XaiJu
AuthorSME
AuthorSME

patreon


Undying Empire: B1 — 40: The System

Note: I managed to add several parts, but I'm still not done editing it.  I've been periodically updating it throughout the day; I won't ping you all unless I've added a decent amount.  xD

Undying Empire Index

Previous Chapter

----------------

Note:  The following is a comprehensive list of everything Tiffany and Edmon taught Elinor about The System and her abilities while waiting for Camellia and Valdar to finish their work at subjugating the clanless territories in the valley, either by swearing undying loyalty to Supreme Chief Elinor, or choosing to serve her in death as a zombie.

Meaning, the following information will have an edge of Elinor’s own attitude and approach when identifying her abilities.  There will also be hints at abridged conversations she had about her skills and the system with her court.

The System: It is unclear why or how this system attached itself to my soul, but from Demon’s comments about this seed, it contains immense power.  Even with Demon’s vast experience and age, he doesn’t know much about it.

If Demon has the capability to take these seeds, then would it corrupt him like it did me?  If it reacts to desires, then why would it make me a Lich Empress?  There’s the possibility that there’s a set of lingering information within the seed that is used with the personality of the individual.

The seed has preassigned settings, either natural or otherwise, that governs how it responds to my individual’s desires; if I overrule the Automatic Skill Assignment and Point Placement features, then I’d be able to better maximize my potential, and not knowing how many points I have is of little concern if they’re placed in the right areas.

[Elinor chose to manually put points into her skills rather than allowing her passing emotions to dictate their advancement.]

The System does not give a few articles of information, such as points or skills that are available to obtain, and most raw stat numbers are hidden.  Although, it does give quite a bit of information in regards to what I already have.  I need to be sure upon the subject I want revealed, passing thoughts will not give a rounded response.

The desire to know must be of significant degree to equal the determination to receive a new skill, and specific enough to not be given a vague understanding, which is understandable.  There are a lot of nuances with skills that can go unnoticed if I’m not focused on the right set of information, but that’s why I have Tiffany and Edmon to guide me.

Experience System:  Unlike a game, the experience system is extremely complicated since it incorporates actions taken in real-life, and a person may not only gain points from killing, but a number of other ways.  However, there is a cap to certain methods of leveling.

The Attribute System: is quite extensive, and is used in a multiplicative way with skills while also having a base.  I can manually add these points now that I’ve taken a firmer hold on the system rather than letting it dictate based on circumstance.  Stats and Skills are connected in a lot of ways, and increased Force would enhance someone’s ability to perform stronger feats; however, if you do not apply points into Defense, then you would suffer diminishing returns; physics still apply to a degree.

Types of Effects: we’ve been able to identify.

The Advancement System: The two ways of advancing are through levels and proficiencies.  Experience is restricted to the Leveling System and does not affect Proficiency.

Achievement System: is extremely important, but difficult to plan for.  I received an Achievement for making this world my new home, giving me the ability to raise Tiffany and Edmon.  These are powerful abilities, however, they may come with no Proficiency Grades, meaning they are extremely weak versions of the original since it requires high Proficiency of pre-required skills to reach that ability.  Edmon theorizes I may achieve an Achievement Skill if I can turn these Ri’bot into my religious following.

The Tree System: is complicated, and links to a vast number of areas.  They could be considered skills, talents, spells, abilities, but they all have some kind of power attached to them.  Tiffany describes it as a tree itself:

Titles:

Types of Activations:

The Changed: Since it doesn't involve me, Edmon and Tiffany are unaware of what other types of creatures might have come from this change, and how the seed might have affected them.  Some of the humans may even have dormant seeds within them, but it seems unlikely if Demon has not gone after them; although, it is not something to rule out.

Psyche Change:  This change has obviously affected my mind in a great many ways, which also shifts my desires.  It’s interesting to think about the effects this generates within those that have this seed; I doubt I would have initially chosen from a long list of possibilities to become a Lich Empress, yet that was what was given to me.  There are a lot of factors we’re unaware of in regards to how this seed operates.

