Dennis couldn’t close his mouth for two days. That ant no eating and should have ant no drinking. I was ready to let go so he could at least drink, but they solved it sohow, and I decided I didn’t want to know the details. I guess his pride just couldn’t bear the thought of coming to to have the effect removed.
I used those days to pull all the information I could out of lel. Ignoring the fancy nas she likes to use for everything, I quickly simplified it in my mind and imdiately ca up with my own ways to incorporate the new information into my training.
She hasn’t even complained about her lack of sleep over the past two days, though it’s no great feat of endurance for soone at her level.
Most of her knowledge is theoretical, mostly things she learned back on her ho planet, her teacher apparently having been one of the oldest Champions from her planet’s First Generation.
When lel was much younger, she did sothing terrible, though she refused to tell what, and I respect that. That act led to her being sent to the Astral Prison.
At so point during the years she’s been here, after establishing her reputation, she ended up in Hollowgate, where she joined an expedition to explore the deep mines below.
They got lost in those dark tunnels, barely surviving the weeks of constant battle.
lel suspects that one of the expedition’s mbers was caught in the influence of the prisoner, who had been drawing people down into the depths in hopes of finding a talent capable of freeing it. And that’s exactly what happened: after months of wandering, lel, the only survivor, eventually stumbled onto a path close enough to the prisoner for it to speak to her.
Exhausted, wounded, and vulnerable, the less experienced and, at the ti, much lower level lel fell under the prisoner’s influence—though not full control, apparently the creature wasn’t capable of that, but by using subtle manipulation and trickery it managed to create a link that only grew stronger as lel did.
Luck had been on the prisoner’s side. It found soone as talented as lel before they could beco powerful enough to resist its influence. For the last few decades, she’s been returning to the mines, gathering mana, joining expeditions, and working to break the chains of a being that she’d co to see as a friend and ntor—despite the obvious red flags. All warnings were ignored, silenced by the hold the prisoner had over her.
I asked because I was curious—and I’m sure the only reason she answered was because she felt like she still owed . If she hadn’t, I’m sure she’d have just told to fuck off, which I’d consider entirely reasonable. But that doesn’t an I’m not shaless enough to take advantage and ask as many questions as I can to satisfy my curiosity.
Our relationship is simple. I helped her, and now she’s repaying the service by answering my questions and sharing her knowledge.
I had thought of requesting so items, but soti over the last two days, I changed my mind. The knowledge I’ve acquired is more than good enough.
lel is extrely good at handling her [Mana Crown] and manipulating stone. She can do so really fancy things with stone, but nothing of use to . So, other than information on the crown, I listen to her lessons on theory and ask any questions I need to grasp the concepts before marking them down.
I was never the type to enjoy studying, and even now, I prefer to experience things on my own rather than getting bogged down in theory.
Then there’s the things she teaches about the kinds of challenges a person can issue once they reach the rank of Champion Candidate or similar.
As we saw back in the mine, a person under the effects of sothing like mind control is incapable of declaring one. You can also create so really wild challenges, but they must be accepted, and the challenged party can usually adjust the wager slightly before seeking confirmation from the challenger, then it’s up to the system to acknowledge it.
You need to possess, or own, the things you are wagering. That little tidbit really drives ho just how wild it is that my challenge to Whitey got approved. It’s sothing I even ntion to him as I slip into my mind for our regular training regin and get a laugh out of it for the trouble.
I think it’s even possible to wager things like traits, but you need to an it and have a certain level of mastery over the trait in question for the system to acknowledge that you “own” it. At higher levels and for beings with the status of Champion and Absolute, these challenges get easier to make and allow for so crazy stuff. You can wager your stats, passives, and more besides.
Active skills seem to be the exception though, they’re one of the very few things that just aren’t possible to wager. That confirms my speculations on their importance, in fact maybe they’re even more important than I thought, and I already had them quite high up.
While I’m collecting this information, Biscuit is still unconscious, and after examining him a bit more, Lily’s co to the conclusion that he just needs ti to “digest.” His regression into a puppy is probably so kind of backlash caused by overextending himself, but of course, how could that silly corgi ever hold himself back after seeing a deer like that.
