“Congratulations! You are within the top ten on the Combat Leaderboard! Limited Title Awarded: 8th Progenitor: +3% to all stats!”
“Congratulations! You are within the top ten on the Bardic Leaderboard! Limited Title Awarded: 2nd Bardic Warrior: +9% to all stats!”
“Congratulations! You are within the top ten on the Bardic Leaderboard! Limited Title Awarded: 2nd Cultivator of the Era: Invitation to the Library of the Creators Congress.”
I read over each of the notifications my excitement thrumming with each until I got to the last one. “The hell is the Library of the Creators Congress?” I wondered and a small envelope appeared in my lap. I went to open it when another screen appeared.
“Not now I’ll let you know when! -A” I scowled at the message but did what he told me by placing the envelope in my pocket. I didn’t let the message ruin my mood though, instead opening my stat sheet to check out how much I’d grown.
Nathan Schute: Bardic Archer
LEVEL 40
STRENGTH: 17
CONSTITUTION:13
AGILITY:17
DEXTERITY:114
INTELLIGENCE:17
WISDOM:37
CHARISMA:102
PERCEPTION:12
0 Free Stat Points
I did some quick math in my head and found something odd about the new distribution. Anything where 12% was over .5 rounded up a point, but anything below rounded down. It made me wonder if each of the points we had were like that. I’d have to see but those were some fantastic titles.
“You make it?” Susan asked and I nodded, explaining the first two titles but being unable to speak about the invitation I’d gotten or that title. Josh and Susan received two titles, and the twins each got one. Santiago asked if he could come into our tent just a few moments after we finished going over our gains. Autumn and Damien both walked in afterward.
“That gives me the creeps every time I see you guys now,” Autumn said. She was referring to the blank masks we wore, having to even wear them around Susan. Santiago had taken our lead as well because the hood had stopped working.
“Yeah, I’m not a fan of them either but they’re important for both of our safety,” Susan responded. There had been an incident before we got the masks where we noticed that Susan had started to become damn near subservient to all of us. The moment we realized what was going on we got the masks. The non-bards all nodded in agreement at her statement.
“So, what can we help you with today, Damien?” I asked thankful for the mask hiding my distasteful expression.
“We held up our end of the bargain getting as many of you as possible into the top 10 it’s your turn.” I glared at him for a moment before turning to the others.
“You sure you guys want to do this? I’ll support you if you’ve changed your mind.” They all gave a thumbs up and I turned back to the three. “You got your people in mind?” I asked and they said yes.
“Susan, would you mind going first?” Santiago asked and she agreed to it with a cheerful smile. The other two left the tent with her and Santiago sat down with us.
“Do you guys mind if I take off my mask?” He asked.
“Only if you don’t mind if we do,” Josh said and he agreed. We all took them off and sighed with relief at not having to wear them for a while.
“Sorry for intruding on you guys here, the casters and healers are mostly fine with me, but the fighters and warriors are really affected. You guys have a high enough charisma now that if we didn’t both raise our wisdom it’d be rough.” He said this looking at me making me wish that I still had the mask on. I cleared my throat and started going through my bag like I was looking at something.
“Yeah, I get what you mean makes me wonder if we’ll even be able to live with other people here soon,” Tony said and Tina looked a little uncomfortable.
“I know exactly what you mean. I’m worried about what life will look like after we’ve stabilized this world more.” Santiago said.
“What do you mean?” I asked curiously.
“Well, historically attractive people have either been put in positions of admiration or in positions of objectification. I’m just curious to see how bards will be treated when society finally sets in.” He explained. I thought about what had almost happened to me while I was walking through the camp. It was just an under-leveled man and I fended him off well enough. “What happens to us when the fighter classes out-level us by a lot?” I wondered.
We sat silently for a while pondering the future while Susan was gone, but as soon as the tent flaps opened, we quickly put the masks back on. They grabbed Josh next, then one by one each of my friends was taken away and brought back. Then it was my turn. They wanted me to teach the others what I knew up to what the system would allow. Autumn didn’t have the information to do it herself, so they were relying on me and my basic cultivation guide to train their people.
