I stood upon a dune of frozen and dried demon blood and snow. The water froze and crystallized, then it broke and thawed, over and over until it separated from the solid particulate. Everything hurt, even my very soul. For how long have I fought? How long did I slaughter the endless tide of demons? How many souls have I sent to the Gods?
I finally collapsed, sending a cloud of fine silt everywhere. The demons kept coming and dying. My head spun. Recovering my strength, I crawled out of that dune and moved to a cleaner spot. The ethereal dinsion was caked in this layer of soggy demon ichor as the heat of their movent thawed the snow and remixed it into a disgusting mud.
There was literally no end to the horde. The stronger, high-leveled demons were all gone. I found where they ca from but my tridinsional mind couldn't cope with a direction going away from the planet but parallel to the surface. It felt like sothing even M. C. Escher would have a problem figuring out. I tried to block that place, but more demons ca from elsewhere and everywhere. Eventually, I had to move or risk drowning in the lake of frozen blood.
That wasn't how I imagined I would hit the Level cap for the first ti, but it was. Quantity had a quality of its own and even an eyedropper could fill a swimming pool.
You reached Eldritch Dolphin-rmaid level 20.
You gained 12 Attribute Points
[...]
You reached Eldritch Muse (5-fused, ultra-rare ) level 20.
[...]
I tossed another volley of oversized explosive fireballs, blowing demons everywhere. The process of collecting and purifying souls was almost automatic now. I just wanted it to end. Go ho. Swim in the reef. Retire.
Administrator Hotline
CALL START
Loki: Hey, girl, you did enough. That's more than a century of demons crossing into Yznarian's Ethereal plane that you've killed. Half a world worth of Souls too. If those idiots can't fix their leak now, they're dood anyway. Go ho.
Arista: Hey, Mr. L. Funny seeing you using this. Did you get promoted to Administrator too? Don't let Wyxnos dump his job on you.
L: He wouldn't dare. It would be tantamount to giving the world over to .
A: Yeah, I can't say I see that happening.
L: Good. Now, you can't go back to the material world from where you are, or they will follow you and keep the passage open. I need you to go away from there until you can't see a single demon.
A: What's your angle on all of this?
L: You are on the verge of breaking up, taphysically speaking. It would break my heart to see you permanently weakened there. And even with the System's protection, the demons have ways to corrupt even deities.
A: aning, you don't want to waste your investnt in .
L: Perish the thought. You are no longer beholden to .
CALL END
I transford and took off. Funny how very few of these demons could fly, and most of them could only do short flights, like a chicken on steroids. I gained altitude and shot the few that tried to co after with my trademark Force spell. Once I could only see a writhing mass of sothing down there, I flew away in a straight direction. Once I felt the ocean underneath, I shifted to the material world, assud my water elental form, and dropped down to splash between the waves.
Soti later I found an island with a copse of trees in the middle of nowhere and went to my refuge.
I woke up in bed with Nenandil and Vesper talking nearby. "She's awake, milady," The silkie said in her calm and slightly subservient tone.
I stared at my hands. Sowhen I shifted into my normal form, pitch-black dolphin tail included. A stark contrast with my pale upper body.
"Hey, girls. What did I miss?" I asked.
"Nothing," Nenandil fluttered to land on my chest. "You never learn, do you?"
I blushed.
She climbed up until her tiny hands rested on my chin. "Nevermind. Check your notifications, and spend all your points. You are not to get off that bed unless you don't have a single thing to allocate in the System, do you understand ?"
"Yes, mom."
She harrumphed and flew away. I used verbal commands.
"System, show the unallocated points."
You have 10 Species Perks
You have 8 Class Perks.
You have 1290 Skill Points.
63/100 Attribute Points withheld.
I didn't even rember how many points it cost to raise a Skill. It's been ages since I last spent Skill Points.
Novice 1~9 - 1pt
Apprentice 10~24 - 2pts
Journeyman 25~49 - 3pts
Taken from , this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Master 50~79 - 4pts
Grandmaster 80~90 - 5pts
90 NA (only training).
Fine. I started to maximize the Skills I had. First, the unique ones, as they had juicy Perks. I triggered {Suppress Curse} to allow to spend the points up to the Grandmaster rank.
