Plazia laughed.
"Don't tempt him, child."
I cracked my neck, and the echo sounded like steel cables tearing in the ocean.
"Eh, I'll take good care of him either way."
Amara pointed at .
"What of you then?"
I squeezed my hands.
"I've got a status to attend to."
I opened it.
"Now, everyone, let's get down to business."
I stared at many, many notifications before scrolling down. I took a mont, filing them into different categories. A primary ssage arrived over it all.
Hello there Harbinger! Schema would like to personally apologize for the lack of prompt system updates over the last interim. Your system and skills have been updated and will continue to be updated regularly for the foreseeable future. That ans no more pesky bugs for you!
A perk will be awarded free of charge based on your contributions and consistent performance. Consider it a sincere apology for any issues you've suffered from glitches.
Perk unlocked!
Schemic Amnesty
Allows association with illegal entities.
Allows low-level tampering with the system. *See the guidebook for further details.
Allows the user to eliminate 5 individuals' unknown statuses.
The benefits let talk with Plazia in the open, and they helped get out of shady situations. In general. Cool. I began reading my unique skill notifications, of which there were plenty.
Unique skill unlocked! Primordial Mana | Level 10 - Many walk the world and maneuver through its thorned paths. You have chosen to remake the world in a different image. From blighted to beautiful and from sinister to subli.
From theirs to your own, the progenitor of a new world.
10% to ease of primordial mana generation.
Finally.
Unique skill unlocked! Dungeon Core Manipulation | Level 10 - So use cores for skills or inco. You've harnessed their power directly, and their untold energy is spoken of in what you make. With your creations, speak with a legend made in your image.
10% to core crafting and manipulation.
Using cores in crafting wasn't that uncommon then.
Unique skill unlocked! Anima Creation | Level 10 - Many spend their life harnessing the power of their mind. You've decided to beco the architect of a soul, and from your vision, sentience blooms, a flower amidst the dead.
10% to ease of anima creation.
Ophelia would be proud.
Unique skill unlocked! Temporal Contact | Level 10 - We all pass through ti and feel its omnipresent pull. This never sated you, and now you touch upon its essence, your mortality intermingling in eternity.
10% to temporal awareness.
Many of these skills I recognized from my ti on L-7, though I gained primordial mana well before. I moved on to the unknown skills.
Unknown skill unlocked! Dinsional Saturation | Level 10 - Many bend to circumstances or people. Others bend to rules and laws. No matter a man's will, all bend to reality.
All but you.
10% to dinsional saturation speed.
10% to dinsional saturation efficacy.
Unknown skill unlocked! True Incorporeal Recomposition | Level 10 - Many feign this feat. Many construct it with tricks and lies. Your skill isn't a fanciful construction.
It is pure. It is undeniable.
10% to ease of incorporeal recomposition.
10% to the speed of incorporeal recomposition.
From the skill description, Schema had downplayed my reconstitution in our conversation. He made it sound like a common ability, but an unknown skill implied otherwise. On the other hand, Dinsional Saturation had to be an unknown skill. It involved soaking my mind into my dinsional wake, a feat few likely ever imagined, let alone attempted.
Mythical skill unlocked! The unique skills of Temporal Contact, Primordial Mana, and Mass Molding(Previously: Mass Manipulation) fuse into a mythical skill: Temporal Compression | Level 10 - To touch upon ti's grasp is a feat in and of itself. To effect it is a prodigal demonstration of skill. You've done more.
You bend the intangible, and in the ether, you find you are eternal.
10% to ease of ti manipulation.
10% to effect of Temporal Compression.
Oh man, I would soon turn this into a monstrous legendary skill.
Mythical skill unlocked! The unique skills of Artisan of Destruction, Core Manipulation, and Anima Creation fuse into a mythical skill: Golemic Progenitor | Level 10 - Many construct mindless hulks of earth or tal for their bidding. You have mastered this art and, in doing so, transcend the discipline's limitations.
For war is your garden, and in battle's midst, your warriors are born.
10% to ease of golemic creation.
10% to golem's innate skills, abilities, and attributes.
These were the big boys of the bunch, and two more mythical skills gave my legendary skill all it needed to be made. The question was now what skills to put into it. Temporal Compression and Matter Conversion would be included for obvious reasons, but the last skill could be many things. However, I had a few ideas in the works.
