Chapter 322: What It’s For
The scarred farr pointed at the hole in the wall, “Uhm…Can you fix it? You look stout enough.”
I scoffed, “When I’m done with this place, fixing this wall will be the least of your worries.”
Their faces paled, each of them terrified of what I might do. I spread the Rise of Eden over them once more while raising a fist,
“You’ll never be forced to fight an eldritch again.”
The villagers trembled despite the aura’s stat raise, so cowering away. I raised my eyebrow at them while opening my dinsional storage. Pulling out several dozen rings, I hovered them over my palm while stating,
“Everyone put these rings on. You know, if you want to.”
The citizens backed away, so of them shaking and others getting angry. The scarred farr pointed at and murmured with an edge of panic, “You, what are you here for? What do you want from us?”
I peered around, inspecting the scenery, “I’m here to get you guys on your feet, honestly.”
I grabbed and tossed him a ring. The farr caught it, but it dragged his hand down. He almost fell over, the poor guy exhausted from the fighting. He gasped, “What is this made of?”
I raised a palm, “It’s a secret. Now, everybody, I’m going to be building you all a fortress, giving you system tips, and getting you guys reasonable weaponry. I’ll be leaving protectors as well, so you’ll be able to level at your own pace.”
A few villagers whispered to each other, which was pointless. Each voice rang out like a blaring alarm to , and they couldn’t disguise what they said, not this close to anyway. Taking every opinion in at once, the general sentint ca across as a strange intermingling of fear and hope. Most seed skeptical, and others wondered about conditions or strings attached.
Before their minds spiraled further into paranoia, I tilted my head to the scared farr, “Yo, put that ring on. You’ll be the demonstration of what it does.”
The farr peered at the heavy band of dinsional fabric. He turned back up to , “I…You’re not going to hurt , are you?”
The guy looked like he enjoyed common sense, so I said, “You saw what I did to the bears, right? Hurting you all could’ve already happened. I just saved you from a painful death. You all should trust enough to put a ring on.”
The farr’s lips turned into a thin line, “Will…Will this take my mind away?”
I laughed, “What? No, It’ll do the opposite.”
He blinked, staring at the ring. After taking a few breaths, he put the band onto his middle finger, and after making complete contact, the individual took a few steps back. He pressed himself against one of the piled-up cars, and barbed wire pierced his shirt and gouged his back. One of the other villagers ca up, shouting at him,
“Fred, are you ok?”
Fred gasped, his scars fading and a layer of muscle forming within him. From thin and lanky to lean and an, he pulled himself from the twisted wires. His back healed in seconds, and he gasped, “What is this? I feel…better. Much better.”
I pointed at my rings, “These are your tickets out of the rat race and into the big leagues.” I spiraled the circles around , “Anyone else wants one? They’re free.”
Most people stayed skeptical, but a few opportunists ran up, each of them wanting one. I pointed towards the grassy opening beside us,
“Line up. You’ll all be allowed to get one if you choose to take it.”
Random villagers put on the rings, their benefits palpable. These villagers sat between levels one and two hundred. For them, these rings offered enormous amounts of health, regeneration, stamina, willpower, endurance, and sizeable pieces of strength and constitution. They dwarfed even rare artifacts from a stat value standpoint, giving each person a trendous leg up.
More joined in on the ensuing frenzy, a mob forming for the enormous benefits the rings offered. I kept them in order, each person getting one. Despite the trendous help, a good portion of people chose not to take the bands. They kept their eyes narrowed, each person unwilling to accept the free boost. It was their loss, and I wasn’t about to beg them to take it.
After handing out fifty rings, I spread out my hands towards their car wall. I turned my head and shouted, “Everyone, back up.”
By now, people got the picture and listened. I lted down the cars, the steel turning into a glowing bubble. The citizens of this place gawked in slack-jawed wonder while I created a wall of steel around their entire periter. I bolstered their poor defenses, making the walls taller, covering it in spikes, adding pillars into the ground, and establishing watch posts at even intervals.