You gained the Perk: Master Yoga: You have a deep understanding of your body. Add your Yoga level to all attempts to resist body control.
You gained the perk: Grandmaster Yoga: You have a complete understanding of both body and mind. Add your Yoga level to all attempts to resist influence or control of your mind.
You gained the perk: Grandmaster Evoker: Unraveling your magic costs twice as much. Failed attempts at dispel any of your spells fuel 50% of the spent MP to your own pool and reveal the caster to you.
You gained the perk: Grandmaster Elentalist: Your resistance to elental damage increases to 50%. Spells cast in the natural presence of the elent have twice the base effect.
You gained the perk: Grandmaster Claws: Increase the base damage of your claw attacks by 5d8. Critical hits now deal quadruple damage.
You gained the perk: Grandmaster Bite: You take no damage and suffer no harmful effects from things you bite. Increase bite base damage by 4d10.
You gained the perk: Master Remove Curse: Add the Skill level to the difficulty of cursing you.
You gained the perk: Grandmaster Remove Curse: You can harness the power of a curse, slowly subverting it into a Perk, instead of removing it. You recognize cursed items at a glance.
You gained the perk: Master Elven Spell-Song: This Skill absorbed Bardic Song. You take no damage and have no chance of failure when using this Skill.
You gained the perk: Grandmaster Elven Spell-Song: You can shape and weave plants and organisms to which you have a shaping perk with the Skill of a Master in the related field.
The remainder of the Skill points I spent on Skill here and there so they all reached forty-nine. I'd run out of ti in the {Suppress Curse} and wouldn't bother to wait until tomorrow.
So, could I go now? NO! Because there are eighteen stupid Perks to pick. Any other living creature in this world would salivate at the thought of having eighteen Perks of the highest tier to pick, but I just wanted to rest. Know what? I had no ti constraints. I turned to the side, flapped my tail on the bedding, and went to sleep.
There's always another day. I woke up cursing past for dumping this job on . List of Perks, open. Show what you got. I wasn't even going to use the Human ability to try and pick any Perk.
Giant Feller (very rare): When attacking a creature bigger than you, treat your attacks as one size larger.
Titan Slayer (ultra-rare): When fighting a creature at least two sizes bigger than you, you are considered two sizes larger whenever it benefits you.
Eyes of the Ocean, Ears of the Waves (ultra-rare): When in open ocean waters, Triple the range of all your sensory abilities. The range on the air above is proportionally extended, depending on the angle of the tangent.
They did what it said on the label. After so search, I found what allowed the Lord of Assholes to ignore my claws and not bleed.
Mana-infused Skin (very rare): Your skin is reinforced by magical power. Reduce all slashing and piercing damage by 25%. You do not bleed unless the attack causes more than 2% of your maximum HP.
Mana-Woven Skin (very rare): Your skin has a lattice of pure magic underneath. Reduce all damage by 25% (supersedes previous skin-based bonuses). Add a tenth of your maximum HP to your maximum MP.
Mana-Threaded Flesh (ultra-rare): Your very flesh is marbled with pure magic. Reduce all damage by 30%. Add a tenth of your maximum MP to your maximum HP.
Mana-Threaded Bones (ultra-rare): Your bones are twice as hard to break and generate magical energy, pumping it through your body. Reduce all damage by 35%. Increase MP regeneration by 50%.
For four Perks I got more damage resistance and, at the current level, ten million HP and five million Energy. Next, I picked three that would help with my fighting style, should I need to fight in lee.
Montum Blink (ultra-rare): When you blink, you change your current montum to whichever fra of reference is the most advantageous to you.
Dinsional Stability Aura (ultra-rare): You can reinforce the boundaries between dinsions in Soul/2 ters around you. You are aware of all attempts at piercing these boundaries. Add your Willpower score to the difficulty of any dinsional effects you wish to stop.
When I reached 1 species Perk left, the nus closed on their own. Instead, five options appeared.
CONGRATULATIONS! You reached the level cap.
Your last Perk pick must co from the list below. This Perk will remain with you in your future lives.
The Warrior: You crush your enemies with sheer prowess. You gain 10 Strength and the ability to deliver incapacitating blows.
