For now, I decide to ignore the fact that my residence was broken into to deliver these items. Actually, fuck it. What the hell is this crap? Do I not deserve at least so privacy? Just a tiny bit? I will rember this insult, and my revenge will be terrifying.
Coming to a stop in front of my house, I look over the space from a distance. Sure, having a place to myself and another “checkpoint” is nice, as are the facilities, but how valuable is it really to soone like ? The facilities are either comparable to or slightly worse than those in the Primordial Knights’ headquarters. I do realize that for anyone in a guild below the top five or ten, this residence would be amazing. But for … actually… should I maybe turn it into an Airbnb? Rent it out for shards? Surely others have already thought of it.
, a landlord?
Wouldn’t an evil demon king be a lesser evil than that? Do I really want to sink that low just for so shards?
I stop my thoughts there, scared of the answer, and rush over the remaining distance. I open the gate and enter the house through the terrace. There, in the middle of the living room, stands a tree very similar to a Christmas tree. Suspiciously similar. It’s alive too, I note, as I touch and sll it.
Did… did she? No, there’s no way she would go to Earth just for this kind of la joke. No way. I an, I’d totally do it myself, and damn if I wouldn’t keep praising myself the whole ti I was doing it. I might even cherish that mory for decades after the fact.
I sniff the air around it a few more tis and touch the tree. Surrounding it is an array of small boxes packed up in cute wrapping paper with reindeer and all that.
“Are you watching?” I turn toward the ceiling, asking with great suspicion.
No answer cos, so with a groan filled with annoyance, I sit down and start opening the boxes to reveal the items I saved from the Ancient Armory before Diligence blew it up.
Crystalfuse Mana Stone (Low Arcane) -A crystalline node for mana storage. Its internal lattice is made up of countless folded channels that cycle energy in endless motion, preventing loss or decay. The mana stone can store mana and recharge equipnt or sustain arrays for extended periods. It stabilizes mana and equalizes ambient pressure to keep everything working in optimal form. Often serving as a high-density mana source for item cores.
Prototype Armant Core (Mid Arcane) - An incomplete resonance engine intended for direct item integration. Its shell encloses a tri-layered rotation chamber where condensed mana can continuously cycle; it has been designed for adaptive item rging. When embedded in compatible equipnt, it enhances output and reduces mana loss during use. The unstable cycle generates amplified resonance and massive internal stress, forcing the Core to regulate itself through montary energy discharges. This item is classified as unfinished.
mory Imprint Stone (Mid Arcane) -A mnemonic crystal engineered to copy and mimic structured consciousness wavelengths. The stone contains an imperfect copy of a mory weave suspended in permanent stasis. Each weave carries trace sequences of knowledge locked beneath layered encryption that resists both extraction and erasure. The imprint remains self-contained, constantly replaying to preserve data integrity. Made as an experint for an Ego weapon, this item is classified as unfinished.
Harmonic Material Alloy (Low Arcane) -Residual tallic shards recovered from failed item assemblies. The piece retains partial inscription imprints. When exposed to mana, the fragnts emit faint harmonic vibrations and attempt incomplete alignnt to the original item’s structure. The alloy composition resists corrosion, extre temperature, and decay, remaining semi-active despite centuries of dormancy.
Binding Resonant Threads (Mid Arcane) -Filants composed of strands of a mana-responsive alloy, intertwined with crystalline nodes. The threads can establish harmonic synchronization through micro-oscillation, allowing high-speed information and mana transfer. Their internal structure reacts dynamically to external stress, tightening and reinforcing at varying oscillations.
And lastly, the main item. The tiny red mana stone I got from the pillar at the last mont.
Red Heartstone (Upper Arcane) - When completed, it can be bonded to a user through their blood. A self-optimizing inscription array construct sealed within a heartstone fra containing personality circuitry. Its sub-layers of arrays alternate between node compression and expansion, producing rhythmic surges that resonate in a way that mimics a living mind. When completed, it may be converted into the Ego Core of an item.