I spent about a week teaching them the basics then I left them alone to figure it out. Some of them were faster than others but I needed to focus on my own cultivation. I moved out of the team tent for a while. Instead, I set up a tarp tent in a close-by tree so I wouldn’t be bothered but I was close enough if there was an emergency. From my vantage point, I sat in my meditative position and then opened the aura guide.
“An aura is the physical manifestation of our insight regarding the essence that we cultivate. If you are reading this, then the concept that you have been contemplating is sound. Before getting into the specifics about your aura I want you to read the first sentence again. There are several abilities that an aura can provide many who start with sound develop a sensory aura, but that is not all it’s good for throughout this guide I will provide examples of some abilities but if you are successful in manifesting them is on you.
First some basics, while your core and aura are made up of essence that doesn’t mean that the essence that you’ve drawn isn’t a part of you. Many people cripple their cultivation from the foundation stage where you are by just believing that essence and you are two separate things. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. If you just suck in essence adding it to your core without expanding your aura to your limits when it’s time for you to take the next step in your cultivation your aura will be shallow, weak, and lacking many abilities that you could have unlocked prior.
The reason for this is that your aura starts all the way from your foundational element up. If you condense one layer of your core without maximizing it, you’re not giving your aura room to grow. If you are at the second or third stages, it is not too late to fix this mistake however as you don’t have too much essence packed in there yet...” It went on to explain how to build an aura from the ground up starting with my base element core. Fixing it took days and a lot of pain, but when I finished it, I had a thin layer of air aura that covered my entire body about an inch from my skin.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The guide said that that was as far as the first one should stretch, but that I should continue to look for insights into each layer of my core. I wouldn’t be able to pull any more of that essence in so any abilities I gained from it wouldn’t be exceptionally powerful, but all growth in cultivation should be compounding. At least that’s what the guide said. I already had a cool ability from my new layer of aura, and I couldn’t wait to try it out.
Standing on a high tree branch I looked over and gulped. I’d only climbed down these trees or jumped up, never looked down, and boy howdy it was high. I pushed my aura out, held my breath, closed my eyes, and jumped. When I didn’t feel my bones breaking in the next few seconds, I opened my eyes. I was still falling at a decent speed, but it was like when someone went skydiving and opened their parachute, they still hit the ground pretty hard, but much more controlled.
My only problem was that I’d never been skydiving. I started to panic slightly before my reflexes kicked in and I did a ballerino move in the air landing gracefully. “Oh yeah, dexterity.” I thought to myself wryly. With my aura still active I jumped and flew straight into the air. I reached the apex of my jump and started falling again. Unfortunately, my trajectory would send me over the wall and right into camp falling straight into someone’s tent.
I crashed down on the top of the tent causing it to buckle underneath me and fall completely to the ground. Whoever was underneath the tent screamed and tried to smack at me through the canopy, drawing lots of attention. I decided it was better to make myself scarce than stick around and wait for Damien to show up and pop his top at me.
Going a little farther into the forest I spent time learning how to move correctly with my new auric ability. I mostly bounced around the trees at high speed every now and then turning it off mid-air to change my fall speed. That was not easy to do though, and I crashed to the ground more than once. After I finished up my practice for the day, I strode back into the camp only to be greeted by the sound of an angry crowd. I slipped into the crowd and moved around until I ran into Tina.
“What the heck is going on?” I asked her.
“Damien has some big idea about taking the city back, some people don’t think it’s a good idea. That’s all I’ve gotten so far.” I nodded my head and asked Tina if I could use her shoulders for a second. I turned on my aura and lifted myself up so I could see the front of the crowd. There up at the front was the big tent I’d first met Damien with two guards posted outside.
“I’ll be back,” I said and leaped over the crowds’ heads once I was in position, I turned it off and landed on the ground in front of the guards. They raised their weapons at me, but I just smoothly lifted my mask which stopped them flat. “Hey boys I’m just gonna slip in there real quick, ok?” The guards nodded dumbly, and I walked passed them slipping the mask back over my face. I hated doing that, but it was either that or beating them up. I pushed into the tent and Damien whipped around to look at me.
