Chapter 309: The Unfamiliar (1/2)
The cloud warped, wisping to a singular point of water. That liquid plopped to the earth, my view of the sun cleared. I gawked at the display, the range of my abilities far exceeding what I believed of them. Dwelling on what I was capable of, I allowed my mana to effuse ever so slightly. The air around me blurred from it, the dimension around me warping.
I hoped Plazia was ready for me.
Because I was ready for him.
An hour later, and I prepared for the Ahcorus's homeworld with my team. Most of my followers stayed here, our guild needing them for different operations. Torix handled the expanding infrastructure around Mt. Verner and Blegara. He even expanded the policing, education, and conscription duties to various divisions of our guild. That included the Vagni.
On the other hand, Kessiah kept in her realm of expertise, healing many of our troops. Even if our casualties were low, the injury rate was not. Getting them back into shape took a lot of time, and Kessiah went after it like an animal. As for Hod and Althea, they needed a break. Torix and I worked them to the bone during our fights with Elysium, so time to decompress was necessary.
Others fell under similar reasoning. Chrona and Krog began turning the top of Mt. Verner into a neoteric sanctuary for the gialgathens. They named the peak New Rivaria after their ancient refuge on Giess. They began remaking the old with a dash of new. Those acts established tablets etched with poetry, open homes, and even the never-melting ice sculptures they loved.
They performed music with molded glass, which echoed out like wind chimes and gentle winds. The gialgathens played games across Mt. Verner's peaks, showing their aerial mobility off in spades. They even pooled mist near the mountain's surface, offering moisture for their amphibious skins.
It made me smile seeing them and knowing I helped give them a place for this kind of thing. Other members of our guild lived the way they wanted as well. Diesel and other engineers focused on constructing fresh bunches of buildings, farms, and utilities on Mt. Verner's surface. My constructor golems helped them make changes in real-time, shortening the entire development immensely.
They didn't coat Mt. Verner in a city overnight, but they gained more ground than I'd expected. On the other hand, a few of my battle golems patrolled around Mt. Verner and cleansed the land of any aggressive eldritch. To Amara's chagrin, that meant all of them, but even she accepted that most eldritch couldn't be socialized.
It was just a part of their nature.
Either way, combining all of those jobs and duties took up immense amounts of time. With everything squared away, only three people left with me: Helios, Florence, and Amara. Helios was the most important member, as his warping saved me so much time. He also intended to give me a few lessons on warping while we traveled the ahcorus's homeworld. I looked forward to it, as warping would make me an absolute, utilitarian beast.
Florence came with us as well, the brothers getting along better since they had a talk a while back. The more social albony of the two wanted to speak with the razor queens and learn about their cultures. Florence figured he could create an alliance with trade deals and everything included if we played our cards right. I hoped he was right.
The last to join us was Amara. She wanted to gain levels by eating other eldritch and speak with Plazia. I wondered why, but Amara explained that Schema never gave her attributes for free. Schema simply recorded her evolution, raising her threat level as she strengthened herself.
As an eldritch, she didn't really need Schema to get stronger. That augmentation ability came wrapped into her being, as all she required was organic matter to eat. That growth potential could be why the eldritch were so hated to begin with. Schema preferred people needing him, and if you could avoid his system, he acted dicey.
Schema aside, our group of four readied ourselves along Mt. Verner's edge. We stood at our base's warp site, putting armor, tools, food, dungeon clearing gear, and enchantments into our dimensional storages. My gravity rings floated some of the equipment for them, as I gave each of them an enchanted circlet as I had my own troops. For Florence and Helios, I even granted them some spare, protective plating of my armor.
Even if they brought it to the Emperor for experimentation, I was ok with that risk. I didn't want either of the two exposed while we were fighting Plazia. They could be eaten in a second, especially Florence, and I didn't want to bring an empty casket back home.
Completing the armor and rings required little effort, as did the packing, so I made my minds work elsewhere. Seven elemental furnaces forged matter into energy under my skin, each of them nestled into safe patches of my mass. They channeled enormous plumes of mana into my cipheric carvings, and those detailed etchings gave me attributes in turn.
Knowing their full impact, I inspected the difference even a few hours made on my cipheric augments sheet.
