thevagrantcrusader

Side Project

I'm trying to work on LGIC, but sometimes I just need to work on something else. I'm letting you guys decide which of these I work on.

If you go read the chapters I put up, it should be pretty clear what these are about, but here's some extra context:

A Man Burned is a bit Nordic in nature, and is somewhat inspired by my newfound love for Skyrim. I also semi-recently watched through Goblin Slayer Abridged, so there's some from that too. Effectively, it's about a regular dude who really wants to kill some dragons. There will be a bit of magic, but the main character won't be slinging around spells or anything. Think of a Barbarian, but one who uses his head.

Redux Online is a video game reality. Those are pretty common, but the special part about this one is that it's a Soulslike, and I intend for it to be ludicrously difficult for the players. I don't want to spoil too much of my plans for the MC's fighting styles, but I intend for him to be something like a spellsword brute.

Anyways, there will probably be a few chapters of this here and there in between LGIC chaps.

Redux Online Prologue (Titles In Progress)

Option 2

We saw it coming, but there was nothing we could do.

After centuries of pollution and climate change, the world started to shift.

Long ago, when plants began to grow on land, the oxygen content of the atmosphere saw a drastic uptick. The world had evolved, but with evolution comes change, and sometimes we aren’t ready for it. 

Eighty percent of all life on Earth died during that period, known as the Late Ordivician mass extinction.

Another shift was coming.

Our scientists saw the changes– plants dying en masse and evolving to take new traits that would allow them to better survive our altered world.

Many plants became toxic, having evolved to consume a much greater quantity of lead and carbon monoxide, using it to supplement their natural photosynthesis by producing lead monoxide. Less and less oxygen was produced by these plants, and the predictions were grim.

People immediately started work on preventative measures, growing and storing as many of the as of yet unchanged plants as possible. Algae farms were grown across the world, and “clean zones” were constructed as a way to keep us alive.

Our efforts meant little. Only a few would be able to survive this apocalypse– only the rich and powerful, those who could aid the most in obtaining the resources necessary for the creation of these zones, could obtain slots in the clean zones.

Eventually, our scientists came up with a brilliant solution: a genetically modified variation of the evolved toxic algae that could instead split carbon monoxide into its base elements, releasing the oxygen back into the atmosphere and keeping the carbon contained.

These plants, developed by Dr. Nole E. Skum, were efficient in the extreme, planned to be able to completely cleanse the world within a mere handful of decades. 

It was too late. We didn't have that long. 

It seemed that we were in luck, though.

A popular full-dive capsule company, TowardHardware LLC, had been working on their biggest project yet: Redux Online. Marketed as the world’s first full-DIVE MMORPG Soulslike, almost everyone and their dogs knew about it. In fact, many of those who could afford it had already ordered the custom pods, designed specifically for the game.

Rather than giving up on their game and saying their goodbyes, the leaders of TowardHardware doubled down. They’d created and scrapped plans for a more advanced version of the Redux Online capsules, one that uploaded a person’s consciousness directly into the game to prevent any chance of lag.

TowardHardware’s capsules offered a way out to those who couldn’t afford a place in a clean zone, or didn’t want to be confined to a confined, suffocating clean zone for the next fifty years of their lives.

There was just one problem: even with all that TowardHardware could do for the minds of their users, the body would die only days after entering the game.

Once you were in, there was no way out.

A Man Burned Chapter 1 (Titles In Progress)

Option 1.

The soft sound of chirping birds filtered into his ears from the window, pulling his attention away from his breakfast.

Ulfleif “Wolf” Gray’s life was relatively simple. Like his father, and his father's father, he was a lumberjack. His family had been the founders of the village, and technically owned all the land in and around it, though nobody seemed to respect the claim anymore, at least until the end of the harvest season. Then they all forked over their portion of the land tax and left it up to Morrison to deal with the kingdom’s collector.

Wolf didn't particularly mind. It was just an annoying task he had to do once a year, and he'd never heard his own father complain about it, so he simply got it over with each time.

Gray was his family’s “noble title,” since he was theoretically a baron, but it was more of a joke than anything. Morrison’s grandfather hadn't been able to figure out what to use as their title, but then one of his friends had joked about making himself after the color of his own eyes. Ragrok Gray had taken it seriously.

Luckily or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it, the color had stuck. Wolf’s own eyes were a bit darker than those of the rest of his family, but they were still gray. His sister’s had been more blue, but she’d always seemed to have gotten more of their mother’s genetics than their father’s. She also hadn’t cared much about handling the minutiae of owning land or the hard labor of chopping trees, leaving Wolf as the sole inheritor of the Gray territory.

Pushing his chair back from the table with a screech, Wolf rose to his feet and quickly scrubbed his dishes with some water he’d fetched from the well before starting his morning, leaving them to dry in the rack.

With his breakfast finished, Wolf bent over and gave Trygg a firm pat on the head. The old dog, passed down from his father when he had passed, was all Wolf really had left in the way of company, even if he wasn’t able to come along to gather logs anymore. When the dog died… well, he didn’t really know what he’d do. Maybe he’d finally have to take his friends’ advice and get married?

Wolf was well-liked by the other villagers, and was considered a suitable bachelor by many, but something about men offering their daughters to him left him with a bad taste in his mouth.

There was also the matter of how much he worked, meaning he’d have little time to actually spend fostering a relationship. To some that might not matter much, but to him it was important.

Reaching for his axe and pack, Wolf refocused his thoughts. Trygg was still around, and he had no plans to get hitched quite yet.

The smooth wood of his occupational tool always helped him push away all the thoughts and worries that plagued him when he was off work. Something about forgetting the rest of the world and just swinging was relaxing.

The cool air brushed against his rough skin as he walked through the small town that was inconveniently named “Graywood.”

Ragrok Gray’s friends really had a sick sense of humor.

Smiling and waving at the occasional early-riser, Wolf did a quick scan of Graywood. Nobody seemed to need any help, no houses were burning down, and there weren’t any envoys or soldiers throwing orders around, so he kept moving, meeting the river and following it upstream.

It took nearly an hour to reach the tree he’d marked the previous day, and he inspected it one final time. The tree’s wood was healthy, and it was a strong, thick oak. Unfortunately for the tree, it just happened to be positioned close enough to the river that cutting it down would not only remove a potential hazard, but also prove much easier than handling any of the others in the area.

Usually, Wolf only got to work on relatively small trees, but sometimes he found gems like this one. The small ones were just fine, but titans like the one he’d just felled? Something about it was just satisfying. It felt like he had truly taken down a gargantuan beast from the days of Yore– the days when men had lived in fear.

Then, over a thousand years ago, a single man had come to pull humanity out of the darkness. One man against a horde of monsters both great and small, wise and brutish.

Salyr had won his battle, and the darkness of the world had receded. The Chimarae had been starved out, the Spriggans torched, and the Titans of the Deep beaten back into the darkness, locked away within the darkness from which they’d came.

Most importantly, the Dragons had been driven extinct.

With all of man’s greatest oppressors defeated, nothing could stop them. Wolf didn’t need to fear entering the forests alone for his work– there was nothing waiting in the dark to devour his soul or put his head on a spike.

There were still bears and wolves to worry about, but they weren’t actively malicious beings. They were more scared of him than he was of them.

Lining up his aim carefully, Wolf took a steep diagonally swing at his marked tree, shearing a moderate amount of fiber away from the wood. Another few diagonal swings preceded a series of horizontal swings, fully disconnecting the damaged grains from the bulk of the tree. Another group of diagonal swings began the process of splitting the wood, and horizontal swings came immediately after. Over time, a wedge-shaped gap formed in the tree, and sweat formed across Wolf’s brow.

Eventually, after a couple long hours of work, the first cut had reached deep enough into the tree for him to start work on the second, so he circled around to the other tree, took a moment to breathe, and began chopping once again.

At some point, the sun began to descend from the sky, and still Wolf’s axe swung.

Eventually, a crack echoed throughout the forest, and Wolf’s tree folded like laundry on a line, laying itself perfectly parallel to the river. A bit of maneuvering and rolling later, the log entered the water and swiftly moved downhill.

Following after the felled oak at a leisurely pace, the lumberjack allowed himself to relax.

The birds tweeted above Wolf, the deer pranced through the forest, and the bees buzzed from one flower to another.

Everything was beautiful– his favorite part of his job was always observing the life that existed outside the holdings and creations of men. 

His little sister was insane for running away from this, and especially to a city of all places. She’d taken a chance, and it had paid off for her, which was good, but he would still never understand. Why choose such a convoluted life for such a small reward? Sure, she had a greater education, and likely had more possessions than him, but he had a wealth of its own sort.

Ulfleif Gray’s wealth was one of life, freedom, and wonder, and it was greater than any city walls, tutors, and gold could offer him

Wolf was so busy reflecting on his life and situation that he didn’t notice exactly when the  birds had gone silent.

His gaze swept around with concern, looking for the source of the oddity, and his eyes locked onto a pillar of smoke rising in the distance.

In the direction of Graywood.

Abandoning any semblance of reverence or caution, Wolf immediately bolted alongside the riverbank, his powerful legs burning with exertion.

One of the village’s greatest concerns was fire. Being surrounded by forest and having many wooden homes in a close proximity to one another, a single fire could spread and burn down a good chunk of the village.

Wolf briefly considered leaping into the river and swimming with the current to try to reach his destination more quickly, but decided against it. While this was certainly a bad situation, getting smashed around by the current wouldn’t help anyone.

Just as he was finally approaching the village and nearly in sight of the source of the smoke, a titanic gout of flame erupted from the sky, accompanied by a loud, incomprehensible roar.

Wolf watched in horror as his village was torched by some unseen monstrosity.

Hiding himself behind a tree, he bravely peeked out from behind it to see what was causing the destruction.

What he saw shook him to his core. It was impossible, majestic, terrifying, and grand. It was the largest and most powerful creature he'd ever seen in his entire life

It was… a dragon.

The beast roared out a challenge to the world, flapping its mighty wings and blowing debris and embers throughout the broken village. Wolf hid his face and did his best not to cough from the inhalation of ash.

The dragon rose into the sky, leaving a trail of wrecked trees in its wake.

(LG:IC) Chapter 34: Ah Yes, The Negotiator

Welcome to Chapter 1 of A Lich's Guide to Interdimensional Conquest, the sequel to Dungeon Mastery! Sorry for the long wait- I'll be taking a "break" this next month but I plan to put stuff up anyways, meaning anyone currently subscribed will just get a free month of what will hopefully be a bit of content.

I was trying to talk to publishers and get with someone before getting too deep into book 2 but it didn't work out, so now I'm just gonna go.

This chapter's a little bit short, sorry for that, but I got to the end and waited for over a week trying to think of more to add, but it's just done.

Edit: I can't believe I forgot the title.

I ran my hands down over the custom-made suit, feeling the soft, lightly-magical material it was made out of it over.

After noticing a group of humans entering my territory from Kerenth, I’d appeared before them with a cheesy monologue, going all-out on the dark, scary Lich BBEG persona. The adventuring party had been scared out of their minds, not just at my appearance and words but also at my magical presence– after all, my power blended in perfectly with the surroundings, so it must have appeared as though I was even stronger than I really am.

They’d actually gone so far as to grovel and beg for their lives. It was pretty funny, but I started feeling kind of bad for them when one mentioned that he had a wife and kids. Yeah, yeah, I know that line never gets a real villain, but in real life it’s just… depressing.

I pretended to act all gracious, like I was doing a favor by sparing their lives, and asked that they introduce me to someone in their local leadership so I could prevent any more misunderstandings, getting to use the whole “take me to your leader” thing without the other party understanding the humor.

Apparently, they’d gotten confused and thought I was asking to speak to their queen, so I’d been forced to form a fleshier body and get outfitted according to Kerenthian standards.

I’d been expecting the clothes to be uncomfortable, but that assumption had been incorrect; it was actually super soft. I guess magic really does impact every part of life in this world, even simple things like clothing and food.

Speaking of food, that was also offered to me, but after the first couple refusals I guess they realized where they went wrong. Part of me was concerned that they’d start sacrificing humans to me in the hopes of appeasing me, but I suppose not even rich people are crazy enough to do that unprompted.

Eventually, I’d been brought to a waiting room and made to wait. My mind immediately went to all the stuff I’d read and watched where people would be made to wait for absurd amounts of time as a power play, but luckily it only took a few minutes.

I was brought into a large courtroom where a few guards and councilors waited beside a throne warily. Sitting on the throne was a short woman with the worst case of bedhead I’d ever seen. A quick inspection told me that it was extremely early in the morning– the sun hadn’t even fully risen yet.

Part of me felt bad for obviously making this lady– on closer inspection, this kid– wake up early, and possibly without warning, to a stressful situation.

My guides both dropped to one knee, but I just stared at her with an eyebrow raised.

I felt a bit of magic swirl around her and towards me. Reading its intent, though, I could tell that it wasn’t anything hostile, but instead some sort of Skill or Boon centered around reading emotions and increasing the user’s sympathy towards the other party. A small bond formed between the two of us, but again, it didn’t hurt me in any way, so I allowed it.

The girl let out a long sigh and slouched a bit in her chair– not a calculated move, but rather one of relief. Clearly, she’d been pretty worried. 

Her next words confirmed my own thoughts. “You know, when my subordinates sent an urgent message that there was a powerful undead in one of the border cities, I was expecting some sort of attack. I also hadn’t expected them to bring you to the capital to see me without communicating that fact whatsoever.” She glared down at the men beside me.

I grinned. “Don’t be too angry. I was the one who blocked the communication.”

She squinted at me, and then I felt another probe come from her link to me. Another long sigh stretched out. “You think this is all a joke, don’t you?”

My smile grew even wider. “Yup. You can call me Ambrose, by the way.”

“Ambrose, then. My name is Queen Nadiya Sharjiil the Seventh, but my full title is boring to hear every five minutes so just pick one of those and use that,” she explained, “Now, can I ask why you’re here, other than for kicks and giggles?”

I raised an eyebrow at the Earthen phrase but shrugged it off. “Well, I just expanded my domain past the Dead Belt and a bit into your territory. I spotted some humans investigating so I figured it would be a good idea to come here and make sure there aren’t going to be any issues. Kerenth has already attacked me once, and I could probably handle another one, but it’s honestly just annoying. 

“Furthermore, I was thinking that we might be able to arrange some sort of trade deal. I would be willing to open up a path for your people, both to the heart of my dominion and to the other side of the continent, though they’d have to agree to follow my rules while within the Dead Belt.”

Nadiya nodded slowly. “We’ve been cut off from our Southern neighbors for far too long. Only a bare few people have ever made the trip across the Belt. Might I ask what you would desire in terms of trade, and what rules there would be to follow?”

I spent a moment considering what I most desired, and eventually came to a rather easy answer. “Energy types, especially those of higher tiers.” Seeing her wince, I elaborated, “I can help provide the means to condense the energy into crystals, either by providing the labor or teaching the technique, but that is the thing that is most valuable to me.”

“And your rules?” She inquired with a slight grimace still on her face.

“Those are pretty simple. No stealing and no harming others, and no intentional property damage. I expect more will not be necessary, but I expect you to reinforce those rules into the minds of any who visit or pass through the city I have constructed. If they refuse to follow them, they may well forfeit their lives.”

“Those are rather simple. I don’t believe we will have any issues on that front,” she said with a relieved smile.

I nodded as well. “I can also offer advanced runic technology and potentially some of my knowledge as well. I am not aware of what you have managed to develop on your own, but I’m sure there are some different perspectives in our work that could and should be explored.”

The small queen brandished a small smile. “I agree. I’m very glad that you came with peaceful intentions, Ambrose. We will get to work on establishing infrastructure to support these things. Could you work on that path through the Dead Belt you mentioned?” She had an excited look on her face as she spoke, clearly envisioning it– she’d be the first ruler since the formation of the Dead Belt who would be able to claim that she was able to establish a connection with the other half of the continent, after all.

“Sure,” I said, focusing on the edge of the Dead Belt and the space just to my side, letting my old stitching perspective of space take over as I mended the two segments of spatial cloth together with a ridiculous amount of Forbodum. I went to pin the portal in place, but found that the distance was too great for my already-strained reserves.

Turns out, making a portal outside of my influence was way harder than just zipping around my own domain. The more space the threads had to travel without the stabilizing force of my Occult Sovereignty, the more difficult they were to sustain. That… made sense.

Trying not to let the strain show, I gestured at the newly-formed portal. “Shall we?”

After the initial shock died down and a sacrificial lamb had been sent through to test the creation, the whole room filtered through the wormhole I’d formed, allowing me to remove the.

The queen’s teeth chattered as she shivered from the artificial cold that resulted from the proximity to the Dead Belt. “H-how far did you say it went? The records never really s-specified.”

I did a quick measurement in my head. “About a hundred and forty miles. My domain stretches a few dozen miles past that.”

“No wonder our surveyors never came back,” she commented thoughtfully, “Without horses, they would have to travel for over a week in that filth, and with all those monsters…”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t exactly call it filth. It’s more like we’re trees and you’re animals– what we breathe is toxic to you in large amounts, but it’s all part of a process that’s better for the both of us. Without life, there can be no death, and without death, there could never be any new life. Everything would stagnate and grind to a halt.”

Nadiya and her companions gave me a strange look. “I don’t… no, that’s not important right now, can you make a path for us? I need to see it with my own eyes.”

I obliged her, raising a hand and infusing the energy in the surrounding air with my own will and Intent, pushing it back away from the group.

The young woman’s eyes widened fractionally as the energy that chilled her to the bone gradually receded. Before she could get anything else out, I had to make a clarifying statement: “This isn’t the exact process I would use to create a path for you. It would just be too inefficient and focus-intensive to do this constantly. The runescript I need to work on will take a while to finish, but I’ll deploy the devices as soon as they’re finished. I can’t say exactly how long it’ll be, but I do tend to tune the rest of the world while working on a project, so it might be a while.”

She gave a slight nod in acknowledgement, then turned to one of her councilors and started chatting with him animatedly, stepping away from me to focus on the new conversation.

Obviously, I could still hear her, but I tuned her out and went to one of my assigned guides, letting him know that I’d be heading off to work on the method I had planned for ‘Moses’ing the Dead Belt, and would be back with a prototype at some point in the near future.

He didn’t get the reference, obviously, but knew what I meant, so he agreed to pass along the message.

My plan was pretty simple. Splitting the entire Dead Belt in two would be possible, but time consuming and bothersome. I would have to pull a titanic amount of Necrosis out of the land, and then prevent more from bleeding back into it.

Instead of doing that, I planned to create a system through which a new type of Runic Orb would harvest energy from the Dead Belt, using it to keep itself in the air and sending any spare power into a storage space that it could use to keep itself aloft when the energy got too thin.

Entirely new runes and systems would have to be designed for it, but I felt that it would be worth the effort.

An easier thing to do was simply fix up a road. Transmuting materials en masse was a bit bothersome, but possibly, so a large strip of dirt leading between Kerenth and Yalten was slowly compacted and reformed into stone. In order to keep it straight and consistent, I had to pace over a few mountains, which was a time-consuming task, but very much possible for me.

The process didn't take all that much focus after I got accustomed to it, so I was able to simultaneously form Safety-based Conceptium around and within my new road, reinforcing the surroundings with the idea that living beings should be safe. The ambient Necrosis fought a bit, but eventually conceded to my will. Everything seemed to be going well until I felt a sudden yet slight resistance to my influence where I was trying to reshape the land.

Sensing the problematic area, I found a familiar sensation. It was another domain. A weak one, to be certain, but it was there nonetheless. I could overpower it easily, if I felt like it, but I was curious.

A quick portal brought me to the new location, right alongside a mountain, where I started pushing my own domain gently into the weaker, Necrosis-based one, following along with its progress.

The most curious part about this domain was how unintrusive it felt. I hadn't even noticed it before I tried interfacing with the area it covered.

I ended up finding a small cave carved into the face of this mountain– the domain Skill seemed to be emanating from there. I crept forward slowly, making sure to cause as little damage to the environment as possible, including the influence that was already held within the air.

The deeper I delved into the cave, the darker it got. Without my innate senses as a lich, I would have been quickly rendered blind by the lack of ambient lighting.

Eventually, I found the source of the changes in the terrain.

A small blue gem hovered in the air. It appeared somewhat similar to the gems that I used to store magical energy, but somehow more potent, more real.

I felt a powerful wave of energy approach me, but instead of actually hurting me it simply passed over me with a small, warm tingle.

I approached the mystical rock and spread some influence over it, focusing on it with my Encompassing Knowledge– my Boon from Occult Sovereignty that let me examine objects with extreme detail.

Instead of receiving the information I was seeking, I felt a surge of Forbodum in my Repository, and my body locked up. A being made of purple shadows– one that I instinctively knew didn’t exist outside of my own senses– appeared before me, wrapped their hand around the crystal, and squeezed.

For a moment, purple lines spread out across my vision, as though reality itself had fractured. The visual distortions faded, but the creature turned its shadowed face to look me in the eyes, and I heard a voice within my own mind, as clearly as though someone had whispered it into my ear from right behind me.

Destroy the Fragment, eliminate the threat.

I stumbled forward as I was freed from the Dark Whisper’s brief grasp.

For a moment, the desires of the shade persisted within my mind, and my hand subconsciously clamped down around the blue gem. I felt more energy pass violently, desperately between my phalanges.

This time, I paid more attention to the energy itself, and realized why it had felt so familiar and unintrusive: it was my own energy.

Somehow, this shiny rock was exerting force over my own domain. That felt… dirty, somehow, but more importantly was the question of how? There wasn’t any clear indication of Conceptium being carried with it.

My Encompassing Knowledge dug into the details of the thing before me, all while it continued to thrash and fight against me. All I got for my efforts was the name of the object, which the Whisper had already told me– it was a Fragment.

But, what was it a fragment of? How was it manipulating my energy so freely?

Should I truly destroy it?

The voices said yes, and they probably knew what it was, but I didn’t, and I wanted to know what the consequences of doing so would be.

I resolved to study this odd gem, and search for it in Kelemnion during my next trip there. I’d also have to gather information on advanced mana types and what I could do with them.

Astaliar 1: The Brotherhood of Mana

Astaliar itched at his right arm– at least, the withered husk that once was a right arm arm.

When he first saw it, the young man thought that he would have to lose his arm. He was relieved when the healers told him that he could keep it.

Then they’d elaborated, and the color had drained from his face.

The invasion of foreign, hostile space magic that carried a hint of Necrosis with it had rendered his arm completely unhealable. Even the most talented space mages they could find hadn’t been able– or, in some cases, willing– to perform the procedure.

Astaliar silently seethed at the memories. Useless commoners! Who cares about your Mentum pool getting tainted by the trace amounts of Necrosis?? You should be honored to die for me!

Sadly, his family had found no good way to have the work done, and that was before the hearing.

His scowl transformed into a grimace as he recalled the king’s harsh words. Apparently, his loss of supplies and servants had been “unfitting of his status as a noble.” Who cares about a few dozen commoner women? They served their purpose. He’d been officially stripped of his right to his family’s estates upon their death. Instead, if they failed to producee a suitable heir, their possessions would be returned to the king himself.

After that night, his family– as well as all of his old friends, since the hearing had been made into a public event where even the common folk could attend– had refused to interact with him.

Astaliar had been cast into the streets by his family’s own guard, and since then he’d been living off the small amount he’d had on him at the time. He’d already been forced to sell his favorite coat just to afford another night at a decent inn.

If things kept up at this rate, he might be forced to move to an inn that lacked runic accommodations, such as heating, showers, and light control. That, or turn to the Watchers for work.

He shivered at the thought of being forced to pursue either one of those paths. I’ll kill every last one of those pigs who helped to put me in this wretched state.

Astaliar was pulled from his thoughts by his arrival at his destination.

The Brotherhood of Mana, he thought with a scoff. I can’t believe I’m doing this.

In spite of his doubts, he knocked on the hard wooden door. He’d heard rumors that these people could help with his arm, and the thought of that alone was enough to keep his skepticism at bay.

Within moments of knocking on the door, it swung open, revealing a large man whose body was completely obscured by a dark blue robe with decorative white runes painted onto it.

“Ah, Astaliar,” the… man? Woman? Rasped out, beckoning Astaliar to enter the building. “We’ve been expecting you, young one.”

“That’s Astaliar Galias to you,” he replied harshly, brushing past the odd person.

The being within the robe cocked its head. “Is it, now? How curious.”

Astaliar snarled and nearly lost his cool, but the thought of regaining the function of his arm was more than enough incentive to look past the slight.

“I was informed you could help with my arm,” he responded, pushing away all thoughts of burning this crude filth away with a scorching beam of light.

“Yes, yes…” it hummed with a voice that sounded almost like birdsong, “we can make that happen. For a price.”

The once-noble grimaced and pulled out his pouch of coins. “Would this be sufficient?”

The creature shook his head, and Astaliar was about to burst out in frustration when it explained. “The Brotherhood does not charge for its services, Sir Galias.”

Astaliar’s face fell a bit and he put the moneypurse away. “Then, what do you need?”

