EmEs_etherious
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Chapter 120- Almost There
🕑 Added 2023-12-13 23:09:01 +0000 UTCMinor edits have been made to the requirements for grade boundaries in terms of stat totals. S rank has gone up from 3000 to 5000+.
Even through the numbing agent, Arthur could feel the massive influx in power killing the hydra had given him. It was without a doubt the biggest windfall he’d received since the system's arrival, enough experience that it would have pushed him into the high sixties if he’d gotten it at level 1.
Congratulations. You have slain (lesser) swamp hydra- level 99.
It was the first time the system had congratulated him for killing a monster and the following prompt provided some much-needed information.
Rouge apocalypse beasts are a scourge to all sapient life. Whilst most have learned to live and coexist with sapient life, you will find the rare few that transgress the limits of civility. Such creatures are marked for death and any to do the deed is significantly rewarded. What you have accomplished, whilst a pale imitation of the true feat is still extraordinary and worthy of reward. It is a mere taste of what you may gain.
Kind regards, lady Sleyca.
You have received the award Dawn Bringer I (modified)- Kill a marked apocalypse beast (Destroy a Loci generated apocalypse beast) Rewards- 100 free stat points (Ten stats) Note. This is a repeatable award, though the conditions to earn it multiply by a factor of ten each time. Gaining the modified award does not bar you from the original version.
This did not look good. Not one bit. It seemed like killing the hydra raised a few flags somewhere up the pipeline and now he’d gained the attention of this lady Sleyca. He didn’t know who she was, but anyone who could attach their name to a system message was not someone he wanted to know right now. Alyssia probably received the same message right about now. He could only hope that the higher-ups saw their level disparity and concluded that Alyssia had carried him through the fight.
The problem would arise if they could see just how much his levels had jumped from the fight. It’d be clear as day to anyone with half a brain cell that he’d contributed significantly to the hydra's extermination. Thankfully he was almost certain that wasn’t the case, the Serako assembly had touched a little on what exactly the system provided a host. Being an addition to one's soul meant it was near impossible to access someone else's logs without their express permission as well as highly illegal.
He wouldn’t trust that one hundred percent though. To do so would make him a fool, and he was sure the higher-ups had found a few workarounds. One thing he was certain of, was that his status page was inviolable. No one could see it unless he allowed them to. It was a modified bit of soul magic that interpreted the inner layers of his soul, and so was placed under their natural defences. Defensive properties that were known to be nigh indestructible unless presented with the direct attack of a powerful soul mage.
Otherwise, none of the noble families would allow the system to take hold of their offspring. His attempt to keep a low profile on Earth hadn’t been too successful and unfortunately, it looked like that outcome would be replicated on a galactic scale. He could only hope that this lady Sleyca was far away and had more important things to worry about.
The awarded stat points were a welcome boon, though, even if the gift came with so many strings attached. The vast majority of sapient species stopped gaining stats from levelling at level 300, and he guessed enhancements like the one he’d just received were one of the few ways they could still be gained. It at least confirmed that gaining stats after level 300 was possible, if insanely difficult. He’d have to kill 111 true apocalypse beasts that had been marked for death just to gain a measly 300 stat points. The risk-to-reward disparity was so great it was practically criminal. Are there even 1000 normal apocalypse beasts in the entire Milky Way galaxy? Nah, I'm underestimating how big space really is. There are probably millions.
Much to Arthur's delight, the rest of his system notifications contained no unwanted surprises.
You have reached level 72…
You have reached level 77…
You have reached level 94…
You have gained 184 unassigned stat points. Prodigious title bearer +7 stat points. Total stats gained: 191
He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. It was a massive boost in power and his evolution came in clutch granting him nearly an entire level's worth of extra stats to work with. Sure it wasn't anything ground-breaking, but it would make all the difference in the world when he finally unlocked a class and startled raking in more stat points, with a 60% increase from his enlarged soul title, enhanced by 10% by his evolutionary path, the numbers would quickly snowball to ridiculous levels. With the 70 stats he’d saved already and the 10 he'd gained from the award, he had exactly 271 stat points to invest. For the first time in a while, Arthur had called up his full status page.
Arthur Ward
Level 94
Unallocated stat points: 70-->271
Evolved: Rank F- Prodigious title bearer (increase all title effects by 10%)
Strength- 122(100) [1.2*]
Vitality- 734(510)[1.4* or 2.8*]
Endurance- 555(500) [1.1*]
Constitution- 698(485) [1.4*]
Agility- 118 (+35 from boots)
Intelligence- 555(500) [1.1*]
Willpower-250
Charisma-95
Perception-92
Health- 15,840/15,840 (1758(720)/hour)
Ether- 5403/5550 (555/hour)
Stamina- 4580/5550 (555/minute)
Skills
*Soul- An esoteric and unique branch of magic, magicians of this affinity have been known to control hordes of spirits, bringing destruction upon their enemies. Incredibly rare.