Overall: The manner in which these systems interact with each other is fascinating; they appear to be intentionally designed in a way to focus on an individual’s way of life rather than allowing them to try and craft something other than what they normally use:

Elinor, Lich Empress: I am a summoner-based class that focuses on ruling rather than fighting.  If I need something, then I create a servant to do it for me, and thereby gain someone new to interact with.   Perhaps I was partially influenced down this path due to feeling lonely and ostracized by my friends for becoming a goth.

Undead Maintenance Cost is a real issue; I’m not supposed to have such high minions at my current level, I suppose, which means I need to dump everything I can into increasing my pool.  I may have to go back to the Life Fruit before this conquest is over.  I need to gain as many levels as possible to increase my Constitution, which is already supposed to be very high for my level.

Death Energy: is my very essence; it’s the blood in my veins and what I feed my network of Undead.  There are protections that my minions can gain, such as Tiffany’s body; Tiffany can run her hand through Life Water and even ingest a light amount without worry.  I live off corrupting life.

Life Energy: my opposite, and it is possible for users of Life Energy to even purge the corruption of Death Energy, purifying those affected, and potentially reversing death itself, much like myself.  However, Tiffany says Resurrection is much more costly than my method of returning the dead and requires specific conditions.

Minion Combat Classes:

Minion Non-Combat Classes: may not be nearly as strong as the combat types, but they are not weak and are given means to protect themselves as servants of the Empire.  The Royal Court members can take on tasks branching into these non-combat roles; they are there to ease the burden upon the Court.  The Royal Court will have to take on many of these tasks until I can increase my ranks.

----------------

Next Chapter

Comments

Well the whole chapter does feel like a big Info dump so i could see some people disliking it since it can feel sort of mind numbing to read all of it. That said i doubt much can be done about it at least on patraeon since i dont think theres any way to seperate info stuff into different colours or stuff like that. Maybe adding some sort of comment or interaction would help people not feel like its just a pile of info. But personaly i dont mind it as is since i am interested in the info and the story :)

Martynas Samsonas

One of the problems with that is that I can't find an option to do that on Patreon. Bullets are the best I've got. D=

SME

The real issue with bullet points is that they scream "I'm an info dump". It's great for packing in dense amount of info in a technical setting, I certainly love them in wikis and changelist descriptions, but it's far from ideal in a story. What I see authors doing on Royal Road is putting things in big blue tables. They also complain about what a pain it is to format though. If you went the table route, you'd need to break it up, since a page per table should be a good guideline for size.

Denis Dube

Is there anything you think I should put more detail in or shift the format around?

SME

Thanks for the thoughts; I need them with this type of chapter. Let me know if any of you find anything confusing! This is a work in progress. I'll look at some of the things you mentioned, and if you think the bulletin points are too distracting, then I can try something else. Honestly >.> the bullet points are kind of annoying since I can't make paragraphs. Although, it does help me try to condense things to not be so big...

SME

It's nice to finally get Elinor's stats listed out. Unfortunately, the top-half of this chapter was an unwanted text dump to me. Also, I know it's the same system as in Oscillation, but the triple variables to mark progress in individual skills is confusing at best. It wouldn't be so bad if there were lots of examples, but in neither story do we see these stats brought up much at all, so they're just there and it's unclear how they rise and what effect they actually have. If I was trapped in this world, my inner min-maxer would have a stroke. Things to look over: * "It grants me a ten-percent reduction of Death Energy over my pool’s cap", seems like a disadvantage rather a perk? * Raise Skeleton / Intelligent & Unintelligent costs: ** Duration: is a cost? It would make more sense to split this into an initial cost and maintenance cost ** I wish there was more explanation of what the initial cost is. As it reads right now an intelligent undead costs 25DE + butterfly (which is apparently 25DE itself) and then needs 2DE daily * 2 * grade, so a max of 400 daily. However we know Iris cost significantly more than this initially. ** Unintelligent costs currently have duplication issues and make even less sense to me

Denis Dube

Thanks for the chapter. And it seems this is way more indepth compared to TO one, that said i guess a royal minion would know more about things compared to figuring stuff out themselfs in TO :D.

Martynas Samsonas


More Creators