EmEs_etherious
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Chapter 113- The Progress So Far
🕑 Added 2023-11-14 23:59:31 +0000 UTCArthur looked at his distorted reflection in the lake of water, a toothbrush in his mouth. Today was the day they'd decided. Come success or loss, they’d be entering the third layer before nightfall. If things went well, Arthur would be leaving it with a legendary class. If not, well, his chances of achieving it without a second apocalypse core were highly unlikely. He took a look at his status, appreciating how much had changed over the past few days.
Status
Arthur Ward
Level 71
Unallocated stat points: 70
Evolved: Rank F- Prodigious title bearer (increase all title effects by 10%)
Strength- 122(100) [1.2*]
Vitality- 720(500)[1.4* or 2.8*]
Endurance- 555(500) [1.1*]
Constitution- 698(485) [1.4*]
Agility- 118 (+35 extra 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)
Endurance- 4580/5550 (555/minute)
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 tonguesMyriad 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.
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- Undecided
3-Undecided
-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.
Skills:
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 the 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 75 ether per minute, increase your natural health regeneration to 1000% of the normal value
Secondary effect- Can target one individual at a time. At the cost of 1000 Ether, increase the target's natural health regeneration to 300% of the standard value for 3 hours.
3- Undecided
-Water- A versatile school of magic known for its wide range of uses and utility in battle.
Skill:
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- Undecided
-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- Undecided
Titles:
Tier 1 Titles [These are the weakest of titles, barely scratching the surface of the soul and hence count very little towards an individual's linear progression in power.]
-Unstable Strength (Survived the poison of an unstable monster core specialised in strength before unlocking a class) Increases strength attribute by 10%
Tier 2 Titles [These titles are deep scars on the surface of the soul and thus produce a middling benefit towards the formation of one's class. They also very marginally shift the direction of one's skill growth]
-Paragon of vitality (Possess a vitality of 500 whilst below level 100 as a human being. This is a KNOWN Title, meaning that it is one of the few whose conditions allow an unlock for every member of the human race) Increases vitality by 10%
-Paragon of Constitution (Possess a constitution of 500 whilst below level 100 as a human being. This is a KNOWN Title, meaning that it is one of the few whose conditions allow an unlock for every member of the human race) Increases Constitution by 10%
-Paragon of Intelligence (Possess an intelligence of 500 whilst below level 100 as a human being. This is a KNOWN Title, meaning that it is one of the few whose conditions allow an unlock for every member of the human race) Increases Intelligence by 10%
-Paragon of Endurance (Possess an Endurance of 500 whilst below level 100 as a human being. This is a KNOWN Title, meaning that it is one of the few whose conditions allow an unlock for every member of the human race) Increases Endurance by 10%
-Underdog- (Kill a monster 10 times your level) Increases strength by 10%
-Liquid vitality- (Possess extremely regenerative blood with unique properties) Increases health regeneration by 10%
Tier 3 Titles [These are titles that have scared the upper middle layer of the soul and hence provide a moderate benefit to unlocking and upgrading one's class. They also shape and guide a person's skills]
-Soul Affinity- (Have an affinity for soul magic) Increases the amount of soul {Surface shell} that can possibly be absorbed per level, thereby increasing the number of stat points gained. The increase has been calculated as 60%
-Paid in blood (Use 80% of your health to cast an unstructured spell whilst below level 100) Increases vitality by 30%. Makes the use of health in future spells much easier. Effects natural progression of skills
Tier 4 Titles [Not much is known about titles of this tier, only that they begin to scratch the surface of the lower middle soul layer. Anything else is just speculation or information you have not been granted access to]
-Half breed- (Successfully absorb a monster core as a human before awakening your magical affinities and levelling up) Raises constitution by 30% and gives one the ability to gain stats from further monster core consumption
-Twice lived- (Die a True Death and be reborn) Doubles effectiveness of vitality
He’d managed to gain a level in Dark Vapours Grasp whilst putting it through a stress test. In essence, it was a simple skill that halted a person's movement. Against a stationary person, it was a perfect skill with a base cost of 50 ether/second, a price that whilst steep, was well worth it for the effect it produced. There were two significant problems, though that he’d come to learn whilst lightly sparring with Alyssia.
Firstly, the cost of the skill rose significantly when he tried to use it on a person already in motion, the extra ether being spent to cancel out the resultant forces of their movement. Alyssia at her top speed, being enhanced with all the magic at her disposal and her newest Greaves of Achilles had an effective agility of well over a thousand points. Shadow locking her then had cost a staggering 3100 ether and she’d just been moving her arms. If she’d been running, well, he couldn’t react to what he couldn’t see, never mind the cost of the spell. He suspected it would’ve cost over 10,000 ether.
It was a very situational spell and he’d have to be careful using it in future fights to avoid ether burnout. The second problem with the ability was that he himself was affected by it slightly when he used it on someone. The skill directly brought their strength attributes into conflict and whilst the skill did run off so ether, it also ran off his strength stat. The stronger the opponent, the slower his own movements became. It wasn’t by much when he used it on only Alyssia, but it didn’t bode well for future battles where he’d be fighting against multiple opponents.
