59 Creation (2/2)
“Damn. You got way heavier didn’t yah?”
I spoke, “A bit. What do you mean you knew I’d handle it?”
Kessiah glanced around like she said something she wasn’t supposed to. She tapped the edges of her hips, her violet skin radiant in the sun,
“Well, the cores inside of rifts are notoriously difficult to take down. Anyone who can, they gain a title, Rift Closer. We figured you’d be able to, considering how your armor works.”
I raised a fist to shoulder level, “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about. I don’t know what titles are though.”
Kessiah pointed above her head. Her name appeared, along with two other lines of data below it. The middle line was her title, King Killer. The one below that showed her level.
“They kind of act like status symbols. My title is in the middle of the tiers. There’s lists of them if you want to check them out on message boards. Some people obsess over which title is better, and the tier list if constantly changing.”
Althea raised an eyebrow, “Sounds like you know a lot about them.”
Kessiah grinned, scratching the back of her head. Her white hair flowed between her fingers,
“Yeah. Guilty as charged. I check them out from time to time. Rift Closer is a kind of wildcard title. It means you have some unique ability that lets you close rifts. Whether that ability is useful in combat is a different story altogether though. It’s hard to tell at a glance, but paired with a high level, and the title can really hold some merit.”
I peeled the armor covering my face back, “Well, cool. Sounds pointless though. Why try to appear powerful when I can simply be powerful?”
Althea chimed, “I’m sure plenty of people thought the same thing about charisma builds. You can’t get more power by killing monsters with Charisma really. You can get power by talking though, and I think that’s powerful in its own way. I’m sure titles are like that.”
Kessiah pointed a finger at her, holding her hand like a gun. She fired it at Althea while saying, “Bingo.” Kessiah lowered her hand, continuing,
“It’s useful as fuck when roaming around the galaxy too. Imagine Yawm walking around with such a high bounty on his head. You see his title, Sentinel Slayer, then his high level, and 99% of people turn the other way.”
With a bit of intuition, I thought about making my title and status appear overhead. A little notification rang out beside my ear, letting me know it appeared. It may be useful in the future. After handling that, I clapped my hands,
“Alright then, you guys ready for the next dungeon?”
Kessiah shook her head, “We gotta kill the rest of the guards here. They may not be the smartest things, but leaving them behind isn’t the smartest idea.”
Althea cocked her rifle, the steam hissing before she armed a bolt into the chamber of it,
“Then let’s go.”
We set off towards the outer layer of the stadium. Using my perception, I sensed for anyone nearby as we walked. I would use hearing, smell, and enhanced sight for finding the monsters stalking around the arena. One by one they fell, each of them easier than the last. The experience they offered was much lower now, partially because none of them were over level 800 and I was a higher level too.
It didn’t mean I didn’t gain any levels though. After killing the guardians of the rift, the rift’s monsters, and the scorpion queen, I was sitting at a comfortable level of 740. It just so happened that today we were walking home. It was a one of those days where Althea was feeling chatty. She and Kessiah where telling simple stories about everyday stuff.
During one of Althea’s stories, Kessiah gave out the dungeon cores we needed. It was a good time to stock up on any bonuses we had since everything had slowed down. As they chatted away, I absorbed the dungeon cores and began grinding out my stats. They left me behind while I stared at my status screen.
The last time I’d maxed out my dungeon cores was level 563. With the genesis of potential perk, I could get half of my level’s worth of bonus attributes and bonus skill points from cores. That gave me a solid boost of 88 attributes on top of all my levels ups. With that in mind, I poured my points into constitution before the message I’d been waiting for appeared.
Star Matter(Have 1000 points in a single attribute before level 1000, Constitution over 1000) –You have become a center of mass. Embrace your frame, and move even stars. Every eldritch killed over level 1000 adds another year of life. Increases living time without air by 200%, and grants immunity to cancer. +10% more density, weight, and height per 1000 points in constitution. You may choose to add 1/10th of constitution to any attribute of your choosing, besides constitution or endurance. You may now unlock a unlock a class.
The first thing I noticed was how a lot of the benefits were similar with the endurance perk. These perks weren’t designed with the idea of someone getting more than one. One of the interesting differences came with the last remark, a message about getting a class. It didn't mention anything about getting a class though. I'd research it for a bit before asking Torix again. I could sit down and read through my obelisk for a bit about it.