The Shadow: You are the unseen blade. You gain 10 Dexterity and the ability to know how close opponents are from discovering you.
The Knight: You are a defender, the ultimate protector. You gain 10 Endurance and the ability to know how much damage an attack will cause monts before it lands.
The Scholar: You are an eternal seeker of knowledge. You gain 10 Mind and the ability to recall books you've read and words you've heard words with absolute precision.
The Bulwark: Your mind is unwavering. You gain 10 Willpower and the ability to recognize and make yourself the target of ntal attacks targeting anyone in Willpower ters around you.
The Leader: Your smile wins hearts by itself. You gain 10 Charisma and the ability to ignore the lowest reaction modifier in social interaction, once per day.
The Arcane: Your magic overpowers all. You gain 10 Magic and the ability to convert the unmitigated damage from an enemy spell into MP once per hour.
The Four-Leaf Clover: You bend the laws of causality. You gain 10 Luck and the ability to turn one event on its head, once per day.
The Cosmos Within: Your being is undeniable. You gain 10 Ego and the ability to demand the full attention of a target for up to 5 minutes/day.
The Ghost: Your soul is unquenchable. You gain 10 Soul and the ability to restore at once 25% of your resources, once per day. This effect automatically triggers if an attack deals enough damage to kill you.
Motherfucker. The physical Perks were lackluster compared to the others, especially the spiritual ones, but I understood why once I thought about the difficulty of unlocking them. The special effects were just that. Special effects. While so of them were aweso, I had to go with the most important Attribute of them all. The mont I picked it, I knew I would have only nine options next ti I reached the level cap.
The Cosmos Within: Your being is undeniable. You gain 10 Ego and the ability to demand the full attention of a target for up to 5 minutes/day.
My inner weeb couldn't help but sing. 抱きしめた心のコスモ [1]
That was aweso. I could only feel giddy. What would happen if I collected all ten?
But jokes and s aside, this must've been intentional. And it ans the creator of this System must be soone from Earth.
Where was I? Class Perks. Ti to turn that Eldritch Presence into a fuckmachine of doom. Honestly, by itself, it was already sothing overwhelming. Coupled with other Attribute-draining Perks, it was too much. Let's not forget how I probably broke a world record in grinding the fourth tier to the level cap.
Eldritch Inspiration(ultra-rare): Add (Positive Reaction x5) to a creature's Ego to determine Attribute drain. Creatures with a positive reaction modifier in range of your Presence will have flashes of insight adding your Luck score to their creative Skills. Each epiphany shifts their reaction two steps in your favor.
Aura Stabilization (very rare): When you use several area-of-effect Perks at once, you may average their area of effect.
Widen Aura (very rare): Double the range of your area-of-effect Perks.
Eldritch Retribution(ultra-rare): Whenever an enemy affected by your Eldritch Presence attempts to attack you, deal Ego * SQRT(Charisma) Arcane-Lightning damage to them.
Swift Retribution (ultra-rare): Your Eldritch Retribution strikes before the attack connects.
Eldritch Repulsion (ultra-rare): Your Eldritch Retribution deals knockback damage as well.
Cloak of Power (ultra-rare): Creatures rendered immobile by your Eldritch Presence grant you 50% of their resource regeneration.
Mantle of Power (ultra-rare): Creatures rendered immobile by your Eldritch Presence grant you 95% of their MP/SP regeneration and a proportion of the HP regeneration inverse to how badly they're damaged.
Powers worthy of a JRPG [2] endga boss. With all my points allocated, I could finally get out of bed and do sothing productive.
Level 200
Strength: 86 12 (98) - Dexterity: 86 14 (100) - Endurance: 86 14 (100)
Mind: 86 19 (105) - Willpower: 86 19 (105) - Charisma: 86 12 (98)
Magic: 86 17 (103)
Ego: 86 32 (118) - Luck: 86 22 (108) - Soul: 86 22 (108)
HP 67.428.496 (369.048 HP/s)
Energy 120.339.576 (139.948 E/min)
Alas, no {Pinnacle of...}. Dammit.
[1] "Dakishita! Kokoro no Kosumo!" The first verse to Pegasus Fantasy, the opening to Saint Seya season 1.
[2] Japanese Role-Playing Ga
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