Lily and the twins spend ti slacking around and training. When I give my modified evil orbs to the twins, lel shows an interest, and I make one for her as well, which, much to the twins’ frustration, she handles like a champ. When she thinks I’m not looking, she carefully places the orb into a mana cage, as if she intended to examine it later.
I want to ask her about the cage, but she looks so thrilled with the orb, almost like she’s just gotten a new toy, and I don’t want to ruin it out of re curiosity. So, as a thank-you for all the information, I pretend I haven’t seen anything. Ɽ
She then lies, trying to tell that the orb she just secreted away had burst during her examinations, so I create another one, with a bit of added difficulty. She gives a wordless nod of thanks and examines it while launching into the next lesson.
Even though this thylarin is clearly racist, I’ve also learned over the last two days that she’s an extre introvert, and never thought twice about locking herself away in this place for 10 years. Spending all her ti training, learning, and reading. And it’s sothing I can’t help but deeply admire.
Led by so incomprehensible impulse, I even say as much.
“What do you an?” She asks, “I’m not racist, I just don’t like being around people, no matter the race.”
That answer raises my respect for her more than anything else she’s done so far.
lel then continues, “I’ve given you all the knowledge you wanted, so of it I would’ve never shared under normal circumstances, and so of it I spent years trying to learn. I value my life a lot, but I value this knowledge almost as much.”
Getting a hint, I stand up. “Got it, this should be enough. Consider your debt paid in full.”
“Good, the exit is that way,” she says, gesturing towards a stone wall that shifts and molds itself to reveal a door. Then she turns away, heading back to her cottage whereupon she peruses her collection of books, presumably looking for sothing to read.
As I leave I co across Dennis and finally stop using kinetic energy to hold his mouth open, and he closes it very slowly, groaning, as his jaw proceeds to make a series of intense cracking noises as it closes. Aaron watches him with clear enjoynt, likely burning the mont into his mory to tease his brother later.
“That’s it?” Lily asks, rushing over to walk by my side.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Yes, it took longer than I thought, but to make up for it, I’ll fly faster and teleport us further per jump. What did Tess have to say in the Community?”
“The plan’s changed a bit, and we’re heading over to et up with Sophie and Izzy.”
“Huh? They made up?”
“It seems likely, Izzy pacified Sophie already. But I really want to get there fast enough to see the two of them reconnect.”
“So, Mindblender City it is?”
“Yes, there’s supposed to be an old fort nearby where Sophie’s planning on eting us. Apparently, it’s dangerous to just walk into the city.”
“Well, I hope the three of you trained your ntal defenses properly like we practiced. Now let’s hurry, we don’t want to be late.”
Before we leave, we make a visit to the place I sent all the materials I got from the expedition. The hamr, anvil, and chains aren’t going to be sothing we can take with us given their size, weight, and the mana cost to transport them. So they stay where I left them, in my underground lab, which has been heavily damaged and nearly destroyed by their arrival.
I just grab the bust and a few pieces of the most valuable and interesting tals. After leaving the lab, I also remove any Ley Lines heading there and clear away all the signs I can. The shielding of the room should take care of the rest.
After thinking it over, I create a smaller hideout far from my lab and move over a few pieces of chain and tal. This way, I can retrieve them if I need to, without leaving any trace back to the main hideout.
Then we depart using my teleportation and flight. As always, when I find myself having to move more than a few people, it’s very janky, but so far, it’s still the fastest thod of travel.
There are a few monster attacks along the way and we have to deal with and avoid a few random groups that would otherwise ambush the average traveler; though aside from that, it’s just a simple trip as we head deeper into the central region.
When we finally make our landing, the old fort Sophie ntioned is well within view, and far in the distance, we can even see the shimring of the lake and the city with its many towers nestled on its banks.
Deactivating the Restrictive Training Emblem, the pressure on my body alleviates, and I activate one of Lily’s healing marks.
