The moment the second minute passed Valin pulsed at me to get going. ‘You know, for an eldritch being that is older than the concept of old, you sure are excitable.’ I thought towards Valin.
I checked that all my weapons were in order, unsheathing both swords and marveling at how they absorbed the light. I had to admit, the effect was much more impressive when there was actually light to absorb. Resheathing them took me longer than I’d liked to admit, but hey it was like my second time ever doing it, sue me. I ignored the urge to try and remember what the hell it meant to sue someone and decided to just move on. Operation repress and ignore is a go.
“Alright, just have to check on my mana and we’ll be off,” I said somewhat nervously. Man, this Fear Resistance skill kicked ass, this was nowhere near as scary as it should be.
‘Partial Status’
Name: Sylen Champion Rank: (L)Novice, 6
Resources:
Health:212/230
Stamina: 230/230
Void: 500/500
Ah, that was much better. I still didn’t feel great, but that was mainly on account of my soul being unbalanced once more. My arm already felt much better, and It would probably heal in less than an hour. I could’ve just sat here and waited for it to finish healing, and I was tempted to do that to fuck with Valin after his latest stunt, but I wanted to lower the tension with my friend. I didn’t know why I liked Valin so much, I guess it’s probably easy to get in my good graces if you could literally snap my anxiety out of existence.
There was more to it than that, as well, but it was hard to describe, he was just so excited by everything. You’d think being akin to a god of creation would hamper that, but I guess this is why he wanted a new perspective. I felt a pulse of impatience from Valin telling me to hurry my ass up. Well he seemed to have gotten over the ‘tension’ quick, I guess me just saying I’m not mad was enough for him.
Once I finally get off my ass, I slowly creak open the door to the broom closet we arrived in. I peek to the right of the door. It leads to an empty hallway. With the door open, the screeching is much louder. It appears the coast is clear, at least to the right. I gradually opened the door all the way, and slowly, gently, immediately knocked over something that was leaning against it. The wooden handle of the broom that was pushed up against the door from the outside clangs loudly against polished marble floors. Dammit, that’s just unfair! I couldn’t even see it!
The screeching stops.
Well, that can’t be good. I look to the left, It’s clear. Well no use in being slow now, I start running down the hall to where I heard the screeching. I can’t go being a coward, after all, the whole reason I was looking for a dungeon was to get essence. Rushing down the hall toward the location of the shrill screaming, I reach my full speed for the first time in this world. With no roots, branches, or rocks in the way, I zoom through the door-speckled hallway. I don’t know how fast I was in the past, but it wasn’t this! What a rush!
My excitement is quickly extinguished when I reach the source of the noise. It’s just past an open door, in what looks like a children’s bedroom. Skin as dark as charcoal with veins of fire running crisscross its entire body. Vaguely humanoid in shape, but stunted legs that look almost vestigial quickly foul the look, along with the arms that are freakishly long, that terminate in hands with crescent-shaped claws, the cutting edge lined with fire, near an entire foot in length. Its eyes are empty sockets, with only small embers burning within, but that doesn’t stop it from quickly turning to look directly into my eyes. I can’t see a mouth on it, so I don’t know how it screamed.
It starts to crawl towards me pitifully, and I almost can’t bring myself to try and kill it. Fortunately, I don’t need to bring myself to it, as it quickly brings itself to me by flinging its body towards me with extreme force, showing that the arms, though they look scrawny, are extremely strong. Dodging, or rather stumbling, back, I try to unsheath my saber from my side, but the monstrosity manages to ravage my arm with its claws as it flies by. FUCKING OW! My right arm limply falls to my side, and I can’t move it. Very well, I have two arms for a reason. As it crashes into the wall behind me I manage to unsheath my rapier from my right hip. Time to find out if I’m ambidextrous.
I see its muscles bunch up in its back as it prepares to launch itself once more, but I’m ready. It flings itself towards me with an arm held out. Likely trying to gut me as it goes by, but I dodge just out of its reach while holding the edge of my sword in the path of its arm. I have a feeling a move like this would normally just result in my sword getting knocked out of my hand, but its supernatural sharpness causes the blade to not even tremble as it goes through the demon's flesh.
