156 Eonoth (1/2)

The silver's hollow eyes starred at me for a second. It turned around, running away. Before it escaped, I gripped it with a gravity well. I stepped forward, the dim lights obscuring his operating table. Embedded into the skin of the espen was strands of silvers.

The tiny, gray insects dug their feet into the espen. They interlocked, creating panels of metal on the skin of the poor man. I tapped a few of the moving the bugs. They crawled away from my fingertip as if I was their kryptonite.

I sighed, ”Whether you're the cult or not, you're definitely not a good guy.” I looked up at the shivering silver suspended midair by magic. I shook my head in disgust. If my working theory was right, then this was what the cult was.

Someone fused silvers with espens, and now these mutants were running amuck in Icosah. At least it was an easy fix for me.

I laid a hand onto the unconscious espen. My armor expanded over him, consuming the silvers with surgical precision. Seconds later, my armor retracted, and the espen was cleansed. Wounds littered him from where the silvers once were, but the injuries would heal.

I shivered a bit at the sight before looking around. As useful as Hunter of Many was, I preferred looking around with my eyes instead of my ears. With that in mind, I grabbed a glowing manastone from the side of the surgeon's table.

I charged it with mana, and the stone shined a bright, crimson light. I walked around, inspecting the rest of this hell hole. I found other bodies of espens already consumed by silvers. In fact, silvers were everywhere.

They reinforced the building, the steel reinforcement was made of them. I looked closer. Silvers made up most of the tools, the table, even the skin of the surgeon.

I cleared these hidden threats, walking up to them and letting my armor eat them. After a few minutes, the only silvers left were supporting the entire area. I sat and waited here for a few minutes. As I did, I inspected my cipher augmentations.

[Modifications - The dimensional fabric composing this structure has been modified with code from the dimensional cipher. With mana, further bonuses can be applied. The bonuses are as follows:

+72 Strength

+72 Dexterity

+80 Perception

+6,080 Endurance

+3,040 Willpower

+100% to effect of legacies

+50% to internal motivation]

I raised my eyebrows up at the increase in perception. 80 was nothing to scoff at in as little as a day of the cipher running. I tapped my chin, thinking about it. I came to a simple yet profound conclusion.

The less an attribute had been upgraded, the easier it was to improve.

The perception bonus outsped my endurance enhancements. Without a doubt, I understood endurance better than perception. With that cause out of the way, it left one apparent reason; my perception was low.

This would explain why Schema has level caps. As you gain more and more levels, attributes require more and more mana to augment. That means putting hard caps prevented anyone from over leveling. It meant investing more into endurance was a waste of time.

Well, for now at least. Having so much endurance let me enhance the other attributes much faster. That alone made all the investment worth it up until this point. If I caught up my other attributes some, it would buff me quite a bit. At the very least, it would help round out my build.

Armed with that knowledge, I stood up and heard rumbling. I glanced up at the silver surgeon I kept suspended,

”Looks like your friends are here.”

I stood up, threw my manastone, and hid in some shadows. Minutes later, one of the silver infested espens rose up from the entrance. Its feet flopped on the ground, a rancid smell wafting inside. The creature sucked up the toxins, cleaning himself and his surroundings.

The creature walked up to the table, a brown hood draped over its face. It sniffed the air, wheezing like it was exhausted. It turned its face towards me right as I lunged out. I grabbed my hand around the hooded figure's neck, pulling it up off the ground.

Before it fought back, I dug my armor into it. The beast howled like a banshee. It gurgled from under its hood, vomiting up the mush onto me. It poured over my suit, and I kept picking the silver out of it. Within a minute, the monster stopped fighting back.

I shook my head at the sorry sight. The espen underneath the hood had been half silver. Very little of it remained. Its wounds didn't bleed, however. Without a DOT stopping his healing, the native would eventually return to full health.

I continued this cycle for several hours. I collected a pile of twelve espens, some of them children. It was an ugly affair. When we killed the plague victims from Yawm, the humans were dead. These people were alive though. Seeing living experiments...I don't know. Seeing it first hand was harder then I expected.