Examining my body, it’s still not fully healed. My muscles are weaker and they still don’t feel right, my mana is much more difficult to move, and sotis I get spasms of pain, or find that my right arm has beco entirely paralyzed.
Fracture is a very powerful weapon, mid grade arcane—it’s not sothing I expected when I set out to make it. The cost of its power is the danger inherent to its use and the fact it’s constantly crumbling away, but even now, I’m still learning from it.
So now, as we head towards a tower where I sense a single mana signature lying in wait, I check my status and with it, the results of my training.
Na: Nathaniel Gwyn
Title: Champion Candidate
Difficulty: Hell
Floor: 6 - Astral Prison
Ti left until forced return: 3y 120d 11h 36m 11s
Traits (2/3): Mana Circuit 2/3, Mana Wavelength Iris 1/3
Lvl 297
Strength: 164
Dexterity: 160
Constitution: 342
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1197 1197
Primary Class: Focused Channeler (Epic)
Sub-class: [Adept of Pride]
Active skills (10/10):
Focus - Lvl 59
Perception - Lvl 54
Redistribution - Lvl 57
Resonance - Lvl 59
Mana Domain (Pride) - Lvl 55
Infusion - Lvl 47
Mana Crown - Lvl 49
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 60
Ley Line - Lvl 39
Bone Knitting - Lvl 20
Constructs:
Reinforcent (Construct)
Thermokinetic Mana Heart (Construct)
Mana Regulator (Construct)
Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)
Vortex Core (Construct)
Passive skills (5/5):
Arcane Resilience (Mid Epic)
Phoenix Embrace (Mid Epic)
Cognitive Fortress (Mid Epic)
Mana-Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)
Mana-Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)
Tokens:
Trait strengthening token (2nd stage)
Beyond 3 day stay token
Beyond 3 day stay token
Beyond 1 day stay token
Beyond 1 day stay token
Beyond 1 day stay token
Beyond 1 day stay token
Shards:279,936
That’s close to 30 levels of free stats I’ve gained, mostly evenly split into Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution.
But best of all, there’s also my first strengthening of Mana Wavelength Iris—sothing I’m quite used to at this point, but damn, the beginning hurt. The strengthened trait allows to see mana particles and the structures of skills with even greater clarity. Though the cost is high, and I still feel like I haven’t fully uncovered the trait’s potential.
With the second-stage strengthening token, I could enhance it further. I just need a bit more ti to fully adapt and before I do, especially before I get my Primary Class selection.
I have my hopes it will make the offerings better. Having Mana Wavelength Iris at the second stage by then could be huge.
As for my constructs, I’ve upgraded all of them at this point—all.
I had Lily’s help for the Reinforcent construct and my Thermokinetic Mana Heart; Reinforcent is markedly better now when I decide to use it, and with my mana reserves, it was already quite powerful to begin with.
And the output of my heart has increased as well, especially when it cos to kinetic energy—sothing I could directly compare with Whitey and the bits of information Lily got from the pieces of his heart before they disappeared. That made the white-haired demon shut up about my weak heart for the most part, and he only really ntions it when, according to him, I do exceptionaly poorly.
For any further upgrades, I’ll need more to work with, ‘though I have have high hopes in the form of the Champion’s heart Lissandra promised to get from the pyramid. If all goes well, I could give it a good boost in strength during the tournant - if the healing field doesn't interfere again.
My mantle got the second most noticeable upgrade after the heart, the inspiration I gained from the combination of [Ley Line], [Resonance], working on Fracture, and my arcane passive. To be honest, my Mana Sovereignty Mantle might be approaching the level of an arcane passive, nicely rounding out my defenses against ntal attacks and any attempts to hijack my body, mana, or otherwise interfere with my use of either.
I now have plenty of stay tokens, and there's been no change when it cos to my passive skills, but there is a good reason for it.
Shards: 279,936
I’ve gained over 150 thousand shards during these past few months, and I’m currently saving for a mid arcane passive, and I swear, I will sell Fracture if I need to just to get it before the Primary class upgrade, Fracture itself representing another 150 thousand shards in value.
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