The hood of the robe shook slowly. “It is not us that requires anything, young master. Rather, it is you. To obtain that which you desire, you must make a sacrifice.”

Before Astaliar even managed to spit out a comment about the vagueness of the hooded individual’s statement, a prompt suddenly populated before his eyes.

Permanently revoke all Skills, Boons, Levels, Affinities, Class Specializations, and Attribute Enhancements to gain unique class, “Child of Mana?” N/A

Warning! This choice is irreversible, so be sure to choose wisely.

He grimaced and clutched at his arm, looking up at the creature in front of him. “That’s a high price, even to get my arm back.”

The being smirked– finally showing a small amount of its body in the form of its multiple rows of teeth. “Trust me, young one. The benefits greatly outweigh the downsides.

Astaliar spent a long time considering. He poured over every aspect of his current Legend, considering his fighting style, and wondering what “Mana” was.

Eventually, he felt that he’d considered it long enough, and knew the answer.

“I accept.” He reached out to shake the hand of the individual he’d spoken to just a moment before, but it turned into smoke the instant he accepted the prompt.

Then, Astaliar looked down.

He looked at his hand. The one he’d tried to use to shake with.

He almost cried from the joy of finally having his arm back in one piece.

A wicked grin crossed his face. Someday soon, his foes would rue the day they crossed Astaliar Galias.

End of Book 1

Esheth 2: A Slight Trembling

The sage gently stirred the potent concoction within the specially-made device. He poured himself a cup and gingerly sipped at the still-hot liquid.

While many others he knew had moved past the art of tea brewing for the convenience of coffee, he was old enough to remember its significance. Once, it had been considered a magical fluid and was used sparingly, and mostly as a part of special ceremonies, such as a young man’s coming of age.

It had later been concluded that the tea itself contained little to no magical energy, and so its use had become much more common. Eventually, all the once-sacred recipes had circulated across the country, and it was consumed daily by many individuals.

Some of the special ingredients were, of course, extremely rare and expensive, but what was the point of living hundreds– no, thousands of years if one couldn’t enjoy the simple pleasures of life?

He’d tried coffee once– never again. No, Esheth was a tea-drinker through and through.

The old mage looked down at his old, frail hands. His body, as a whole, was much younger and more capable than it should have been, but some parts of him had deteriorated in a way that the healers couldn’t seem to fix. When his hands had first started quivering, he’d merely thought he’d been cold, but later more trouble had arisen, causing him to drop things more often and greatly reducing his dexterity.

Then, even more problems had arisen. His body had grown stiff and slow. Moving had become painful. His first concern was that it had been a curse, but he had no way to tell if that truly was the case.

The doctor’s prognosis had been grim. At the time, Esheth had been a mere level 15, and he’d been informed that, as he got older, his memory would deteriorate in the same way his hands had.

The healers didn’t have a way to precisely examine him or tell him how long he had, but they’d told him that other patients that had a similar list of symptoms tended to develop another condition– dementia.

He would start to lose his memories. He would forget who he once was– all the history he’d lived through would be lost.

Even then, Esheth had been considered a relic of the past. A piece of living history– one of the oldest and most powerful humans South of the Dead Belt.

Above all else, Esheth prized his memory. His many Willpower enhancements had kept it intact over the years, but hearing that he would start to lose that, even with all that added mental strength?

He’d begun to increase his level in earnest.

Ten Willpower enhancements later, he’d hit a wall. Like with every class upgrade, all of his Skills had been set back to 0. To level again, he would need to gain twenty-five levels in twenty-five brand-new skills.

Twenty levels in twenty skills had been possible, and each level after that had been comparatively easy, since he’d only needed to improve a little bit in many aspects, and a lot in a new one.

The difference between four hundred levels of progress and six hundred and twenty-five levels was much larger than it sounded.

Even with as much as he’d worked to progress, he could slowly feel himself aging. He grew slower, stiffer, and his hands shook more and more each day.

The only time his hands didn’t shake was when he was holding his morning cup of tea. It was an oddly calming and spiritual moment for him, and whatever this awful condition was seemed to acknowledge that. Or, perhaps it was merely a subconscious force of will. Esheth couldn’t tell for sure.

Perhaps that was why the slight trembling that knocked the cup out of his hand felt so significant.

The Soothsayer clutched at his chest, where a slight shock had run through him only moments before.

He felt the connection between himself and Fate, the realm of Soothen, strengthen. For a moment, his body was suspended halfway between the real world and one of paradox– a place where all things were certain, yet all actions could result in numerous outcomes.

Esheth had gained access to Soothen somewhat recently when compared to his original advanced affinity, Annihaen. Even so, he was deeply connected to it. He’d always been a firm believer in the idea of fate, to the point where it had heavily impacted the way he chose to judge his opponents, hence why he had chosen to give that young lich a chance to prove that the path of his fate lay higher than Esheth’s own.

This methodology had earned him one of his many titles: Bloodsayer. Some even viewed his methods as cruel– apparently, living for a year with the knowledge that you would die at the end of it was enough to drive weaker men mad. He’d even arrived at their locations to find them already dead, with suicides, heart attacks, and picking fights with powerful foes being the most common causes.

Esheth had always been tied deeply to Fate, even before he could see it. Now, he was its favorite child– its champion. That meant he got certain… privileges.

Images of potential futures flickered across his vision, each making him frown more than the last.

Fate was an odd thing. The future was an uncertain thing, but there were specific outcomes that were set in stone, moments where all possible futures converged into one moment.

Thousands of possibilities: he saw an undead horde rising against his kingdom and devouring it, converting his homeland into a land of death– and extension of the Dead Belt.

He saw cities rise into the heavens and conquer the skies, backed by unparalleled magical and physical technologies.

He saw his world engulfed by fire and water, light and dark, life and death.

He saw blue lightning crackle across the heavens, scorching all that crossed its path.

Finally, he saw the crux: an unstoppable, immutable moment in time.

An unfamiliar man with a youthful face sitting atop a throne of light, emanating pure power, untainted by the affinities or natural laws.

Suddenly, Esheth’s body was shunted fully into the real world, and his vision ended.

He lay prone for a long moment, his tea staining the floor and leftover Soothen coursing painfully through his body.

“That,” he grunted, wrestling the residual energy in him into a calmer state. “Was so,” he continued, picking fragments of his favorite teacup off the floor. “Unhelpful,” he snarled.

(LG:DM) Azrael 3: Pulled

A/N: Triple posts today, but they'll all be a bit shorter than usual.

Azrael stared into the distance with a look of concern on her face. It felt like she’d forgotten something and needed to go find it, but she knew she hadn’t. She’d already checked twice, but that nagging feeling just wouldn’t–

The beast she was fighting bellowed in rage and charged her, pulling her out of her thoughts yet again. Its body was stocky, wide, and gray, with a single horn on its head. It seemed mostly mundane, aside from the fact that it was undead and Azrael had never seen another creature like it. A perfect low-risk enemy but physically powerful foe to test herself against.

With a sigh, she charged up the enchantment Ambrose had placed on her new shortsword and swung downwards at the beast’s head.

None of that particularly mattered to the wave of Absiete as it passed through it. Where there once had been matter, there now… wasn’t. The remaining portions of the creature sloughed to the ground.

After a moment, the dissipated portion of creature popped pack into existence

Usually, Azrael’s abilities were less effective on living creatures, but the inscription on her shortsword allowed her to pack a lot more power into a single swing than she would normally be able to manage. It was such a powerful ability that she could even forgive him for forgetting to make a second sword.

Of course, the improvements to her gauntlet’s abilities helped too. Ranged manipulation of objects without even needing to use her own energy was powerful.

She really didn’t know how Ambrose was able to utilize so much power at a time. Her best theories involved his domain, his full Willpower build, a lot of practice, or just simply his being a lich, but she figured that the best answer was a mix of all those factors.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, she clicked her tongue at the realization that she was staring off into the distance.

That nagging sensation was starting to get annoying. Hopefully some more murder would help.

Murder did not help Azrael’s issue. In fact, as the time had passed, the sensation evolved from a nag to a pull, then to an intense desire, and finally into an incessant need to head in that direction.

Logically, she knew that this was probably some sort of Soothen magic, manipulating her fate and trying to force her to play along, but it was in the wrong direction. Why would a Soothsayer want her to head East of all places?

The only reason she could think of was to execute an ambush on Seif, but his domain was large enough that he could just teleport her back before he was put into any real danger.

Looking left, then right, she considered her current state.

She was fully geared, so she wouldn’t put herself in danger by just choosing a direction and walking.

Her magic was a bit drained from using her Absiete on her armor to increase her mobility, but it would recover over the course of an hour or two, so that wasn’t a serious limiting factor.

She had no need for food, water, or rest, so any other supplies were unneeded.

With one last glance towards Ambrose’s tower, she started walking.

She didn’t know where she was going, nor did she know why she was being called there.

But she did know one thing.

Now that she’d committed to following the path laid before her, there would be no turning back.

(LG:DM) Chapter 33: Redesigns

A/N: This is the last Seif chapter in Book 1! I should have the last few Interludes up in the next day or two, and then... well, then it'll be time for Book 2, won't it?

I hope you're all just as excited for A Lich's Guide to Interdimensional Conquest as I am.

There had been a lot of improvements in the way I did things over the months that I’d been working on my tower, and now there were a lot of things that were outdated.

One thing in particular that had been on my mind a lot lately was the hemogenity of species on my floors. The third set was fine, in my mind, because it was kinda meant to just be a bunch of bunny rabbits, but for the other two I wanted to make some extra mobs.

I’d already thought up some ideas, so it wasn’t too hard to implement some of them.

First off, I sporadically added metal beehives into the stone forests, and filled them with little bee-ish insects that I created with my magic. For each hive, I tied all the bees together with linking magic before giving them any consciousness, effectively allowing them to share a mind and split any physical damage they received between themselves.

I was thinking that a bunch of insects would probably be a lot more terrifying if they could strategize and were very difficult to kill, allowing them all to attack as one even while far away from the hive and survive a few hits. I’d have to wait and see how it turned out, though. For now, I chose to call them Beepathics– bees that could communicate telepathically, rather than through hormones.

It was a bad joke, but I liked it.

I also tossed an Antigo into the middle of the fourth floor, deep in the forest. I was thinking that minibosses should be a common theme in my tower, since they would be a good way to add some spice every once-in-a-while.

Currently, Antigos were only used as my shock troops, and the defenses that I had stuffed into the floors of my dungeon that had yet to be filled. They were a bit too potent to be a regular mob, but too weak to be a boss in my current setup. Therefore… miniboss.

I wanted to add something more to my first floors, but couldn’t think of anything, so I looked out within my influence to see if I could find any examples.

My domain currently stretched out well past the Dead Belt and bordered the ocean on either end, so if something was inside, I could find it.

Eventually, I came across a deer-like creature that had wandered into the Dead Belt and gotten corrupted. It was only deer-like because instead of hooves, it had clawed paws, and instead of the normal, flat teeth that would be found on a natural deer, it had pointed ones. Its tail was also slightly longer than I felt it should be.

My Encompassing Knowledge labeled it an Undead Coursing Svykin.

It was particularly interesting because it clearly had some natural magic I hadn’t seen before going on.

Its antlers were glowing with green energy.

At first, I was confused, because part of me conflated green with Vitasis, and this thing’s body was far too natural to be an abomination of that type, but when I inspected the creature’s horns more deeply, I realized that it was actually a small aura of Necrosis that had a specific Rot intent.

To be more specific, the intent was geared towards a more natural decay than what Necrosis would normally look for, slowing the process of a creature’s death but producing actually living creatures out of it– all the different kinds of things that you would normally expect to crawl out of a coffin that had been left to sit for a few decades.

While curious, that didn’t interest me nearly as much as the actual production of the aura itself. After some careful inspection of its body, I determined that I wouldn’t be able to figure out what was going on without rekilling the Svykin to get a closer look at its insides, so I flooded the area with my power and cast a modified variation of Writhing Earth.

With this casting, I used my domain to create the weaponized strands, rather than having them originate from me. As I’d expected, this was weaker and far more energy-intensive than casting the spell the normal way.

Luckily, the deer wasn’t all that strong, so its innate magic didn’t project far enough to disrupt my casting significantly. It did almost escape, having sensed the disturbance in the ambient energy. It wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid being speared by one of my tendrils of power, though, so it all turned out alright in the end.

Inspecting the now dead-looking antlers, I found that they were actually filled with slowly decaying Conceptium that matched what the deer had been using earlier, as well as a ton of Necrosis.

I spent a while inspecting the antlers further, and when I looked deeper, I found that they had tiny little fractures inside of them– very similar to what I’d seen when creating or carving runes.

After spending some time examining and considering, I decided to run a little experiment.

Using the Svykin’s body as a reference, I formed a copy on my first floor, one with the tiny cracks and grooves in the antlers, and the others without any horns at all. I repeated this process a few times, creating multiple “herds” of them, though for all the others that had antlers I filled in the little gaps.

I bound the herds’ minds together with my magic, but only their minds this time. The way I normally linked stuff together was by pulling their entire bodies into a bond and then targeting that and creating a weak consciousness for it, but I could make them all effectively share a mind by instead creating a bunch of small, faint consciousnesses that barely did anything at all, binding those together, and then creating a stronger one to arc over them.

I actually did something slightly different, though, in that I bound all the antlerless Svykin minds together in their herd, and then tied those to the antlered one, making that one the controlling mind. This would, hopefully, make it so that the antlered Svykin would be something of a puppeteer and the others would have a massive drop in intelligence if it died, making it seem like they went mad.

Because of this, I decided to call the ones I’d formed without the antlers Puppet Svykin and the antlered ones Prime Svykin.

I instructed all of the Prime Svykin minds to slowly channel intent and energy towards their antlers, even the ones that didn’t have the slight alterations in them.

My theory was that the semi-runic structures had formed within the antlers of the original as a result of a small but constant and consistent influx of intent and energy– likely as a result of being so close to its mind– and that had slowly created the structures, giving the power an actual function.

I had all of the Prime Svykin without pre-existing structures decide for themselves what sort of intent they wanted to focus on– I’d given them just enough intelligence to think in concepts like that. Hopefully, at some point, I’d be able to create copies of their antlers and turn them into something.

As for the one that had a perfect copy of the original one’s rack, I created as close of a replica to the intent that the Undead Coursing Svykin had been using and tested it out in the horns through the minion, slowly tinkering with it to get it closer and closer to what I thought had been used.

Eventually, I saw a slight purple flicker of energy, and paused. I saved a tiny amount of that variation of the intent within my Repository, then worked from there.

A few hours later, I got purple green energy that was flowing out of the structures to mimic the strength of what I’d seen in the green energy of the creature I’d copied them from– though there were obviously some differences since I was using a higher tier of energy, such as the output being purple– and handed that off to the minion itself, instructing it to recreate it.

I spent a while observing the created undead, eventually concluding that the process was working just fine.

As an experiment, I instructed it to cut off the intent, but keep up the energy influx. Interestingly, the purple aura cut out, which was something that wouldn’t have happened with a proper rune.

Other than my Database runes, I’d never encountered a rune that required an influx of intent to function after creation– and even then the Databases worked, they just wouldn’t get updated without input in the form of intent or a Process rune.

I had the creature restart the process of feeding the semirune structures, and looked closer, inside the antlers this time.

With a normal rune that was being powered by an energy type that was also being used as the structure it was held on top of, it would rapidly consume and degrade that material to add extra strength. Even if you put a rune on something that wasn’t conjured, it would slowly degrade that thing.

I could somewhat get around this drawback of runes by reinforcing materials with material compression, stacking, and other runes to increase durability, and also occasionally refreshing things with more material. I rarely though of it for the most part, though, because it was just such a slow process unless the materials were actually formed out of the energy type that was used to power the runes used on top of them.

The interesting part of these semistructures, though, was that they didn’t cause this degradation.

I’d have to come up with some way to use them more practically, and also to create them without having to spend a super long time slowly channeling power into whatever I wanted to use them on.

That would have to be a future Seif thing, though.

Right now I was busy fixing outdated work.

With the Svykins put into place, I figured that the first eight floors had enough diversity, so I moved on to the next set.

For these floors, I figured that setting the Nailwolves up as the top of the food chain– excluding the miniboss, of course– would be for the best, so I was mostly looking to add in some prey animals.

I did want to stick with the nail theme, though. Replacing the fur of the Nailwolves with long, skinny claws had made them look pretty cool, and they also matched the gray of the stoney environment I’d created for them.

I spent a moment looking around in the parts of my domain that reached past the Dead Zone, trying to find some good prey.

The first thing that caught my eye was, of all things, a moose. Literally just a normal moose. Of course, the moose would be a strong, sturdy foe for adventurers, even if it was technically a prey animal, as an herbivore. My Nailwolves wouldn’t actually be hunting them and throwing themselves to their deaths, so I figured that it would be fine.

I slowly formed the first moose in my tower, on the third floor. I figured that having them as rarer enemies would make senses, since they weren’t the primary enemy of the sector but were still pretty tough to fight.

As with the Nailwolves, I replaced the moose’s fur with gray claws. I didn’t bother giving it any innate magic, but I did heavily reinforce its body with my magic. It would be a unique experience in the sector: it couldn’t tear you apart or throw you around with space magic, but it could trample you to death if you let it.

The look was pretty different from the normal moose, especially in coloration. With the wolves, it hadn’t been quite so different because wolves could be gray, but I’d never seen a gray moose before. Therefore… Graymoose.

I know. I’m so creative.

I scattered a few between the floors after the third, increasing the density of moose as I climbed. Eventually, I got to a point that I figured was good enough and moved on to another kind of beast to add in.

Goats. Mountain goats, specifically. They could live in a stoney environment like the one the second sector presented, and they seemed to fit in with the Greymoose and could work as prey for the Nailwolves.

Skimming quickly through my domain, I soon found a goat to work with as a base, and created a replica.

Looking around my territory like this made me realize just how huge it was. I’d not really thought about it before, but… I’d probably expanded across at least a quarter of the continent by now.

I’d probably run into some human settlements pretty soon.

Like with the Graymoose and Nailwolves, I replaced all of their hair with claw-based structures, though for theirs, I made them thinner, longer, and a bit curly, to make them look more goaty.

Because I’m a psycho, I named them Pogoats, because it’s not like anyone else is going to understand the name, right? In fact, the only people who would even hear it were me, Azrael, and maybe some of my intelligent minions.

With that done, I moved onto the miniboss that I’d be putting on the 12th floor. I’d already partly thought up its design, so I just got to work putting that idea into reality.

Soon, I had a lion-shaped beast standing before me, though its fur and hair had all been replaced by claws that were reshaped to match the look of the lions in my memories.

Similarly to the Graymoose, I’d given this beast significant physical enhancement, and I also made its natural weapons sharper and deadlier than an organic creature would have. On top of that, I formed its consciousness around the utilization of Arcane magic, similarly to how my wolves used the Spatial portions of my Forbodum.

I didn’t actually know all that much about normal Arcane magic, as it was a type I’d never used– it had been the last affinity that had been required for my advancement to Forbodum, after all.

I did know a couple things, though.

Arcanum primarily interacted with other kinds of magic and was closely associated with knowledge and intent.

In a way, Fenrir was more like an Arcanum user than one of any other base affinity, including my own original Necrosis and Spatium. Come to think of it, I used a whole lot of Arcane-type magic as well.

You’d think that would make it easy to think of some sort of magic to give to the lion, but for a long while I just… blanked.

Eventually, though, I chose to pack a bunch of extra energy into him and show him a basic technique that I’d read a bit about in Kelemnion, as well as the knowledge of how to channel energy into its eyes to see energy. The technique was pretty simplistic, and mostly just involved shunting a large amount of energy at an enemy in a wave while they were casting or maintaining a spell and hoping that their control wavered enough to cause spell failure– where your intent lost control of the energy and it dissipated into the surroundings or did something completely different than you’d expected.

Spell failure was typically pretty rare for experienced mages, and almost completely unheard of for natural magic casters like myself or Azrael, whose magic was bound into their very existence. The standard ways for it to come about were either through an injection of a much more powerful intent into the energy you were trying to control, a much more powerful energy breaking your connection to your energy, or a caster getting so distracted that their intent was unclear and the spell fell apart.

Arcane energy was better at interacting with other magical energies, so it was the go-to “dispelling” energy type. My thought was that the innate hostility of Necrosis, the heavy presence in reality that Spatium held, and Arcane’s predisposition to the ability would all make Forbodum an even better energy for dispulsion, but I had yet to try it myself.

Better to just have a minion do the testing for me, right?

As a test, I had the newly-minted Arclion square off against a Nailwolf, and every time the Spatium-weilding beast tried to cast a spell, the Arclion shot a wave of overwhelming power at it, strong enough to shatter the Nailwolf’s control every time.

The Arclion ran out of steam pretty quickly, but only after I threw a few Nailwolves at it.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the new design, so I left the Arclion to his own devices and started looking around for some more stuff to work on.

I’d already given some quick redesigns to my doors and some of the other functional runes in and around my tower, but I took some more time to plug everything into a singular location with my Energy Links, one where I gathered up all of the energy crystals that I had. Now I wouldn’t have to worry about a bunch of different batteries, and could instead just worry about the one big one.

This did mean that if someone managed to get ahold of one of my Energy Links and just pulled power through it, that would be something of an issue, but they were completely unique runes so part of me doubted that someone would be able to figure out what they did. Even if someone managed it, I would just destroy the Energy Link on this end, canceling the connection before they could deal any truly significant damage.

I did leave Carnic’s energy crystals inside his gear, but l redid some of the runework– which meant that I basically had to rewrite everything. Replacing the old, inefficient work with my new Energy Link and Energy Conversion rune was worth it to me, though.

Reworking Azrael’s gear felt good. I ended up having to make a new rune named Physical Link for the left gauntlet, which would be used to enable Azrael’s bootleg telekinesis with much greater efficiency and power, but that was something I probably would’ve eventually wanted to do anyways.

The larger, more important upgrade, though, was changing out the old aluminum plate for some sleek carbon fiber. Since the carbon fiber weighed almost half what aluminum had, I was able to stack twice as many layers of armor on top of one another. SInce carbon fiber was so tough, that meant that Azrael would be an absolute unit on the battlefield.

I also formed her sword entirely out of carbon fiber, and this time I inscribed a Detonate rune on it to allow her to charge up power within it gradually and let it all loose in a single instant, allowing her to create some potentially devastating attacks without even needing to freecast. That would allow her to focus more on actually fighting, rather than casting offensive spells, since doing a lot of things all at once like that could increase the risk to her.

Once her gear was inscribed with a ton of Reinforcement runes and some Physical Link runes to bind it together while she was using it, I passed it over.

All the runes on her gear that used Forbodum instead of Absiete– which was, honestly, most of them– had Energy Links binding them to crystals which were further bound back to my tower. I didn’t want to take any risks with her gear not being able to power itself, so her Forbodum gems would be constantly refilled and she’d have a backup in case, for any reason, my Links weren’t able to reach her.

I felt her gear was pretty foolproof, so I handed it off to her. She excitedly ran off to do some testing with it and I was left with my own thoughts again.

Deciding that the town around my tower was far too undefended, I took some time to reinforce it with Conflict Tungsten rebar, which would make it much harder to topple, especially when it came to magical attacks. I also used Energy Links and Material Reinforcement runes to further improve that durability.

Eventually, I was satisfied with that, too, so I started looking around for more things to update and check on, but couldn’t find anything immediately.

In search of problems and inspiration, I sent my consciousness across my domain, checking on all of the Wisps I had assigned to the task of spreading my influence on my behalf.

I took the time to create a few more to compensate for the much larger distance that they had to cover, and filled in some of the gaps that were left in my domain from their semi-random trajectories.

That was how I noticed them.

A party of adventurers, warily entering the Dead Belt. Actually… no, that wasn’t quite right. They hadn’t entered the Dead Belt itself yet, only my domain. They had to be aware of that fact, right? If so, then why did they seem so… jumpy?

Interestingly, they were coming from the North– from Kerenth. So far, I’d only ever interacted with people from Yalten.

I moved my full attention to the party of adventurers, inspecting them with curiosity and chuckling as I considered the pranks I could pull on them.

Yes, this would be fun.

(LG:DM) Chapter 32: Playing With Balls

A/N: ඞ

I internally grinned at the orb hovering in front of me, then at the wand in my hand.

Well, okay, less “wand,” more control stick for my new weapons, but it was more fun to think of it as a magic stick.

I’d decided to call them Runic Detonators because, well, they exploded, and they used. Pretty simple. Not all that different from Enchanted Orbs, but more specific and cooler.

I was currently outside my tower, standing on a hill a few miles away from my tower and throwing my Detonators at stuff. So far, they’d proved themselves to be very effective at destruction.

I’d hooked them up to a large cache of energy gems back home, so I wasn’t concerned about them running out of power. I just waved my stick around and broke stuff.

The wand was actually a number of small, stubby cylinders stacked on top of each other and fused together. This allowed me to direct my intent to them all together, rather than needing to control a bunch of individual Runic Detonators.

That did mean that I needed to add a bit of vagueness to my instructions so they didn’t hit each other trying to hit the same exact spot on something, but that was fine.