I swallowed my discomfort, pushing it down. I didn't have time for disgust. After waiting a few more hours, something rumbled against the side of the building. At this point, I was pretty sure I collected the normal espens. This wasn't a normal one outside.

I braced myself, ready for it to spring inside. Nothing happened. Another quake rippled through the building. I charged my mana,getting myself prepared for the worst. A few seconds later, and a figure phased through the wall.

It was a spider creature, being thin and spindly. Four legs on its back supported its main body, the other two arms ending in stretched hands. It glanced around, emitting the sound of chirping cricket. Seconds later and Schema translated the voice,

”A hunter is here...”

Its eyes snapped onto mine, eight black pupils staring at me,

”There you are.”

I stood up, raising my palms up, ”I'm not a hunter. I'm here to save the poor bastards. What are you here for?”

An old, worn out cloak covered most of the creature, hiding its body. Beneath the fabric, something squirmed as the creature hissed,

”These are our test subjects. You've destroyed our research. You will be...eliminated.”

The beast raised a hand, but I raised a palm, ”Wait one second. I'm not your enemy.”

Eyelids narrowed on all its eyes. It clicked out its words, ”Your actions tell a different story.”

I kept my hand up, ”What are you researching and why? We might not have opposite goals.”

The creature stood still, almost like a phantom. Mana built in my blood, the energy collecting over each second. A bit longer and I'd unleash a singularity.

”You smell...of Old One. Who do you serve?”

I frowned, ”I don't serve anyone. I've done a few tasks for Etorhma.”

The wiry creature took a few steps back, ”You...you are an avatar...You killed the World Eater...”

It nodded, moving its mandibles and fangs as it did, ”I follow an Old One as well. I've spoken to him. He is interested in you.”

I grimaced, ”Wait...Already? Do you have a telepathic link or?”

The monster's head twitched, ”I have heard but the faintest whisper of his being. His voice echoes in your mind long after he has left. I trembled before it. I listen to its echoes, and they whisper out his demands.”

At this point, I understood one thing for sure - I was talking to a lunatic.

”Uh...sure. Of course.”

Pressing his elongated fingers together, the creature hissed, ”Eonoth wishes to speak with you.”

I raised a finger at the creature, ”Oh fuck no. I don't want anything to do with this Eonoth guy or any Old One.”

The monster scoffed, ”Do the wants of an ant decide the actions of a god?”

I made a fist at this abomination, ”This ant is about to blow your ass to pieces.”

It snickered, ”He will summon you now. Goodbye insect.”

The space around me warped. Before I dissipated, I made my move. I reached back, pulling the espens towards me. I wrapped a cord of my armor around them, piercing my gray suit. Hiding my identity wasn't worth killing these people. In my eyes at least.

If they got outside without protection, the poison would kill them. With that in mind, I created an antigravity well over us. The bug man whispered, ”Futile.”

The space around us curved, but I reached out my other hand and unleashed havoc. A singularity formed in the chest of the creature. It tried phasing away, but the pull of the black hole was inescapable. The beast imploded inwards, falling into himself.

The carapace over his face tore, revealing the mush underneath. The monster gurgled,

”H-how?”

A second later, and the singularity finished its feast. It collapsed, releasing a destructive shockwave. I extended my armor, creating a wall between the espens and my attack. The impact catapulted us towards the brick surface. I kicked with my foot, sending a telekinetic wave at the wall. It crumbled, the steel supports snapping like twigs.

The purple mush wrapped around us, but we stayed dry. I maintained a pocket of air with antigravity, stopping the poison from infecting the espens wounds. I landed on the ground. I pushed my heels against Giess, propelling myself up. With an outpour of mana, I created another well above me.

We fell upwards towards the surface. I used the chain leading to the surface as a guide. It was a strange feeling. Everything around us fell upwards at the same rate, maintaining our protective bubble of air. With a bit of finessing, I kept us clean until we reached the clay.