“What the hell! I told those idiots not to let anyone in!” He yelled while glaring at me.
“Well, there’s a bunch of mad people outside and I need to know if it’s time for us to leave.”
“No!” Autumn and Santiago both said almost in unison. “You can’t. We need you guys if this has any chance of working.” Santiago continued.
“Ok then tell me what’s going on. And I don’t care if you guys out-level us or whatever if I don’t like the answer then I’ll pack us up tonight.” Damien still had the glare on his face, but in the next moment, it fell off. He rubbed his hands down his face like he was stressed about something.
“We’re gonna make a run at the dungeons try to take back the city. To do that we need every elite we can get.” I gave him a flat look under my mask.
“What the hell is a dungeon?” I asked and he looked at me shocked.
“You mean we’ve taken you to the city this many times and none of us mentioned the dungeons?” He smacked his forehead and Autumn looked embarrassed. I could only guess that Santiago felt the same. Damien sighed and then began his explanation. “When the system first came in there were these places that sprung up around the city. Monsters just poured out of them tearing everything and everyone in their path apart. The people we sent to scout those places all came back saying that they’d gotten an area quest each from all three. The quest said to make our way through the dungeon, kill the boss, and take control of the spawn point. The reward is control over the dungeon entrance.” I was definitely interested in this opportunity but then I remembered the last boss that we’d fought.
“No,” I responded. “You remember how you found me? You know half dead and out of my mind? Tony did die! This is too risky.” I argued.
“But you didn’t. You killed the monster and lived. Plus, you’ll be going in with us and the rest of our elite people you helped train. Most of them will be reaching their racial upgrade in the next few days if what you told us is correct. I’m attempting to break through tomorrow we can do this!” Santiago argued back.
“It’s not worth the risk Santi-” I said accidentally using his nickname “-ago I’m not going to put my people in danger because you guys have gotten some crazy idea about after fighting our way through an ocean of monsters, we’ll be fine fighting a boss.” “My people? Since when are they, my people?”
“Listen we’ve fought area bosses before and killed them pretty easily. With a balanced party, it’s not nearly as hard I promise. With your ‘War Band’ strengthening all our elites we’ll steamroll them.” Autumn tried a joke which fell flat.
“Basically, we need you guys. We can only do so much on our own.” Santiago continued trying to make the point for them. “Could you at least ask your people what they think?” I sighed but realized he was right.
“Ok fine I’ll ask them.” He was right, why was I making decisions for my friends without even asking their opinions? Plus, these dungeons sounded like a great opportunity to get stronger and I kind of wanted to go myself.
“That’s all we’re asking, for tonight could you help me with the crowd?” I smiled under my mask, and we went outside. I pulled out my guitar and started playing an old lullaby in the background using amplify so that it got everyone’s attention. Santiago then raised his hands and started talking to the people asking them to go back to their tents for the night. I knew he wasn’t using an active skill because his book didn’t appear. The people here just trusted him without even seeing his face. It was impressive if I was being honest, and I couldn’t see Damien being able to do something like that. Once the crowd had dispersed Santiago motioned for me to walk with him.
I wanted to get back to my friends, but I decided it must be important if he wanted to talk to me privately because he hadn’t done that since the first day we’d met. Walking next to him he led me out of the camp and into the woods. We stopped a while in and he took a deep breath before speaking.
“Masks off?” I agreed and we pulled off our face coverings.
“What’s this about Santiago?” He let out a breathy chuckle.
“You know I caught you calling me Santi in there!” I crossed my arms defensively doing my best not to let the embarrassment show on my face.
“Is that what you wanted to talk about if not I need to go talk to my friends.” His confident smile disappeared, and he cleared his throat.
“Listen, I have an older brother. He lives in the city too. If we don’t get those dungeons closed, I’ll never be able to get to him.” Realizing that this was personal for him made me think of the first couple of weeks when this happened. How much my friends pushed for me to go out to find their families. Every time they did though I refused. I told them how it was important to get stronger before we took the risk.
“How do you even know that your brother is alive?” I said with a hard face. It was a question I hadn’t asked my friends when we were looking for their families, but things changed after I found out how many people had died across the world. We were the exception, not the rule, and I needed to make decisions based on what life is now not what I wish it were.