These towers offered vantage points for their defense, making it more efficient. After handling that, I erected a column at the center of their small town, the pillar made of my dinsional fabric. The heat of my molding fabric set nearby grass on fire, people wondering at my creation. Once I etched the cipher in, I moved to the walls.
Handling the enchantnts on the outskirts of their barricade, I sat down and charged up. As I did, people walked up. More precisely, children did. They gawked in wonder at , but I did the sa to them. These were so of the only kids I’d seen since Schema’s systemization. Compared to our pre-system era, these children lived isolated, small lives here, each of them stuck in the town’s walls.
Even from casual conversations with Torix, I learned systemization occurred after or near total growth. Experience and whatnot flooded in after that. Unfortunately, humans grew slow, aning we needed lots of ti and investnt for maturation. As these kids stepped up, I gathered a lot about them by how they bounced off the ground or moved the wind.
To , each of them was as soft as the air around them. A brave one took the initiative and spoke first,
“Uhm…Hello.”
Impressed by her courage, I smiled at the young girl, “What’s up?”
She stared, her clothes old and sewn in many places. The patchwork showed a diligent tailor working hard to keep clothes on her back. This six or seven-year-old took one of my rings, the weight of it challenging to bear. She kept it on while murmuring, “So…Are you an alien?”
I pointed at my face, “Nope. I’m a human.”
Her eyes popped open wide. Her lips made an O, “What? For real?”
I gave her a nod, “Absolutely.”
“So you’re like my dad?”
I raised a brow, “Who’s he?”
She pointed at Fred, the farr helping everybody get sorted after the battle. I tilted my head up, “Wow, he defends the town. Impressive, I must say…You must be proud of him.”
The little girl stood tall, “Yeah, he’s best. He tells stories all the ti.”
A warmth ca over , and I smiled, “He’s keeping you safe. Make sure you work hard and learn a lot for him, alright?”
The little girl nodded her head with force, “Yes. I will.”
She stood twenty-plus feet away, my body glowing and burning up debris nearby. I paneled a layer of cold between us, preventing her and the camp from incinerating. The girl sat in the cold for a while, the difference in temperature novel to her. She got the other kids playing with her in the field, and I watched them enjoy the bit of magic. It brought an irrepressible grin to my face before I finished the cipheric sigils.
Yeah, this was a good idea.
Standing on my feet, the ground cracked around . The panel of mana plud out of the pillar above, giving the place a sizeable protective field. The basics handled, I crafted them each several swords, shields, war hamrs, and armor pieces. I made it out of steel, and helts took priority. I also made gauntlets and footwear as they kept their extremities safe.
After giving the steelwork fundantal Schema enchantnts, I prepared to leave. I raised my hands, my height already large enough to see everywhere in the camp. I announced,
“Alright, I’m heading out. I’ll be leaving several golems in the area who will check on you all. If those with rings are found abusing their benefits, don’t expect to keep them. Those rings were earned by staying alive until now. If you choose to use them for devious ends, expect a titan like to handle it. You’ve been warned.”
The villagers evacuated the concrete shelter already, everyone out and about. By now, they trusted enough, and the fear from before dissipated so. Most of them watched fulfill my tasks, wondering where my abilities started and ended. Before heading out, I crafted a sheet of steel over a portion of the city’s central monolith.
I pointed at it, glowing lines etching into steel as I said, “My guild is the Harbinger’s Legion. We accept recruits but prepare to work hard if you join. We’re on the rise, and we’re bringing humanity with us. If you want to join, talk to a super golem or head to Mt. Verner. Do that, and we’ll see if you’re up to snuff.”
I raised a fist, “You’ll be joining sothing larger than yourself if you enlist. Education on magic and Schema, basic worldly tasks, and all kinds of training will be there for you. You just have to reach out and take it.”
I peered down at the strengthened villagers, “You’ll earn my legacy if you join, and it’s as strong as those rings, maybe even better. And rember, work hard, guys. Don’t set up limits for yourself. Live up to what you can be, not what you are now.”