In a far-off future, I may even write my own furnace inscriptions. At that point, I could turn myself into a living nuclear furnace that fed on my flesh for infinite fuel. It would again evolve my mana generation, sothing that may catapult ahead. I would need many of those leaps forward to kill the Old Ones.
After having squared away my skills, I peered at my tree nu. I found the missing notification I was hoping for.
1,625 tree points awarded!
That was more damn like it. I placed so points into my Creator of Armies tree.
Your glow becos a new dawn for those under you. That light offers guidance, purpose, and resilience to your chosen. What is a beacon to so becos a burning insignia to others, and so, you will be hated. They will writhe and thrash against you. That is until they are broken under an unending march.
For who are those that stand against a creator of armies?
100% to effect of Legacies. 10 to base stats of all guild mbers. 25% to experience gain for your guild. 25% to the learning speed of skills within your guild. 10% easier skill creation for guild mbers.
While not a huge personal bonus, the tree allowed my guild to progress faster. Considering how ahead I was of almost everyone, that was exactly what we needed.
Select Talent tree for distributing points. Requirents t. Additional trees unlocked.
Owner of Worlds(Own a habitable world)(2,500) | Anomaly(Be singular in nature)(2,500) | Immortal(Have a possible lifespan of over 100,000 years)(2,500) | Conquerer(Take a city by force)(1,500) | Schema's Champion(Prove yourself worthy of my personal attention)(5,000)
I eyed my options with care. Schema's Champion tempted for many reasons, and it would likely give privileges that other guilds drooled over, That wasn't what bothered about my current position. I had to solidify the lives around and my planet's security.
Otherwise, I'd be the last one standing. Again.
Thoughts leaked into my head. I rembered gazing at Leviathan's center after killing Valgus. Everyone died. It heralded a dark future where one day, I would be like Obolis as he learned of his family's deaths. I would be an all-enduring yet all-destroying force, like Leviathan.
I wouldn't let that happen. During the lottery, everybody passed except Shalahora, and he kept so people alive. I ca close to death, but I had many ways of avoiding its gaze aside from my trees. In fact, leveling and absorbing red cores would be enough for for a while. I could always funnel energy into my cipheric inscriptions for infinite stats anyways.
Ti bottlenecked that process, but that was a problem I hacked away at by leveling Temporal Compression. My sovereign skill, legendary skills, and titles also added to my personal progression. It left wanting to invest in the people around instead of myself.
Besides, the trees always awaited after I gained a few to help my guild.
After doing so research into the trees, I found no information about them specifically. Schema's info lockdown still had its vice grip intact, but similar trees did pop up in my searches. Any trees revolving around planet-owning strengthened cities, trade, and planetary defenses. Considering my worries, I selected Owner of Worlds and placed my points.
A part of any society involves ownership. Who owns the ans of production? Who owns the land? Most importantly, who owns the people? These are questions long asked and long answered with blood. You spilled rivers of it, so you own all there is.
25% to City Barrier Strength
25% to City Barrier Efficiency
10% to City Barrier Size
10% to Credit Inco Multiplier from owned territories
10% to Experience Multiplier from owned territories
25% to Bounty Payout in owned territories
25% to Bounty Experience Reward in owned territories
-10% to Warping Costs in owned territories
Sovereign Exclusive: 6% to World Perk Efficacy
You conquered the land until there was no more to be taken. You seized all production until nothing was made. You fought dissenters until groups, cities, then countries bent to your will. None bend to it now.
They live and breathe by it.
50% to City Barrier Strength
50% to City Barrier Efficiency
20% to City Barrier Size
20% to Credit Inco Multiplier from owned territories
20% to Experience Multiplier from owned territories
50% to Bounty Payout in owned territories
50% to Bounty Experience Reward in owned territories
-20% to Warping Costs in owned territories
Sovereign Exclusive: 12% to World Perk Efficacy
Unlike most trees, this one specialized. It granted specific but powerful bonuses, all of them easing world ownership. The city barrier bonuses let establish far better defenses moving forward. The credit and experience multipliers allowed to gain resources faster, and the bounty bonuses gave better passive governance here.
