10 The Lord of Worms (1/2)
I needed 37 more points till I gained enough for the determinator tree's completion. It'll probably just be more willpower and endurance, but that's always good anyway. Both are key skills for my build, and I'll be investing in some willpower perks after some strength ones.
With that in mind, I shadow boxed while we walked. At first, Stacy and David kept their distance and treated me like I was ridiculous. Once I told them about my trees, they changed their tune. Still, they didn't start training too. Just walking endlessly was wearing on their moral.
We weren't walking without a purpose. It turns out that Schema would automatically give you a map that records where you've been. I'd been walking in an absolutely enormous circle the whole time. The edges of the circle were wobbly, making it difficult to tell, plus its dark all the time. At least, before I met with Stacy and David.
Still, it was about an hour before we reached another pool, this one crimson. I told them to stay back once again, and this time the mana was thick as sand. Well, as thick as what sand used to feel like. Squeezing sand felt like squeezing little balls of plastic now, instead of quartz. Regardless, I would still suffocate in this mana.
From within came something morbid. Inside was a large, grotesque human. Giant warts, misshapen lumps, and deformed features covered its moist skin. A pair of intelligent, malicious eyes gleamed over sagging eyelids. A smile, missing teeth and gums appeared. A deep yet raspy voice said,
”Good. So you've come after taking my poor little experiments. I'll teach you to be a proper vessel for mana. If I even see you come...I hate the scratching of wood on metal. It is disgust to ears...”
This fucker sounds insane. Schema agreed.
Lord of Worms(lvl ???) - A corrupted wizard. After allowing too many pools of mana to co-inhabit his mind, he was overwhelmed. The shattered pieces of his mind remain, experimenting on hapless adventurers, using their souls to act as anchors for mana and golems. He is a summoner who can spawn a variety of enemies from his bountiful mana pool. He is extremely dangerous.
Oh fuck. I doubt this guy will be as understanding as Baldag-Ruhl, which is a weird thing to say considering. The more humane of the two is the hivemind of flesh eating insects. Heh.
Anyway, I cranked agony to full as Stacy and David shot arrows from afar. Their arrows caught in the mana, sticking six or so inches deep in it. Agony, on the other hand, caused the wizard to scream.
And scream he did. He summoned skeletons, zombies, mice, beetles, bats, and ghouls. They charged towards me as sweat poured from his face. The skeletons broke under my fists. The mice were torn asunder. I pulped the zombies to mush. The beetles collapsed along with the bats before reaching me, agony's aura engulfing them.
Each summoned enemy gave full experience. Notifications appeared, raining down as I killed the endless summons while the wizard's flesh melted off his face. As if by some miracle, he kept fighting even when his nails fell off and his cheeks corroded.
I couldn't even bear to look at him. His howls would no doubt haunt Stacy and Micheal for many nights to come. He used healing spell after healing spell. It didn't matter. His mana pool was no doubt enormous, but I was a specialist in long term combat. He was working with very high totals. I was working with very high regeneration. Over time, I would win out.
And win out I did. The fight stretched on for hours. If not for agony, I wouldn't be able to reach him in the mana. I couldn't breath in it, let alone fight in it. That's how thick it was. If not for agony, the fight would be impossible for me.
But I have agony, so it's just an experience fest. It's a good chance for Stacy and David too. I didn't trust them fully yet, but holding their hands so much annoyed me. They should be strong enough to handle bats by level 20ish or so.
The hours stretched until Stacy and David were dooms-daying at the back,
Stacy shouted, ”It's immortal. We can't kill it!”
I rolled my eyes as I smashed a rat underfoot. I shouted, ”Come on. It's only been a few hours. Calm down.”
David shot an arrow through a skeleton, ”I don't think I can make it.”
A miasma of energy condensed within the mana beside the Lord of Worms. Bones materialized, then flesh, then skin. A goblin came screeching from within the mana along with several others. I said, ”Of course you can. Quit being a bitch.”
An arrow shot into an eye of a goblin as it stepped out of the mana. David sighed as I said, ”See, you got this.”
A coy grin popped on his face as he said, ”You know what. I may have a bit more in me than I thought.”
I crushed a goblin in my hand before saying, ”Wooooah now. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.”
Stacy laughed at him, snorting a bit. The Lord of Worms said in his gurgling voice, ”I hate you. I will feast on your hatred and devour your soul, just like the others.”
”Obviously not. Your just going to sit in that thick ass cloud till you die.”
”You will not outlast my mana.”
”Alright, sure. How about you keep thinking that as you slowly melt into a pile of black sludge.”