Pointing my wand at a small patch of trees, I directed my Detonators to destroy it.

From a spot a few hundred feet above me a half-dozen spheres suddenly dropped, moving forward and downward at a high enough velocity to turn the tungsten orbs a bright red coloration from the sheer heat.

Like meteors falling from the heavens, the Runic Detonators came down on the small forests, crashing into the trees.

It would be completely imperceptible to anyone else, but as the Detonators came into contact with the trees, I knew that multiple calculations were ran through it to determine what the damage would look like. In that split second– so fast that not even I could really process it– the orbs decided on their course of action.

A wide semicircle of explosive purple energy erupted out of each of them, flattening the trees I’d pointed them at. The number of angles that they’d been sent from ensured that the destruction wasn’t secluded to a small patch of trees, but instead covered all of them, reducing them to a bunch of splinters.

I tried to grin– really, at this point I should just give myself some skin– as I watched the show of force.

“Yeah, I think these bad boys are about finished,” I muttered to myself, “I should really make some more of them, though.”

As good as the amount of force displayed was, I wanted my Runic Detonators to be able to handle entire armies with little more than a wave of my wand.

“Maybe I should also hook them up to Observe runes that would let them function on their own?” Currently, their only real weakness was me. If I wasn’t able to see what I wanted them to hit, they’d be blind too. If I could somehow set up observer orbs and somehow make a supercomputer out of a number of process runes, that could do… something.

For now, though, I had a wand and a bunch of Minute Meteors to chuck around.

I directed the Runic Detonators to gather up just above my head, and they zipped towards me, ignoring the existence of gravity to slowly hover around me.

Now… time to see if Azrael wanted to go fight some monsters with me.

Unsurprisingly, Azrael was ecstatic that I actually wanted to go do something fun for once.

She’d asked me to teleport us to the biggest, strongest thing in my domain, and I obliged, bringing us to a mountain-sized monstrosity that my Occult Sovereignty informed me was a “Bonehemoth.”

Honestly, the name fit.

It was like a thousand people had died in the same place and been stripped of all their flesh. Seriously, the thing was just a giant pile of bones.

As Azrael and I stepped out of the portal and onto a rocky outcropping on the side of a mountain, facing a small valley, a dozens of skulls turned to gaze at us, and a sound halfway between sandpaper against wood and a pained scream echoed through the mountains around us.

Azrael gaped at me. “There was something like this in your domain?? Why haven’t you already dealt with it?!”

I shrugged. “Look at him. You can’t honestly tell me you think that chonker can walk, do you?”

She frowned, but was unable to argue with my impeccable logic.

Honestly, I hadn’t really bothered to death with any of the undead in my Occult Sovereignty unless they had domains of their own. Most of them couldn’t even put up a decent fight.

I chose not to tell Azrael that my domain currently covered almost all of the Dead Belt. I also chose not to tell her that this guy was just the largest Bonehemoth– the runner-up was more of a hill than a mountain.

Suddenly, there was movement from the pile of skeletons, and a chain of hands grabbing other hands swung out wildly, capped by a group of five arms that were placed together in the shape of yet another hand.

The massive arm swept towards us, and its makeshift hand reached out.

Azrael suddenly ceased to exist, and I was left to handle the attack alone.

Reaching out and pointing my wand at the Bonehemoth’s arm, I directed my Runic Detonators to pulverize it.

Shooting forward, my orbs moved with unerring accuracy towards different spots along the somewhat whip-like appendage.

The monstrosity roared out in a higher-pitched tone than it had used before as my Detonators suddenly converted their momentum into explosive force on contact with it.

The bones that had been used to form the limb– at least, the ones that weren’t reduced to rubble– flew off into the distance behind me, and I smiled. “Didn’t like that, did you?”

I frowned when I saw that the bones I hadn’t managed to reduce to powder were slowly shifting closer to the Bonehemoth.

I mean, it made sense, but seriously? Something that large gets to have regeneration? I swear, it’s almost like undead are overpowered or something. There was me, who was capable of crazy amounts of magic; Azrael was a magic super-assassin who could unironically one-punch me; the Cadavrrhizae had been a forest-wide abomination; and now there were Bonehemoths, which were titanic bone-constructs that could regenerate.

Inspecting the Bonehemoth’s body, I found that at the center and bottom of its form there was a single skull that was more magically dense than the rest of them– extremely magically dense. Not on my level, of course, since it didn’t seem to have an advanced energy type like I did, but for being a creature that lacked that? I wouldn’t have been shocked if the level 1 version of this thing had started out with an even greater innate buff to its strength than I, a lich, had.

I suppose the tradeoff was that its real body was literally just a skull, and that it probably couldn’t move around at all. Even if it could move, it would be slower than I would be if I just picked up my Repository and walked away from it.

Honestly, it was a wonder how this thing had gotten so large. It would be easy to spot it from miles away, with its size, and I doubted it had the reach to kill stuff and obtain bones for itself.

The only two possibilities I saw were that it had created the bones itself out of magic, or that it had come into being at a site where there were already a lot of corpses.

The bones didn’t seem to bear the marks of matter constructed out of energy– too many flaws and too much inconsistency– so that meant that this place had probably been a battlefield where a lot of people had died during the Kerenth-Yalten war that had caused the Dead Belt to expand so much.

In fact, examining the surroundings, I wouldn’t have been shocked to find out that this location was an important strategic point, one that had been fought over a lot. Then, if an undead had formed and blocked off the passage…

This thing had probably slaughtered entire armies to reach its current size.

I refocused on the fight, realizing that Azrael was currently trying to solo this boss monster.

She was also muttering to herself. “I swear, you take a lady out for some fun and you don’t even offer to help. Jerkface…”

I snickered to myself, then pointed my wand at the top of the mountain of bones. My Runic Detonators rose into the clouds above it, then one dropped.

With the help of two Gravity runes and a Movement rune, the Detonator slammed into the top of the monster, releasing a wave of explosive force that turned a large chunk of bones to dust.

The Bonehemoth screamed again, loud enough to damage the ears of a mortal, and swiped a makeshift hand at the heavens, but it was too late to stop what was coming.

Another Detonator dropped. Then another. Then another.
Slowly, my weapons took turns, one after another, smashing their way through the titanic undead with explosive force.

The Bonehemoth writhed and shot bones at high speeds all around itself, but it wasn’t enough. The strikes of my orbs pounded into it one after another. Soon, one of my Detonators reached the bottom– it reached the Bonehemoth’s true body.

The thing shattered instantly.

The bones that had made up the body of the undead scattered into the surroundings like a liquid, stopped only when they reached the edges of the nearby mountains and forming a lake of bones.

Azrael joined me on the outcropping I’d initially teleported us to.

She squinted at me. “I feel like you did something gross but I can’t tell why.”

Yeeaaah, definitely not going to explain that one to her. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Let’s get back home?”

She frowned, but took my offered hand anyways.

I formed a portal back to the entrance of my tower and ushered her through it.

As soon as we were back inside, I told Azrael that I needed to get back to work, so she gave me a quick hug and let me get going.

I rapidly portalled right to the top floor of my tower, next to my Repository, and pulled some stone out of the floor to transmute into Tungsten.

Previously, I’d wanted a dozen of these Runic Detonators, but now that I’d seen what they could do?

I was thinking I might want a hundred.

Ninety-four Runic Detonators later, I was working on the concept for an observational Enchanted Orb to automate the Runic Detonators– now named Runic Deployers.

It wouldn’t be all that difficult to wire them into the Runic Detonators– a single rune would do the trick. The issue was creating IFF– Identity Friend or Foe.

There were a few ways I could go about making it, but none seemed satisfactory.

First off, I could stuff a Process rune full of information about all the people I didn’t want it to kill– Azrael, the girls in the town, and my own mobs– and then tell them to kill everything else that moved, but that was… messy.

The issue was that they would actively go around killing everything. Any undead they spotted would be a target. While having undead other than Azrael and myself around was a negative thing because we were taking care of a bunch of juicy, tasty fleshbags who probably didn’t know how to properly defend themselves, that didn’t mean that they should murder literally everything. That would be incredibly wasteful.

Secondly, I wouldn’t be able to update that Process rune. If I saw someone I didn’t want my Runic Detonators to kill, then I’d have to cut the power to all of them before the Runic Deployers sent them after that person.

The other way was to create a sort of database rune, with the intent to create an updateable package of knowledge, and use that to determine who I wanted them to kill. I was hoping that it would work, since I wasn’t actually completely certain that runes could change in any way after they were created, but the pseudo-intelligence of the Process runes gave me hope.

I thought that plan was a bit better, so I created an Energized Intent out of that Conceptium, condensed it, and set it to cook over a gold plate.

This idea meant that I had to put the information into that Database myself, though, and that just brought me back to the original issue of needing to see and be near my target.

Eventually, though, I came up with a solution, and I almost slapped myself in the forehead when I realized how obvious it was.

First off, why would I only use one Database? I could have two: the first would be full of the people that I liked, and the second would be filled with the people I didn’t like.

The list of people that I didn’t like would be two-way, though. I’d set it so that a Process rune would check for things harming the people on the Nice list. It would give them three strikes, which would be held in another Database rune, and then it would put them on the Naughty list. Dismemberment or another serious injury would give someone two strikes, and an outright kill– or attacking me or Azrael– would be an instant death sentence. Azrael and I would also be exempt from the Naughty list: we could do whatever we wanted and never be touched.

Anyone who was on the Naughty list would get blasted on sight. Anyone on the Nice list would be protected. Pretty simple.

For the Observation portion of the Runic Deployers, I’d let them access my domain to sense things. The Process runes would be able to handle it, and it would increase the efficiency and range of the Observe runes by leaps and bounds.

I pulled another tungsten orb– this one half the diameter of the others– out of my floor, and tossed it back and forth in my hands for a moment.

I walked myself back through the process that I’d need to inscribe into the observation orbs.

Step 1: An Observe rune would sense things in my domain.

Step 2: A Process rune would detect if any of those things were living, undead or otherwise moving, and pass the information along if so.

Step 3A: A Mental Link rune would send the information of a target to its pair, which would then pass it along.

Step 4A: Another Process rune would decode the information and run it through the Naughty Database, which would be individual to each Deployer.

Step 5A: A Process rune would follow the Naughty Database, and if the target is on the list, it would inform the next Process rune in the chain of the location of the Naughty target.

Step 6A: A Process rune would constantly check for input. If there was none, it would instruct the Runic Detonators to follow their assigned Runic Deployer. Else, it would send them the location of the target.

All of those things would be individual to each Deployer. At the same time as that happened, another Process rune would follow Step 2:

Step 3B: A Process rune would decode the information and check to see if there were two or more targets in the image. If so, it would run them through the Nice Database, which would be shared by all Deployers.

Step 4B: If a target is in the Nice Database, the information would be passed along to another Process rune, which would then check to see if any of the targets were harming the Nice target, excluding any that had the chemical makeup of a human child. If there were any such targets, it would pass their information along to the next Process.

Step 5B: This Process rune would take in the information and check to see if any of the targets had a profile in the Strike Database, which would be shared by all Deployers. If there wasn’t one, it would create one. If there was one, it would check to see if the target had gained a Strike within the last five seconds. If so, it would do nothing, but if not, it would add one Strike to the target.

Step 6B: A final Process rune would constantly check everyone’s status on the Strike Database. If an individual reached three Strikes, it would remove their profile in the Strike Database and add them to the Naughty List.

I rubbed the bones in my hands together in excitement.

My Database rune was done! Now I just had to draw out all of the computational runes somewhere in my room, make the Deployers, and test it!

I stood next to Azrael, almost bouncing on my feet with excitement.

“Why is this a big deal, again?” Azrael was thoroughly nonplussed. Apparently, she thought an automated defense system was useless against everything except Esheth, since the town already had her.

I huffed in annoyance. “It’s a big deal because it’s a huge step forward in my capabilities! You probably don’t realize the significance because you lack the background to really understand what I’m saying, but I built a magic computer!” There was no word in Kerenth-Yalten Glyphic for computer, so I’d tried to explain it as a Metal-Object-Brain, but that had just confused her so I’d just gone back to using the English term.

Azrael gave me a weird look, like she’d done every time I’d tried to speak English to her, then responded, “If it’s so cool, then show me.”

I pulled out my wand and pointed it up at the top of my tower, triggering the Mental Link rune that I’d added into my runes to activate and deactivate the movement of the Deployers.

My Runic Deployers hadn’t actually had an independent form of movement, so I’d needed to design one. Their range didn’t actually go as far as my entire domain– because that would’ve been crazy expensive– instead only going about five miles out.

It hadn’t been too hard to design runes to tell them where to go, knowing that. Process runes would take each Deployer’s flight paths and record the terrain in a communal Map Database, so that the main computer would always know where each one was.

A Process rune would then reference whichever parts of the Map Database were most recently updated, and delegate instructions to the orbs to update whichever terrain data within a twenty-five mile radius was least recently refreshed, thus finding the X and Y coordinates for each orb to head to. Another Process rune would check on each orb and determine how far it was from nearby solid objects, and if that distance was less than fifty feet it would instruct it to move up.

With those two instructions combined, each Observe rune would have a constant input of directions. All I would need to do was power them, and everything in the vicinity of my tower would be obliterated.

I would need to eventually find ways to power things with energy that doesn’t require work from myself or Azrael. Currently, the only things like that were the Energy Conversion rune in the Runic Detonators– which only made it so that the Detonators didn’t require extra energy for the explosion and was still overall a loss in energy when you considered how much was put into moving the Detonators– and the Ordinance rune on Carnic’s club– which required the sacrifice of living flesh.

I was hoping to find a way to hook things up to Kelemnion and have energy pour into my devices directly from there.

Ignoring the strain that they put on my resources, though…

My Runic Orbs were done. At least, for now.

They would be potent weapons against those who sought to harm me and those who relied on me, and that was worth even more than what they had cost me in time and energy.

After all, the best defense is an unstoppable offense.

(LG:DM) Chapter 31: Remote Control Magic

A/N: This had a funnier name but I'll be using that for next chapter instead.

When I got back to the top of my tower, the Energized Intent had carved away enough metal that I could make out the shapes of the runes I wanted to use for my project.

I spent a moment inspecting the shapes that had been carved into the plates and concluded that the little cuts that the intent carved into them were actually tiny segments of the rune they were trying to form. Then, I guess the little squiggles converged and focused on the ones that were in position to actually form the rune on the plate?

It was pretty odd. The runes were done, though, so now I just had to test them.

I picked up the tungsten orb I’d made before and considered it. I could carve the runes into it right away, of course, but… I wanted to test them first.

With that in mind, I set it down and formed some more golden plates out of the stone of my tower, simultaneously refilling the space I’d disturbed with some of the land that made up a mountain a few miles away.

Domains were pretty fun.

I portalled my quill into my hand from its position on the floor a few yards away, formed a table to work on, and started replicating the pattern that my Energized Intent had tried to make.

The first rune I was testing out was the Mental connection one, which meant I needed two copies, and the intent of the second had to include the first. This connection would be one-way, because only the rune that knew about the other could send information across: the first rune I made would have no idea where anything I gave it was meant to go.

I quickly finished both runes and powered them up.

These runes passed information from one place to another, but they gave other runes no way to parse it. That meant that, to allow this rune to actually function properly, I needed to add a Process rune to the receiving end of the Link. Basically every complex inscription needed one, though, so I already had quite a bit of practice making them.

To actually test whether or not the Mental Link rune would do what I wanted, I hooked an Infliction rune into the Process, making sure that my intent was clear in that it should shoot a basic projectile in whatever direction its Process rune told it to.

Holding onto the input plate, I carefully directed some of my Mentum there, connecting to the plate and sending a small amount of Conceptium through, picturing the plate, and a line on it that stretched out towards its furthest corner at a 45 degree angle.

When I powered the receiving plate with Forbodum, a small bolt of energy shot in the exact direction I’d pictured.

I pumped my skeletal fist, then quickly carved Energy Link runes onto both plates. As soon as I’d finished carving the second one, a line of energy– invisible except to my Esoteric Sight– lit up between the two plates, and the extra complexity on the latter one made sure that the energy was properly connected with all the runes I was trying to have it go to. Using both the Energy Link and Mental Link at the same time, I wirelessly sent a projectile into my ceiling.

I was happy with the results, but there was one more thing to test with these.

I’d figured out the reason that it had been “impossible” for me to recreate runes with only my domain, so now I figured that I probably could do it, so long as I had an intent perfectly matched to the rune I was trying to craft.

I currently had enough of all the intents involved in making the wireless projectile inscription to duplicate the process.

Slowly and carefully, I formed another two gold plates, exactly the same size as the originals. Then, I made an exact replica of the inscription, leaving out only the Energy Link rune. It took a long time, constantly cross-referencing the shape of the rune down to a molecular level, copying all of the extra detailing that the creation process of the Infliction and Process runes had involved. By the time I was done, I felt like wiping nonexistent sweat off my boney brow.

I warily injected the needed intents into the inscription, and watched carefully from a few feet away.

Luckily, it didn’t explode.

I ran a small amount of Forbodum into it, and while it didn’t do anything, it did at least accept the energy.

I grabbed the second golden plate and started carving into it. I was confident that I wouldn’t be able to duplicate the rune for this one, because it had involved creating an intent directly related to the original remote inscription. If I’d simply copy/pasted the input rune, it would just send energy to the first receiver. While that could be useful in some scenarios, that wasn’t what I was currently after.

Instead, I had to do things manually.

Eventually, though, I finished the input rune and sent Mentum into it in the same way that I had with the first one I’d made.

I grinned– or, rather, tried to grin– when a bullet of Forbidden energy shot out of the Infliction rune. I shot it a few more times at different angles, just to be absolutely sure it worked, and was glad to see that it really did work how I wanted it to.

I was curious about the difference between the two Mental Link inputs I’d made, so I set them down side-by-side and carefully started examining them together. For a long moment, I thought that they were the exact same rune, but then I saw it– there was a difference. A small difference, for sure, but there was a difference nonetheless.

In the original, there was a tiny crack-like line at the innermost part of the rune. In the original, it was perfectly straight, but in the second rendition, the end had a tiny offset where it was slightly thinner in one area.

I didn’t fully understand it, but my guess was that the offset was some sort of indicator– the universe’s way of indicating the difference between one rune and another that otherwise did the exact same thing. Or, perhaps it was to differentiate the two receiver inscriptions?

The easiest way to find out was to just make another, so I did. Using the exact same intent as the most recent input rune, I carved out yet another, targeting the same plate. I tested it out, and it worked, so I was satisfied in using it for my testing.

Laying the new plate next to the other two, I checked the crack that I’d figured had been an indicator, and found that it, too, had the same offset as the other one targeting the same plate, convincing me that it was an indicator for the target, rather than the rune itself.

WIth all of that done, I rubbed my metacarpal bones together.

It was time to test out the actual effect runes.

I decided that I should keep the best for last, so I started with the Movement rune.

The first thing I did was construct a steel cube. On one side– the one that I thought of as the front– I slowly carved a Movement rune, with an intent to move in whatever direction it received an input for.

On the right side of the cube, I pasted a blank Energy Link rune, and on the left I did the same with a Mental Link one. The back was used for a Process rune.

I was using this as a rudimentary test for some of the ideas I’d had with my Movement rune. I was mostly trying to tell if the basic form of the rune could handle upwards movement well, or if I’d need to find another way to make that happen.

Of course, I could always make a more complicated intent for that rune, but I felt that keeping it vague and open was for the best. Why force it to use a certain, limited perspective of what motion could be, when it could instead just be open to whatever it wanted to do?

As for why I used an Energy Link rune and didn’t just manually form the bond, I’d found that the bonds I made myself were a lot more fragile and didn’t have very good range. The Energy Link rune perfectly and constantly maintained the bond without me having to think of it, which was good because I never thought of anything.

Seriously, I’d intended to regularly upkeep the energy gems throughout my tower, but most of the doors didn’t even work right now. Hopefully I’d be able to come up with a solution to that soon, though.

Soon, I had formed a simple control panel for the cube, and was sending it off in different directions to test the energy consumption.

As expected, fighting the pull of gravity was more expensive than I would have liked, so I’d need to find other ways to have my orbs hover if I wanted that. Also, moving faster was less efficient than moving slowly– also an anticipated result.

When everything worked exactly as I’d expected, I shrugged and attached another Process rune on the top of the cube, hooking up to an Explosion rune on the bottom and giving it a relatively concise intent: on command, create an explosion as large as desired.

When I was sure that everything was integrated properly, I picked up the cube and tossed it, simultaneously directing it to move away from me as fast as it could and then create a fist-sized explosion.

The cube accelerated up to sixty miles per hour as I fed it a modest stream of energy, then hit the wall and shattered as the Explosion rune used a chunk of energy that I’d shunted towards it last-minute to detonate into a purple cloud. As desired, the explosion was small, but the power it contained was enough to rend my steel cube to slivers of metal and chip my ultra-reinforced, magic-resistant wall.

I nodded in appreciation. Obviously, self-destructing wasn’t exactly what I wanted from my future weapons, but that would be fixed by simply using better materials. Furthermore, the firepower was decent, even before I added any of the bits and bobs I’d thought up.

All-in-all, it was a good initial test, so it was probably time to make the first prototype.

Before that, though, I wanted to get some more runes cooking. First off, I wanted to make a dedicated Energy Conversion rune, and I also felt that it was probably a good idea to create specific versions of the runes I used most commonly while making gear.

Once I’d set some Energy Conversion, Mass Manipulation, and Material Reinforcement Conceptium atop some more gold plates, though, it was time to actually get to work.

Once more, I picked up the tungsten orb. I rolled it around in my hands, checking for any imperfections in its sphericality. Finding none– and knowing that I might be holding the most round object in existence– I shrugged and dragged my finger through its center, splitting the matter around it so the sphere was cut perfectly down the middle.

The sphere was about a foot in diameter, and with it cut in half, I had access to its center. That wasn’t quite enough for me, though, so I took the two sides and cut those in half, too, perpendicularly to the original cut.

Now with eight surfaces to work with, I designated each one for a different purpose.

On one corner, I pasted in basic Energy and Mental Link runes that I’d use as references later.

I decided to make the next corner into my control module and carefully carved in two Process runes.

As for the last two quarters, I simply carved the runes that linked to those two Process runes– an Explosion rune and a Movement rune.

I left the last two sides on each of those segments blank, though. I had plans for them.

When I’d finished carving out all of the runes, I fused the orb back together around them, fusing everything around them into a single, solid piece, but leaving the runes themselves untouched.

Next, I created a remote for the piece by putting an Energy Link and a Mental Link on a thick metal rectangle I’d made, and telling them with my intent to attach to the Links inside the ball.

I sent some energy into the prototype weapon via my remote, activating it. Then, a bit of Mentum went towards my remote’s Mental Link, and it started to move.

The cube from before had just ground its bottom against the ground, soI was glad that the Process rune dedicated to movement understood this time that I wanted the ball to roll. I guess rolling a ball is probably a lot more natural than rolling a cube? Or perhaps I just hadn’t pictured it well enough.

Anyways, the sphere slowly rolled around on the ground, reminding me somewhat of a bowling ball.

Chuckling at the mental imagery that invoked, I pulled some small, oddly-shaped stone pillars out of the ground and sent the ball rocketing towards them. The fake bowling pins took the hits hard. Some were smashed hard enough to break in half, while others were just scattered across the room with chips taken out of them.

I nodded in happiness at the damage that alone had done, and reformed the pins elsewhere in the room.

I sent the ball forward once again, but this time I activated the Explosion rune as the ball impacted the first pin.

While forming the intent for this rune in particular, I had just told it to shape its charge to start an inch away from its surface. Eventually, I wanted to make this part of the enchantment more complex, but for now it would have to stay like this.

I’d sent a good amount of power towards the ball for the explosion, so the power was enough to shoot all of the pins out with enough force to actually deal a small amount of damage to my walls. That made me try to flex my smile muscles, but I didn’t have any of those right now, so instead I settled for calling the ball back to my side and picking it up.

“You may be small and weak for now, little weapon,” I told it softly, “but you have potential. I can see it.”

I let out a wicked cackle and tore it in half.

That is, I opened up the runic components. I’m not that insane.

I opened up the ball all the way and considered my next move. The runes that I’d left to settle had completed by now, so I was thinking of ways to work them in.

My current plan involved a lot of changes and increases in complexity, which would force me to cut the orb against another axis, giving me access to 24 places to put runes.

I knew it was kinda stupid, but part of me wanted to fill every single one of those with runes. And that part… was winning.

I needed an Absiete gem for part of the plan, so I hopped down to have a chat with her while she made it. She seemed happy that I’d come to see her twice in the same week, even if one of the times was because I needed something from her. I couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

…Probably bad, right? It’s not really a good thing for you to only see the people you care about once a week and they’re excited to get more than that.

Anyways, we had a brief chat about the food supply– the agriculture business was booming, apparently– and then it was back to work.

Splitting an orb across three axes would give me eight pieces with three inner sides each, giving me a total of twenty-four spots to put runes. Of course, I could just make some smaller and some bigger, but that was kinda lame, wasn’t it? Twenty-four runes it is.