After all, the more bounty hunters made, the more bounty hunters would appear. They acted like a force of vigilantes, and while not ideal, they shored up my lacking security. Well, golems could also handle any ner do wells, but that could backfire. Having those juggernauts kill ordinary people mirrored a dystopia.
An Average person would never resist one, let alone defeat a golem. Cris of any kind would result in a swift death. By having ordinary people dish out justice, I integrated them into the process. People on my planets also retained free will, sothing I didn't want to interfere with outside extre cases.
I leaned back, stunned by a sudden realization. Schema did the sa thing with his Sentinels. For a second, I wondered if I was turning into what I once hated, but I let that go. We happened to align here. I was sure there wouldn't be that much overlap moving forward.
Anyways, the warping bonus from the tree resulted in more trade and money over the long term, which was always good. I did raise my brow at the Sovereign exclusive because, yeah, I got perks for the planets I owned. Speaking of which.
Congratulations! Your guild has been promoted from standard filings up to the imperial category. This eliminates any cap on ownership of worlds and allows the user to claim ownership over solar systems and the resources within. Get ready to roll up your sleeves, find so ores, and crack open so planets!
rcury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Solus system gained!
Schema's ssages always carried a strange contrast. They embodied a happy, winning raffle tone that opposed the brutal reality of earning the rewards. Still, the second part of this update made smile.
[Sovereign Update: Big news, Sovereign! You now officially own a planet(s)! You've gained a resulting perk(s) from your ownership of that planet(s) based on the world (s) owned.
Your perks are as follows:
Planetary Perks Gained -
rcury's Maker | 11.2% to temperature multiplier.
Venus's Allure | 11.2% to aura pressure, control, and radius.
Earth's Immortal | 11.2% to regeneration stats.
Mars's Madness | 11.2% to Ascendant Outflow.
Jupiter's Juggernaut | 11.2% to Mass.
Saturn's Star | 11.2% to Gravitational Potency.
Dominator of Uranus | 11.2% to Quintessant Outflow.
Neptune's Navigator | 11.2% to Primordial Outflow.
Solus's Saviour | 11.2% more exp, credit gain, and awareness within the Solus System.
Blegara's Borne | 11.2% more damage against eldritch.]
I gawked at the perk for Uranus. It was a great perk, but, uh, the naming was a little off. All the other perks read better, even slotting their bonuses into the planet's significance for our solar system. All in all, they compiled into a notable increase in my abilities. They also oned how much the Ruler of Worlds tree might affect if I owned many planets. It might not be as much of a personal sacrifice as I expected.
I moved on.
[Self Augnts(Previously: Modifications) - The dinsional fabric composing this structure has been modified with code from the dinsional cipher. The changes are as follows(Pre-multiplier values):
17,231 Constitution
87,827 Endurance
13,728 Perception
21,278 Willpower
11,777 Luck
13,901 Strength
12,490 Dexterity
9,019 Intelligence
7,154 Charisma
9,032 Awe
100% to Effects of Legacies
50% Internal Motivation Multiplier
34% Dinsion Size
34% Dinsional Wake Density
34% Dinsional Wake Extent
12,342 Trillion Ambient Mana]
I staggered at the sheer volu of stats thrown my way. I imagined stat gains from the fight with Valgus, but this defied all expectations. Every stat skyrocketed, even stats I lacked an inscription for. My ambient mana tripled, and the other bonuses helped realize my dinsional potential.
Checking the math, I added my skill bonuses from leveling up and my dinsional augnts. My augnts outpaced my level-ups by volu, though Schema's multipliers still outworked what my modifications accomplished independently. This oned the magnitude of my future changes.
Inspecting those changes, the dinsion size bonus affected my pocket dinsion. That's part of why I had the extra space for privals on returning to Earth. I hadn't noticed the density or wake size yet. First, I reached out with the Rise of Eden for a mont and verified it. My dinsional wake dwarfed its old size, now encompassing Mt. Verner.
I hadn't noticed on L-7 because the planet's scale exceeded Earth's by leaps and bounds. The difference between a square kiloter and a square mile ant nothing there, but I had actual references for comparison on Earth. As for the dinsional density, that could be why I sensed Althea within my wake.