It arrives at its destination down a hand, but no less tenacious. It can’t leap at me anymore, so I think I can take my time to try and finish it off. It kindly shows me to stop underestimating it, as the flaming veins in its body go from a dull red to a bright yellow, and flames erupt from them, spreading to every surface on its body. To make bad news worse, not only does it make a new hand from the bright yellow flames currently immolating it, but It also makes itself a fresh pair of legs. Oh, come on! I could barely avoid having my head taken off when it couldn’t even walk, now what am I supposed to do!
As the monster starts running at me, Valin, who up until this point was distracted by watching the battle, finally reinforces my body with Void. Now that I am strengthened by Valin, it’s like the monster is running through molasses. It’s so slow, it’s not even a struggle to walk behind it and stab it through where its heart should be. This time though, I’m cautious, so I’m actually able to dodge when its flames start to rapidly expand.
Thinking better of staying in the room with the flaming, and rapidly expanding demon, I retreat into the hallway. Just in time, too, as the demon detonates in a massive blast. These walls must be made of some incredible stuff, as they are not in the least bit affected by the explosion that just took place.
“Partial Status,” I said, deciding to take inventory of my resources after the fight.
Name: Sylen Champion Rank: (L)Novice, 6
Resources:
Health:166/230
Stamina: 90/230
Void: 347/500
Hot damn! I only had Reinforcement on for like 10 seconds, and it used nearly half my Void pool!
I tried to walk back into the room afterward, but I was forced to wait due to the extreme heat. For about an hour while I waited, I explored the other rooms. I found another demon, but I closed the door, and it couldn't follow. Good to know.
Finally, it was cool enough to enter the room. Besides the pristine walls, there was nothing left in the space. Except for ashes, but those aren’t very interesting. Valin pulses at me to go through the remains of the demon, monster thing. Which are, you guessed it, also ashes. After sifting through the pitch-black ash for a couple minutes, with my sword because I didn’t want to touch it; I am left with my prize. A shard of obsidian-shaped darkness, even smaller than the dungeon core, is instantly absorbed into the node of my partially healed right arm.
*Ding* Congratulations you have leveled up! Amazing job, nearly being killed by the first enemy you ever face is practically a right of passage for earthlings!
Name: Sylen
Affinities: Void
Champion:
Stage: Novice-(Low)/pseudogod
Level: Soul 4 → 5 Body 6
Resources:
Health:196/230
Health Regen: 28.8hp/h
Stamina: 230/230
Stamina Regen: 163.2sp/m
Void: 500/500 → 540/540
Void Regen: 4.5mp/s
Attributes:
-Vitality: 23
-Endurance: 22
-Strength: 25
-Dexterity: 27
-Intelligence: ∞/50 → 54
-Wisdom: ∞/ 45
-Mastery: 25 → 27
-Perception: 26 → 28
-Charm: 28(-50%) 13 → 14
Skills:
Darksight (Legendary) (Passive)
Climbing (Basic) (Passive)
Swordsmanship (Basic) (Passive)
Void Manipulation (Advanced) (Active)
Void Reinforcement (Basic) (Active)(Passive)
Fear Resistance (Advanced) (Passive)
At this point, a one-level difference was barely noticeable for my overall balance. I guess as you got higher in level, smaller differences mattered less? That, or my resistance to pain was getting higher. Thinking about it truthfully, it was probably the latter.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Before leaving, I tried to examine the ashes left behind by the demon, maybe it had weird properties? First, I tried mixing it with a little water to see what happened. It made the water black. How surprising. Then, I tried putting a little on my skin. Ow! It left a small burn mark, even though the ashes felt completely cool to the touch it still burnt me! Hmmm… I tore a bit of fabric off my shirt and stored the ashes in it. After waiting for a minute to see if it would burn the fabric, I was off, or I was almost off, but first I had to deal with this buzzing again.
*Ding* Congratulations You have attempted to analyze a substance for the first time, for your…well let's call it an inspired attempt at the scientific method, you have gained the skill, *Examine*.
Nice! I Examined the remaining ashes.
Ashes of a malformed imp.
This ash has many alchemical uses.
That was… helpful? Wait a minute, could I Examine… Examine?
Examine (Basic), This skill allows you to read the basic properties of anything within your line of sight for an insignificant Void cost. Including your status. I’m surprised you figured that out so quickly, maybe I underestimated your intelligence. Then again, when your expectations are at rock bottom, the only way you can go is up.
Well, they were as charming as ever.
“Sorry Valin, but I’m gonna have to go through all my skills real quick. I don’t want to be surprised by a hidden aspect.” I said, pre-empting his plea for us to go fight the other imp.