Actually, sixteen. One of the spots on each slice should be used for a Material Reinforcement rune, just to be safe. I didn’t want to accidentally shatter one of my balls while making it explode.

The Energy and Mental Links brought me down to fourteen slots, Explosion and Movement made that twelve, and the two Process runes meant I had a total of ten spaces for runes.

That was a lot. Most likely more than I needed. That said, I’m a magical lich, so why not be over the top?

The reason I’d needed the Absiete gem from Azrael was to power a Gravity and Mass Manipulation rune. I was hoping that I could use it to negate gravity and reduce the overall weight of the orb, allowing the Movement rune to have vertical movement.

Another Gravity and Mass Manipulation rune would be needed to do the opposite, increasing the ball’s downwards momentum, for when I really needed to crush something.

That brought me down to six runes.

One thing that I eventually decided on was to try out that one thing the mage who’d written the Enchanted Orbs book had suggested, but hadn’t been able to get working because he was using an Ordinance rune.

If I could get my new Energy Conversion rune to somehow convert the kinetic energy of the orb into power for the Explosion rune, that would increase my overall efficiency by quite a bit. I’d still need a Process rune, though, so that I could turn it on and off. I didn’t want to accidentally drop my orb on something and have it explode.

Five slots left.

If I was already changing how my Explosion rune worked, then why didn’t I just go for a rework of how large of an area it was meant to cover? Automating that would be quite useful.

That meant I’d need another two Processes and an Observe rune. The Observe rune would look a few inches outside the orb, and the Process rune would check to see if the orb was touching anything. If it was, the Energy Conversion rune would be activated and the information would be passed along to the second Process, which would check how durable the surrounding material was– not just whatever it was touching, but also anything behind that, meaning something like clothes wouldn’t be able to fool the weapon.

If the material was weak, then the explosion would be sent out in a wide area around the, but the tougher it was, the smaller and tighter the explosion would get. For example, if the orb hit Carnic’s armor at full speed, the explosion would probably be sent only at the spot it hit, which would be pretty devastating– maybe not enough to actually seriously damage the gear, but it’d get sent flying like a football, and the person inside would get sent flying with it.

Hitting a soft pillow, on the other hand, would result in the energy being sent in a huge area.

Two runes left.

I decided that I needed another Gravity rune, and a Process rune to feed into it. The Process would take from my Mental Link to find out which direction I wanted the orb to move in and how fast, and if I was trying to get the orb to accelerate it would feed that into the Gravity rune. The Gravity rune was tuned to treat whichever direction it got from the Process rune as “down,” and would apply even more force.

I formed a human head out of Forbodum and had it smile for me.

Now all I had to do was make these things.

(LG:DM) Chapter 30: Taking Offense

A/N: Idk if I cut this one short or not. Feels kinda weird at the end.

I’d returned to Kelemnion, this time to look for some way for me to actually attack.

I skipped past all the books about demons, eldritch entities, and other stuff that would probably kill me before it managed to do anything to my enemies.

There were two kinds of “Forbidden” offensive magic. The first was the kind that was forbidden because it was morally questionable or extremely dangerous, and the second was stuff that was so powerful that people couldn’t stand it being common knowledge.

On Earth, hydrogen bombs were something that a few countries had, but wouldn’t use because they not only killed a large number of people immediately, but also effectively salted the earth with fallout, leaving the land unusable for decades. That was a sort of firepower that I would be okay with using– at least, if I could make sure that I wasn’t randomly slaughtering civilians, but I felt that living in the Dead Belt reduced the likelihood that I’d need to use large amounts of firepower in civilian areas.

On the other hand, biological weapons were brutal. Certain kinds could spread endlessly and perpetuate themselves indefinitely, causing pain and death for a long time. The Black Plague was estimated to have killed 25 million people in just four years. If I somehow gave someone the Black Plague, I would no longer have control over that illness. It would literally walk out the door and then spread on its own.

It was an effective weapon, sure, but I couldn’t guarantee that only the people I wanted dead would die, and that was a big no-no. Instead, I’d be looking for the equivalent of hydrogen bombs or nuclear weapons– instant, wide-scale destruction that could leave an area wasted if I wanted it to. Preferably, though, I would be able to avoid giving people cancer. That just sucked.

Rendering terrain unusable was something I felt I wouldn’t have trouble doing– the Dead Belt was full of Necrosis that I could manipulate and use to force weaker mortals to stay away– but I was lacking somewhat in the instant annihilation.

Eventually, I stopped walking, sensing that Kelemnion had curated a selection of books for my desires.

I casually ran a finger over some of the novels, getting an idea of what they contained. There were a lot of options, from condensed energy bombs to lasers, but the first that caught my eye was a design for an interesting runic weapon.

I pulled that particular book from the shelf, figuring that I already had some experience with inscriptions so this would probably be a good fit.

As information flowed through the connection between my physical body and my Repository, I examined it. This idea was something I’d thought of before, but hadn’t actually done anything with because I didn’t know if it was feasible or not.

It was basically just runic cannonballs.

Well, okay, the book also covered the idea of turning them into kinetic fireballs, so there was some complexity to it. The most interesting part of the information contained in the book, though, was that it contained some ideas for runes I hadn’t thought of yet.

Obviously, if I needed runes I could just make my own now, and they would probably be better than whatever I found in the library because they would be tailor-made for me and the situation I used them in, but it was still good to find pre-existing runes.

Just because I could make runes for whatever intent I had didn’t mean that I’d considered every possible option out there.

As an example, this book contained two runes I hadn’t yet found: Emit and Discharge. Emit was a rune that was designed to steadily give off an effect as it was infused with power. If you put more in at once, then the rune would also boost the output. Discharge was a rune that basically did the opposite: it was best used to store large amounts of energy and shoot it off all at once, as a large effect.

Interestingly, one design of these weapons had an Ordinance rune that was meant to convert kinetic energy into power for the Discharge rune, but it had been scrapped because it just wasn’t efficient enough. I’d done something similar with Carnic’s club, but it had worked out a bit better because I was using an energy type that was naturally compatible with the process and I was sacrificing a magically energy-dense matter for a different kind of magical energy, not kinetic energy for a magical energy.

I could probably get this idea to work, if I created up a rune dedicated to it.

In fact… I wonder if I could create a version of this that’s efficient enough to be fueled by the Dead Belt’s ambient Necrosis?

These “Enchanted Orbs” were an interesting idea, but I wanted something more on top of that. They were a method of attack, especially if I set up versions with offensive effects on them like the book suggested, but they weren’t really the direct spellcasting damage I was looking for.

I kept looking through the shelves until I came across a book with a title that I just couldn’t resist.

Nyarleth’s Writhing Earth. It totally sounded like a D&D spell!

I opened the book and slowly processed its knowledge, and was happy to see that it had been about what I’d expected.

The spell itself was designed for people who had Nyx-related affinities, but there was no reason that other magic types couldn’t use it. The book actually contained some diagrams for what using the magic was supposed to look like, but I noticed that there were some differences in the way that the creator’s affinity behaved in comparison to my own Forbodum, so I mostly ignored those, focusing mostly on the theory and function of the spell.

In essence, the caster was meant to condense cords of their own energy a beneath the ground between themselves and their target. Once the spell was completed, the user would be able to sense the vibrations of earth with their magic– that part didn’t really matter to me– and use the tendrils to tear up the earth and lash out at their foes.

The only real issue that my Occult Sovereignty had is that I couldn’t manipulate things very well in another person’s area. Subtle magic, like domains, could get ruptured or disturbed by another person’s presence, especially if that other individual had their own magic to muddle and fight with it. In fact, that was the whole reason that strong people could enter the Dead Belt while weaker ones would slowly turn into zombies.

The Dead Belt wasn’t exactly like a domain, but it definitely had some similarities. It provided a passive effect in a large area by spreading a relatively small amount of energy across it. If taken as a whole, the Dead Belt contained a truly massive amount of energy, but a Level 5 person was probably strong enough to endure it for weeks without any risk.
At least, so long as that individual didn’t run into any undead.

I could manipulate my domain pretty easily, but it would take a ton of effort to manipulate it in the immediate vicinity of someone at my own level. I probably wouldn’t be able to do schnizz to effect my landscape in the presence of Esheth.

This ability got around those limitations in a few ways.

First off, the Writhing Earth began under the ground, where a person’s natural aura usually had a bit more trouble penetrating. The tendrils of energy also were meant to start at your position, giving them a direct connection to you, their source of power, and they were also quite dense.

All these factors combined to make this spell an effective tool for bypassing the disruption that a person would normally give off simply by existing within other spells.

It could also be used for surprise attacks, and was pretty strong on its own. One image within the book showed the creator summoning huge tentacles from underneath a small army to toss them into the air and bury a number of them beneath displaced dirt and stone. As shown in another image, those that escaped the initial wave of violence were quickly caught and strangled to death, or simply beaten into the ground by the larger tentacles.

The spell had a lot of versatility, too. A person could lay the tentacles horizontally and really capitalize on the ambush aspect. It could be used to form barriers, or be used in multiple directions at once. You didn’t have to put it beneath the earth, either– you could just let the cords come straight from your body. Even if you did decide to hide it, it didn’t need to be beneath the floor. Ceilings and walls were available, too.

In the end, I was pretty satisfied with what I’d gotten out of this trip, so I portaled back to my tower and immediately got to experimenting.

Honestly, the Writhing Earth spell was pretty simple, to the point where just about anyone would be able to figure it out. The most likely reason for it to be forbidden is that it was used by a powerful mage to suddenly crush large numbers of foes quickly, leaving no survivors.

Actually, I found it likely that most mages probably wouldn’t be able to cast this spell. I had a lot of things going for me in the Mentum department, from my pool being increased by my natural lichdom and Repository, to having five WIllpower enhancements, to even doing my own internal manipulation to keep my supplies filled up. Even with all of that, casting the spell at the level performed by Nyarleth would be resource-intensive. It was mostly a one-and-done spell, though– once I set it up, I’d only need to spend a bit of Mentum to keep manipulating it, unless I needed to increase the size for some reason.

As an initial test, I shaped some Forbodum into ropes coming out of my hand and brought them into the physical world by increasing their density. Just as I’d seen in the book, the tendrils moved according to my will. I was, after all, still in contact with the magic, so it wasn’t like I was trying to redirect a projectile made of Forbodum that had no connection to me whatsoever.

Of course, I could still probably do that, because everything in my domain was touched by my magic, but that connection was a bit weaker.

Anyways, with that tested out, I could focus on the other weapon I’d found.

Enchanted Orbs. The name didn’t really fit my intentions for them, so I’d have to come up with something else.

I formed a ball out of Tungsten– not Conflict Tungsten, just the normal stuff– and tapped the bone quill I’d been using to make inscriptions.

The original Enchanted Balls had one big flaw: there was no firing mechanism included. The author of the book had suggested that one use actual cannons to fire them off, or create smaller versions and hand them to warriors strong enough to chuck them, effectively turning them into grenades, but that just wasn’t elegant enough for me.

Instead of getting to work on the ball of Tungsten, I started forming Conceptium.

I would need a few different kinds to create all the different runes I wanted to use, but first off was the control: a Mental Link rune.

The name was a bit of a misnomer, though. The intent I gathered was actually more like a transfer of information, allowing me to send intent into one rune and communicate it to another, but I decided to call it that because I thought it was cooler.

My current plan for my Enchanted Orbs 2.0 was that they’d be able to accept my mental commands and fire themselves at something I told them to kill. When they hit that something, they’d explode. Easy as pie.

Except for the fact that I would need this Mental Link rune, some sort of movement rune, a dedicated Explosion rune– like Discharge, but more specialized– and then I’d also want to make another connection rune that would allow energy to pass remotely from one to another.

Eventually, I managed to make enough Energetic Mental Connection Intent to put over a plate of gold and allow to do its work. At that point, I started working on some Motion intent.

I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted this movement to work, so I just tried to make it vague and imagine something moving quickly and with great precision. It worked as an intent, so I harvested some of it and began the process of using it to make another rune.

The Explosion rune was pretty simple. All I had to do was picture all the different kinds of explosions I’d ever seen– either personally or on video– and turn it into some Energetic Intent.

Once that was put onto a plate, all I had left to do was replicate the whole process, but this time with an Intent that would send magical energy from one place to another.

I had left the Mental and Energy Link connections pretty vague, but I actually planned on having the information be passed with a spatial link like the one my Repository used to link to the bodies I used, and I wanted the energy to be passed through a tiny portal that I would affix inside the ball.

I counted myself lucky that I knew how to lock spatial constructs in place without draining tons of energy constantly.

I had previously used carefully-designed cords of Mentum to pass energy between energy cells and runes, so I knew how to link things together. That was something I’d been able to include in my Intent for the runes, though I had merely presented that as one way to transfer energy between two locations, which would allow me to be a bit more flexible with how I used this rune.

While I could design a brand-new rune every single time I needed one, I felt like that was a wasteful use of my time when I only had a bit over two hundred and fifty days left before someone categorically stronger than myself would be coming to end me.

Wasting time only increased the likelihood that I would fail to defend myself when the time ran out.

I would lose.

I would die.

And dying… Well, dying is for losers.

Speaking of unproductive uses of my time, I took a break while waiting for the Energetic Intent to do its work on those sheets of gold and spent some time with Azrael.

She was acting pretty weird though.

“Are you alright?” I asked after she suddenly jerked her head to the right for the thirteenth time since we’d started talking.

“Hmm?” She hummed as she turned back to me. “Yup. Everything’s perfect. I’m definitely not going crazy.”

I stared at her. “If you say so…”

I checked her over with all of my senses and couldn’t find anything wrong with her, inside or out, so I had no real reason to keep digging.

“Anyways, keep telling me about your time in the Watchers.”

She smiled and got back to telling me her story about a time when she got so frustrated with one of her companions that she’d used her full suite of stealth abilities to steal all of his clothes and dump them in the river.

(LG:DM) Chapter 29: The Secrets of Inscriptions

A/N: 👀 2 Chapters and an Interlude over the span of two days? No way. That can't be my Vagrant Crusader. Nuh uh.

My shoulders slumped a bit in relief. I had plenty of time left to go.

It had started to feel like I wasn’t making much progress, but I knew that was just in my head. The new floors should help keep anyone who wants to kill me from just charging their way through. Of course, I still had a huge number of Antigo troops at my disposal, but real floors were more helpful.

I made a quick checklist in my head.

My top priority should be making sure that Esheth can’t just fly his way up to my tower. Hopefully I could find a rune that could do that for me, but if not I’d have to settle for Infliction- or Ordinance-based ones.

I also needed to build up my tower. It was currently my best method of defending myself, as it had tons of energy poured into it. Increasing that amount would be in my best interest. As part of that, I also needed to make the walls of my tower as impenetrable as possible. Getting knocked over would just be… so stupid.

Before that, though, I needed to find more ways to boost the potency of each floor. If I could find a way to access other realms to use energy gathered from them, that would be ideal, and it was possible that they’d also have some creatures and materials that I could use for inspiration and resources.

The next task on the list was increasing my personal attack power. I could always tell Azrael to run away if I felt that I wouldn’t be able to defeat the opposing mage, but I wouldn’t be able to leave. For me, it was do or die. I could make myself incredibly hard to kill in terms of my physical body, but eventually he would have to notice that I was just not dying. Then, he’d go straight for my Repository.

That couldn’t be allowed to happen, so he would have to die before he noticed my clone-seam trick.

In the past few months, I had already put a lot of work into my dungeon, so spending some time on one of the other tasks would be for the best.

It shouldn’t take long to hunt down some sort of magic to lock people to the ground, so I’d be handling that first, but after that?

Well, it would be time to learn how to blow stuff up.

My footsteps sounded loud in the quiet halls of Kelemnion. Of course, there was that nagging sensation in the back of my head that would turn into a whisper if I allowed it to grow, but for now the books were quiet.

At the moment, I was just walking aimlessly, trying to clear my head so I could think.

I needed a rune to deny people access to the sky. What would that be, though? Would I need to search for something that would specifically target the sky, or would there already be something intended for area denial?

My head suddenly snapped sideways. The world had started to shift in accordance with my thoughts, and Kelemnion had presented a book to answer my unasked questions. This one burned to my Esoteric Sight– more than any I’d actually read before– and a series of unintelligible whispers started prodding at my mind.

I shoved the foreign thoughts out of my mind and refocused on the purple cover of this novel. I reached out, pulled it from its shelf, and opened it up. The whispers grew stronger, so I released my mental grip on them, allowing the information to wash over my mind.

This book did not contain information about a rune or a type of inscription. Instead, this novel spoke about all of inscription-craft.

I saw images flash across my vision, I felt whispered words tickle my ears, and I sat there, absorbing the knowledge. But I did not allow it to consume me. Eventually, the flood abated– my mind had withstood this trial.

In the past, I’d been a fool and thought that having all the information from these books crammed into my head all at once would mean that I understood everything it covered. Fenrir had shown me the error of my ways, though, so this time I sat down and silently thought over everything I’d learned.

The process was basically just like actually reading the book, only a little bit faster since I already had all the words stored in whatever part of my Repository held my memories. Reading, but without the reading.

The basic premise of this novel was simple: it talked about the why behind runes. Of course, most of it was theory, but as I read I realized that I actually had the capacity to test some of these things.

My original plan had been to find a rune that would work for my plans to keep Esheth out of the skies, but now I’d found something much more interesting than that.

I quickly summoned my portal back home, sinking into the inky abyss and suddenly reappearing beside my Repository.

I created a sheet of vellum and a quill out of energy, then got to work inscribing a basic Infliction rune into it. I channeled some natural Death Conceptium out of my Repository to give the Forbodum I was infusing the rune with some direction, and carefully observed the process through my Occult Sovereignty domain.

I was shocked to find the theory I read to be true.

I couldn’t create inscriptions out of pure energy because the magic did something to the paper as I worked with it. Until now, I’d just thought of it as magical crap, but now that I watched more closely… tiny, almost-imperceptible changes were taking place within the vellum. As I carved the Infliction rune’s pattern into the paper, my magic was editing it. To a casual observer, it looked random, like the parchment was somehow being damaged, but to me…

The magic was carving its own little patterns into the paper.

I quickly pulled myself back from the image and finished the inscription, then got started on another with the exact same energy, pressure, and intent.

Sure enough, I saw the exact same pattern take place within the vellum.

Finishing that work, I used a different intent, and found that a different pattern was being created. I changed to a different type of energy– pulling some Absiete out of a stored gem with a bit of effort– but used the same Death intent as my first tests, and found that the pattern was the same.

In other words, the intent that I provided the rune with altered the rune to make it more correct.

That proved the book author’s theory.

The runes we used were only a small fraction of what existed– theoretically, there were an infinite number of runes and inscriptions out there, but humans could never find them because they couldn’t look close enough.

Just to test my theory, I carefully created an exact replica of the talisman I’d just created, making sure to include the tiny swirls and cracks that had been created by the injection of intent.

I sent some Forbodum into the runescript and it immediately lit up, sending a streak of green light at my wall.

I cackled in glee as I realized what this meant.

Why would I go looking for runes when I could just make my own??

My Abstractive Influence surged with power as I commanded my surroundings to be filled with the concept of Gravity– or, rather, the idea of an unseen force pulling you downwards– and I began to capture the resulting Conceptium with my Mentum, crunching it down into a denser state, until it was more solid and could stand on its own temporarily. I then pulled it into my Repository, where it was preserved and kept separate from other influences.

Over the course of an indeterminate amount of time, I slowly grew a Gravity Rat within my crazy rubber room. It was pure, solidified Conceptium, so it grew more slowly than it would have if I’d kept it in its normal state, but that was fine. Eventually, it dwarfed the size of the others, and I was forced to cut of the flow of Mentum as my pool grew too small to sustain the work.

I manipulated the inside of my Mentum pool to suck in more energy, and soon I had a reasonable amount to work with. Then, I created a large plate of gold.

I’d chosen gold for this process because it was generally considered a pretty soft metal, but it was still overall pretty tough when compared to something like my faux-vellum sheets.

As soon as the plate was fully formed, I brought a huge stream of Energetic Gravity Intent and forced it down on top of the gold, putting a good amount of pressure on it.

I waited for a while. No noticeable changes took place on the surface of the gold. I spent a while considering the nature of intent and inscriptions, and suddenly realized that Conceptium on its own could do very little.

Energized Intent’s purpose was to create a type of magical energy that could alter other energy in its surroundings more forcefully and consistently than standard intent could. It was stronger, denser, and more resistant to change, so it could do a lot more than the intent that would normally be held within a spell. It could forcefully apply a different intent to magic that already had one.

In other words, it wasn’t doing anything because it didn’t have any energy to work with, so I added a drop of Forbodum and let it get to work.

I waited, frequently checking the surface of the gold to see if it was inscribing a rune on top of it. It wasn’t, so I waited some more. And then some more. I started to get a bit frustrated when no noticeable changes happened, but then I checked inside the plate and found the changes I’d been looking for.

Of course, I wouldn’t just be able to hold Conceptium up to a material and have it carve a rune for me. That would be silly. My Energetic Intent did, however, make minute changes to materials I infused with it.

Cracks had formed across the plate in the form of small tendrils that seemed to all be making the same patterns. Some were reaching deeper than others, and some were more complex.

I sat back for a while, giving the Conceptium time to finish its work. Hopefully, this would produce some results.

I think I must’ve waited a few days to check on the gold plate again. I spent most of the time just packing more energy into the walls of my tower to toughen them up, but also tinkered with some ideas for extra mobs to put on my floors. Right now, they were mostly homogenous in terms of creature types: Twinscales on the first set of floors, Nailwolves on the second set of floors, and a variety of rabbits on the third set.

I felt that the rabbits were fine the way they were, since they weren’t all exactly the same, but the Nailwolves could use some prey animals of different types to really sell the image– they’d all need to have the same sort of fur that the Nailwolves had, though, to fit in with the theme. Maybe I could also make a lion miniboss?

As for the first floor, it really looked like there should be an ecosystem there. I could maybe make hordes of squirrels that were linked together in the same way that the Twinscales were, but in much greater numbers? Could be fun to watch.

Anyways, I eventually checked back on the gold plate and was elated to see that the carvings had extended much deeper into the plate, grown in density in certain places, and gotten much thicker.

In fact, as I looked at it, I realized that the spots that had undergone more change than the others seemed to be following a pattern reminiscent of both what the small cracks had been trying to do and also the structure of my other runes.

Hurriedly, I formed a sheet of vellum and started carving the rune into it with the same Gravity intent as before, pouring my Forbodum into it through my quill.

I made sure that the lines I was tracing into the paper-substitute followed the exact pathway of the thickest carvings in the gold plate. Eventually, it was done.

I was a bit worried about whether or not it worked, since no cracks had formed as I was carving out the pathways, but I imbued some Forbodum into the inscription and felt a thin layer of the energy spread across the room, even as the talisman dissolved in my hand.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then a spike of downwards force came down on everything the energy from the talisman had touched.

Quickly, I formed another copy of the rune, this time infusing it with a Barrier intent– this one geared towards making a shield against physical attacks. This time, the cracks formed like normal, making it clear to me that the reason there had been none the first time was that I was using the exact intent that the rune had been formed with.

I activated the intent, and another line of powder-like energy was formed, but this one just hung in the air as a pane in front of me.

I carved a rock out of the ceiling and dropped it into my hand, then tossed it into the Gravity Barrier.

The moment the rock came in contact with the energy, all of the energy that was above it funneled in its direction, pushing it downward, where more energy would gather above it. By the time the small stone hit the ground, the downwards force was enough to cause it to shatter and shoot off splinters.

I marveled at the scene. I had actually created a rune.

Immediately, my brain got distracted by the potential of this new tool. I would never have to use imperfect runes again. Ordinance schmordinance! The efficiency of my work was about to skyrocket, and I’d be able to simplify some previously-complex runescript. Hopefully, at least.

The way that the rune had carved itself into the plate had given me concerns about a potential complexity limit for the process. If I tried to give something an intent that would replace a ritual, whatever came out the other side might be completely unusable. It was already pretty tough to create detailed intents, as it took way more Mentum to create complex intents. Really, Conceptium was only meant to carry a single idea or function– packing more into it could make things screwy.

For example, if I were to try to condense a bunch of Forbodum into my palm as a bolt and just told it that I wanted it to stay together, it would do that extremely well. If I said I wanted it to speed up in the direction I threw it, that was fine too. However, if I told it to explode on contact with something?

That was a bit more of a stretch, especially since Forbodum wasn’t really explodey in nature. It would take a little more energy and focus to get it to work right, but I could do it with barely any effort at all.

If I told the same projectile that I wanted it to not only explode, but also shoot other exploding bolts out in random directions? Again, still within my capabilities, but it was much more efficient to just create a few of the exploding bolts, rather than packing it all into one casting.

Eventually, if you stacked enough layers of complexity and functions into one intent, there was a point where it not only took more concentration than it was probably worth, but it also spread out the power of the spell too much. If you wanted any one function to actually do its job well, then you’d need to pour a ton of power into it.