He could only pray that unlocking a class would fix this particular deficiency. A pleasant aroma wafted into his nose and he quickly finished rinsing his mouth of any lingering toothpaste. His dentist had him not to rinse but Alyssia’s food was worth the little mistake. Honestly, it’d be a crime to eat it with taste buds marred by the minty aftertaste.
Taking a seat by the campfire, he took his portion of food from Alyssia. She’d really gone all out on today's breakfast, an omelette cooked to perfection, a slice of some mystery meat glazed in a sauce that glistened in the early dawn light that somehow smelled like the first bite of a cheeseburger, hash browns fried to a golden crispy brown and a glass of hand pressed juice created with fruit from another dimension.
This was a meal he’d never see the like of ever again. Alyssia’s fruits had run out and she had no way of restocking them. He was honoured that she’d made some for him. The egg too, came from a species of bird native to her homeworld, a delicacy the Alverin were known for throughout their stellar system and something he’d tasted only once before.
Arthur gulped, the action having little effect on the saliva pooling in his mouth. He didn’t eat yet, though. The first bite of food always went to the host, a lesson taught by his mother that he’d followed for the last decade. Alyssia smiled at him. She’d learned of this little rule of his early on and took great pleasure in making him wait. Thankfully, she was in a merciful mood today and didn’t delay for long.
It still felt like an eternity. The first thing Arthur went for was a hash brown. He wanted to start the day with a crunch. The flavours that exploded in his mouth were quite literally out of this world and he quickly moved onto the rest of the meal. A weaker man would’ve spent their stat points on perception to better taste the food. Arthurs 250 willpower stayed his hand but it was a close thing.
Saving the best to last, Arthur washed down his meal with the squeezed juice, sighing in pleasure as it quenched a thirst he didn’t even know he'd had. This meal right here makes all my suffering worth it. Arthur was content. If he died now, he’d do so with a smile on his face. She could use her cooking as an assassination tool. He idly mused. Soften up her targets before striking them dead. Heck, I’d eat this even if it was poisoned. The system notification saying he’d been buffed was of secondary importance to the sublime meal he’d just consumed. It was the greatest he’d tasted from her so far.
You have consumed Alyssia’s final breakfast [Epic]. Increases all regeneration by 20% for 12 hours. Increase the effectiveness of all stats by 5% for 4 hours. Permanently increases vitality by 10 points. [Note-permanent attribute boosts from foods occur from Epic rank and above. These bonuses only apply to the 1st meal consumed at that meal's rarity.]
“I got a tier 3 title for that meal, you know,” Alyssia said, her eyes focused on the air in front of her as she read the notification. She didn’t sound very excited by it. “It’s called the melancholic cook. Makes me ignore the hard rule and gives me a 1 in 500 chance of creating stat-boosting foods that work for anyone at the right rarity.” She laughed mirthlessly. “I should be happy. Any other day I would’ve been, but I guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”
“No matter.” She said, clapping her hands on her cheeks. “It’s not important. How many stats did you gain? That was my first epic creation, you know.”
Arthur wasn’t sure if brushing over things was the healthiest approach but he didn’t know how to help. The meal had been called Alyssia’s final breakfast which didn’t bode well. He could only hope it was alluding to the fact that she’d run out of certain ingredients as it was the final breakfast she’d be able to create from her homeland. He didn’t want to consider the other possibilities.
“I gained ten points in vitality,” he finally replied. Alyssia’s countenance immediately brightened but for once, it didn’t look real. “That's amazing.” She said. “I think that's more than my grandma's cooking gives.”
“Alyssia,” Arthur began. “You know..." He searched for the right words but couldn’t find them. He was never good with these things. “You know I’m always here if you want to talk right,” he finally finished lamely.
The Alverin woman threw a stick at him, her accuracy perfect. It hit him bang on the nose but did little else but make him blink in surprise. She'd thrown it incredibly slowly. “Arthur. How about we focus on the hydra?” She deadpanned. He nodded his head, uncertain of where to go from here. Life hadn’t prepared him for these awkward conversations.
She graced him with a small smile, one that didn’t look forced. “Thank you for worrying about me though. But I’m fine. I was feeling a little homesick, nothing else. If I ever get that sad, I’ll talk to you, I promise.”
“Now let's go kill that overgrown snake, alright.”
They walked through the grasslands, moving towards the centre of the second layer where their foe lay in wait. They’d crossed over into the boundary of its aura about a mile back, a truly absurd distance considering they still had a long way to go and a testament to the power an apocalypse beast held.
This time, they’d received no welcoming roar. It did little to ease their nerves. They could feel the creature's eyes on them, not in a literal sense but they knew their presence had been registered and their approach observed. The lack of reaction was unsettling when contrasted with the rage this earlier reaction had incited.
The terrain had drastically changed a couple of hundred metres into the beast's aura, so suddenly it practically screamed unnatural magic shenanigans. Or perhaps the jarring shift in biome could be attributed to their early breakage into the locus and it simply hadn’t had time to properly develop itself.