His ear fell off as he said, ”I don't understand how you can possibly contain...Aghhhh...The way I scrape against-”
”Back to the gibberish, aye?”
The Lord of worms thundered out, ”You are an abomination.”
”And you are about as appealing as a broken glass smoothie. How about we fight then, one monster with another?”
He ran towards me, like fire in his anger. The moment he reached out of the mana pit, I swung towards his face. I crushed him into the ground. I pounded his face into a red soup with bits of bone in it.
He wailed the whole time. Lord of Worms? More like Lord of tears.
A notification sounded,
Lord of Worms(lvl 112) slain. 112,000 exp*4.4*1.5 = 739,000 exp gained. 6 level ups!
Additional Reward: Corundum of Souls(Legendary Unique) - A mythical gem foretold to hold endless mana. The gem will gain life at 1,000,000, creating a living soul, trapped in the container.
677,340/1,000,000 Mana Charged
Aw yeah. The gem materialized in my pocket. I glanced at it, the fist sized gem being black with streaks of blue in it. I wouldn't tell Stacy or David about it. No need to.
Without even thinking about it, I siphoned the thick as sand mana into the gem along with the golems mana. I glanced at the gem,
Corundum of Souls(Legendary Unique) - 921,455/1,000,000 Mana Charged
A soul aye? I suppose having a full mana gem when I need it may be helpful. For the first time since entering Schema, I reach for my mana. Like a differnt blood in my body, I find a small pocket of mana pooled in my body. It flows through me like a liquid. I raise my hand, and from my fingers leaked an aura of blue.
Skill Gained! Mana Manipulation(lvl 1)f
No fuckin way. It was that easy the whole time. I put my other hand over the blue aura. It's cool, like an air conditioner. I doubted this would do much versus anything, at least in its current state.
Still, I stop the blue aura and deactivate agony as Stacy says, ”You're a magician?”
”Apparently so, though I can just create a very small, cool breeze.”
Before she replies, I begin siphoning my mana into the gem until its depleted. As I regenerate mana, I pull it into the gem. A mild, throbbing headache forms when I do so. My nose bleeds before regenerating. When I check my status screen, I have a debuff called mana depletion. It reduces my health by 10 a minute. Essentially nothing.
Without all my resistances and pain tolerance, it would no doubt be crippling. Mages have it hard too, I guess.
Stacy says, ”I gained 4 levels from that one fight. That what I'm talkin about.”
David says, ”I'm pretty surprised to. I gained 3 levels. It's honestly pretty unbelievable.”
Plebeians. I gained 12 in one fight when I started. I nodded before saying, ”I'm assigning my skill points and perks. We'll leave after.”
With that, we dug our faces into our menu screens like a group of teenagers digging their heads into their phones. I put all six attribute points into strength before checking out my tree menu. I should really put my points in there before putting points into perks. Best to fill out my options as much as possible.
I had gained quite a few points since last time. 72 to be precise. I'd gotten determinator up to 437/500. I put the 63 points needed in it, and a notification greeted me, as per usual.
Your will is your agent of change. You are the determinator, maker of the definite. Internal motivation doubled, mental fortitude doubled, and immunity to corruption. +10hp regen, +100 stamina regen, +10 mana regen.
Alright. No attributes, but there was some useful intangibles here. I could feel my focus sharpen along with my thoughts. Every part of myself came under my control. No amount of emotion could stop me anymore either.
The extra regens were always useful, though not all that necessary at this point, besides the mana regen. That was some good stuff considering this soul gem was gobbling up my mana. The other stuff may prove useful later, I don't really know.
Regardless, the 40% bonuses to endurance and willpower were worth investing in the tree. I check out my other trees,
| [ II Vicious(Beat an enemy 40 levels higher than you in combat lasting over an hour, Death's Dance, Scorn, and Desperation over level 25)(0/50)], III Fighter(Kill an enemy 40 levels over you), Obliterator(Kill a boss over 50 levels above you, both before level 100, while alone, and without previous assistance)[0/1000],|
Heh. Looks like Schema only shares the merit of a kill when you actually damage or affect an enemy. The AI doesn't hand out participation trophies.
It was one fat tree, needing 1000 skill points in total. Over the course of these past months, I'd only gained 844. Getting that many would take a very, very long time.
So might as well get started, eh? The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and all that. I put my 9 remaining points into the tree. With that handled, I checked out my perks. They didn't disappoint.
[Willful(Willpower of at least 10) - Your willpower is good. Doubles mana regeneration.]