The other benefits from the perk were far more translucent. Even with the overlapping bonuses, the perks were worth getting if only for the increased scaling they offered. The extra 1/10th on any attribute was worth chasing for all by itself.
Which attribute will you select for the 1/10th addition? Strength, Will, Intel, Luck, Char, Dex, or Per?
For a second, I thought about putting the extra 1/10th of an attribute into willpower. I got a huge bonus for willpower, and the stat was one of my key stats. After a few seconds of number crunching though, I discovered that I may be able to get four of these level 1000 stats before I passed the level 1000 stat mark.
It sounds crazy, but most people would be able to get at least two of them before hitting level 1000. That is, if they knew about the perks. Since I invested so heavily into endurance and maximized my total stat count as much as possible, I’d be able to get four instead.
With that in mind, I put the extra 1/10th of the attribute into strength. After that, I began placing all my excess points into willpower. If I pulled this off, I’d connect the two attribute chains of my stats while getting myself four of these level 1000 perks. My endurance and willpower would both feed into constitution. After that, constitution would feed into strength.
Strength would then feed into…well, I hadn’t decided yet. I’d decide once the option was there. With all that stat stuff in mind, I allocated the rest of my attribute points into willpower. After that, I finalized my decision.
Weight, will, and strength surged through me like an electric jolt. My armor snapped once more, bursting as I molted from my previous, tight shell. A layer of muscle built on my frame. My shoulders grew broader, my hands larger. My structure turned thicker, making me look compact despite how tall I was. I shook my head as my helmet split open before regenerating.
The muscle within my armor enhanced, turning thicker. The cells contracted with greater force. This surge of strength was a dangerous and delicious cocktail, something that was short and fleeting. The high faded before I sat in the resounding radiance it left behind.
I turned my hands, inspecting them for differences. They were similar, but my knuckles were larger along with the bones of each finger. While not oversized for my body, my hands were larger than normal. They were kind of like clubs at the ends of my wrists. The difference didn’t stem from constitution though. It was purely strength.
While constitution made me bigger and heavier, it didn’t change my proportions. Strength did. Strength made my hands bigger, my shoulders broader, it even changed my jaw. While I wasn’t outright alien, it did make me look different. Almost like humanity if we had a few more million years to evolve, physically speaking at least.
After noticing all these changes, I glanced at my status screens. Glorious.
Level 740
Strength – 507.4 | Constitution – 1000.7 | Endurance - 1077
Dexterity – 176.2 | Willpower – 604.7 | Intelligence – 205.4
Charisma – 60.1 | Luck – 85.6 | Perception – 123
************************************
Daniel Hillside Totals Regen Buffs/Debuffs
Health 68,811/68,811 19,619/min Oppression Damage- 15,000+40%hp/min
Stamina 27,390/27,390 384/sec Elemental Res - 98%
Harbinger of Cataclysm .987 Billion/56.6 Billion 69.4/per min(conduit) Plasma Res - 98%
Phys Dam Reduction - 98% Rad Res - 98%
Phys Dam Bonus - 5921% Mental Res - 98%
Total Damage Bonus 20% Boundless Storm
My stats were high. So high, they almost blew my mind. My strength had increase dramatically along with my constitution. Health and health regen increased slowly but surely. The amount of ambient mana I received from the rift was higher than I anticipated as well. It was a much higher amount than clearing normal dungeons.
My physical damage bonus was insane as well. It seemed more like a way of measuring general strength than physical damage. With that being the case, I was now strong as fuck. When I clasped my hand into a fist, it tensed with the pressure of a hydraulic press. It blew my mind how powerful I’d become, and so quickly.
It was all because of my armor when I thought about it. My armor gave me the extra edge that always kept me one step ahead of Schema’s curve. It was like Schema’s system was balanced around the idea of someone having only the stats that Schema gave them. If you had even a marginal amount more, then you could use that slight bonus to snowball into more and more bonuses.
If I was the snowball, I was tumbling down the mountain fast and hard. With that in mind, I caught back up with the others. As I ran, my feet shook the ground a bit, even if I tried making my footsteps quiet. If I let them smack against the ground, they straight up broke into the concrete. It was really weird.