Skills:
1-Soul infusion level 1- Infuse a portion of your soul into your strike to deal damage to an individual's soul
2-N/A
3-N/A
-Healing- A school of magic skilled in the art of dealing with injuries and making body augmentations. It is as useful as it is common.
Skill:
1- Overwhelming Regeneration (Rare) Level 3- Use healing Ether to regenerate your body at 1.6% of max health total per minute of usage. Efficiency drops by 40% when used on another individual. Can be supercharged to target foreign energy and poisons present in wounds.
Cost of usage on host: 25 Ether/minute
Cost of usage on another: 35 Ether/minute
Secondary Effect: 160 healing affinity Ether may be stored as OVERHEALTH in the target of this ability to be used for recovery when the individual is injured. This stored Ether works under Host-Use efficiency levels. Overhealth can be stored in host but undergoes a degradation process. Current time limit: 24 hours
Host's stored overhealth can be used as a single-use attack that will greatly slow down the target's natural regeneration rates as well as destroy ether at a 2:1 ratio. Current ether destruction: 80
Rare skills cap at level 30
2- Bestial Recovery (RARE) level 2- At the cost of 80 ether per minute, increase your natural health regeneration to 1050% of the normal value
Secondary effect- Can target one individual at a time. At the cost of 1100 Ether, increase target's natural health regeneration to 310% of the standard value for 3 hours
3-N/A
*Water- A versatile school of magic known for its wide range of uses and utility in battle.
Skills:
1- Dark Vapours Grasp (Rare+) Level 2- Generate a gaseous domain of charged water vapour and shadow around you. Size depends on the ether pool. Slows down all within it by 21.5% and limits visions. May select targets within the domain and shadow-lock them in place. The strength of the lock is based on the host's strength attribute. Cost of skill: 205 ether/minute. Shadow lock 50 ether/second/target +10 Ether cost for every additional target.
2- Molecular Water Shot (Elite) level 1- Form bullets of water ranging in size from as large as boulders to as tiny as the grouped molecules that make up the liquid. Molecular Water Shot possesses a piercing ability that bypasses a portion of the target's natural defence, both physical and magical.
Cost: Variable
Damage: Variable
3-N/A
*Shadow- A school of magic shrouded in secrecy, little is known about it except that those that possess this affinity, are skilled assassins you don't want to make enemies of.
Skill:
1- Shadow trap (Rare) Incomplete- Use shadow affinity ether to create a range of traps. Traps may be remotely placed and can operate on a timer
2- Shadow Drain (Passive) [Uncommon] Level 1- Damage inflicted by all Shadow magic drains 0.5% of damage dealt to reconstitute the host's health and stamina.
3-N/A
*General skills
1-WhatamIevendoing (Rare) Level 1- Many wish to expand their auras, to seek out and dominate all those around them. You have sought the opposite, to reign in and isolate yourself from all others. Makes it easier to condense your aura per level of this skill.
2- Purify (Rare) Level 1- Purify (Rare) Level 1- Use ether to create an aura of purifying energy around you. Can purge residual Ether, bacteria, poison, filth etc. Aura range increases with skill level. Cost: Dependent on the toxicity of the environment
3- Ether Manipulation (Uncommon) Level 4- Increases ease of Ether manipulation
4- Myriad Tongues (Unique-Rare) Level 2 - A strange yet effective way of using ether has led to the creation of a skill that can be used to both speak and understand most languages. Be warned though, the skill's circuitry is far from a perfect match with the system. Secondary effect: Will help host tell when they are being lied to. This scales with Charisma and Wisdom.
It was frankly absurd to look at it. If Lady Sleyca ever got a good look at his full status page, he was sure she’d follow him to the ends of the galaxy to get her hands on him. Including his unassigned attribute points, he had a grand total of 3525 stats, a number most people would never even see after they’d maxed out their class potential.
And here he was, without a class, not even level 100 yet and he’d spent enough stats to push a single stat past the 3,000 boundary into the A tier. Investing those unused attributes will push my total even higher after my titles do their work too. Okay, maybe he’d stroked his ego enough already, but he couldn’t help himself. Much of this power felt unearned, a mixture of his soul affinity, unique circumstances and a heavy dose of luck that had thrust him into stardom. An uncivilised person like Alyssia would probably say he’d stumbled arse-backwards into power and honestly, they’d be mostly right. Or at least they wouldn’t be wrong.
It brought to mind a quote he’d heard long ago. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Except all the hard work in the world wouldn’t let an ordinary person catch up to Arthur. It was unfair, but that was the reality of things. His soul affinity alone made sure he’d be sixty percent stronger than another human at his level. He didn’t earn that, he was born with it.
Advantages like that opened the doors to so many more and the effects compounded to produce results that were near exponential. Even his monster core consumption, arguably the thing that made him truly special most likely wouldn’t have been possible without his soul affinity. He would have imploded if he tried to take the shadow panther's power for himself without the resilience it provided him.
Arthur shook his head, trying to dislodge the slightly melancholic tinge his thoughts had taken on. It didn’t matter how or why things had happened. It didn’t matter that he didn’t deserve the power he’d gained. The only thing he cared about, the only thing the world would concern itself with, was that HE, Arthur Ward was the man that possessed such power and they would care about what he chose to do with it.