The same thing was true with runes. Having more specific, efficient runes would allow me to bypass one layer of complexity. My new Gravity rune, for example, pressed things to the floor. It was pretty simple, but doing it this way meant that I wouldn’t need to use an Ordinance rune to do the same thing. Instead of telling a rune with a vague function to do something specific, I could tell a specific rune to do something vague and have it perform just as well and with a much higher efficiency.

I crafted another Gravity rune– this time onto a plate of steel that I’d pulled from the wall as stone and transmuted into metal– and carefully guided some Absiete into it. For the intent, I gave it a sort of Antigravity intent, wanting it to negate and then reverse the effect gravity had on the plate I’d carved it into.

Just as I’d expected, the piece of metal easily rose up into the air.

I pumped my fist, excited that I had so many cool things to test out.

Now, the most obvious thing to do will these cool new inscription possibilities was to make Azrael some more powerful gear, but…

There were still a few more things I needed to figure out to make it as powerful as I possibly could.

(LG:DM) Azrael 2: Just Chatting

A/N: This is a pretty short interlude, but I wanted to show an interaction between Seif and Azrael from a perspective that's closer to her own. What do we think?

Ambrose suddenly stepped through a portal in front of her, and she gave him a look.

The Lich rubbed the back of his skull sheepishly. “My bad? I was designing floors and a boss, and got distracted.”

A moment passed, and then Azrael gave him a nod. “You can do your own thing, I just want you to check in every once-in-a-while so I can make sure you haven’t gone insane, alright Mr. ‘I Use Forbidden Knowledge That Drives People Mad?’”

Ambrose quickly agreed, getting a smile out of his Wraith companion.

“Mind if we have a quick chat?” She asked, wanting to know what he’d been up to.

“Sure thing.” With a wave of his hand, Ambrose pulled a pair of stone chairs from beneath their feet. “What did you want to talk about?”

Taking her seat, Azrael thought out her answer for a moment. “Well, it’s been a while since we actually talked. Last time you just popped in and had me give you some energy. Would you mind telling me a bit about the floors and boss you were working on?”

“Oh, sure thing,” Azrael could hear the smile in his voice, even if he didn’t have the lips to express it. “I made a maze with a bunch of portals and filled it with rabbits.”

She raised an eyebrow at that, so he quickly continued, “The rabbits are partly there for comedic effect, but they are dangerous. They have the layout of their floors installed into their brains, so it’s not easy to lose them, and some of the big ones can block off entire passageways. They’re less meant to hurt people directly than to push them into traps. I was originally also going to add Antigos, but I’m starting to rethink that. They’re a bit too horrifying for my cute fluffy murder maze.

“The space magic and portals make it so that it’s pretty difficult to cheat with magic– just trying to detect the portal to the next floor with someone’s own Spatium– or Soothen– won’t really work because you won’t know which portals link where or which one is the exit portal.”

“Ooh, that’s clever,” Azrael commented, leaning forward. She liked it when he got passionate about this kind of stuff; she just wished there were some way she could help more accurately. She felt pretty useless just managing a bunch of grown women who didn’t need babysitting and keeping track of the days.

“Thanks!” Ambrose chuckled a little bit. “The boss is named Carnic, and he’s a humanoid rabbit. Think Fenrir, but replace the wolf with bunny. I can’t tell if it’s cute or unnerving, but it definitely works for what I want from him.

“I was able to pack a lot of energy into his body, and since he was already based on a creature with very powerful muscles, he’s super strong. I was able to give him a weapon that weighs a crazy amount because of it, and mixed that with your Absiete and some runework to make it lighten up a bit while he’s moving it around. It’s basically a huge diamond club. I picked diamonds, specifically, because of a joke that nobody else in this world will ever understand, but I still think it’s funny,” he explained, delving into the details of everything he’d been doing.

Azrael patiently listened to him. Hearing about all of these cool things he’d been up to was always the highlight of her day… or, more often, her week.

“Oh, right,” Ambrose snapped out of his speech and refocused on her. “I want to remake your armor. Also, how long do I have until the year Esheth gave us is up?”

Azrael nodded. “Feel free to do whatever you need with my gear. I’ll always be fine with testing out your experiments. As for the time…” She pulled a journal out of her pocket– probably looted from the adventurer group that I’d wiped.

Azrael’s finger danced across the book, counting them off one by one. She muttered quietly to herself, “Thirty, sixty, seventy, eighty…” She looked up at me and confidently said, “It’s been 87 days. That means you’ve got another 278 to go.”

(LG:DM) Chapter 28: Carnic, the Feaster Bunny

A/N: Not sure about the quality of this one. It was written over the span of many writing sessions. You'll have to let me know if you find any inconsistencies.

This chapter is 4,057 words, and ended up being just 121 short of The Big 100k. Next chapter will be an interlude, so we'll hit it with that one.

First of all, I pushed away all thoughts of making something horrific. That could come later. My first focus was to make a humanoid rabbit that was still super cute and would catch people off-guard.

I used what I’d done with Fenrir as a base, making similar alterations, though a few were very different for obvious reasons. The bones needed a significant amount of strengthening, especially once I increased the density of muscle to make the boss look like he lifted consistently. Rabbit muscles were already pretty powerful, but with this alteration, he was absolutely incredible in terms of strength and power.

That was before I started weaving magic into his body. Obviously, I stuffed him chock-full of Forbodum, but that wasn’t where it ended. Since the body I’d made wasn’t really alive yet, and had no consciousness to fight the magic, I was able to pack Power- and Speed-related Conceptium into the matter that made up this boss monster, boosting him to even greater levels.
By the end, I had a human-height rabbit that retained all of his rabbity looks while still having internals that resembled those of a human, granting him the ability to speak, wear armor, and use weapons.

To make him match up with the Caerbalope namesake a bit better, I also bleached his fur white and turned his eyes a bright, vibrant red.

Since my newest creation was already an absolute unit under all of his fluff, I just had to make him a suitable weapon, and it was just too easy.

What do rabbits like? Well, carrots of course. So why not just give him a massive carrot?

I chuckled madly to myself as I constructed a person-sized, carrot-shaped bludgeoning weapon out of pure diamond. Now, you’re probably thinking that making it out of diamonds is weird when I could’ve picked a metal that would’ve been more resistant to shattering, but you’re missing the point. The weapon weighed almost 500 pounds, also known as 1,094,400 carats.

I could also most likely use some inscriptions and Absiete to give him the ability to decrease his carrot’s weight while he was moving and winding up his swings, but all of that would have to wait until I finalized his mind and I found out how many layers I could stack into his weapon.

Actually, in regards to getting him up and moving, it would probably be a good idea to animate him and shove a consciousness in there so I wouldn’t be left waiting around for him.

I spent a long moment searching my own memories for what I should give him on top of all of the memories pertaining to his location and the intricacies of the maze floors, but eventually just decided to give him memories of all the fighting movies I’d watched over the years, as well as some of the cooler attack descriptions I’d heard from my years of D&D. Hopefully, with all of my fighting knowledge, he’d be able to at least have some idea of what to do, in spite of my own lacking experience in the area.

I created a Wisp, simultaneously forming a link between myself and the ball of energy, sending over the Mentum and memories needed to keep the bond steady and grant him some starting intelligence. Eventually, I’d passed over everything I thought he’d need and closed off our connection.

Then I got to work on his armor. Fenrir hadn’t needed any magical gear other than his book, partly because he was meant to be a spellcaster and partly because he could just enchant stuff himself if he wanted to, but this rabbit was a different case entirely.

As a melee fighter, this creature would need to be powerful and heavily armed, which meant that a bunch of magical equipment was needed to maximize his efficacy. What’s more than that is that, unlike other bosses, he wasn’t actually meant to die. Sure, it was possible, but I wanted people to need to escape him. That meant that he needed to not only be utterly devastating in close-quarters, but also very hard to kill.

I chose to make the armor out of graphene. Now, I had no clue how to actually make carbon fiber, but I knew roughly what it was, so a bit of experimentation and intensive studying with my Encompassing Knowledge helped me figure it out.

Honestly, it wasn’t all that difficult. A single sheet of carbon atoms was Mentum-intensive to form and observe, but outside of draining all of my energy as a consequence of working with it, I could manage it just fine.

Now, from what I remembered, graphene was only really strong when you layered it up right. In fact, that was what made it into carbon fiber. It was incredibly resistant to tearing apart, but that was just in one direction. If you just put a bunch of layers down that faced in the same direction, it would be weaker to damage that came from its side.

In other words, I had to weave the layers of carbon together. Luckily, I had some experience with this from the stitching philosophy of spatial magic, though that didn’t reduce the intensive drain from affecting change on such a small scale. What was even more annoying was that I knew I’d need to remake Azrael’s armor out of the stuff as well.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel, though. Once the first layer of graphene was made, the rest became easier to form, and once the first set of armor was created, I had it down to a science. I only made this beastie a half-set, foregoing a few pieces for aesthetic.

Bunny boy ended up with a chestplate, obviously, as well as pauldrons, bracers, cuisses, and greaves, protecting the shoulders, forearms, upper legs, and lower legs, respectively. To pair with it, I formed a layer of blue-tinted hide for him to wear under the armor, though it was effectively just jeans and a t-shirt– a lot of his body would be exposed, but I felt I could count on him to dodge attacks or just be strong enough to shrug them off.

Side note: I thought aluminum was really light, but apparently not. The entire set of graphene armor weighed about eight pounds, and I knew that this rabbit would be at least as strong as Azrael, though I probably wouldn’t be giving it runescript to mimic her weight-reduction ability. Even still, I’d be able to layer this material– oft heralded as the strongest on Earth– on top of itself at least ten times before it got to be too unwieldy for him.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long to find out, as he woke up shortly after I finished the armor.

The rabbit-man’s nose twitched rapidly and his eyes darted open. Before I even got the chance to say anything, he’d hopped into the air from a lying position, done a backflip, and landed in a kneel before me.

“Creator,” he spoke in a hissing but respectful voice.

I nodded in appreciation of the scene. It appears that giving him so much knowledge of super hero moves had given him a sense for dramatics.

That should make him pretty fun to watch fight.

I waved him closer with a boney hand. “Come here, I need to have you test this armor. I haven’t come up with a name for you yet, so you’ll have to spend some time considering that for yourself.”

His rabbit head twitched up and down, ears flopping slightly. It was… kinda cute? From an objective standpoint, of course.

I spent a few minutes strapping him into his gear and showing him how to take it off, in case he ever got tired of wearing it. As an undead creation that was maintained by my magic, it wasn’t like he’d ever sweat, chafe, or rot inside his armor, but there was always the chance that he wanted to take a day off and it would get in the way of that.

I wasn’t a taskmaster. Uban took naps all the time, and Fenrir had his little… hobby. They were intelligent, just like me or Azrael, and so they deserved an amount of respect and consideration. They were sorta like my kids, too, if children were formed from magic as adults and with way too much respect for you.

Anyways, once the gear was stacked on, I started forming more layers of it within spatial folds, linking them together in the same way that I’d done with Azrael’s armor.

I told the rabbit-man to just let me know when things got too heavy for him to move around comfortably, and at eighteen stacks of armor, he looked at me and said, “That feels about right.” He then stomped a foot into the floor and leapt ten feet into the air from a complete standstill. It didn’t even look like he’d been trying.

In case you forgot, a single stack of his armor weighed about eight pounds, which was extremely light for armor, but was still an amount that could, theoretically, weigh someone down a bit. Eighteen stacks of that would mean that the rabbit-man’s armor currently weighed one hundred and forty-four pounds. The old me probably couldn’t have jumped at all while carrying that much weight. He couldn’t jump nearly that much while carrying his weapon, though, so I suppose he did have some limits after all. In fact, while he could still somewhat use his weapon, it was slow and cumbersome, which was something I’d need to fix.

The next step was enchantments, and for that I wanted to focus on his weapon first, both to fix the weight issue and for another reason. His armor was obviously already very powerful, and I did have some ideas for it, but I felt that I should keep it rather generic. The weapon, on the other hand, was something that I felt should invoke fear in the hearts of onlookers, and currently, it wasn’t really doing that. Now, that might be because it’s just a massive diamond carrot, but… whatever. Too late to change that.

Surprisingly, my newest creation was actually full of ideas on what to do with the weapon. Then again… I was probably really underestimating the utility of having a creature whose entire foundation of knowledge and thought process revolved around a certain aspect of myself.

While I was normally all over the place, overlooked details, and had trouble focusing on any one thing at a time, having a creature who knew one subject and only that one subject was a very interesting thing. If I were to give a wisp all of my mathematical knowledge, and nothing else then all that wisp would think of is math. They’d be able to rapidly come up with theories that I’d never imagine on my own, and would be able to do equations much faster than myself, since it’s all they’d ever think of.

On a similar note, if I made wisps with all my knowledge of decoration, dungeon building, and design– and especially game design– they would probably be able to map out floors much more efficiently and with greater detail than myself.

It was a thing to consider when making the rest of my floors. Perhaps there was a better way to do it?

In any case, the majority of the boss’ ideas were centered around horror themes, as he apparently understood his role on the 24th floor.

The first thing the rabbit wanted to add was rather… gorey. Normally, a person’s innate magic would prevent direct manipulation of their body. You could, of course, overwhelm them with your own power, but that was… well, difficult, intrusive, and in my opinion, not very fair.

When a person died, and their magic was released into the world as death energy– not to be confused with Necrosis, which was Death energy with a capital D– their body would no longer have that protection. That meant their bodies would be completely vulnerable to just about any effect we could come up with.

My rabbit’s idea was this: When someone in the maze dies, their death energy and flesh should be drawn towards his weapon.

Now, the practical effect of this would be rather limited, but that’s why I was going to add in some extra Ordinances to give it some more potency. Even without all of that, though, this was a potent psychological weapon. Imagine, you’re running through a maze, attempting to escape the Leporid avatar of death that was my new monster. Your friend loses his traction, tripping and falling prone. He’s too slow to get up, and his body– armor and all– crumples beneath the might of the boss monster.

Instead of simply dying, your friend becomes another part of the monstrosity’s club, his body contorting around it, flesh leaking through the cracks of his armor to join with it.

That also gave me the idea to recolor the diamond used to form said club. Instead of having it be clear with frosted lines all across it, I turned it red.

Now, by this point I had quite the selection of materials contained inside my influence, including a large variety of diamonds. A few of those diamonds– just a few, mind you, as it seemed they were very rare– were red. Now, this wasn’t actually any sort of chemical difference from normal diamonds. Red diamonds were also just carbon, but they had a structural “deformity” on their surfaces that made them refract red light better.

Or something like that. I didn’t spend too much time looking into it, just copied the phenomenon and moved on with my life.

The plan of having my new boss use carnage as a resource also inspired his name– Carnic. It wasn’t super original, since he’d basically just torn a word in half and slapped “-ic” at the end, but at least he’d taken it from the English language, so it sounded unique in Glyphic.

Eventually, Carnic and I finished working on the plans for his gear and aesthetic and I teleported him down into the maze where he’d be spending the majority of his time from now on. I observed momentarily, and found that he was taking to it like a fish to water, hopping around and exploring his new territory with gusto.

Satisfied that my new boss would enjoy his domain for the time being, I turned my attention to the gear that I’d had him leave with me. The first thing to work on was the diamond club. A quick teleport to Azrael’s location and an attempt at puppy eyesockets was all it took to get her to agree to fork over a portion of her magic for the creation of an Absiete energy crystal, which I turned into a sort of pommel for the massive club.

A simple Ordinance rune, linked to an Observe rune that would detect when the club was being lifted into the air by a Process rune, and the club would shed 80% of its weight, going from 500 pounds to a “mere” 100. It was costly, though, and I’d need to find a way to generate Absiete without Azrael’s help, otherwise she’d be needing to recharge the gem all the time.

That was a problem for future Seif, though.

I also put a number of Forbodum gems inside the club, linking them to Ordinance runes that would increase the durability of the weapon, and I also spent some time working on the internals.

Natural diamonds were formed with cleavage planes– points that could cause them to shatter– and by simply copying the designs of diamonds I’d held in my domain, I’d replicated that. I was able to fix it by reinforcing those planes and bringing them up to the level of the surrounding diamond.

Essentially, I removed the weapon’s biggest weaknesses, those being its weight and potential to shatter.

Once that was done, I spent some time considering how to work on the plans Carnic had come up with, where the weapon would absorb dead flesh and energy. That was… harder. Of course, I could simply put an Ordinance rune on there and tell it to wrap loose flesh around the club, but that was… too simple. All that would really do is increase the mass of the already-huge club by a bit. Again, it was good for the shock factor alone, but there was more potential here.

The first effect I thought of was to necrotize the flesh that it was wrapped in, but that wouldn’t actually matter because the only way that would actually hurt someone is if their skin broke and the weapon hit them without them dying.

Carnic was meant to be overpowered, so if someone got hit and wasn’t already dead or dying, it was a problem.

The second thing I thought of wasn’t really an offensive function, but more of a utility one. Carnic was meant to be very powerful and difficult to kill, yes, but there was always the off chance that someone managed to get a good hit in. If that happened, it would slightly mess up the apparent invulnerability of the rabbit, so I came up with a way for Carnic to heal himself.

It was a lifesteal mechanic that would convert some of the mashed flesh and blood into Necrotic energy. It was sorta similar to an inverted Create Undead, but only in function. In actual design, the way that this would work was by using Necrosis’ ability to decay and rot organic matter away, producing more of itself, except this process would be greatly accelerated by an Inscription function I’d created.

One issue with the concept of using Necrosis in this way was that I didn’t actually have Necrosis. I had Forbodum, and the magic of Forbidden Knowledge was a bit less death-centric. Instead, I had to use an Ordinance rune to apply a specific Intent to it– that is, it would tell the Forbodum to consume flesh and convert it into itself.

The energy was surprisingly happy to do this, which had me a bit stumped at first. I’d initially believed that the process would be wasteful and probably consume more than it was worth, but it was actually pretty efficient. After some thought, I came to the conclusion that the energy of Forbidden Knowledge– an affinity that had driven many mad in the pursuit of research– would have no conceptual issue with sacrificing the flesh of man to create more of itself.

It really just makes sense. Creatures that used Forbidden Knowledge were often killed trying to create more Forbidden Knowledge, sacrificing themselves for their cause. This inscription encouraged people to kill creatures using Forbidden Knowledge energy to convert them into more Forbidden Knowledge energy. There was definitely some overlap somewhere in there.

Anyways, after the energy was converted, it just kinda… sat there. That wasn’t really what I wanted, so I drew up a quick Reference inscription to pair to all the different pieces of armor.

Each of the pieces started with an Observe rune that would watch over nearby Forbodum creations– including Carnic, his armor, and his weapon– and if they were damaged, the Observe rune would activate the attached Process rune until they were put back into their proper order.

That actually brought up an interesting subject. The Observe rune itself was somewhat useless. All it did was watch. Seriously, that was it. What the intent I provided it with actually did was tell it where to look or what to look for. Of course, that was a useful function, but I’d previously assumed that it would then output into the Process rune, which would just convert into a useable form for whatever effect rune I was using.

That was wrong. Apparently, the way that I was using the runes was just… wrong. My Process runes were underengineered and my Observe runes were overengineered. The Process rune was currently just trying to tell if the Observe rune was seeing anything at all, but it could just be looking for something specific within the Observe rune. I’d been using the Observe runes to look for something specific, but it would have been cheaper to just have them keep an eye on everything within a small area and use the Process rune to find things within the images sent over. It had been working out alright for me thus far, but it was only a matter of time until something broke, and beyond that, it was just wasteful. While the Observe runes cost basically nothing to keep running, it was still more efficient to use them with less specific instructions, and my Process runes were expending additional energy trying to figure out what the frick they were meant to do before they eventually got some bleedover Conceptium from the energy bleed off of the other runes.

Most inscription magic was stupid, just doing whatever it was told to do, but it turned out that Process runes were rather intelligent, like little clumps of brain cells. They could interpret large sets of data with better efficiency than even some of my living creations, and could dig deeper into the intent they were given, finding things like the caster’s motivations, understanding, ideals… it was pretty intense. I hadn’t realized that those things carried through my intent, and it was a bit concerning.

I wonder if there are mind readers out there, who can somehow get intent out of people and use it to read them?

Nope. Not gonna follow that train of thought. Refocus. What was I just doing?

Right. I was explaining why I went back and improved all of my previous inscriptions. That sounds time consuming, but it was actually pretty quick since I mostly used Reference runes and attached them to metal plates contained within extradimensional spaces. All I had to do was replace the metal plates.

I didn’t touch Azrael’s armor, though. I was already thinking of going back and making a 2.0 with carbon fiber, so messing with it now would just be a waste of time.

So, to get back to the original topic of the inscription I was making that would enable Carnic to have lifesteal, the Observe rune didn’t actually activate the Process rune– instead, the Process rune took the input from the Observe rune, parsed it, and decided whether or not the following Ordinance rune should be on or off.

First off, someone would get splattered. Then, their viscera would be converted into Forbodum, which would be siphoned into two Forbodum power sources contained within the weaponized carrot. The energy from one of them would be used to fuel the runes that healed Carnic, as well as the reinforcement and mending enchantments I left on his armor. The transformation itself would be fueled by the second Forbodum gem, which would do literally nothing else.

My thoughts were that Carnic should be a boss that ramped up in difficulty the more damage he dealt. I mean, obviously he was already designed to be escaped, rather than fought, but he should become even more unkillable and deadly when he was allowed to cause significant amounts of harm. If you let him splatter a member of your party with his massive diamond greatclub, he’d go from tough to invincible, and you’d just have to run, hide, and wait for the energy to burn itself out.

I wasn’t concerned that my new boss would get killed.

Rather, I was worried that he’d kill too many people. I had hopes that, someday, I would be free from my current pressures and could gather up enough people to be a real dungeon, rather than a Tower of Death. Killing everyone would be no fun.

With that in mind, I completely ripped all of the Forbodum out of the main gem. Carnic would have to put in a bit of work to get power for that.

I mentally indicated to my new boss that his gear was ready for pickup.

With that done, I tore open a portal to Azrael, internally wincing at the realization that it had been some time since I’d checked up on her.

(LG:DM) Chapter 27: Space Magic is A-MAZE-ing

A/N: I'm not sure I'm happy with one of the system messages in this chapter. You'll know it when you see it. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

After helping Fenrir out with his new hobby, I turned my attention to the next set of floors above him. With new knowledge about my runic capabilities, I was curious of what exactly I could accomplish. New trap ideas flooded through my mind, and I had the perfect way to test them all out.

A labyrinth.

For most of my previous floors, I’d just shunted the work off to my Wisps and had minimal influence on what things actually looked like. It would be very different this time.

Even when doing things myself and working in a space that was even larger than the width of my tower would suggest– since my seams could basically contain whatever I wanted them to– I worked fast, and eight sets of increasingly complex mazes filled my seventeenth through twenty fourth floors.

Coming up with designs that would actually be difficult to solve took up most of my time, as I could just form whatever I wanted within moments after I’d decided what should actually be there. I had made some labyrinth dungeons for tabletop games before, though, so I had some experience. This might be a lot more real than deciding the placement and size of various rooms on a board, but it actually carried over a lot more than I would have expected.

On these dungeon floors, an individual would start off finding themselves at the center of a maze with wide, branching hallways. Only one route would lead to the exit portal, so a single mistake would mean that a party could get completely lost.

To ensure the sanctity of the mazes, I not only triple-reinforced the walls, but also placed portals within them. Anyone trying to smash their way through the place would find themselves walking into the same hallway they were trying to leave.

The first floor was left completely trapless, and many of the hallways only had one or two possible exits. Dead ends were spotted after just a single bend. The laws of Euclidean math were followed to the letter– except the inside of the walls, of course.

The second floor was somewhat similar. Dead ends took up to three bends to spot– some hallways would only branch off again after the second corner. A couple hallways were given three branches, but not many. I introduced my first trap, as well, though only one.

If some idiot was somehow unlucky enough to be walking down this particular dead end, and was extremely close to the left wall, they’d get absolutely blasted by flames made of Absiete. The rune on that wall was completely obvious; I didn’t even try to hide it.

If someone got hit by that thing, they deserved it.

The next floor was where I started introducing spatial anomalies, but none that were overly complex. There was a disconnect between the start of the maze and the exit, and you could only reach that last portion of it by doing something that looked completely illogical.

There was, within this maze, a hallway that had three exits. Two were on the right side of the hallway, and the other was on the left, towards the middle.

If you entered the closest door and took a left turn, you would find that it was a dead end. A cursory glance would be enough to tell you that the hall stretched far enough to stop the other hallway from being anything other than a dead end. Going back, the hall to which he left was an immediate dead end, with no bends– a unique occurrence in the floors so far.

It was that exit on the far right that was the right answer: it appeared as though it intersected with the space of the other hallway– the one that had been explored first– and then took a right turn, into the space of the main hall that connected all three of these others. It then kept going, reaching the exact point that the left hall would have ended at, and then having a clear portal open to the exit.