[Modifications - The dimensional fabric composing this structure has been modified with code from the dimensional cipher. The rewards are as follows:
+7,121 Constitution
+27,414 Endurance
+5,557 Perception
+6,271 Willpower
+1,777 Luck
+72 Strength
+72 Dexterity
+100% to Effects of Legacies
+ 50% Internal Motivation Multiplier
+1.4 Trillion Ambient Mana]
Over the last few weeks, I generated an enormous amount of bonus endurance. These gains mounted until they exceeded my recent level-ups from Schema. By a lot, actually. With all the excess mana flowing in from the furnaces, it wouldn't be long before my runes eclipsed the AI's gains, and threatening exilement wouldn't be an issue.
Of course, I wanted to remain on good terms with Schema, so I'd stay in line. It was just a comparison I noted in my head. Beyond that, I inspected my status sheet, figuring out the specific amount of mana I generated from my furnaces. As expected, the matter conversion gave me a lot of energy to work with.
The Living Multiverse(Lvl 18,506 (Cap: 26,000) | Current Influence: The Rise of Eden | Class: Sovereign)
Strength – 97,153 | Constitution – 121,977 | Endurance – 251,245
Dexterity – 50,992 | Willpower – 208,645 | Intelligence – 129,009
Charisma – 50,715 | Luck – 71,488 | Perception – 39,307 |Awe - 5,201
Health: 1.08 Billion/1.08 Billion | Health Regen: 40.67 Billion/min or 677.7 Million/sec
Stamina: Infinite | Ambient Mana 5.402 Trillion
Mass: 24.28 Million Pounds(11.0 Million Kilos~)
Height: 18'03 (5.56 meters)
Damage Res - 99.28% | Dimensional Res - 100%
Phys Dam Bonus – 139.5 Million % | Damage Bonus – 40%
The Rise of Eden - enhances base stats by 30%, increased to 40% to allies within aura's radius.
Mana Conversion(Elemental Furnace Count: 7) - 56.4 Billion mana/min siphoned into runes and armor.
I shook my head in disgust at the furnaces' mana production. The overwhelming amount of mana increase put me at an absurd rate of stat augments as well. Even better, multiple furnaces laid unused in Elysium's treasure. I kept them tucked away in my dimensional storage, handing one off to Torix earlier if he wanted to try using one.
If he blew himself up, I'd make him a new body when he arrived back here from his phylactery. Everyone else simply couldn't handle a furnace yet. If they could, I'd spread them around to more potential members. Unfortunately, most would evaporate themselves and an entire region if they tinkered with one. Keeping them hidden for now kept most of the guild safe from their fallout.
And yeah, maybe I was a bit greedy with them. Eh, nobody's perfect, right?
Anyways, I inspected a few of my skills along with other parts of my status. With how many numbers interplayed together, it became easy to have certain aspects fall to the wayside. I imagined status accountants that helped manage someone's build and upgrades further down the line. Experienced, researched individuals could streamline the process, and maybe Obolis could recommend a few.
My own analysis proved fruitful, however. I found three skills working together that could be fused. The first of those three was A Manifold Mind. It would absolutely be integrated into my sovereign skill because its potential was limitless, and it amplified everyability I had.
The second skill humming along was Matter Conversion, the skill used to power the elemental furnaces. I leveled it quite a bit as of late, and getting more of them operating at once only gave me more potential. If anything, I may one day have hundreds or thousands running at once. At that point, who knew what I was capable of.
The third skill amplifying the others was Hunter of Many. I gained the technique a long time ago, and it drew out clear maps of my surroundings using my senses and powers. It also gave me some nuance with gravitation and telekinesis. These three mythical tier skills could combine fluidly without much interference, which meant they'd mold into a legendary skill soon.
I simply needed A Manifold Mind to use the furnaces while having that same skill scope out my surroundings with Hunter of Many. That combination granted me a pristine awareness of my surroundings, many furnaces firing at once, and plenty of mental room leftover for other tasks. Considering the sheer utility of a legendary skill like that, it was a no-brainer moving forward.
It did leave me wondering if I should postpone the legendary skill's creation until I unlocked primordial mana. After all, I'd gain the mana type eventually, and I wanted it fused together with my sovereign skill. A bit of arguing between minds, and I dismissed the idea. While primordial mana may be a path of improvement for me, it would never be one of my primary strengths.