“He’s on the Leaderboard number 126.” I opened the leaderboard to check the information for myself. Surely enough “Number 126 Miguel Fuentes, Mage of Storm Level 31.”
“Why are you telling me? If my friends say no, then it’s a no. Whether you have a brother out there or not.” His smile reappeared.
“Because you won’t hold any information back from them, and they’re nicer than you.” He laughed and I scowled at him.
“I’m plenty nice to people that treat me with respect.” Which caused him to stop laughing. I’m sure he had something else to say but I slid the mask over my face turning my aura on I jumped back towards camp using the trees as springboards. I landed easily outside my friend’s tent and made my way inside. A few of them were meditating and the others were just sitting down for dinner. I told them about the dungeons, the bosses, and Santiago’s brother.
Although there was some resistance to the idea after a few hours of back and forth the others decided that it was worth the risk. Josh theorized that if Santiago’s brother was still alive in the city, then there might be other people alive there too, and they wanted to help. The following morning, I gave our answer to Damien and the others and the whole camp began preparing. The goal was to start the operation after the next release of the top ten on the leaderboard. Until then it was all about training. Going back to my spot in the woods I opened my auric guide again.
“We’ve already covered that the essence that you’ve circulated into your core is now a part of you. I want you to think of it as a muscle. To grow muscle, you must exercise it the correct way, feed your body the right things, and have a good mindset. So, for that reason, you will find a diagram of martial movements, a list of foods and treasures that are best for sound cultivation, and a breathing technique personally all of which were created by the monks of the bell tower. For the quickest results use all three at the same time, however using just the martial movements and breathing technique alone will still allow you to develop your aura. Meditate on the concept immediately after completing a rotation of these techniques.”
I studied the new information and practiced the techniques every day. It was slow at first; when I did them it felt like the sound essence was scraping the insides of my body. After I finished it though I would immediately sit down and meditate. When I finished meditation the next time, I started the techniques, it was slightly easier. A few days after I began my practice, I noticed that my aura was beginning to change substantially. It felt deeper, stronger, and slightly bigger.
Once I noticed the change, I started getting Autumn to come out and practice with me. We would spar using nothing but our auras to try and suppress each other as she did to me the first time I showed her my aura. At first, she would absolutely crush me, but as I continued to practice, and my aura got stronger I was able to resist her more often. She’d still overtake me in the end, but it was an improvement.
When I wasn’t practicing my aura control, I was helping scout the dungeons. With my new abilities, I could leap from building to building easier than most others, and my sonar ability made it easy to avoid attacks from flying creatures. There were three dungeons just like I’d been told and I received quests from each of them.
“Area Quest: The Hive, traverse the dungeon, kill the boss, and take control of the spawn point. Reward: Control of the dungeon entrance.”
“Area Quest: Venom Trap, traverse the dungeon, kill the boss, and take control of the spawn point. Reward: Control of the dungeon entrance.”
“Area Quest: The Aviary, traverse the dungeon, kill the boss, and take control of the spawn point. Reward: Control of the dungeon entrance.”
Each dungeon spawned a different kind of monster. I’d been fighting them for weeks while we tried to level for the top ten slots, but I never even thought about where they came from. I’d just figured that they plopped down when the system came, and we’d never be rid of them. But now that I knew there was a chance to make the city livable again, I found myself excited about the operation.
The Hive spat out thousands of giant angry bugs with pincers, fangs, and a hard carapace that was difficult to shoot through, some of them could even fly. The Venom Trap provided us with giant snakes and lizards, the easiest of the monsters to kill within the city, but if you were bitten or had venom land on you it’d be a very bad day unless you die immediately. The Aviary spawned the most difficult and dangerous monsters. Birds of every shape and size cast fire, lightning, and ice from above. They’re fast fliers and if you weren’t careful, you could find yourself swept up in their talons being carried away.
These were the places that we were going to take in just a few days. The bosses rushed through my mind causing a shiver to run down my spine. Whether it was fear or excitement I didn’t know but I did know I was ready.