The reason didn't matter, only that the boggy marshes they were currently trekking through had a way of wearing on your patience. Every step sank half a foot into the ground, accompanied by the squelching sound of wet mud being displaced, an aggravating sound that made an already difficult trip so much worse.
The crowning point of their misery, however, had to be given to the bugs that had started to harass them, all manners of flies and mosquitoes that had been enhanced by ether, insects that looked like they belonged more in the Jurassic period rather than the 21st century. Arthur’s constitution meant he was immune to their bites and stings, his skin far too durable for them to get through. That didn’t stop the buggers from trying though, and he was constantly accompanied by a cloud buzzing insectoid vermin. He was far better off than Alyssia, however. She lacked his massive investment into constitution, and so had to maintain constant vigilance against the bugs. She’d learned early on that each carried some potent venoms. Whilst tolerable on their own, compared with their massive numbers, it was a recipe for disaster. Her hands were in constant motion, every step she took accompanied by the death of three creatures who’d come too close for comfort.
She left a graveyard of desecrated vermin in her wake. The constant motion was getting to her though, and a sheen of perspiration coated her face. Remaining constantly vigilant was as taxing mentally as it was physically and it was starting to take its toll. Arthur had briefly considered using his domain to take the pressure off her but immediately discarded it as a foolish idea. He still hadn’t figured out a way to exclude targets from its effects. Using it now would slow down Alyssia just as much as it would the bugs.
At 200 ether per minute, the cost was too great to justify wasting energy just to make their trip a little easier. No, she’d have to deal with this on her own. Arthur could only pray that they didn’t have much longer to go. For once, someone seemed to be listening and his prayer was soon answered.
It started with the gradual disappearance of bugs. Where before, their numbers had been overwhelming, now they approached sporadically in groups of two and three. A minute later, they stopped altogether and he saw Alyssia visibly relax, her shoulders releasing the tension they’d been carrying all this time.
The second sign they’d arrived came in the form of a system notification and not a pleasant one. One moment, he was walking, and the next, he was hit by a spell of dizziness that had him seek refuge against the trunk of a tree. The sensation passed quickly but a part of it remained with him, a sense of weakness permeating his entire being.
Alyssia, once again, was hit far worse. Where he had merely staggered, the green woman lost consciousness entirely. It was only for a half-second, and she regained control of herself before falling over, but it didn’t bode well for the battle ahead. Half a second was more than long enough for a fight to be decided at their levels.
You have entered the central domain of (lesser) Hydra level 99- You have been afflicted by the debuff [Drunken feet] Your constitution allows you to partially resist its effects.
[Drunken feet]- The poisoned fumes of the hydra surround you. Once every seven minutes, you are afflicted by a bout of dizziness.
You will find the earth unsteady beneath your feet. Ongoing damage effect mitigated by constitution.
Increased ether usage cost mitigated by constitution.
Arthur quickly read through the notification as he made his way over to Alyssia, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her steady until he was certain she wouldn’t just kneel over without his support. She wasn’t looking so good, her normally vibrant green skin pale and clammy with sweat. Her breathing came in short gasps, the ragged sound of a sick man with failing lungs.
Shit. Her constitution is terrible compared to mine. She uses magic to compensate for her speed, damn it and they're not always active. How many stats does she have invested in constitution? 100? 50?
His most idealistic estimations didn’t put the attribute above 200. She was always complaining about how her low constitution held her back and now it was returning with a vengeance to stab her in the back. If it was this bad for him with over 600 constitution, he could only imagine the host of debuffs she’d been hit with. Just as he came to the conclusion that they’d need to turn back, Alyssia reached into her spatial bag. Her hands were shaking and her eyes unfocused, but the grim determination on her face was clear as day.
Pulling her hand out, Arthur saw that it now tightly grasped a vial of green liquid. Before he could try to identify it, Alyssia had unstoppered and downed the drink in a single gulp. The results were instant. An explosion of energy poured out of her, straightening her spine and easing her breath. Arthur stepped back to give her some room. He highly doubted she was in danger of falling over any time soon right now.
“For fuck sake,” she yelled, throwing the now empty vial at supersonic speeds. It impacted the wet ground and unsurprisingly didn’t shatter, instead sinking a metre or two into the earth. Whatever it had contained was potent stuff. Arthur would be surprised if its packaging was anything but the best.
“What did you just drink? Did it counteract the debuff?” Arthur asked the questions one after the other, not giving Alyssia time to respond to the first. She took it in her stride, though she seemed to have calmed down a little.
“That was a special elixir. One made specifically for my consumption by my mother. It makes me better at well…everything I guess. Faster, stronger, more durable. It removes certain limitations of my current build. My regeneration rates have actually tripled.” She paused, a brief plush of sadness crossing her face. “It’s also the last gift I have from her,” She added in a sombre tone. She laughed mirthlessly.
“I guess it was arrogant of me to think I could fight an apocalypse beast without using it.”
“Where on a two-hour timer now. I wanna see how overgrown lizards taste. Maybe it’ll level up my cooking skills."
Next chap- Friday