Moving onto level-ups, I peered at 5,000 as Schema promised, but that was it. I expected so exp from the lottery's monsters, but I reviewed the terms. Schema set the lottery outside of both Schema-owned spaces or a rift. That ant we received nothing from killing the privals or Schema's enemies.
Despite that technicality, I piled up plenty of points to spend. 20,000 of them. I put all of them into endurance and stared at the finalize screen. After clicking this, I'd gain the tree bonuses, the planet perks, and the attributes. A bit antsy, I clicked the button, and a wave of mana crashed from afar.
I brimd from the energy flow, glowing before I stood up. The glass near lted. It bubbled, boiled, and splattered as my guildmates began panicking. Althea leaped away. Hod flew off into the distance. Torix cast cooling magic, and Chrona roared ice breath.
I condensed my wake, stopping the energy flow for a mont. As the heat dissipated, I cooled the area. I left a burned spot over Chrona's ho, so I winced.
"Ah, my bad, guys. I forgot how much energy my status updates send out these days. I'll fix this later."
Torix sighed.
"Patently absurd."
I walked over to the edge of the building and leaped up. I pulled myself along with gravity, flying high into the atmosphere. Above the clouds, I soared until Earth's gravitational pull lightened. Once far away from anyone or anything, I allowed Schema's reconfiguring to take place. As it happened, I slowed it down with my wake's density.
This let appreciate Schema's changes. From a flashing mont to a loaded minute, my anatomy and mind changed. I leaned in, putting every part of my mind on understanding the shifts. I uncovered a few of his secrets as I did.
Schema couldn't increase my strength via normal ans anymore, so he used other thods. The primary difference arrived from mana-based muscle fibers. They operated off of constructed segnts of my armor. Whenever mana pulsed through them, they pulled together or apart. I had no clue how Schema did it, but I'd get Torix and Plazia on that case after this.
Unlike the physical changes, I struggled to dissect the ntal differences. Even Schema would probably shrug at what he did, as little about my thought process or cerebral acuity changed. Thinking about it, I wouldn't know what to do either. After all, how much can you change about soone's mind before it wasn't theirs?
Schema couldn't interfere with free will, so he kept the ntal changes on simple, easy-to-articulate conditions. He improved the computational proficiency and processing speed of the psyche. That let him increase the amount of thought soone could dish out, increasing their mana and regeneration.
However, the natural ingenuity of the mind remained stagnant. Hell, even coming up with a strict definition of intelligence was difficult, and people always argued about it. Schema evaded all that by focusing on the simplest, most determined explanation possible.
It wasn't a poor answer.
Regardless of my breakdowns, Schema's augnts were razor-sharp and precise. No matter how I criticized him, Schema used as little mana as possible for the most benefit. His efficiency far and away exceeded my own, requiring far less mana for better additions. It left in awe, and I had a long way to go before I could do the sa.
As the changes settled in, I raised my arm, moving my new hand with my improved mind. Not bad. Not bad at all.
[Status]
The Living Multiverse | Level 23,767 (Cap: 39,000) | Current Influence: The Rise of Eden | Class: Sovereign
Strength – 190,917 | Constitution – 212,632 | Endurance – 451,956
Dexterity – 115,926 | Willpower – 396,395 | Intelligence – 257,229
Charisma – 121,399 | Luck – 154,656 | Perception – 86,756 |Awe - 16,943
Health: 3.60 Billion/3.60 Billion | Health Regen: 278 Billion/min or 4.621 Billion/sec
Stamina: Infinite | Ambient Mana 12,402 Trillion
Mass: 2.2 Billion Pounds( 1 Billion Kilos~)
Height: 37'11 |11.56 ters | Actual: 21'9 (Temporal Compression)
Damage Res - 99.532% | Actual: 99.672% (Temporal Compression) | Dinsional Res - 100%
Phys Dam Bonus – 22.6 Billion% | Damage Bonus – 40%
The Rise of Eden - enhances base stats by 30%, increased to 40% to allies within aura's radius.
Mana Conversion(Elental Furnace Count: 41) - 239.2 Billion mana/min siphoned into runes and armor.
[Previous]
I hadn't checked my status in a long ti, and the numbers increased to absurd quantities. My periphery attributes exploded, my weight ten-folded, and so did my physical damage. My damage resistance also inched up, and Temporal Compression increased it. Reasoning through why I peered at the skill's creation.