I hovered myself over the village and shot myself out, several people shouting questions. Not having ti to answer them, I got so distance before creating the standard five golem ensemble for the area. Giving the constructor golem so instructions, I ntioned checking on their camp every now and again.
They’d ensure the rings didn’t lead to so horrific sub-society or sothing. I didn’t want so crazy psychopath getting their hands on that unbridled power. Finishing up those matters, I funneled back into the city building process like before. As I fell into the process, the days blended together, my body going from one step to the next.
Ti blurred by, and while it did, I brainstord different ideas. I referenced Chrona’s conversations and insights on ti magic, trying to fully grasp them. By now, Schema might’ve locked from using it out of fear. Instead of letting that discourage , I put myself ahead of the curve.
Just as I’d done with primordial mana, I gathered my knowledge for when I could use ti magic without limit. When I took off Schema’s shackles, it would rush into place as it had with primordial mana. I held a firm faith in that, my efforts showing that resolve. To get as much from that as possible, avoiding Schema’s control took priority.
So, I also put two minds to understanding the cipher markings Plazia-Ruhl etched down. He made and charged them quickly, and with my mana reserves, I’d do the sa. Creating a patch when needed suited fine for the ti being. While I handled those tasks, I stayed connected with the guild.
I kept heading back towards Mt. Verner and getting schooling from Helios and Chrona alike. Helios recited his information towards like so talking computer, but hey, it worked. I referenced the morized lectures over and over, drilling them into my head. I did the sa with Chrona, preferring her more esoteric and less rigorous take on the subject.
Compounding those benefits, I raided our stockpile of books and kiosks from Elysium. They carried dozens of volus for many different kinds of magic, and I primarily kept it related to temporal dilation. After getting that, warping and dinsional magic would be my primary study. I hamred away at all these tasks at all tis, my willpower oozing.
In fact, my motivation spiked after knowing most of my ntal blocks ca from Schema, not from . If anything, knowing he held back put in an underdog state of mind. Schema wanted to stay contained and boxed into his system? Oh, I’d show him what I was capable of. He’d feel the full brunt of what the Harbinger of Cataclysm could do.
My guild’s expansion was a part of that ssage. To keep going, I kept in contact with Torix in the anti, the lich establishing connections over the various cities. Torix included so undead to help manage the empties places with a few trustworthy guildmates. It put at a greater sense of ease that no one would abuse what I left behind.
I also put Florence up to the task of getting people into the cities. The chatty albony took his work with great gusto, becoming the politician he always was ant to be. He demanded a gialgathen fly him in for effect, and I watched him work out one of his recruiting seminars. The guy spoke with words like gilded honey, always playing up my guild’s strengths.
And considering we offered free life-changing rings and protection, it was an easy thing to do.
Most of the guild moved as well. Hod and the Eltari expanded outwards, preferring forested lowlands in valleys. They never hated Mt. Verner, but the Eltari evolved for a desert environnt. They chose lower, hotter areas. I might get them to check out sowhere further South, maybe near Arizona. In ti, perhaps they’d do great in the Sahara.
As for the gialgathens, many of them migrated over the next week. Mt. Verner had crowded to absurdity for them. Most gialgathens preferred so living space and breathing room, so the cramped conditions grated at them. So couples branched out into other mountainous areas. Many more flocked to Blegara, keeping Helios busy outside of his lectures.
So people in Mt. Verner joined the mass hiatus of the hollow mountain. These individuals preferred a quieter lifestyle, sothing my spread-out cities offered in spades. During my own downti, I chatted with Althea often, usually over calls. I spent evenings with her during Helios’s lessons, however.
From our talks, I could tell Althea lost her way a bit with the war ending. Her skills suited assassination, not dostic living. She put everything she had into dismantling Elysium, and that showed in her efficacy at the ti. Slicing through skulls and having good aim didn’t work so well with establishing hosteads. I tried keeping her spirits up, but she kind of wondered what to do next with her life.
I hoped she’d find out sothing as awe-inspiring as she was.