This was accomplished by pinning a portal into place at the end of that furthest hallway: really, it was just an immediate dead end, but the portal– flawlessly integrated into the wall as it was– made it look like it was somehow breaking reality and taking up the same space as the other. In reality, the portal just led to a completely separate portion of maze, one that was entirely disconnected from the rest and only accessible by going that exact route.

So far, these first three labyrinth floors were pretty easy to make it through, and so I was considering it the “easy” portion. Next up was the medium difficulty, where spatial distortions became a lot more common and dead ends became rarer. From rituals that made one-directional portals to make it so that you could walk the same route over and over again, to acid traps, to walls that would close in on you, things ramped up.

By the sixth floor in this set, dead ends were extremely rare to find, and it was much more likely that you’d just end up walking through a portal to a completely different section of the maze. All this wasn’t even taking into account the changes in the monsters that I’d be using– I currently didn’t really have any ideas for them, but I knew that I wanted them to be fast, and I’d be granting them all full knowledge over the mazes that they were in to allow them to act a bit like minotaurs did in D&D.

Now, the seventh and eighth floors were set up to be extremely deadly. There were no dead ends, and every hallway was trapped in some way or another. Maybe the floor would erupt into spikes if you stepped in the wrong place, or an array of death bolts would erupt from the ceiling at certain intervals and you needed to time your movements right. In other words, it was trapped to the Abyss and back, and navigating it would be an arduous task.

And again, that’s before the mobs were added in.

For the ninth and final floor, I had a very different idea. So far, all of my bosses were mostly pretty stationary, and you had to kill them to pass on to the next floor.

This time, what if the boss was something you had to escape from?

There were no traps on this floor, and although there were still a ton of spatial effects, they were all pretty obvious. There was only one way to escape, as with all the other mazes, but here there were no dead ends. If you ran out through one corridor, you’d come out on the other side of the labyrinth, no closer to the exit than you’d been at the start.

In essence, this maze in particular was effectively endless, unless you had the luck to run into the exit.

Hmm. Actually, that sounded a bit unfair. Maybe I’d have to create some kind of key or map in an earlier part of the dungeon?

I would think about it.

Now that this set of floors was done, all I had to do was create a mob type to populate it, as well as a boss. As for what that mob would be…

Well, I still had those Caerbalopes on my status sheet, and I was wondering if I could replace them with something more… refined.

Creating one out of energy and inspecting it, I was immediately disgusted. Not by its appearance, of course, but by the lack of mastery with which it had been created.

I dismissed the creation, reducing it back into Forbodum, before creating a basic undead jackalope. Its fur was gray, and its eyes were black. Its short antlers stuck out a bit like a weapon.

Even with all of that, though, it was basically a bunny, and that was just way too cute for my dungeon.

Actually, wait. Is it?

Images of adventurers getting mauled to death by angry rabbits filled my head, and I let out a dark chuckle. Death by floof it was.

I took off the jackalope’s antlers and extended its fur, bypassing what I’d done in the past with merging corpses by instead just creating more matter where I wanted it. At the same time as I made it floofier, I saturated its body with Forbodum and packed muscles into its form.

All that chonk would be hidden by the huge coat of fur I’d given the rabbit, but it would be no less powerful for it.

Once the formation of the Caerbalope MK2’s body was done, I created an intellect to match it with, filling its brain with maps of my labyrinth floors, except for the boss floor.

I finalized the design by Naming it a Caerbalope, and an angry buzz filtered through my spirit. I checked on my status and got an angry red notification.

The Name Caerbalope is already in use in your Legend. Replace Caerbalope?

On replacing the Caerbalope, you will lose all knowledge of its effects and creation, as well as all other benefits granted to you by Naming it.

Y/N

Yup.

Seif Ambrose

Ancient Seeker 5

Repository 2

• Infomorph 2
• Loci Server 2
• Firewall 1

Forbodum Manipulation 2

• Esoteric Sight 2
• Conceptual Control 3
• Energetic Intent 1

Occult Sovereignty 2

• Encompassing Knowledge 2
• Abstractive Influence 2
• Available Boon (Physical Influence, Mental Influence)

Kelemnion’s Gate 1

• Library Pass 2
• Librarian’s Favor 1

Dark Whispers 2

• Ancient Mutterings 2
• Inspiration 2
• Available Boon (Tutoring, Kinetic Learning)

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban, Fenrir, Caerbalope

Well, first of all, Caerbalope had moved positions, and I had indeed forgotten how I’d made the original, so… I guess it worked?

As for the available Boons… was I really that distractible? I guess it made sense for Dark Whispers, since it basically flooded my mind with those Inspirations, but Abstractive Influence? I mean, it was definitely due for an upgrade, but I should’ve noticed. I must’ve just been so deep in my work that I hadn’t processed my sheet updating?

I went over the Occult Sovereignty options first, not because it was higher on the list but because I knew I would hate whatever Dark Whispers offered me.

These two options were really just two sides of the same coin. Abstractive Influence created Conceptium in an area and attached it to the magic there, meaning that everything therein would be passively influenced by that idea over time.

Abstractive Influence already affected both matter and mind through magic, but Physical Influence and Mental Influence gave it a specialization, making it more impactful in one way or the other.

This was a more difficult choice than I’d anticipated. On one hand, Mental Influence would be great for making people feel the emotions I intended while within the dungeon, but Physical Influence would allow me to create materials like the Conflict Tungsten that was so critical to the way my tower had been constructed.

In the end, I took Physical Influence. I could create ambiance with structures, monsters, environments, and lighting.

…Lighting?

Oh. I haven’t lit a single room yet, have I?

Should I fix that?

Probably, yeah.

Luckily, this problem wasn’t too hard to fix: I put some Scholars up on platforms in the floors of each seam, as well as the original dungeon floors where nothing was going on, and had them carve runes that would simulate what I wanted: a bright day in the first eight, a dark night sky in the second set of eight, and flickering torchlight in the mazes.

The first floors were something of an introduction to the idea of my dungeon, so the ambiance was bright, the Twinscales were easy to spot, and it didn’t seem too hostile. The Nailwolf territory was different, though. Colder, harder. You were being hunted. The maze was similar to that vibe, but instead of just being hunted, you were in an unfamiliar territory where something deadly could be just around the corner.

After watching the Scholars to make sure that they were doing everything right, I turned most of my attention away, only flickering back occasionally to hook up the Ordinance inscriptions they were making up to power sources.

Anyways, back to the Boon. Physical Influence was actually pretty simple: I just had to plug Conceptium into the molecular bonds of the targeted matter. Then the matter would take on properties associated with that intent.

Theoretically, this would be really good for making magical items, because I could give the material itself properties that would boost the effects of my intended enchantments. For example, if I told the matter that it was a blade, and that it wanted to cut, then it would become much more receptive to enchantments that would increase its sharpness, and would also be much easier to shape into a weapon, though that didn’t particularly matter for me since I could just force that issue.

I took a couple minutes to experiment with this new ability, but eventually set aside the sword that I’d told to be a hammer and looked back at my status.

Alright, Tutoring first. This ability would basically let the ghosts that spoke to me manifest and give me lessons in the present day, which sounded pretty good… but what if I ended up talking to a raving lunatic? I didn’t trust the previous users of Forbodum not to find a way to affect me through that ability. Sure, they were just harmless ghosts, but devils with millennia of experience had to be masters of social hacking.

Kinetic Learning, though, would let me not only hear the thoughts and see the perspectives of the whisperers, but also feel their actions.

…Tutoring it is, then. I don’t want to feel myself slaughtering innocents, especially children, or dying with an actual fleshy body. It would be even worse if I could also feel the emotions of the person the memories were coming from, and there were no guarantees that wouldn’t happen, so far as I could tell.

An icky feeling passed through me as I accepted the Tutoring Boon, and I felt a twinge in the back of my mind, but I pushed through it and got myself back on task.

I’d been working on the labyrinth mobs before getting distracted by all of this Skill stuff, and I currently had a small, fluffy rabbit hopping around.

That wasn’t enough.

First order of business: make a version that could fill an entire corridor.

I quickly created another Caerbalope MK2 and started stretching it, increasing its bones until they formed a rough framework for the size of rabbit I wanted. Then I healed up all of the skin, added a ton more fur, and pumped it full of muscles.

I’d decided to make this one a bit shorter for its width and length, but it was, indeed, currently filling up an entire hallway in the maze.

With that done, I started trying to think up other designs for mobs, but was soon stumped. Short, humanoid rabbits would be kinda weird, and I already had the Antigos, which were kinda similar to that.

Oh, actually, I could add some Antigos into the maze. Perfect!

Three mobs with a similar theme was probably good enough. Now it was probably time to make a boss. The question was, what?

I tinkered with a few ideas, but things just weren’t working. I mean, I could just recreate a D&D monster, but that felt a little lazy when everything else I made had been so unique. It’s just… What other creature types were there to use for rabbits? There was only so much I could warp them. I’d already made a dragon, so it felt wrong to make another, and the Antigos were humanoid, so putting another on the same floor would be weird.

Unless…

I mean, it was pretty funny to have a bunch of bunnies slaughtering people in a maze, right? So, what if I just took that to another level?

One murder Easter Bunny coming right up.

(LG:DM) Chapter 26: Test Drive

“Wow, I–” Azrael clenched her gauntleted hand contemplatively– “really hate it.”

My jaw dropped. Literally. I had to pick it up off the floor.

Azrael burst out laughing from my display of shock, and barely managed to restrain herself enough to get out, “I– I was kidding, Ambrose!”

She took another moment to get all of the giggles out, then continued, “It's very impressive. I have no clue how you managed to do this. Thank you.”

Her hand reached towards a boulder I'd molded out of the wall for this express purpose. Azrael's fingers pinched, and a ray of power linked her hand to the boulder, a lattice of energy– not dissimilar to the one that had covered the armor when I'd dropped it– spreading through it.

Suddenly, Azrael's hand flicked up, and the rock quickly followed behind it, smashing into the ceiling above.

Dust and pebbles trained from overhead, and I winced, but it was fine. I'd installed what amounted to Conflict Tungsten rebar into my tower– this bad boy wouldn't be falling to some rocks.

Now, a note about the telekinesis enchantment: while I'd placed a mass limiter on what it would target, there was no speed limit. This meant that the inscription would try to perfectly match her wrist’s change in angle, which meant that far-off objects could gain a lot of angular momentum when targeted by her

Honestly, the effects were making me consider carving some inscriptions into my next body, just for some added power.

“Ambrose!” Azrael yelled into my face, waving a hand in front of it.

“Oh, sorry, I got distracted. What is it?”

“We're going to go get some food for the girls. Has your influence extended past the Dead Belt yet?”

A moment of consideration revealed that yes, yes it had. I relayed this information to Azrael and was soon forming a portal for us.

Sacrificing a good chunk of my power with a soft sigh, I manipulated space across a huge area. The only reasons I could even manage the task was that the space was contained within my influence– and thus more pliable to my whims– and the fact that I was using a higher tier of energy than simple Spatium.

A shred appeared in the fabric of reality and we stepped through, arriving in a grassy, living plain.

“Wow,” breathed Azrael. “As much as it disgusts some part of me, I must admit that life is beautiful.”

I had to agree. After so long in a tower, surrounded by nothing but dead mountains… Well, the view was nice. Seeing it in person was much better than just understanding it with my domain.

Unexpectedly, Azrael linked arms with me and started pulling me forwards. “C'mon slowpoke! We've got a meal to catch!”

A few hours in, it had become clear that I was an active detriment to Azzy’s ability to sneak up on prey, so she'd sent me back to go look for some plants to grow.

Surprisingly, I actually found a good number of edible foods. From trueberries to kane apples, there was plenty of delicious food here, and a lot of it was even mostly similar to the stuff found back on Earth.

I was carefully pulling the seeds of a phoenixfruit into a seam that I'd linked to my right metacarpals– I didn't want to accidentally damage them, either through force or the intense magic of my body– when I spotted Azrael lugging back a huge… stag? It was furry, and had claws, but otherwise resembled a male deer. The thing would have been at least ten feet tall while alive.

“You think this will be enough?” Azrael grinned at me, and I just shook my head. “Yeah, yeah, you're the hero of the village. I think I've gathered most of the local edible plants that I think I'll be able to grow back up home. Want to head back now?”

Azrael's arm clasped mine again, her grin only growing wider. “Sure thing, handsome.”

I tried to distract her from my non-existent blush with a roll of my non-existent eyes.

I swear, the more time I spend as a Lich, the less Lichy I feel. Maybe all the Willpower upgrades made me emotionally closer to a human then I'd originally been? It was an interesting thought.

I reached a hand out to initiate the opening of a fold, then hesitated.

“Is everything alright?” Azrael worriedly commented on the distinct lack of portal.

I shook my head. “There's actually some potentially problematic locations I want to check out with you before heading back, if that's okay? There might be some monsters there, though, so I can drop you off back if you–”

“I'll come with,” she interjected. “Mind taking me somewhere to put this body so it doesn't rot?”

“I’ll just do this.” I shoved the corpse into a seam and closed it off, then started searching through my influence for one of the “problem areas.”

My domain was getting pretty huge, with the passive Wisp expansion, and I'd encountered a couple other domains that needed my personal attention. I hadn't really made any efforts to crush this opposition yet– it was entirely possible that I could simply overwhelm and crush this opposition with a thought, but I just hadn't really cared to at the time. Now, though, these holdouts could serve as test subjects for Azrael's new might.

The first disruption I teleported us to turned out to be a bit of a dud, though I did find something that might be fun later.

We teleported into the area– a rocky outcropping back in the Dead Belt– and found a small horde of zombies. One of them, leading their ponderous, seemingly random march, was slightly taller and had a Necrosis gem stuffed into its rotting skull. It looked like some kind of blow to the head had cut the human’s life short, and then the gem had… grown out of it? I'd have to do some research later.

I pointed out the particular undead to Azrael, and she'd dropped into her new stealth mode, which basically just made her completely vanish to all senses– my influence-related ones included. The only reason I could pinpoint her location was by recognizing the faint flux of my own magical signature in her armor.

Absiete was more complex than simply taking things away. It replaced. Light was replaced by dark, life with death, for example. It was the absence of a thing, and included what would take its place. In this case, Azrael was able to move around without affecting anything by convincing the world that she didn't exist, replacing herself with the air that was already in position.

If I could barely tell where Azyy was within my influence, even with all my knowledge and familiarity with her powers, then this braindead zombie stood no chance.

As I'd expected, the Wraith walked straight up to the domain-controlling zombie, pulled out her sword, and cut its head off.

The undead’s body slumped to the floor, but Azrael grabbed the head before disappearing once more and moving back to my side. The zombie horde looked confused, but not overly aggressive. It was likely that the domain-controller had been controlling them somehow, and now they were free.

My influence swept over the outcropping, pressing over the undead and terrain with its omnipotent power. I could squash the zombies with an offhand thought now, but refrained. After all, that would be like slaughtering an entire pack of deer. Bloodthirsty, life-hating corpses they may be, but they're still basically animals.

No need to be cruel.

Azrael and I hopped around between a few more of the disruptions, slaying a few undead who had been lucky enough to get their hands on both specializations and domain abilities. For the most part, they were pretty weak, though there had been one that concerned me.

The opposing monster had been somewhat insect-like, compressed of a few bodies that had putrefied together enough to rise as a single unit. Much of its body was covered in a sleek, black chitin, formed primarily of viscera, rot, and Necrosis.

Azrael's blade cut through the horror with a single blow, just like all of the others.

Honestly, I'd been waiting for us to run into an opposing Lich, but there hasn't been any. Even once I started prodding at the other pockets of influence within the Dead Belt, I didn't find anything, which was rather concerning considering that my domain covered most of the Dead Belt.

Was I the only Lich alive? What had happened to the others? Something to research later, surely.

Eventually, Azrael and I were satisfied with the test results, so I swept all the gore and dirt off of her body and gear, then formed a portal back to the first floor of my dungeon. A Twin scale was startled by our sudden entrance, and scuttled off quickly.

“So,” I said, “definitely fix the sword so it stops pointlessly blasting undead with Necrosis?”

Azzy nodded. “I also want a higher weight tolerance for the telekinesis, and a way to control the distance it maintains.”

I agreed and quickly detached the gauntlet from the rest of her armor, taking the sword as well.

“Where do you want the, uh…” I examined the corpse she'd given me before and examined it with Encompassing Knowledge. “Bayloun?”

“I'd appreciate it if you could just drop it off at my place.”

I looked at her in confusion. “Your place?”

Azrael rolled her eyes beneath her helmet. “Yes, look for the door with the black skull on it.”

I quickly found her place in my influence and folded the bayloun body into it. I also stored the gear I'd gotten from her into a small seam and opened the one with the seeds, stepping out into the small city with Azrael.

She looked on with a small amount of wonder as I used my magic to spread the seeds I'd collected around my tower. They spread out in mid-air, and the earth tore itself open to accept them.

“Whelp, I’m gonna make some inscriptions, see you later!” I waved her off, and she left to skin her catch.

I spent a moment considering just how I should handle making these puppies grow, but it only made sense to start with the basics.

For some reason, the Necrosis in the Dead Belt seemed to fight against the sun, so I formed a rune to gather ambient light and reflect it towards the plants. I was actually able to use a Defense rune, telling it to protect everywhere except where the plants would grow from light, reflecting it with a mostly invisible and intangible pane of Forbodum.

The next was a ritual: an Observe rune would look for soil that wasn’t damp and a Process rune would send that location to an Ordinance, which would concentrate ambient moisture at the location at a slow, steady pace. Basically, it would make it rain.

I Referenced the runes and placed them all around the base of my tower before hooking them up to hidden energy cells.

The moment both sets of runes were active and hooked up to a Forbodum gem, the area immediately around my tower brightened and rain started falling from small, faint clouds that were a couple dozen feet off the ground. The effect was actually pretty cool, as the upper parts of my tower darkened, and fog seemed to form around it.

Once it stopped raining, I got to work on the next rune. Currently, it would take a pretty long time for the plants to grow, but I was pretty sure that I could speed that up. I remembered that plant growth was regulated by a hormone, gibber-something. If I could speed up the production of that…

I carved an Ordinance rune into the base of my tower, instructing it to increase nearby hormone production within plants. It was a good thing that I had a decent grasp on plant cells and inner workings from my biology class back in high school. Without it, I might not have been able to do this, which made me wonder how a normal inscriptionist would handle this problem.

Actually, Vitasis would probably do all of this stuff automatically, I just had to do it this way because of my Forbidden Knowledge affinity.

Oh well, nothing for it.

I examined the plants carefully and saw that the ones within the rune’s radius were growing noticeably faster than those without, so I copied it all around the tower and set up some more power cells for the energy-hungry enchantment.

I’d need to remember to refuel everything every couple days, but that was perfectly fine with me. With my massive quantity of Willpower, and the increased efficacy of Forbodum when compared with Spatium and Necrosis, I wasn’t very concerned about energy problems these days. When I was low on power, it regenerated faster, so there was very little chance of me running out unless I were in an extremely tense situation where I had to throw everything at the wall at once.

With the plants sorted, I moved on to trying to fix up the errors made in Azrael’s gear.

A normal inscriptionist would have to toss whatever they made if there were any mistakes, but I was able to contain the explosive force of magic getting expelled from a rune within a seam, reinforce the metal itself, and simultaneously reshape everything with my influence. With all that combined, I was able to keep the piece itself– as well as most of my work– while editing the faulty rune.

Because of this, I was able to keep Azrael’s sword intact while changing the inscription to make the runework check for being contained within living flesh, rather than just flesh in general. After all, wasting power on enemies that it wouldn’t affect or that were already dead was just stupid.

The next thing to do was to allow Azrael to alter the distance between herself and the objects she was manipulating with her enchantments. As for how to do that… well, it would take some thought. I needed to have it work around the current gesture system, but also have variations to it.

Eventually, I found a good solution. Instead of trying to do everything with a single new inscription, I kept the original, changing it only slightly to detect when the middle finger and thumb were pressed together in a circle, rather than the index finger and thumb.

Then, I added two new inscriptions. They were basically the same thing as before, with one checking for the original “OK” symbol, and the other looking for the ring finger and thumb to do the same. When the index trigger went off, the tethered object would slowly be pulled inwards, with the inverse being true for the ring finger.

With these two enchantments combined, Azrael would be able to manipulate objects with extreme precision. She wouldn’t be able to control the speed at which they moved in or out, but it was much better than what she’d had before.

I checked in on Azrael, but she was busy skinning the bayloun so I just teleported the gauntlet and sword into a nearby space. She was surprised at first, then grunted a thanks into mid-air, knowing I’d hear it.

With that done and dusted, I felt it was time to check in on my Scholars, as well as Fenrir himself. He’d mostly been left to his own devices, and he’d seemed to be doing well the last time I checked in on him, but I felt that it would be best to actually ask instead of assuming that he was alright with his circumstances.

Fenrir may have been “born” just a few days ago, but that didn’t mean he was stupid and had no needs or wants. He’d been infused with a respectable amount of my own memories, and that meant that he was pretty dang smart. If he needed something, he would surely be capable of voicing that.

A quick glance at the Scholars told me that they had finished the work I’d asked, having written up many dozens of talismans on Arachnomicon pages, then circled back on themselves and created copies. Sadly, some part of the process of scribing was intrinsically magical, and I wasn’t able to imbue runework with intent when I was creating it, so it all had to be done manually.

Luckily, I had slaves to do that for me.

Wait, that sounds wrong. I had my loyal, unpaid spawn who didn't require food, drink, sleep, or breaks.

…That’s still pretty awful, huh? Whatever.

Anyways, I took a look at each of the talismans in turn, then decided that they were of passable quality and drew them into the body of a pageless Arachnomicon, making them part of the unliving book. Of course, the fact that the book was alive would do little other than make it seem a bit extra creepy and allow it to self-destruct by activating all of its talismans at once if it was ever separated from Fenrir.

With a thought, I opened a tear in reality, manipulating the book into my skeletal hand, and then another, stepping through it to see Fenrir staring at a stone wall and slowly, carefully cutting into it with his right index claw.

Thinking he was working on some intricate inscription, I moved silently around him– stealth is pretty easy when everything, from the floor you walk on to the air around you, is entirely subject to your whims. Honestly, it’s a wonder I don’t have more of a god complex by now.

When I inspected his work, I almost dropped my mandible for the second time in a day.

Fenrir wasn’t doing runework. He was making propaganda!

“Fenrir, what in the Far Realm is that?”

The huge wolfman startled, looking back at me with an oddly sheepish expression.

“Uh, it’s… scripture? I was hoping you’d help me work out the details.”

I quickly read over the work. His Desecration’s great work had come to fruition, and the scourge was smote by the wrath of the Nails… And so, the Great Lord of Death brought the lowly mortals into his divine realm… The power and strength of Twice Gifted was spread across the land…

This time, I couldn’t help myself.

My jaw dropped.

“I mean, you weren’t keeping a journal, and I thought it would be a good idea to instill some respect into the sentients who come around here, so…” He rubbed the back of his neck.

For a moment, I thought of stopping him. Of putting an end to this madness, before it could go too far.

Then… I remembered something my mom told me, oh-so-long ago. She’d been helping me with a Lego set, and I could tell that she hadn’t really known what she was doing. When I’d asked her why she was helping me, I’d gotten a rather simple answer. “When you care about someone, you’ll want to spend time with them and share interests, even if that means doing things you’re not good at or might otherwise not be interested in.”

This… was definitely a case of that.

“Alright Fen, let’s do it. Tell me what you’ve got in mind, and I’ll help you work things out. Let’s write some lore.”