It devoured Mass Manipulation. Well, Mass Molding but whatever. Sa thing. Whenever a mythical skill absorbed unique skills, they improved them. At a certain point, condensing my matter resulted in a more rigid, more robust material. Therefore, leveling that skill would improve my dinsional fabric.
Hell yeah.
And, of course, I didn't forget the most important asuring stick of progress. You know it. I know it. We all know it. The big daddy. The penultimate peak. The absolute apex. The only real value that mattered in the grand sche of things. That's right.
Health regen.
Sarcasm aside, it nearly quadrupled, with all the multipliers going crazy again. The planet perks helped with that, as had all the endurance from level-ups. Peering at my hands, I snapped my fingers. A singularity erupted afar. I snapped two fingers, and two singularities detonated. I kept adding more until I capped at nine of them. Ridiculous.
I quit exercising my mana because I kept causing clouds to whirl below. Moving around, it was challenging to know the exact physical differences without sothing to test on, especially this high up. Peering down at the blue marble below, I flinched. At this point, I could shatter mountains or rive rivers with my hand.
I'd test myself elsewhere in a less precious place. Heading back down, I whirled through the wind. Heat built over , and I passed through a raincloud. The water evaporated as I passed, and I got into view of Mt. Verner in seconds. While getting close, I ignited several birds that exploded like aquatic grenades.
I gawked in horror at the charred remnants and sifting steam. Slowing the hell down, I took a few minutes getting back while cooling myself. While passing a cloud, it dropped blocks of hail. I was too cold. Great. In fact, all these temperatures seed the sa to . I rubbed my temples, trying to co up with a solution. In a minute, I did.
I kept a bubble of water beside , and I kept it from freezing, boiling, or evaporating. It gave an accurate temperature gauge, preventing from flying down while radiating the heat of a furnace or oozing the cold of space. Once below, I landed in Chrona's icy ho.
The others spurred into action. Shalahora, Hod, and Althea trained in the mountain's shadow. Torix talked with Plazia, a tal skeleton talking to a horde of flies. Chrona sat still, using her temporal prowess on Amara and Krog. Obolis went back to his Empire and tended to many matters.
I flew over to Plazia and Torix. Torix pointed a hand at the flies.
"The issue with bodily integration with the Oga Strain is that it will result in an unknown status for our guildmates. We'll lose more fighting power than we gain."
I raised my brow.
"Huh, not worried about whether they'll go insane?"
Torix tilted his hand.
"Ethical argunts wouldn't work well against Plazia as they are the least of his concerns. So I used what works - pragmatism."
I raised my brow.
"You don't want a win when it's the most impressive?"
Torix scoffed.
"If my words are a knife, then I slice where the enemy is softest. That being said-"
Torix interlocked his hands behind himself.
"What is needed of us?"
I pointed at the lich.
"I need you to organize everyone in Mt. Verner. I'm going to be rebuilding this place from the ground up."
Torix nodded.
"Consider it done."
I pointed at Plazia.
"Get a good understanding of the Oga Strain and co back with detailed reports. There's plenty of latent potential there. I can feel it."
Plazia's insects rippled.
"I shall trust your intuition."
I turned before bending my knees. Torix's eyes brightened.
"Where are you headed?"
"To Blegara. I'm getting Kessiah so new bodyguards."
I flew over towards Mt. Verner's warp drives. As I did, I sent Shalahora a telepathic ssage.
"Keep them safe while I'm away."
He said, "As your shadow."
"Hm?"
"It ans yes."
"Ah, ok...Do you need anything?"
"For you to survive."
I nodded.
"As your shadow."
I raced past several groups of people, waving my hand without stopping. I headed to Mt. Verner's warp drive before talking with Schema's receptionist. A quick chat later, I stepped into a tal tube. Ionizing clouds poured over before I shifted position. I stepped out into Saphigia, the zone protected by a blue core.
Around , the endless ocean of Blegara covered a reinforced barrier, schools of fish passing by overhead. Beams of light leaked between the waves like an endlessly rippling panel of glass overhead. In the distance, a wispy barrier shielded so of Saphigia, and I winced at it. The thin, light shielding wouldn't survive a single prival, let alone a group of them.
I had to fix that.