It was like the rock wasn’t as solid. It wasn’t like water or anything, but like a thick, brittle putty. If I pressed against it, my hand would sink in some. At this point, I was heavy enough that figuring out gravity magic would be downright diabolical.
It made me bubble with excitement as I caught up with Althea and Kessiah. Trotting up, I lined up beside them. As I did so, Kessiah turned towards me. Well, it wasn’t towards me anymore. I was taller than her now.
She frowned,
“What the fuck? How in the hell are you taller than me, little man?”
I grinned, the satisfaction clear as day on my face as I peeled my armor off it,
“Ahhhhh, it feels good to hear that and know it’s ironic.”
Althea giggled before Kessiah’s frown deepened. For someone so old, she still had a pretty petty side to her. A stubborn, petty side. Kessiah crossed her arms,
“We’ll see when we get back to the camp. I’m not letting you get out of the spar now.”
I slammed my fists together, “I look forward to it.”
Kessiah grinned, “Looks like I need to beat some more fear into you again.”
I shrugged, “We’ll see.”
We chatted as we walked, a bit friendlier after Althea commented on how ridiculous the two of us were being. By the time we reached the camp, the three of us were having an animated conversation about our builds. Althea already gained the level 1000 perk as well. She invested very, very heavily in the stat total, to a ridiculous extent even.
Her next goal was dexterity, so that she could fire and move with more precision. According to Althea, it was a standard rogue set up. Kessiah kept pretty standard, investing almost entirely into constitution and strength. She knew all about how the stats ‘fed’ into each other. It was why she decided to become a warrior.
Of course her skill layout was entirely different than mine. I focused more on striking hard and fast, with compact hooks and straights. I would take advantage of opportunities if they arose, otherwise I stuck to the basics. Kessiah had quite a bit of her latent power hidden behind her mythical skill, Blood Arts. It was the official name for her hemomancy.
If I could, I’d bring it out of her this next time we fought. We reached the sewer nearest towards the camp before raising out of the ground. Once we’d had short rendezvous with Torix, the four of us went towards another intersection bridge.
The day was waning, the orange glow of a sunset peaking over the horizon. That orange light bathed us in light, the wind keeping us cool. The ground was cool on my feet too, the sense of touch going straight through my armor. Kessiah and I walked up beside each other before Torix turned towards me,
“I’m amazed you wish to be destroyed soundly once more.”
I shrugged, speaking with a quiet confidence, “We’ll see.”
Kessiah grinned, “Good. I can’t wait to humble that confidence of yours.”
A magic aura passed by us, going far away and around us. It was the same noise trapping magic Torix used anytime we had secret conversations. He imagined our fight would be destructive enough that we might attract a follower or two if we didn’t silence the sound some.
On the other hand, Althea had a bag of popcorn. She tugged on Torix’s sleeve, so he snapped his fingers. A chair of black mana formed beneath her and him before Torix waved at us,
“Now give us a good show.”
His voice echoed from several hundred meters away. They were giving us quite the breadth for the battle. I’d give them a damn good reason for it. I clasped my fists, my ascendant mana roaring in my veins, pulsing through my runes. The energy radiated off my runes, a thick mist radiating off them. I grinned with my armor forming a jagged grin of its own.
From between the teeth, the same ascendant mana poured outwards. It strengthened until the air hummed around me. I stepped forward, and the ground cracked underfoot. The telekinetic lining wrapped around my fists like invisible steel. The sensation of fear crept up my back. Kessiah decimated me last time we fought. Even if my mind forgot, my body remembered.
I grit my teeth. A grin traced my lips as adrenaline laced my blood. My hands shook, but it wasn’t with fear anymore. It an absolute, delectable excitement. It was a fight I knew I couldn’t win. A fight with no holds barred. I could unleash my full potential. Every tactic, every dirty trick, every ounce of anger and hatred, I needed them if I was going to win.
Kessiah shouted, “Don’t burn through your mana too quickly.”
I pulled my fists up, setting into a stance. It was amazing how fighting against the weak made you pick up bad habits. I felt rusty, almost like I hadn’t been on the edge in a long time. Staring at Kessiah, there was a bottomless abyss. I walked right along the cliff’s edge, darting the line when I faced her.
She said, “You ready?”
The ascendant mana roared in my fists. My grin widened,
“Always.”