(LG:DM) Chapter 25: Magic Smithing

Days. It had taken days to figure out how to reliably transmute objects. Apparently I’m way too distractible for this sort of garbage.
It had taken another day to figure out what to use.
Eventually, though, I’d had a sort of realization when looking for metals to use in the design. I’d found aluminum, and realized that it actually had a greater tensile strength for its weight, and I could always just bind multiple copies of the gear together and have them build on each other.
In the end, I’d given up on the whole alloyed steel thing and just transmuted a ton of stone into aluminum.
Somewhere during the process, Azrael had come to check in on me, so I’d been able to show off my progress. It was at that point that we tested her strength, the effect of her new powers, and I’d gotten her measurements with my Encompassing Knowledge– with her permission, of course. I’m not a creep, no matter what my search history might imply.
Now it was time to actually form the armor. I’d gotten an idea of what the inside of the gear should look like to let her feel comfortable while still covering her entire body, as she’d allowed me to form gear directly around her and told me what to do to make it feel better.
It’s good that she trusts me so much.
Now that she was gone, though, I needed to take that huge chunk of aluminum and crunch it.
Honestly, it wasn’t all that hard. A bit of Mentum pressed into my influence and it was done.
I went over the shape for a bit, and confirmed that it was exactly what Azrael and I had agreed upon.
Then, I created a Seam bound to the space of the armor, and made another.
And another, and another.
Azzy was 5’4” and some change, and her weight was in the 120 pound range. With two Reinforcements, she was a lot stronger than a regular person. Back on Earth, steel plate armor was usually somewhere around 40 to 50 pounds. This would be closer to 20.
Azrael could lift over 200 lbs without all that much strain– a bit under 300 if she put some real effort in– and that was before her magic kicked in. With it, she could act like most of it didn’t even exist.
In fact, we’d measured, and it seemed that things weighed half of what they normally would, or at least she could lift twice as much. And that was only using a small amount of energy! Enough for her to sustain for days.
With those numbers, we could have her armor weigh something like 100 lbs before it started to affect her much.
Now, the reason that all of this mattered was that when I connected two things with my old Sympathetic Bonding, any forces that were applied to one object were spread to the others, and the effectiveness was based on proximity. That meant that the most effective way was to link them together via a portal, and the most efficiently I could do that was by overlaying them with a Seam.
The reason all of this mattered was that the armor was a static object, but I’d be linking a bunch of sets together and overlaying them. The linking wouldn’t increase the weight, but Azzy would have to carry the seams as well, thus increasing the weight of the gear.
Eventually, I overlapped five sets of armor, and sent a pulse of some power I’d gathered with Enegetic Intent– Protection Conceptium, specifically, targeted at the idea of Azrael– in the hopes that it would help out a little bit. I didn’t know if it would actually do anything, and couldn’t observe any changes, but I knew that it wanted to.
At the bare minimum, it might influence any magic that came into contact with her to help instead of hurt.
Next up was the inscriptions. Because I was working on an object that was already tough for its weight and was then five times as strong as it should be, the only reason it was possible for me to carve them all in one go like this was the power that my domain held over the objects.
The first enchantment I'd come up with was a simple force deflection inscription, using a simple Observe rune designed to detect objects moving at speeds that could harm Azrael. I left the exact interpretation of what could hurt her up to the runes, hoping they'd know what she could handle.
Said rune was connected via Process rune to a Defense rune that was given extra vague instructions to defend Azrael. The intent used had pretty much just been shown images of walls, shields, and counterprojectiles, then allowed to disperse a bit in a controlled environment. Hopefully, that would be enough to allow it to be at least a little creative in how it tackled the problems thrown at it. Azrael’s new Absiete should help in that regard.
A few References to those inscriptions were layered across her different armor pieces, making sure that she'd be protected from just about anything that came her way.
I also set up some similarly formatted Ordinance enchantments to increase the durability of her armor while she wore it and make it slowly repair itself when damaged. That second one had been extra tricky, since it wasn't something fully natural but instead required me to tell it to gather anything– even particles– that broke or scraped off, and then smooth those bits back into the normal shape of the armor.
It still might need my attention at times, but it should be much more corrosion-resistant and last longer in a fight.
It was at this point in the work that I realized that I'd made a stupid mistake.
None of the ritual or enchantment inscriptions I'd made so far had a passive power source.
A brief review of my memories was enough to show me what to do. I needed a source of crystalized energy, specifically of the type that I was trying to use in the rune circuit.
Now, there were a few ways to get crystalized energy. First, it could be found in areas where there was a high density of power. Indeed, I did see a few Necrosis gems scattered about my influence. I’d previously neglected to inspect them, dismissing them simply as large concentrations of death, like where battles had been fought in the days of yore. I couldn’t very well check every single thing in my domain, else I would have to drop all other activities to intake all of the knowledge that entered my domain as the wisps floated away.
The next way was to manufacture them forcibly. You basically needed to find something that could contain the given energy type without destroying it and apply a ton of pressure for a long period of time. The process was meant to be long and tiring, sometimes taking entire days to form larger gems.
Luckily for me, I didn’t have to do it on my own.
Wisp labor is neat, isn’t it?
I created four Wisps with knowledge of basic energy manipulation to do all the heavy lifting for me, then gave them some pure Mentum to work with. They would draw some out and leave it there, then use more Mentum with the intent to crush the original amount into a crystal. The Mentum would be able to be converted into another type, as it was basically just the purest magical energy, with no direct purpose or means of its own other than to follow the will of the one controlling it. It couldn’t even interact with anything other than energy.
In any case, it was time for me to work on some more of the inscriptions. I wasn’t actually making them directly on the armor, but rather on plates of aluminum that I intended to hide away in seams attached to the armor. The actual runes on the armor were References to the plates, meaning that once I finished a plate it was much simpler to spread the enchantments across the entire piece.
The next few ideas I had needed some testing, so I spent some time working on them before installing them. By then, the first few pure Mentum runes were completed by my Wisps, and I directly converted the first by carefully packing in Forbodum. The next was inserted with Energized Intent centered on the defense of Azrael, and the other was given the same energy, except focused on destroying whatever it was aimed at.
Keeping the Mentum separate from the Conceptium inside the crystal was a little more difficult than actually forming the power, but it just took some concentration and then it was over.
The last of the first four gems was brought to Azrael, who then insisted I take a break and watch the setting sun with her. I conceded, then popped right back to my workshop with her crystal in hand a few minutes after it got dark.
The crystals were installed in strategic places across her armor, with the Absiete gems going on the inside of the chest and one of the Forbodum sources ending up at the waist, with the other being put in the armor’s helmet.
The next step hadn’t been directly explained in any of the books, so–
Red light spread out from the bloody gem, and the mage hardened his concentration, delving into the world of magic. A thread of his purest power extended from his fingertips, stroking the gem. The brief contact was enough to excite the wicked might, and his white Mentum carefully wrapped itself into careful spirals, linking it to his mad scrawlings on the wall.
The power was pulled through into the runes, and crimson sparks erupted from them. A mad laugh escaped him as the portal opened.
I sighed at the disturbing interruption and buzz in my mind, but shook it off and did my best to absorb the knowledge. Basically, I had to make a tube of Mentum connecting the inscriptions and the gems, and the runes would pull it in.
I carefully linked the attack-repelling inscriptions to the Absiete gems, and the armor-mending and durability enchantments to my Forbodum. Absiete, representing things that weren’t there and opposites, should be good at destroying attacks, whereas my own energy type was meant to be centered around two things: gathering knowledge and being a jack-of-all-trades. That should have made it better for that task than Absiete would have been.
A quick test– chucking a rock at the chestplate– showed that I’d been right, as the rock simply vanished into thin air.
Dropping the chestplate on the ground showed that the durability-enhancement was also active, as a lattice of purple energy spread across the affected area and stabilized it. Carefully inspecting the area that hit the ground with my domain, I found that small particles of aluminum were being dragged back into the gear. Even better, it seemed that the extra layers of armor inside the seams were also being affected by the restoration, as the loose particles contained within them were also being dragged back into place.
I spent a moment molding the pieces, making sure that the loose pieces were fully reconnected and that there were no blemishes or impurities.
The next step was to make sure that each piece of the armor could connect together. Currently, it was in a bunch of pieces, but I wanted to link them together, as if with magnets. Getting all the pieces to articulate had been difficult even with the references in the gear that had been left behind by the adventurers, but when I’d seen the way they connected it all I’d decided I could do better with runes. It was definitely functional, just not something I wanted to figure out, and I felt that Azrael would appreciate being able to get into and out of her armor without my direct intervention.
I started working on a prototype inscription… and then Azrael jumped through the floor.
“What’s up?” She met my confused eyes. “Oh, yeah, I can move through solid objects now. Takes more Absiete if it’s got more mass or is magical, but I can do it.”
I brought a gauntlet over to her and held it out. “Try it with this?”
Her hand went straight through the thing. She shrugged. “Yeah, it takes more than it looks like it should but it’s definitely doable. It’s one of my cheaper abilities. Anyways, how’s the gear going?”
I guess I could just merge everything with tough joints and then she could just walk through it when she was done? That was handy.
“Your timing is impeccable. I was just working on something that I’ve now realized I can just ignore. Anyways, the basic enchantments are done and I was about to work on some of the more complex stuff.” I explained the basic functions of her gear and some of the stuff I wanted. The laser beam eyes were rejected, sadly, but she was open to most of what I’d thought of adding.
“How are you even going to do all of that?” She asked quizzically. She’d never known much about runes or inscriptions. In her life, she’d been a village girl, and she could barely remember that time. After that, she was a guild grunt, and that position was like being a bottom-tier unskilled worker. Your bosses rarely told you anything, you just kinda did stuff.
“Well–” I pulled one of the aluminum plates towards myself by molding the stone beneath it– “This is an Ordinance rune. Their role is effectively to change the laws of reality within their area. They can drain a lot of power, though, so the goal for me is usually to affect a small area, and as little as possible.
“I also have what amounts to an attack rune and a defend rune, which can be edited to perform their functions in a different way. The more vague of an input I give them, the better they can carry out their role. On your armor, I gave the Defense runes pretty obscure instructions, so they should try to handle problems creatively and at lower costs. I also installed systems to help keep your armor intact for longer, so don’t worry about getting tossed around too much, at least in terms of the armor. It should be pretty tough, better than steel would be for the same weight.
“As for these extra utility bits, most should just be a matter of adding in some clever triggers paired with the right effect runes. I’ll figure it all out, don’t worry,” I explained.
We chatted for a while longer about more specific details and how her time alone had been spent. She’d managed to get the girls down below to accept her as their leader with less intimidation than either of us had been expecting, and everything– save for the dwindling food– was going smoothly.
She made me promise to fix the food crisis during my next break, and I agreed.
I should theoretically be able to get some normalish plant life to grow around my tower, if I controlled my influence well enough, put the right minerals in, and got some seeds over. I’d need to make sure to get some plants that weren’t carnivorous, though– they seemed to be in the majority around here.
In fact, I spent a moment right then cleaning up the surrounding area to make it more hospitable for plant growth. It wasn’t very difficult, though it was a little tedious, manually pulling the majority of the top-layer earthen minerals in my domain towards my tower and spreading them evenly across about a mile-radius of myself.
I’d still need to get some plants, and probably figure out a way to both make them edible and have them grow faster, but I was certain that some inscriptions could manage it.
Anyways, time for those extra bits.
The first thing I wanted to add was… double jump. Or more accurately, an air walk.
Basically, I wanted to make a way for her to form a platform of Forbodum beneath her feet, allowing her to walk or jump in mid-air.
Now, the first thing needed, as with other rituals, was a way to detect when it was needed. Obviously, I could just put it for when she was falling at a certain speed, but what if she wanted to fall? No, I needed something that she could use on command.
My plan for this enchantment– as well as many others– was to hook the input up to her hands, specifically her left gauntlet. Then, she could activate them on command with the right gesture, and it would be more difficult for her to accidentally trigger them than it otherwise might be.
The air walk runes themselves weren’t hard to work out: I used a simple Observe on her gauntlet, set to detect whenever she made the “hang loose” sign with her hand. I thought it was pretty funny. That was followed by a Process rune on her bracer, linking it to a Defense rune on the bottom of the boot.
I thought that a Defense rune might work to “protect her” from her own velocity, but I made sure to program it with a very specific image– a purple shield forming beneath the boot, and remaining locationally locked to the environment and not her foot. The inscription was finally linked up to the Forbodum energy cell in the armor’s waist, and it was complete.
Part of the issue with these specific runes is that because they’re so heavily based on their location– watch the hand, place a shield under the foot– I couldn’t just make a Reference, hide it in a seam, and call it a day. That made them a bit more vulnerable to attack, as they took up more space and would be much easier to notice, but hopefully my self-repair function would work to combat that.
The next rune I was thinking of adding was basically just telekinesis. My idea for it was mostly based on my own ability to manipulate stuff within my influence, and the Ordinance rune I’d used on the palm was programmed to suffuse whatever it was pointed at with energy and lock it into the object, then manipulate said energy to keep it locked to the same relative position.
The Observe rune was told to look for her to press her fingers together. There was also another Observe rune looking at the object she was aiming at. If she was making the “OK” symbol and was aiming at something that weighed less than a hundred pounds, it would lock in. It also wouldn’t trigger if it was pointing at an object that was already being affected by the enchantment.
Hopefully, at least. I hadn’t tested any of this myself, so much of it was just guesswork.
I finalized the armor there. There was more I wanted to add, but I thought it best to have the current design tested first.
Next up, sword time.
For the creation of the sword, I basically just mimicked what I did for the armor, layering aluminum on top of itself multiple times and using bone for the handle.
I used the same enchantments to increase the blade’s durability and make it self-repair, putting the Forbodum gem in the blade’s pommel and an Absiete one in the crossguard.
As had been requested, the blade was pretty chonky by the end, looking something more like a longsword than anything else. The aluminum had made it weigh very little, but it ended up with more mass than it would have with steel anyways due to the way I’d put multiple swords in the same space.
Then came the fun bit.
I had two ideas for what to do for offensive enchantments. The first was pretty simple: I put an Observe rune together with a Process and Infliction rune. I could probably achieve the effect I wanted with an Ordinance rune, but using a more specialized rune was generally better in most situations. An Ordinance rune was fancy, and was the equivalent of running a game on Super-High Performance Mode when all it did was make your game lag more and look a little better. It could be really cool at times, sure, but it was inefficient as schnizz.
I could have most likely created platforms in the air for Azrael to walk on with Ordinances. Honestly, they might have even been better. They’d drain a ton of energy, though. No thank you.
In this case, I was using an Infliction rune to form a sheath of Absiete around the blade once it got moving at a high enough speed. All an Infliction rune really wanted to do was destroy stuff, and I gave it free reign to go crazy on anything in the path of the sword.
The next ritual enchantment used my own Forbodum energy. Once the sword was past a creature’s defenses and into the squishy bits, it would release a blast of the energy of Forbidden Knowledge. I gave this Infliction rune a very basic and simple command– disable the opponent. I figured that a stationary target wouldn’t be able to give Azrael much trouble, considering her magic and the other enchantment on the blade, so I felt it was appropriate.
Now, she wanted two swords, but I’m just gonna give her this one first to make sure she likes it. It would suck to have to make edits to two prototypes at the same time.
Hopefully she doesn't hate the gear.

(LG:DM) Chapter 24: Coding and Getting Scolded

“I believe that you have yet to examine the memories you gained from absorbing the Ordinance rune in depth?”

My mind froze in place. Frick. I hadn’t done that, had I?

“No, I have not. I'll rectify that right now.”

“Ah, no! Master, I can explain the situation. Ordinance inscriptions have two primary effects. The first, as I'm sure you're aware, is to add rules to the area, such as making air toxic, stopping water from freezing or fire from burning, halting the wind, or allowing grass to grow through stone.

“The other is the same, but different. You see, the way that the Ordinance rune works is as an If/Then statement.

“It's coding, master.”

It’s coding.

I felt a nudge from Fenrir as he pushed some thoughts at me, and I saw a series of linked inscriptions, all feeding into one another as a massive ritual.

I saw a man stepping on a magical landmine. An image flashed by of a huge stone door, opening up on its own as a man stepped in front of it.

Honestly, making Fenrir might’ve been the greatest decision I’d made to date.

Right away, I tore open the gate to Kelemnion, dropping through the inky blackness and onto a hard floor.

I immediately started seeking out inscriptions that could pair with Ordinance and started reading.

===

Ordinance: A command, order, or decree, often from a person of significant authority in the area.

Defense: To defend against or otherwise prevent attack.

Infliction: To cause unpleasantness or pain to be inflicted upon another.

Observe: The action of watching or noticing something, especially if it is of significance.

Process: A strategy that involves using a number of actions to reach a certain goal.

Reference: To mention, comment on, or cite something.

By the end of the third book, I was having a bit of a soulache, so I popped back into the base world to get to work trying to understand the new inscription runes.

I had learned a lot this time, and I quickly sent Fenrir my new findings through our link so he could do some tinkering of his own. I also formed him one of the quills I’d given to the Scholars earlier, so he wouldn’t have to do that energy-intensive air-rune thing.

Now fully alone with my own thoughts, I needed to take a moment to review for myself.

First of all, the majority of inscriptions had more than one rune. The runes could do stuff on their own, but they were often the most successful when they had support.

When an inscription went from simply having support to having multiple functions or undergoing multiple steps, it was called a ritual. Rituals were considered separate from talismans and enchantments, though there was some intersection at times. The main way to differentiate is that enchantments were usually constantly fed power, talismans burned through their material to fuel themselves, and rituals drained small amounts of power for upkeep, and then used larger bursts to create actual effects. In other words, they were more efficient enchantments.

One example of a relatively simple ritual would be linking an Ordinance with a Process and an Observe rune. If I made the Observe detect the presence of life, then I could have the Process rune connect that input to the Ordinance and activate it, potentially cranking down the temperature to inhospitable levels.

The main advantage to this method was that it saved energy, was less predictable, and could react to different situations. Instead of having the Ordinance rune run constantly, it could instead activate in short bursts, meaning that less power would be consumed and it might be able to catch people off guard. Imagine walking into a room and being blasted by bolts of lightning from all sides, that sort of thing.

I also now had a way to make stone doors. Up until this point, I’d not had a way to really do that, since I wasn’t a doorsmith back on Earth. Now, I could set an Observe rune to look for a specific item-key and only open if that was brought to it.

In fact, I immediately had a great way to test my new knowledge.

“Hey, Uban?” I nudged the land-dragon through our bond, but he was snoring like an avalanche, so I left him to his slumber.

Slowly, I formed the idea of what I wanted to happen in my mind, using my Abstractive Influence to bring it into the real world and then siphoning it into my Repository with Conceptual Control.

Once I felt that I had plenty of all four of the types I needed, I formed a portal in the floor and dropped straight onto the ground in front of the exit of Uban’s cave.

I used one of my quill-spikes on the right wall, simultaneously manipulating the matter to force it to fold into a flat rune. As I carved, I pushed my manufactured Intent into the Observe rune, telling it what I needed it to do. Specifically, it was to keep track of the energies in Uban’s body and trigger the system once they reached critical lows. Once the land dragon is defeated, trigger.

Then, I turned back to the open portal. My mind was sent into the surrounding area, and I pulled some Conflict Tungsten into a tall rectangular shape in front of the tear in reality, embedding it into the rock with a rod that pierced into the top of the wall on either side. It was at a slight angle, maybe 5 degrees or so.

For funsies, I cut a large black skull into the center of the door. Usually, those come before boss rooms, but whatever.

Next, I started carving the first of the two Ordinance runes.

This small ritual I was crafting was to have a single function: I wanted the door to swing open when Uban died. Sadly, metal is heavy, and I don’t have grease to make a door work, but luckily I could screw with the laws of nature a little bit here and there with these Ordinances.

The first of the Ordinances would affect the rod that I’d stuck through the stone. The metal and rock would lose their friction with each other, effectively acting as a perfect grease.

This ritual’s second Ordinance was a bit more costly, but I had experience with screwing around with space magic so it was a little easier on me. This one would shift almost all of the door’s weight up to the top, into the rod.

When I say “almost all of,” I mean something like 99.9%, if not more. I just had the Intent affect it until everything except the very top was lighter than air.

Basically, this rune would make the bottom of the door swing up. Maybe if I got really lucky, I could catch some idiot off guard and break their jaw? Unlikely, but possible.

I also carved a Reference rune into the wall. The intent was easy enough to form: it was a locus-based photo concept, a type of intent that was primarily used for illusions and, well, References. It was an image and idea of the wall that I’d carved the rune into.

Later, I’d be able to link the Reference rune with another by using the same intent, allowing it to work as a sort of copy-paste function. I could even replace the intent I’d used, simply needing to include that alteration as part of the Reference’s intent.

The books said that Reference runes were crazy hard to pull off, and I’m sure that’s true if you’re needing to do it off memory and don’t have access to the original work, but I could produce large quantities of Conceptium at a time and store it for later, so that really wasn’t a problem for me.

In fact, I could probably go make these doors on every floor. That sounded time-consuming and off-theme, though, so I wouldn’t. Maybe later on I’d introduce a quest system to certain floors and make players– err, people collect certain items before moving on.

I did take a few moments to teleport down and add a front door to the dungeon, though, and set it to open up whenever someone was standing on either side of it. I felt a buzz as I completed, and decided to check up on the new level after some maintenance.

Some of the girls in the small town that I totally hadn’t forgotten about spotted me and stared in fear. I took a moment to inspect them, and found their health to be adequate. The box of food left by Esheth was starting to run dry, and I’d need to find an alternative food source soon, but there was still about a week before they started starving. Plenty of time to procrastinate.

Or… maybe I shouldn’t? They’d probably get upset.

Ugh, fine.

My mind searched around for a leader, then screeched to a halt.

A small amount of panic welled up in my soul as I turned and spotted Azrael, standing directly behind me with a blank expression.

“Uh, hi th–” She vanished from my sight, and my skull disconnected from my spine.

I let out a raspy sigh, directing my body to put my head back on and healing up my broken neck.

Azrael seemed to be in the exact same spot, but now she wore a pout and her foot tapped impatiently.

“Apologize.” Her voice was firm and unforgiving.

It seemed she wouldn’t let me get away with this one.

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone for weeks without telling you what I was doing or where I’d be.” Look, I’d been aware, I had just gotten caught up with all my new stuff.

She maintained her hard expression for a moment longer, then seemed to slump.

“Don’t disappear without telling me,” she said tiredly, “I won’t be so forgiving next time. Also, get over here.”

I did as she asked, too afraid of upsetting her anymore not to.

Apparently though, she just wanted to break my ribs. With a hug, I mean.

The microfractures were easy to fix, so I didn’t begrudge her the damage.

“Notice anything different about me?” She asked, still sounded a bit upset but also slightly coy.

My Esoteric Sight and Abstractive Knowledge swept over her, and a brief moment of shock overtook me. She’d gotten a combination affinity while I was gone!

But then again, she had been pretty close to level 5 when I’d become an Ancient Seeker. With that said…

“How did you get a Light affinity? Didn’t you say that was necessary for the magic type you wanted?”

She shook her head, releasing me from her deathgrip. “I looked through your book and found something else I liked.”

“Oh? Wanna explain?”

She grinned excitedly. “Sure! So, you remember how I already had Lethe, Nyx, and a minor affinity for Necrosis?”

I nodded. Azrael’s race, Wraith, started with an affinity for Nyx, or Darkness, but a lesser affinity in Necrosis, Death. She’d chosen Lethe as her element, but since she only had a minor affinity she wouldn’t have been able to combine them into a higher-tiered element.

“My original plan was to just leave Necrosis out of the mix, but the book you gave me, as well as my own legend, showed me that there was an affinity for it.” Suddenly, the space around her… well, it stopped existing. At least, that’s what my domain told me.

“This energy is called Absiete. It represents the lack of something where it once was present. For example, Life’s opposite is Death, but Death is really what you call it when something goes from being alive to dead. The same case is true for Light and Darkness, heat and cold, matter and space, and so much more.”

Azrael looked real proud of herself, and I was fascinated by her element, immediately wondering what we could use it for. Perhaps it would be good to use for offensive inscriptions? Or maybe I could even redo the door runes I just made and make them more efficient? An energy that could become the absence of weight with the right intent would probably do better than just slathering a ton of my jack-of-all-trades Forbodum onto the metal.

Then she pouted again. “And you weren’t even there to celebrate with me! I’ve been at this for years, Ambrose!”

I winced– but not really, since I didn’t have skin. “I apologized!”

“Mhm,” she hummed with a glare. Then she smirked a little. “I guess I can forgive you.”

I breathed a sigh of release.

“If you make me a new set of gear as a token of your undying devotion to me.”

I gaped at her bemused expression. I think the face was particularly humorous on me because of the fact that I pretty much looked like a purple Skeletor.

“I used to prefer lighter armor, but my new kit lets me ignore a lot of the issues that I previously had with it, so I’d like something tough, okay?” She requested, completely ignoring my confusion. “I still like to use two weapons, so some shortswords would be greatly appreciated, though they can be longer for the same reasons as me wanting heavier armor.”

She raised an eyebrow, and I nodded quickly, agreeing to her terms.

If it gets her to forgive me, then it’ll be fine. It’s also probably going to be fun, so no reason not to, right?

Not to mention, if I can find a way to make her safer against the oncoming threat, then that’s for the best.

“How many days has it been?” I ask Azrael seriously.

“Seventeen,” the reply comes straight away.

More than I’d hoped, but fewer than I’d feared. That left me with 348 days to mount defenses, finish the tower, and level up.

“I’ll go work on that armor, okay? Also, I finished the boss for the sixteenth floor, feel free to pop in and say hi. I think he turned out pretty well.”

Azrael nodded at me with a smile. “Remember to take breaks and come say hi. If you’re leaving, tell me first.”

I gave her my assent and tore open a portal to the top floor of my tower.

The first step of crafting a set of armor was to gather the metal. I could, of course, use Conflict Tungsten, but that would affect her ability to use magic, which would just be stupid. It would most likely fight the ability that she would be relying on to move properly in the armor.

Instead, I searched for something else. My preferred material would be steel, but all I really knew about it was that it was iron with carbon in it.

Actually, wait.

I pulled out some of the gear that the team I’d nearly TPK’d had dropped and inspected it with my domain.

Their blades were made of steel, so I inspected it and found that the average was about 2%, and there were trace amounts of other metals mixed in. It was all inconsistent, though, so I looked deeper.

Eventually, I was able to query my influence about the precise molecular structure of the metal, and had something of an epiphany.