In a way, this could be thought of as Calvorn Junior, but the most important piece is missing, the piece ant to “awaken” it. But that’s a problem for the future. For now, it’s an extrely fascinating item that I’m sure is far more valuable than its rarity implies. Damn, even unfinished, it’s Upper Arcane. Once completed and set into a proper item, it could be great.
There are a few more items, though these are definitely the best catch. They’ll give months of work, experintation, and knowledge to apply to my skills.
I learned long ago that there’s a clear overlap between Mana Manipulation and the circuits I etch into items. Soone might call a madman or a dumbass for thinking that, but what do they know? My level in [Mana Manipulation] is proof that it works for .
Might not work for others, but that’s not my problem.
Anyway.
Beautiful.
Very nice.
Good.
Nothing’s missing. I counted all the items while Greed wasn’t looking, as it lay on the floor in her office. Just in case she tried to steal so.
MINE. ALL THE LOOT IS MINE.
Screw Diligence or whatever, too.
Now, what to do with all this? I’m sure I could sell so of the items, but looking at the quality, I might not. Each item is at the peak of its tier, and none of them can be found in the system shop.
So the options are to sell them to the locals or one of the guilds. I bet they would go for a lot of shards, being the remains of experints undertaken by an Absolute from long ago as prototypes for Ego items and cores. The people around here really seem to like that kind of artificial bond. The right person might even buy them all as antiques. I bet so of these things are really old.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
I could probably throw a few into an auction. I'm sure they have auctions here. Or I could use them to make sothing and sell that instead, create so abomination of an item for myself, or hand it off to Group Four.
I’ll definitely keep a few batteries for Maya. With their capacity and so ti to store mana, she could make sothing truly cool with her [Armant]. As for , I’d rather store mana inside my halo or stop being a lazy ass and actually maintain the crown’s shape for longer than just showing it off at parties.
I bet I can do it if I try. It’ll just take more ntal exercises. I love ntal exercises, especially the kind where my head spins, my vision blurs, and it feels like soone is stabbing in the brain. It’s one of my favorite things ever.
All things considered, it’s been confird that the place I visited was likely where the Wraith made Calvorn, and he must have had a reason to tie such a large portion of his power to it. And I’m sure I’ll get it out of the mory stone eventually.
There must be a major advantage behind it, considering how huge the disadvantages are. Maybe it was just what he had to do while trying to beco nearly immortal and gain the ability to jump from body to body?
It’s like Sauron tying his power to a ring only for so furry-footed vyssari to find and throw it into a volcano. Would the Wraith die if Brich and Crimson Forge destroyed Calvorn? Is the Wraith even alive after what Chris did to him? Did he absorb him? Or did he just trap him inside that fancy figure he keeps floating above him?
So of these questions will need to be answered at so point.
Then there are still the blueprints the crafty guy made for in the Academy over the course of those loops, the ones Sophie helped with. A side project, sure, but not sothing I’ve forgotten about, and so of the items here could be useful for that, so they can probably stay. Actually, I can leave them here and should try to contact Brich to trade with Crimson Forge and have them help improve the designs.
I know for sure I’m not giving them prototypes of Calvorn or any information on the Wraith’s ego sword experints. I also know I won’t tie my own power to such an item. But I’m very, very curious to see if I could make an ego weapon of my own. Who wouldn’t want a talking sword? Doesn’t a proper adventure just scream for that kind of thing? The personality would have to be better than Calvorn’s, and I still have no idea how, but it’s been done before, so it can certainly be done again.
Even looking at these prototypes, I can tell I could finish so of them, turning them into proper mid arcane items, maybe even upper arcane with enough effort. There are like two dozen different versions of these prototypes here.
Or I could slt down the materials and create sothing truly massive. Maybe a huge suit of power armor like the lumoran Champion Feroy from the seventh floor.
So many options, so little ti.
There’s my long-awaited minion ti, the Beyond quest on her planet, then the fifth floor, where Nyssa will probably be dragging to soon.
Then there’s whatever weird ass event Thane and the Ruler of Humility have managed to cook up.
After that cos the tournant pitting us against another planet’s tutorial, where Christoph will probably show up too.
All in a span of two to three months.