Darksight (legendary)
Through your time in the Firmament, your eyes have been steeped in Void. No Darkness will impede your vision, magical or otherwise. Complete Immunity to all vision-based attacks for no Void cost. Vision-based attacks meaning, attacks on your vision. Not against laser vision or something similar.
Climbing (Basic)
You can climb better. For a small cost of stamina per second, your hands find a surer placement, and your grip will be less likely to slip. Let me explain it to ya real simple, It helps you climb gooder. Riveting.
Swordsmanship (Basic)
You have read the book on sword techniques, but unfortunately for you, it was not a very good book. Your blade's edge will be in proper alignment, and you won’t cut yourself while swinging it around, but that’s about it.
Void Manipulation (Advanced)
You can manipulate the forces of creation itself. Too bad you’re not that great at it. 1.5x multiplier on mastery when controlling void. You now understand the basic properties of void intrinsically. I won’t lie to you, most would probably kill for this skill. I guess they're just going to have to settle for killing you instead, for having it.
Void Reinforcement (Basic)
A reinforcement skill is essential for any person trying to get stronger, whether they be an adventurer or oligarch, Warrior or Cultivator. You just happen to have the rarest one in existence. By using the excess Void your core produces, you can passively reinforce your body to become permanently stronger. By actively using Void on all of your body at once, you can become temporarily stronger by: 1.2x, 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x, or 5x.
Cost: 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 200%, of your Void a minute.
Fear Resistance (Advanced)
Instead of being paralyzed by fear, you can think calmly in even the most stressful situations. Maybe falling down a cliff and wagering your life against the only being older than I tempered your will. Who knew you had it in you to do something actually impressive? Not me, That’s for sure.
Well, that was helpful. I’ve been rushing from one place to another so quickly I haven’t really been able to test out my skills. Thank God for Examine, I had no idea Reinforcement was so expensive. Manipulation just seemed like a pure benefit, so that was nice, especially since void is the only element I could control. That, along with Swordsmanship and Climbing, made passive skills seem really useful. You do something impressive one time, and boom you’re permanently better at it forever. That seemed kind of broken to me, but what did I know? If only my ridiculous intelligence actually made me smarter, then I would have gotten all this information much sooner.
Moving on, I decided it was time to take on the other malformed imp. It was just down the hall, and being honest, I wasn’t that afraid of them anymore. Their attack patterns were simple, and with the 5x version of Reinforcement, I had plenty of time to run, if they got a chance to detonate. I’m sure it was partially the Fear Resistance as well… okay maybe it was mostly the skill.
I exit my internal monologue when I reach the door. No playing around this time. Learning from my mistakes, I draw my sword before fighting the demon this time. Waiting until I was already being attacked before unsheathing wasn’t my smartest move.
With silent grace that I absolutely haven’t earned, I draw my saber. “Valin, Reinforcement times 5.”
A pure font of power rushes into me, strengthening me to ridiculous heights for my level… I assume.
‘Partial Status’ I think, checking how much stronger I am with Reinforcement to the max.
Name: Sylen
Affinities: Void
Champion: (L) Novice, 6 | Effective Rank (L)Beginner, 15
Stage: Novice-(Low)/pseudogod | Effective Stage: Beginner (High)
Level: Soul 5 Body 6 | Effective Level: 19
Resources:
Health: 1,116 /1,150
Health Regen: 135hp/h
Stamina: 1,110/1,110
Stamina Regen: 816sp/m
Void: 2,250/2,700
Void Regen: 22.5mp/s
Attributes:
-Vitality: 115
-Endurance: 110
-Strength: 125
-Dexterity: 135
-Intelligence: ∞/ 270
-Wisdom: ∞/ 225
-Mastery: 135
-Perception: 140
-Charm: 140 (-50%) 70
Skills:
Darksight (Legendary) (Passive)
Climbing (Basic) (Passive)
Swordsmanship (Basic) (Passive)
Void Manipulation (Advanced) (Active)
Void Reinforcement (Basic) (Active)(Passive)
Fear Resistance (Advanced) (Passive)
Examine (Basic) (Passive)
Wow. That’s… a lot. This is cool to know, but I can't afford any more distractions right now, considering looking at my stats for 5 seconds has already eaten a sixth of my mana.