I pulled myself up, peering down at a city in developnt. A constructor golem or two would make a world of difference here. I spent a few minutes making two of them and putting their cores in place. Heading towards the city's center, I found a monolith sitting there and ebbing an aura of buffs.
Terrible buffs. I cringed at the sight of it, its unstable design and poor output being my fault. After flattening it, I made a new pillar of my dinsional fabric. I added a few premade cipheric etchings from my grimoire and planted ten blue cores into the monolith.
It generated a barrier around the city, far vaster than before. It included underwater sections of the city, creating a psionic web that anyone could contact. Many did, whether by accident or not. From those connections, awareness spread over , giving so idea of what happened in the city from nearby Vagni's thoughts.
I sifted through mundanities before my eyes widened. In a panic, I flew up, dashing across the ruined cityscape. Passing into the subrged portion of the city, I extended my dinsional wake outward. A chill ran up my spine as I peered around. At Saphigia's outskirts, a military ship had landed, one from the Empire.
They established an air zone under the waves using mana batteries and machinery. Within the area, Kessiah healed soldiers. She channeled blood from her prepped pouches, reconstituting even lost limbs for various albony and other aliens. As impressive as it was, my eyes settled on a different ship that landed nearby.
Hybrids gazed at from its surface. Orange pustules pumped energy under their surface. Blighted ones swam nearby, making a mockery of their old, gialgathenic forms. They wrestled with older models of my golems, and a battle erupted in the sea again. Trying to settle the conflict, several Elysium soldiers landed nearby with Hybrid guards, carrying various docuntation.
They psionically announced.
"We an no harm to the locals. We are here for the imperials."
It was a repeating call. Several Hybrid carcasses piled up, the battle being waged for a while. Once close, my status disappeared, and I crashed through the imperial's protective barrier. Raising a hand, I sealed the hole shut with a saturated antigravity well while standing over everyone.
The albony and others gawked at . Kessiah peered up, and she shouted.
"It's about damn ti soone showed up. Get these guys the hell out of here. I'm trying to make so money for Schema's sake."
I glared at the ship.
"Get them out?"
I waved my hand.
"They're not leaving."
As my hand passed, I disintegrated the ship in five singularities' wake. They evaporated, the nearby albony trembling in fear. The vessel converted into a kinetic shockwave rippling through the water. Reaching up my other arm, I pulled down. Saphigia's new barrier molded under my command, covering this isolated bubble.
Weathering the incoming shockwave, we watched schools of fish and Hybrids get thrown aside by the tsunami and tidal movents. I turned to Kessiah.
"We're getting out of here."
She gestured at a dying imperial soldier.
"I'm kind of busy at the mont."
I walked up, swiping the gooey ss of a person into my pocket dinsion. Kessiah blinked.
"Oh yeah, you can do that."
I swiped the other injured soldiers into my pocket dinsion, already having practice. After getting the last one, Kessiah stepped away from .
"You're Daniel, right?"
I pulled my helt down.
"Of course. Who else?"
Kessiah shrugged.
"A giant, tal monster?"
I made a finger pistol with my hand, pointing at different Hybrids in the distance. I pulled them into a cluster.
"What makes you say that?"
I evaporated them with a singularity. Kessiah frowned.
"Don't know. Maybe it's the weather?"
Off in the distance, a vast warp erupted. Along its edges, golden claws punched through the ether. I sighed.
"Well, it's about to get stormy."
Kessiah peered off, covering her face.
"Ok, yeah, it's still you under all that steel."
I smiled.
"Give a minute. We'll talk after I handle this."
I broke through the Imperial's barrier again, letting them handle the aftermath as I stared down the largest gialgathen to ever live. Its mammoth eye gazed through the tear in space-ti. From the warp, a haughty voice erupted over the landscape.
"Another oceanic world? Ugh. I tire of desolating the seas of far-off planets."
Lehesion pulled himself from the void, and his eyes t mine. A grin grew over his face.
"Ah. It is you yet again. I thought we'd called a truce of sorts? Perhaps you wished for another thrashing?"
Energy plud from , ascendant mana billowing out like blood. The ocean ran red.
"I'm not the sa Daniel you fought before."
Golden lightning erupted from Lehesion as he shouted across the horizon.
"And neither am I, child."
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