Listening to her reminded of myself in my pre-Schema days. When I thought about graduating from school, I was at a loss. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. Without Schema’s arrival, I might be working at a fast-food place or struggling with school loans.
At that mont, I crafted a pillar of my flesh and blood, a beacon of mana. It contrasted harshly with that different reality and tiline. I wondered how I ended up in this position, one with enormous potential. It made think about other people and what they were capable of in different circumstances.
Perhaps everyone hid on an ocean of potential that they could not see.
I found that both disappointing and heartening at the sa ti. Even while having these thoughts and building cities, I kept my runes revving full blast. I channeled mana into my endurance inscriptions without ever ceasing. In fact, I held many furnaces on it at all monts.
The reason for that was self-evident. Cutting myself off from Schema was no longer an option; it was an inevitability. I prepared myself for it with each passing mont. I might craft runic inscriptions for my own trees and perks at this rate. A vast improvent on my runic work was required for that.
So, I kept three minds researching cipheric sigils at all tis, one for general research and the others on Plazia’s sigils. I kept four psyches on the city making, two on warping, and two more dedicated to ti magic. Seven channeled my runic markings and furnaces, and one kept everything coordinated. All in all, I amassed nineteen minds that hustled and bustled at all monts. In ti, many more would join their ranks.
Knowing my plans progressed, I finished another city. A sunrise peaked over the horizon, orange light shaving the clouds above. The hues of a sunrise crafted a fra for the blue skies, and I spread my arms at it. I just worked through three days of rain, and a bit of sunshine did good. Before I soaked it in, a ssage popped up in my status. I peered down at it.
Obolis Novas, the Finder of Secrets | Level 24,492 Cap: 27,000 | Class: Founder | Guild: The Empire – I see that the ahcorous arrived within an absurd scheduling, and they’ve stayed on the frontlines ever since. Incredible, I must say. I never envisioned a day where you destroyed a galactic horror in less than a day, and yet, it has co to pass.
That elite efficiency worked to our benefit, as we’ve turned the tides against the Hybrids. I do wish to thank you fully for your gift. My guild organized the skeptiles, and we’re now able to send portions of them over towards Earth as needed.
There are 30 million of them, and they enjoy arid environnts or flush jungles; it depends on the tribe you’re moving to. I understand that your guild may need ti to assimilate such a vast number of people, and we’re more than willing to give it to you.
And if you have ti to chat, I’d genuinely enjoy working out the details of our dealings whenever you are available.
I raised an eyebrow at the ssage, thinking back on my relationship with the Emperor. He gave opportunities, but he also pitted into so poor circumstances. Technically, he gave an elental furnace, a planet, and two able subordinates. At the sa ti, I doubted he could get the furnace working, he couldn’t hold the planet anyways, and he couldn’t get Florence to do anything productive.
Even Helios’s service was gifted to because Obolis wanted to punish the guy. If anything, I questioned my relationship with Obolis more and more with each passing event. Still, he gave a lot of information, and he might help take advantage of my Schema and Overseer etings. Before confronting Schema, I’d make sure I was ready, however.
Cancelling Schema’s limiters, being able to warp, and having so control of ti magic, I’d get that all lined up before I confronted the AI. After thinking all that through, I thought up a ssage.
Daniel Hillside, The Harbinger of Cataclysm | Level 18,767 (Cap: 26,000) | Class: Sovereign | Guild: The Harbinger’s Legion – I can talk now, but not for too long. I’m expanding the guild right now. Here are my coordinates if you want to visit…
I sent him the data, Schema uploading it automatically. After a few seconds, a notification popped up.
Obolis Novas, the Finder of Secrets | Level 24,492 Cap: 27,000 | Class: Founder | Guild: The Empire – I’ll be there in a mont.
Within a few seconds, a warp appeared beside . Obolis stepped out from his majestic study. In his graphene armor and with a smile, he spread his arms at ,
“It’s good to see you again…You look different.”
I smiled back, “Because I am.”
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