Deciding to just go for it, I forcefully open the door and rush the demon that’s already looking in my direction. By the time its muscles have finished contracting, preparing for a jump, I am already in front of it. With a quick downward chop, its head splits down the middle, killing it instantly. By the time its head hits the ground, I have already left the room. I run about twenty feet down the hall, disable Reinforcement, and wait for the explosion.
When a minute had passed, and no explosion rocked the hall; I went back and checked the room. The corpse was still there, and this time, fully intact. That was definitely worse than the ash. After digging around in the viscera for a couple minutes, I decided that butchery was not the profession for me.
After getting Examine, I realized that I hadn’t been using all the tools that had been given to me. I had such an advantage with Manipulation, but I’m not using it to the fullest. Hell, until Valin showed me the vision, I hadn’t been using it at all. Deciding to try to be more creative with all my skills, I decided to see if I couldn’t use Manipulation for my current predicament.
I kneeled down next to the demon and placed my extremely bloody hands on its mangled chest. I pulsed my Void through its body and tried to use that to sense where its core is.
To my shock, this worked almost immediately, and it was no wonder I hadn’t found it. It was inside the demon's heart. Trying to continue the trend of using Void to make my life easier, I tried to pull the core out with my magic. Valin bristled at Void being called magic, thinking it insulting to be compared to his mana-based inferior, but I couldn’t stomach calling it Void every three goddamn seconds, so he was gonna have to deal with me using interchangeable terms.
Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, I was in the process of trying to grab the core with magic. Wrapping it with Void worked, but I couldn’t pull with much force. As always, Valin came to the rescue. Although, he did it in a much stranger way than usual.
“⊛ ↛ ⥑≎⊹1↠⊉║⭄⊹1∠⊹2↠⥑║⍔” Valin… said?
“Thank you for trying to help, but what the fuck does that mean?” I said, confused. I mean how do you talk in abstract symbols anyway?
Valin sent a frustrated impression, then an impression that very much felt like ‘Fuck it, I’ll do it myself’.
I felt the Void in my core stir, and then it formed a crisp copy of the symbols he just sent me. He sent an impression that said ‘Move your hand in the direction of the core’. Okay, If you’re sending impressions that complex, you better start talking soon. Nevertheless, I complied. The moment my hand was pointed toward the core, I felt a surge of power in my core, and amazingly the obsidian-like object was ripped out of the imp’s heart. Even more amazingly, but more importantly, terrifying was the speed it shot at my hand. I flinched backward, fully expecting a brand-new orifice.
Instead, the moment the core reached my hand, it immediately decelerated and neatly landed in my palm. I heard the signature buzzing of a notification in the back of my head, but I needed to have another conversation with Valin first.
“Valin… How long have you been able to do that.” I said carefully.
He sends me a confused impression, he’s been able to do that since… well he can’t remember. Literally, he has never not been able to.
“And how many more of these… spells, do you know?” I asked, increasingly annoyed.
He sends the impression of confusion once more, with the Runes he knows, he could make an infinite number of spells. ‘Obviously’ He adds with no small amount of pride.
“And you didn’t think to tell me about the ridiculous amount of spells you have?” I asked, my voice being cold enough to freeze the sun.
He went silent for a couple seconds and then said “I foRgoT You nOT kNow magIc”
I almost yelled, but then I remembered that from his perspective, magic is probably as ingrained in him as breathing, and why would you ask if someone didn’t know how to breathe? It’s automatic, of course, they do.
“Just assume I have the knowledge of a baby alright. I know nothing about magic, and judging by how little my subconscious is reminding me about it, I probably didn’t know how to use it before either.” I finally said after calming myself down. Besides, We had only been together for like 6 hours, so I don’t know why I was getting mad at him in the first place.
I settled on stress after thinking about it for a few seconds. I mean it was kind of obvious thinking about it.
“So Valin, do you have any other spells that could be useful?” I asked, hopeful.
“nO TOSpeBroQeuasljk” He sputtered. I think he tried to get a bit too complex on that one.
“No, The KnOwledgea Xz ToO Much” I vaguely thought I understood what he was saying. His knowledge was too broad, and he couldn’t predict what I’d need. It was like having a million tools for every job, you just had to wait and see the situation before you decided what was best.
“Well, we need to get a move on anyway, but if you think you can help with something in the future please tell me. We’re a team now after all. Plus, don’t be afraid to ask if you need anything. Remember, being a team goes both ways.”
He gives me the mental equivalent of a nod, and we head down the hallway into the unknown.