“Hey Arthur,” Alyssia called out. He looked up to see that she was walking towards him and at a leisurely pace, a strange cloth sack clenched in her hand. Unlike her first fight with the hydra, this time she didn’t return with any injuries, just a minor burn along her left forearm that was healing even as he watched. He didn’t need to ask what was in her hands, bits of the sack had already started to burn away to reveal the shimmering green orb within. He could smell it, his mouth already salivating as his baser instincts started to wake up to the delectable scent.
The hydras core. It was right there within his grasp. The loci hadn’t skimped out on the energy required to produce it. Alyssia handed it over to him and he took it with shaking hands. This was it, the moment he’d been waiting for.
“You're insanely lucky, you know that,” Alyssia said, grinning widely. “I’m not certain, but I think the core's around 90% as powerful as one you’d find on the same creature in the real world. It’s honestly amazing really. The core’s stronger than the monster it came from.”
Arthur ran his hands over the dark green orb, ignoring the fact that touching it was blistering his skin. The poisonous nature of the hydra had carried over to the monster's core. It wouldn’t stop him from eating it though. The thing could be death incarnate and he’d still find a way to wash it down.
“I’m guessing you got that message too?” Alyssia asked, a pensive look on her face.
Arthur nodded his head.
“They know I’m from a different dimension, too. Turns out we’re not that rare. Sleyca wouldn’t have cared a lick about me if I hadn’t killed the lesser hydra. Now she’s interested and I don’t think she’s the sort to take no for an answer.”
Her words painted a dark picture but he knew she was right. Heck, the reality of their situation might be far worse than she’d made it out to be. They could leave the locus only to find that Artemo had already been taken ‘hostage.’ Sure, they’d call it something else, and put some flowery language on it, but that was what it’d be. Hopefully, he was only being pessimistic, but he didn’t think so.
“We’ll deal with it when the time comes, one step at a time.” Arthur comforted her. “By the time we leave the locus, we’ll be far stronger than we were at the beginning. Far stronger than we are now. Any information they have on us, and any preparations they make, will be outdated and inadequate. And if they try to force us into something, well… I’ve not killed any sapient being yet, but their blood will wash off all the same under a shower.”
It was a bold declaration, one he knew he couldn’t back up against someone as strong as he believed Lady Sleyca to be, but he meant it all the same.
Alyssia sighed loudly and dropped down to sit next to him. She leaned her head onto his shoulder and they stared off into the distance in companionable silence.
”I don’t want to rain on your parade,” she began quietly, “But I don’t think we’ll be able to stop her from doing anything she wants. Lady Sleyca has access to private system information. She sent the message immediately after we killed the Hydra and that's with the time dilation effect inside the locus. The woman is at the top of the food chain, probably a noble judging by her name. She’s far beyond us as we are now.”
“I can only pray that your dimension is a kinder place than my own where such abuses of power are rare and punished.
She sat upright suddenly and turned to him, the beginnings of a grin forming on her face. “That's enough of the depressing talk…” she poked him in the stomach with her finger too fast for him to stop. Oh yeah. I almost forgot her emotions change faster than the wind.
"There’s nothing to gain from worrying about things outside our control. I've only heard your description of the elixir marking process. I want to see it myself. It's not every day you get to see someone drink a potion that should, by all rights, make them explode magnificently."
Arthur couldn’t help but laugh at Alyssia’s poor attempt at humour, at least he thought she was trying to crack a joke. He could never be too certain when it came to Alyssia but he appreciated her attempt at injecting some levity into the morose atmosphere nonetheless.
Arthur groaned as he got into a cross-legged position. Sure, he couldn’t feel any pain with the numbing agent running through him, but it was the principle of the thing.
“Don’t worry Alyss, you'll get your show soon enough,” he chuckled.
She frowned in confusion at the shortening of her name but didn't say anything which Arthur took as a sign of approval. If she didn’t mind, she would've told him straight up.
“Go and grab my backpack, please. I put it in your spacial bag. It's got the dragon core and my magic cauldron beside it, and I'll need both before I get started."
This time, her frown was one of clear displeasure, but she did not complain, only huffing loudly as she began to walk off. “Thank you,” he shouted at her retreating back. She didn’t turn round but put her middle finger up at him, a gesture he’d unfortunately taught the crass woman much to her delight.
He laughed out loud, this time, he couldn't help it. It only made it better that he knew Alyssia could hear him. He’d be pretty annoyed if he was in her position too. They’d left their bags outside the hydra’s domain to make sure they didn't damage them in the swamp. It was also a preventative measure to stop the apocalypse beast from sniffing out the dragon core. The masking spells on its case were on their last legs and starting to fail.
The only problem was, that the hydra’s domain was almost a mile long which meant that Alyssia had to travel through a bug-infested swamp to retrieve them.
The perks of being injured and having low agility I guess. Arthur smiled. He'd be getting his class soon.
