while he could, because if they ever found out that he could set off a nuclear explosion whenever he felt like it, he was sure they’d all start looking at him-
*Cough-cough-splutter!*
Joram looked over at Asami, then belatedly remembered her [Spiritual Communication] as Myra patted her on the back.
Well, that cat is out of the bag now.
Notes:
* To get the Skills to be a bit more uniform, I’ll rename/retcon a few names. Going forward, a Skill that can have more than one option/attribute/level will be labelled like that. e.: [Skill Name: Attribute/Level, Rank]. So, you will see something like this: [Aura: Lightning], [Aura: Fire], or even [Diplomacy: Greater]. Something like [Heal: 3] levelling up would like [Heal: 3, Improved]. It’s very much for the sake of my sanity and making things easier to keep track of.
1. That said, something like [Greater Accuracy, Greater] may look odd, but it’s due to the Skill having been created by combining with another skill that Joram already had before System Integration that was then consolidated and given to him as a System Skill.
2. I usually leave off the “*” in [Clear Mind], let alone the “Greater” part for the sake of brevity, but to also reflect how Joram thinks about things. It really should be written like this: [*Clear Mind: Greater]. The “*” represents a Skill created through merging 2 other Skills he had after System Integration.