It just didn't come naturally to me at all, and that meant learning its advanced techniques would be a desperate struggle as well. Now, I'd push through until I got it, but taping that lagging skill to my affluent ones could be a bad idea. It might not enhance my understanding of primordial mana at all, or worse, it may drag my best abilities down.
Even if that wasn't the case, I'd gain three legendary skill slots once I established my sovereign skill. Primordial mana could be used in one of those three openings, along with some of its advanced techniques like temporal dilation.
Having reached a decision, I ramped up my elemental furnace production while scoping out my surroundings. This gave me a pristine picture of Florence and Helios arguing behind me while Amara bit into some crystallized quintessence. It was her favorite flavor. They already finished while I pushed more food into my own pocket dimension.
Here at the edge of the mountain, the trees wafted in the wind as scents of rich earth, morning dew, and pure sunlight poured in. Tasting the air, I spread out my hands for a second. Having so much perception allowed me to appreciate the beauty of nature in depth. I thanked that boon from my status and skills, just soaking in the sheer thrill of an untamed forest.
And then Helios snapped, ”Florence, you're weak. A speaker is useful elsewhere, not on a fringe world with an ancient, abyssal entity under its surface. You're going to slow us down.”
Florence rolled his eyes under his dark wood mask, ”Pshh, what? I'm plenty strong enough, and with a group such as this, there's nothing to worry about. Just look at Daniel over there. Imposing, isn't he? I can't imagine someone bullying me while he's around.”
Helios dragged his hand down his mask, ”Bullying? An insect will crawl down your throat and devour your organs. Bullying is the least of our concerns.”
Florence pointed two finger guns at Helios, ”But you'll help pull it out of me before it can eat all my insides, right?”
Helios deadpanned, ”I will tear it out, along with any guts it's attached to.”
Florence gave Helios a quick pat, ”There you go. That's all I'll need. Besides, I'm taking the risk on myself. I don't need your chiding to remind me of that.”
Helios's pulse quickened as Florence touched the real issue. I smiled under my helmet, recognizing Helios's dissent as carefully disguised worrying. Helios let his hands flop against his sides while hissing, ”Don't complain to the Emperor when I pull your liver out then.”
Ahh, now that was brotherly love.
I waved at them both, ”Hey, stop that. We're about to leave, and I don't want them to think we're unprofessional.” I stared forward, spotting Amara clanking her teeth on a mana crystal, ”Even if we are.”
Helios stood up straight, more than able to play the part of the cold, calculating pro. Florence lacked that same ruthlessness while Amara kept chewing at the crystal-like it was an oversized jawbreaker. It gave us the impression of a rag-tag group of misfits, which was pretty on point. Eh, we usually made our most significant statements with actions anyway.
We reached the warp-drive with our supplies in tow before Helios raised a hand, ”If I may offer a counter-proposal, I may warp us directly to Reason's lair.”
I leaned back, stunned he already memorized the coordinates, ”I thought it took you weeks to get a new planet down for warping. What gives?”
Helios raised his eyebrows under his dark mask, ”It does take that long, but I was well aware we'd be going here for a few weeks before now. I simply put time into studying those coordinates, so adjusting a few calculations to Reasons' domain is a simple task.”
I gave him a nod, ”Alright then. Let's go warp directly there.”
With satisfaction, Helios raised his arm and generated a portal. Beyond its veil, a stary sky spread over an empty horizon. A cold, desolate land peaked in from beyond the gateway, and craters lined the surface of its icy grasp.
Air howled into the other planet's atmosphere, the empty place hungry for our prosperous planet's air. I scoffed out loudly, ”Oh yeah, it's looking very lively over there. You sure you have the right coordinates?”
Helios raised his unarmored right hand, my ring humming as it granted him better breathing, ”I am. This is their homeworld, Svia.”
I stepped through the portal. Florence, Amara, and Helios followed in my wake. Peering up, the stars glimmered down like silver coins amidst splashes of misty lightning. They carried many colors, this thin atmosphere poor for breathing but excellent for stargazing. Finding different lights, I picked up many of their individual features. Perception aided that process, making great views even better despite it being my lowest attribute.