Leaving my Christmas gifts where they lie, I take myself outside the house and stop for a mont as an interesting thought hits . This is my property, a house I own in so weird alien city with a la na, light-years away from the planet I was born on and spent twenty-one years growing up on. Yet this is my house, as strange as that sounds. Well, at least for a few more years.
I look it over, the copper gate, the trees poking out behind it, and the two-story house nestled against the rock. Not that bad. Not bad at all.
And don’t I also have a job now, working for a guild or corporation, one of the biggest ones around?
I shake my head to stop these thoughts, but they keep coming anyway. I even have a dog, coworkers, HR breathing down my neck whenever I screw up, and people trying to poach from my current corporation. And by poaching, I an kidnapping. Must be so deep rooted Beyond tradition or sothing.
Add healthcare in the form of that weirdo catboy, and it all makes a twisted sort of sense.
Still thinking about it against my will, I reach the headquarters of the Primordial Knights. Entering the hall, I find Weslin resting in the lounge alone, reading so kind of report or maybe a new study on mana, he loves that kind of stuff.
Surprisingly, he isn’t bald anymore. Very short white hair has started growing from his forrly bare scalp, and he doesn't seem to be shaving it off anymore. Even his eyes have a faint red tint to them now.
I notice it, he notices that I’ve noticed it, but both of us ignore it like the manly n we are. The kind that would rather repress every emotion until they were lying on their deathbed instead of talking about feelings, the kind of n who can see each other for years, greet each other, talk, share drinks, and yet still never learn each other’s nas, both terrified to ask after so long, just waiting, praying that so random person will say the na out loud so they can finally know, the kind who will communicate entire life stories through nods and grunts, who think eye contact is a marriage proposal, who’d rather wrestle a bear than admit they’re friends, who hurl insults at each other that most people would kill them for, and who will die on the hill of “it’s not that deep bro” even when it very obviously is.
Sitting down next to him, I summon a set of evil orbs like always and start training with them. Even after all this ti, they’re still a challenge as I continue modifying them closer and closer to their original, nastiest version.
Out of nowhere, Weslin glances my way.
“You and Malika… are you interested in her?” he asks, sothing that makes all my thoughts vanish before they finally reboot, confirming I didn’t mishear.
Weslin doesn’t even blink as I turn to him.
“Weslin, you dog.”
“Oh, shut up, rookie. So?”
“Not interested in her. Not even a little.”
“Got it,” he says, and goes back to reading.
Later that day, I inform Nyssa about my Beyond quest and that it should take a week. She just wishes luck, saying she’ll soon be heading to the fifth floor and will be there to et after I return.
I don’t know if she’s simply not in a hurry or if she felt how badly I wanted to go on this quest. Maybe it was the one-hour speech I gave her about my minion and our adventures together while praising her non-stop.
Either way, it worked out.
As Greed said, a portal appears right on ti at my house. Just one step, and I’ll be on the planet where my minion has been living with her gang of delinquents. It reminds that I probably should’ve asked what this quest was actually about, and that Greed probably should’ve told .
But… my minion. Does the quest really matter that much? I just need to guard one asshole along with another asshole.
Before stepping through, I open my status to check my Absolute Candidate quest.
You have accepted your personalized Absolute Candidate quest, authorized directly by the system.
A ti limit is set to complete the objectives within one year of the quest being given. However, early completion will grant earlier access to the advantages tied to the title.
Your quest objectives are as follows:
- Raise the skill [Mana Manipulation] to Level 75
- Channel 50,000 stat points worth of mana within one second without any external assistance
- Confront a Champion level being without any of its power diminished, alone, for a duration of ten seconds
The quest is so easy, I suspect Lissandra might have given it out.
Fuck.
Closing the window, I grab my baggage and the items I’ve been wanting to study, even during the quest, then step through the portal as it sends sowhere impossibly far away.
I appear in a fancy room slling of a perfu that’s probably more expensive than so buildings I’ve seen. Looking out the window, I see the city in the distance and the vast garden surrounding us, and realize I’m inside so kind of large manor.
Lastly, I glance at the two assholes I ntioned earlier.
A widely smiling Lily and Savant, who ets my gaze for a second, then turns aside as if I weren’t there.
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