Using an utterly immense amount of Mentum to control my power, I slowly shifted the molecules that made up the sword I was working on. Immediately, it all went to crap, and I messed it up, but I knew what I had just done.

I’d just used my old transmutation Boon on the metal.

Actually, speaking of Boons…

Seif Ambrose

Ancient Seeker 5

Repository 2

• Infomorph 2
• Loci Server 2
• Firewall 1

Forbodum Manipulation 2

• Esoteric Sight 2
• Conceptual Control 2
• Available Boon (Energetic Intent, Dao Pool)

Occult Sovereignty 1

• Encompassing Knowledge 2
• Abstractive Influence 1

Kelemnion’s Gate 1

• Library Pass 2
• Librarian’s Favor 1

Dark Whispers 1

• Ancient Mutterings 1
• Inspiration 0

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Caerbalope, Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban, Fenrir

I’d managed to level up my Forbodum Manipulation at some point while I was making the doors, so now I had a choice to make.

I reached for the Boons and felt them out.

Both Boons expanded on what I could do with Conceptium. Energetic Intent would teach me how to use it as a standalone power, uninfluenced by my magic. It would be like using Mentum, except it would be automated. An inscription powered by this would directly manipulate the world to accomplish its goals, meaning that it wouldn’t have the same affinity-based weaknesses that a normal energy type might produce. It wouldn’t have the same strengths either, though.

Dao Pool, though. Dao? Like that Xianxia stuff?

Inspecting this Boon showed that it was based on the utilization of Conceptium inside my Mentum pool. This would allow it to influence everything I did with my power passively, meaning that I wouldn’t need to expend any additional effort to create it or pull it from elsewhere. Instead, I would simply need to spend some time converting my Dao Pool to the intent I desired. Then it would be produced alongside my Mentum, binding itself to it in the process.

That sounded pretty good… for a regular mage. My Repository could already store Conceptium. Heck, I’d formed rats out of the stored intents! That did mean that I had to produce it myself, but Abstractive Influence helped with that, and what’s a Dungeon Master without a little set-up?

Also, Dao Pool sounded like it could replicate the effects of Energetic Intent, but my senses told me that was wrong. After all, I hadn’t been able to use Mentum as the energy in a rune, and while Mentum was required for basically everything I did, it could never be used alone.

I grabbed Energetic Intent, and new knowledge blossomed within my thick, dead skull.

I reached out to some of my stored Death Conceptium, pulling it out into my hands. Normally, the power would simply dissipate into the air, and I’d need to corral it and separate it from the matter it was attached to, but now I knew how to fix that.

A thin stream of Mentum exited my mind and wrapped around the loose intent, stripping it away from the matter.

Now I understood why Dao Pool wouldn’t have managed to do this. I hadn’t combined the power, I’d just used my Mentum as a barrier between it and the physical world.

The next step was to crunch it down, increasing its density more and more until it went from the equivalent of magical gas to magical water.

Eventually, I held pure Death in my hands. Not the energy type, but there were some similarities. Necrosis, I realized, came with a subtle Concept of Death, but it wasn’t very strong. Instead, the reason it was so lethal was its means. It was decay in its basest form, the antithesis of Vitasis. Anything it touched died, and because it had a very slight bias against living things… they died.

Were that bias to be stripped away, Necrosis would effectively become inert, and the same was true with basically any other element.

Any other element…

Argh! I so wish I could go experiment with the effects this had on Light right now! I can’t, though, because I need to make this stuff for Azzy. Curse my ADHD!

In any case, this might at least be able to help with the gear.

Back to what I was doing before picking the new Boon.

…What was that?

Oh, right, transmutation!

I had just figured out how to use the Boon I’d had before specializing that allowed me to transmute one material into another. The reason it had been so expensive for Mentum back then was that I’d had no clue what I was doing, and I hadn’t been able to keep the ability for the same reason. Now, though, I had a way to look closely enough at the molecular makeup of an object to realize how to replicate the effect.

Now I just needed some practice, and surely I’d be able to tinker with the alloy and find a perfect ratio between carbon, iron, and maybe even some other things?

It would take some time, but surely not too long, right?

(14,814) Step 12.1

“Ah, Lars! There you are!” The woman– I’m just gonna call her Lady Cevan for now– proclaimed.

A series of individuals enter behind the middle-aged man, and she introduces me to each in turn. “This is Marquess Gensin Exandris, son of Duke Hevard Exandris.” The first man gives me a tired smile and tilts his head. Not knowing the proper etiquette, I respond with a full bow.

Lady Cevan gives me a happy smile, so I'll have to assume I got that right. Neat.

“This,” she continues, gesturing at an older woman and a young boy in turn, “is the Exandris’ family's head of commerce, as well as the Marquess' mother-in-law. With her is Nolan Exandris, the Marquess' son.”

Lady Cevan– actually, is it Duchess? Marquess?– stops talking momentarily to smirk at me, then announces the arrival of the last member.

She walks in quietly, and I can instantly understand what the Lady said about her being “a catch.” She's very ginger, with the orange-red hair, freckles, and pale skin, and while a small part of me snickers and recalls lighthearted jokes about redheads not having souls, the rest is desperately trying to shut that bit up to make sure I don't say anything stupid.

My first impression of her is that she's slight and small– in need of protection, if I give into the less reasoning, more instinctual part of my brain. Her face, though, wipes that thought away like a windshield wiper cutting through rain. It's strong, defiant, and striking. Her eyes cut through me with more sharpness than even Nadir exhibits, slicing some part of me into ribbons in an instant. She's only a little shorter than I am, able to lock eyes with me without needing to incline her head.

I'm meant to, what, “rizz this girl up,” to quote the less eloquent members of my generation? Why is this part of the quest? I've never even had a girlfriend! Unless you count that girl who kissed me back in 2nd grade, but I definitely don't, especially considering that she avoided me for the rest of the year and transferred out the next.

Duchess Cevan winks at me as she introduces her. “Finally, we have the Duke’s daughter and heir, Lyssaria Exandris.” She gives me a meaningful look.

My brain stutters for a second, and I catch myself right as I'm about to wave, bowing instead.

“It's good to meet all of you.”

“Likewise, young man,” the Marquess responds. “Now, my party and I have been traveling all day, and I'm afraid to say that we underestimated the length of the journey. We, ah, may have skipped lunch?” He gives my “mom” a hopeful look.

“Of course, of course! We have refreshments prepared for you.” She claps twice, and butlers start to roll out trays with those stereotypical trays with the metal covers that you see in every cartoon featuring a fancy dinner ever. Maids follow them with bottles of drinks, likely some variation of cider, like Martinelli’s.

Duchess Cevan directs me to a seat on her right, having me set Nadir’s strap across the back of my seat. Somehow– not really, screw you too Duchess– I find myself in the awkward position of sitting directly across from Lyssaria Exandris. Instead of bothering with the idle conversation of the adults, she stares across the table at me.

Again, something inside of me acts up, and this time I realize what it is: [Danger Sense]. Except, this isn't any danger to my physical health– no it's a danger to my heart. I don't mean in an emotional way, either. My Trait legitimately thinks that the Exandris heir is going to give me a heart attack.

Honestly, I'm inclined to agree.

The rest of the table eats when the food is brought out. I try, at first, but there are two big issues with that. First, they've got way too many forks and spoons, and I just cannot figure it out. Glancing at my mother's plate and etiquette allows me to steal a few bites, but it's not much. The other issue is that Lyssaria hasn't stopped staring. I mean, who wants to eat and potentially look gross while a pretty girl is staring at them?

Eventually, my name finds its way into the adult's conversation.

“Actually, Lars has recently expressed an interest in learning the art of combat,” Duke Cevant explains to Lyssaria’s father. “In fact, just today he was walking around with that glaive of his. I, of course, encourage it wholeheartedly, but polearms aren't exactly my specialty. They are yours though, Gensin. I was hoping I could convince you to give him a few pointers.”

The Marquess of Exandris looks at me curiously. “Truly? Ah, yes, that blade. Very well forged, I can tell. It's too bad that it's only D-Grade. Lars, would you like to learn from me?”

I hesitate momentarily, but then nod my head. Not only does this fit into the story that'd been built up so far, it would also be a good opportunity to get this guy to like me and to level my [Glaive Mastery] Skill.

I notice that Lyssaria's eyes have drifted away from me, but their orientation swivels back from staring at Nadir the moment I look at her.

“In that case, would you be willing to lend us your courtyard? I may as well take the opportunity to teach Lyssaria as well. It'll be a good bonding experience.”

The girl's eyes swivel to stare down her father, somehow changing to be even less friendly and soft. At this point, I don't know how she hasn't passed some sort of critical mass and had her eyes turn into black holes or something.

The Marquess raises an eyebrow at her, and a moment passes before she concedes and turns to her plate, fiddling with some pasta. I take the opportunity to eat a few more bites of food, but she looks up from her plate to stare at me without stopping what she's doing, taking bite after bite without looking away from me.

There's no way she hasn't realized what she's doing yet, right?

“So,” Lyssaria speaks for the first time, “What sparked this sudden interest in fighting?” Her voice is elegant but cold, and the words come out slightly suspicious, but in a subtle enough way that nobody could ever call her out for it.

The words also get the Cevans looking at me curiously, and suddenly the only people at the table who aren't staring at me are the little boy and his grandma, who are having their own quiet discussion.

“Well, I guess it started when I had a dream about using one to fight a wyvern. I didn't do very well, even in the dream, but it felt good. Strong, powerful, you know? And then I found a glaive that looked just like the one I used in the dream, and I guess it just felt like fate.”

Lyssaria squints at me, but the others seem satisfied. It's probably fine, right?

The adults return to their chat and Lyssaria's attention is pulled away by her father discussing the economic benefits of establishing trade routes between their lands. The whole thing goes over my head, so I just take the opportunity to shovel some more food into my mouth.

The Cevan Lady sneaks a thumbs up and a smile at me, but I don't know why. In regards to getting this girl to like me I'm pretty sure I'm failing hard.

Eventually the meal is finished, and Lyssaria only gets to glare at me one last time before they're escorted to private rooms for them to set up their stuff.

“Laaaars!!” My mother squeals excitedly, “That was soooo good!”

“She was glaring at me the whole time. I don't know what's so great about that,” I grumbled.

“I've heard that she refuses to even look at most of the suitors her parents bring her. Maybe she thinks you're cute?” She smirks and elbows me in the shoulder.

“Pretty sure it just means she hates me more than the others.”

“Well, son!” Duke Cevan claps me on the shoulders, steering me away. “Let's make sure that you don't completely embarrass yourself in front of Ms. Exandris, shall we?

He pushes me into the field in which he'd shown me how to use the soul gem on Nadir.

Once we're there, he flickers and reappears on the other side of the courtyard, an especially large bastard sword in his right hand. “Now, I'll go easy on you and only respond to clear openings in your guard that people at your level would be able to take advantage of. Consider me your enemy, and come at me with all you have.”

I accept his terms with a nod and unstrap Nadir, leveling her at him and charging.

In retrospect, not a great move.

He easily bats Nadir to the side and I'm forced to block with her handle to avoid getting slashed across the chest.

The Duke halts his movements suddenly, blade resting on the shaft of Nadir. “This is an awkward position for you. An experienced opponent could maneuver their weapon into position and stab you in the throat here. How do you stop that?”

I hesitate, then angle Nadir's blade back out front, slapping away his bastard sword.

He nods approvingly. “If you can use your defense to throw off your opponent or pressure them, then you're doing well. If you let them pressure you and go on the offensive you’re going to start taking some hits.”

He repeated his earlier swing, and I replicate my defense, though the process is much smoother since I know all the steps and what the end result should look like. I follow it up by flipping Nadir around in my grasp and swinging opposite to where I’d deflected his sword.

“Good, good!” Duke Cevan exclaims, leaning out of the way. “That attack isn’t too difficult to dodge, but pressure forces your opponent to multitask, which is something that base humans are hilariously bad at.” He returns to a ready stance and gives me a wave to let me know that he’s ready for me to attack.

I approach rapidly, levering a diagonal cut at him, sweeping from my upper right down to the lower left.

He leans into the direction I start my attack, moving just a bit faster than I think is really fair, and gently pokes me in the stomach with his blade before I’m able to recover. I give him a withering look, but he just laughs and swings at me.

I step back prod him with my glaive mid-swing. I can tell that he’s going easy, letting me get the hit, but I don’t let it affect me too much.

The Duke continues teaching me until the afternoon has come and gone.

“Best to go clean up and prepare for dinner. See you soon.”

Back in my room, I take some time to relax, preparing for yet another awkward meal.

Multiple days pass by, and I grow more anxious with each one. Not only is this the longest I’ve spent on any Step so far, it also doesn’t feel like I’m making any progress. Lyssaria still glares at me constantly, and the only time she’ll speak to me is at the table, and even then it’s only in offhanded comments that feel like they’re barely even directed at me.

The annual kingdom-wide, royal tournament is tomorrow, though, and we’ve been invited to travel with the Exandris.

In fact, I’ve been asked to participate.

Apparently, Marquess Exandris was so impressed with my abilities that he sent the tournament’s managers a letter, requesting that I be given a slot– even if I’m not on the level of his daughter, who is an absolute monster with the halberd. The Exandris seem to have a sort of style to their movements and abilities– an Art.

Arts are, to simplify it, collections of ability-enhanced movements, called Techniques. You can only have one at a time, and having one makes it easier to learn or develop new Techniques related to the Art.

To put it in more accurate terms, Arts devoured Skill, Powers, and even Traits, in order to allow you to activate them passively while performing the Techniques that synergize with the Art. They could be formed using any abilities one wanted to throw into them, but their level of synergy and particularity would determine their strength and versatility.

For example, if one were to take a [Sword Mastery] Skill and a [Cutting Wind] Power, they might be able to create an Art that passively generates wind attacks from their sword swings. The more abilities they threw in, the better the Art would be, at least in theory.

Techniques are particularly demanding on the imagination, and require a huge amount of practice and effort to handle. In battle they could be fantastic, as they could allow you to trigger synergistic effects with far less Magic, greater potency, and less thought, simply by moving your body a certain way, but to get to that point you need to practice.

It sounded perfect for me, since I’d be getting so many abilities and would most likely get to the point where I couldn’t even remember them all. Sadly, neither of my parents were willing to give me their Arts, since they didn’t work with glaives, and to create an Art you needed to generate your first Technique. Once you have an Art, making other Techniques is easier, but the first one could require years of dedicated practice. Even just making a Fighting Style, a prerequisite for an Art, can take a deep understanding of one’s self and their weapon, as well as months of planning and further months of training in battle.

I don’t have that kind of time, so I can only push forward with the intent to handle that later.

The dinner tonight is quiet. Nobody speaks. In fact, Lyssaria doesn’t even look at me, instead staring down at her plate contemplatively, as though it held all the secrets of the universe, rather than a tender steak.

My sleep is restless, and I dream of all the fighting and training I’ve done, and all the Steps I’ve completed.

When I wake, I check my status to view my progress.

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (12)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 8 (/12)

Class: N/A

Might: 12

Mobility: 12

Mind: 12

Magic: 12

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent], [Danger Sense], [Freedom]

Powers: [Unkillable] Level 6, [Self-Healing] Level 4, [Power Strike] Level 1

Skills: [Glaive Mastery] Level 8, [Improvised Fighting] Level 7, [Meditation] Level 5, [Vigilance] Level 3, [Tracking] Level 1

It’s a little funny that even with all that, I still haven’t even used [Tracking] once.

I don’t really feel any different from how I did before this Twelfth Step, but I’m faring much better in the Duke’s training sessions, receiving less criticism– constructive though it may have been– and more praise.

It didn't take long for a maid to come find me and help me get ready for the day. The family had actually gone out of their way to prepare some nicer clothing for me, but I had made sure to secretly pack up my armor for when I'd need it.

We soon hitch a ride in the Exandris’ carriage.

I don't think it really needs to be said, but it's awkward. Lyssaria has started glaring at me less, but her face is still pretty uncomfortable for me.

It's made much worse by the fact that they forced us to sit across from one another. We don't really have much else to look at, so… the fact that she seems to get visibly angry whenever our eyes meet definitely isn't helping either.

Luckily, we're not too far off from the capital, so it doesn't take overly long to reach the location of the tournament.

Our bags are unpacked by servants and I'm escorted away from the group. My bags are brought with me and shoved into a private room where I'm meant to wait and prepare.

The rules are explained to me in brief: don't kill anyone, don't harm your enemy more than is necessary to incapacitate them, fight under your own power, no mind manipulation, D-Grade items only, no consumables, accept surrender… simple stuff, really.

With little else to do, I strap on my armor and [Meditate] with Nadir in my grasp. Her cold metal shaft brings sensation to my hands, and I gradually become more accustomed to both her and my armor, which I haven't used in some time.

I'd managed to clean up the gear pretty well over the past few days, and now it’s spotless, other than a couple of nicks in the fabric from where pointy objects had been stabbed into it. That isn't what really matters, though.

My armor was tough, and my blade was sharp. I don't know how much fighting there would be, but I had done all I could to prepare.

Now all I can do is fight.

It takes some time for a knock to come at the door, but it eventually does, and I am escorted away from my room and into a larger hall, filled with combatants. A few of the other fighters see me and whisper amongst themselves, while others give me hard looks.

I can't tell what they're thinking, but I don't really care either.

A quick look tells me that the battles are being conducted seemingly at random, with the winners going on to the next pool. It's all single combat, which is very relieving to me since I don't have a team or anything that could counter one. Taking on one person at a time had worked for me in the past, but I got the feeling that it might be a losing strategy here.

My first enemy– the name beside that of Lars Cevan– is a man named Yugo Kirschen, but our fight is second to last, meaning that I'll get to watch most of the others first.

There are a total of 64 D-Grade fighters, meaning that there are 5 battles before the final bout. It doesn't seem like too much until I consider that there might be people here as strong as the wyvern from the Sixth Step. Now that's a scary thought.

A bell goes off, and two men exit the room. The rest of us remain where we are, unable to view the fight. A woman tries to follow and get a peek, but she’s held back by the guards. I guess it’s more entertaining to observers when the fighters don’t already know each other's capabilities, and have to figure things out on the fly?

In any case, with little else to do, I [Meditate], tuning out everything other than the ting of the bell. Eventually, my mental tally reaches 32, and I rise to exit.

A hulk of a man is already waiting by the door, an equally huge bearded axe already gripped in his left hand. He smiles at me; a genuine smile, not mocking, teasing, or condescending. It throws me off a bit, since his appearance had given me the impression that he’d be unfriendly.

“It’s good to meet you, kid. The name’s Yugo, though I’m sure you already knew that. Let’s have fun, alright?” He extends a hand, and I clasp it, offering a firm handshake.

“I’m X- Lars. And sure.”

We’re escorted in opposite directions and I lose sight of him until we’re brought out into the ring.

“The announcer will introduce you now, so give it a few minutes before you start going at it,” a grizzled guard instructs. “You won’t hear it either, ‘cuz of the silence enchantments, so don’t worry about getting distracted mid-fight. Just circle the ring for a minute and you’ll be good.”

With his go-ahead, I step into the colosseum, being met by dead silence. Yugo steps through at about the same time as me, and we smile at one another across the great distance.

In unison, we start to angle around the center of the arena, spiraling towards the center. About halfway around the court, Yugo stops and drops into a ready stance, clearly alerting me of his intentions.

No longer angling around, he quickly approaches my position, and I interpose Nadir between us.

He dodges around her blade, raising his axe, but I quickly sidestep and slash at him. He raises a braced arm to block it, but my glaive slices straight through it and bites into his arm.

Yugo lets out a cry of shock and pain and I’m left staring at Nadir.

I guess that [Fractal] Modifier was pretty good.

“I concede the match, no way I’m dealing with that. Healer!” Just like that, I win, though it doesn’t feel too great.

Hopefully Yugo doesn’t lose his arm.

I walk off stage and am escorted to the waiting room, with all the other fighters. A few gaze at me confusedly, but I ignore it.

It takes a few minutes for the next matches to be posted. The randomization method that they’re using doesn’t seem to have many pros to it, but I’m not the organizer of the event, so…

My next match is against Kiers Rofth. No clue who that is, but I’d find out soon enough.

Once again, I’m last, so I’ll have to wait for the very end. I’m unaware if that’s just a trick of fate, or if my fights are last on purpose.

I repeat my previous method of [Meditating] and keeping track of the matches, only rising when my count reaches 16. My opponent has already vacated the premises by the time I reach the door, but I’m guided to my end of the arena all the same.

Like before, the only thing I can hear when I step into the arena is my own breath and the sound of sand being blown by the wind.

My opponent instantly makes himself known, his sword igniting in a display of force.

His face and form are masked by his full plate armor, but the darkness within his helmet is lit by two glowing red eyes.

A few long moments pass, and then he springs into action.

Fire erupts across the ground as he delivers a sweeping strike into the air, and I just barely manage to jump out of the way in time to avoid being scorched.

Kiers doesn’t relent there, though, instead pressing his advantage and dashing forward, thrusting at me with his falchion. Again, flames erupt from his movements and a bolt of fire is hucked at my face even as the other man tries to stab me.

I swing out with Nadir, and the ball of fire splashes against the blade, fizzling out. However, I miss the man himself and fail to dodge in time, allowing him to score a powerful hit against my brigandine. It smashes against one of the steel plates with immense force, but the metal holds strong.

A crack resounds as my armor gains some of the momentum from Kiers’ blade, and a flash of pain erupts from somewhere in the lower regions of my chests. [Unkillable] quickly dulls the pain and allows me to keep fighting, but I wince anyways, unhappy with the exchange. I need control.

Time to go on the offensive.

My blade flashes out, burning with a golden flame as my [Power Strike] cleaves forward. Kiers, not expecting me to recover so quickly, fails to dodge in time.

Nadir tears open his armor like a hot knife through butter.

Kiers’ falchion falls to the ground as he grasps at his chest, panic filling his glowing-red eyes. The fire around us dies, and his hands are raised heavenwards.

“I surrender!” An unexpectedly squeaky voice echoes out of the helmet.

Guards rush forward and help escort him off the stage.

And just like that, there were only three more matches to go.

(LG:DM) Fenrir 1: Overlooked

A/N: A bit shorter than other chapters, but it is and interlude. We'll also have another coming up soonish, from Esheth, but we'll tinker around with the stuff from this chapter first.

If the beast was being perfectly honest, he didn’t really need the silly spellbook his sire was crafting for him. He would use it, of course, if just to please his lord, but…

Fenrir punched forward at the lunging Nailwolf and a bolt of black lightning erupted from his inscription. Said inscription seared itself into his flesh slightly, but he reinforced the area with Mentum to prevent it from doing what a standard talisman would– that is, devouring him to empower the cast.

With a controlled flow of Forbodum, he could feed the rune exactly the amount he intended to. With his Mentum, he could cut off its pull from his body before it started trying to kill him.

It was technically a risky, more focus-intensive way of using a simple enchantment, but it was much more powerful, and well… the results spoke for themselves.

The world froze wherever the lightning passed, and the wolf was simply stuck in the air as part of its body had been pinned there.

Using a carefully-crafted intent and the more space-related aspects of Forbodum, Fenrir had managed to create a semi-offensive Ordinance, one that demanded that its affected objects freeze in place. On the wolf, it was simply a debuff of sorts, but against a living being? A properly-aimed blast could stop a mortal’s heart.

The Nailwolf flailed in the air, but the effect dropped off after a few seconds, allowing it to flop to the ground. It once more went on the offensive, but another, more powerful blast of stasis convinced it to concede.

Some howls of acknowledgement reached into the heavens– or rather, the corners of the Seam in reality.

His pack followed him as he moved on to the next group of Nailwolves.

It took but a few short hours for him to conquer his floors. A handful of wolves attempted to slice him to bits with their magic, but it mattered not, for his flesh was simply too energetic for their matching energies to seriously harm, and he outranged them.

Exploring his new body in this way was rather effective, as he was able to explore his limits quickly and had the time to gather his thoughts and fully realize the concept of existence.

His wolven instincts– held by the body he inhabited, rather than his own Wisp mind– and ramshod Stasis enchantment did most of the combat on his behalf, which just allowed him to think even more.

First of all, he realized that his creator had some things he needed to be doing.

A mental tug was all Fenrir needed to call over his master's attention.

“Do you need something?” The voice reverberated through the lycan’s mind, and the Nailwolves in his surroundings were immediately cowed by the commanding feeling of their master's magic.

“Yes, sire,” he voiced aloud, “I believe that you have yet to examine the memories you gained from absorbing the Ordinance rune in depth?”

A chilly feeling swept over the area. “No, I have not. I'll go rectify that now.”

“Ah, no! Master, I can explain the situation.” The lich-lord’s attention remained in the area, so Fenrir continued, “Ordinance inscriptions have two primary effects.

“The first, as I'm sure you're aware, is to add rules to the area, such as making air toxic, stopping water from freezing or fire from burning, halting the wind, or allowing grass to grow through stone.

“The other is the same, but different. You see, the way that the Ordinance rune works is as an If/Then statement. It's coding, master.”

(14,814) Steps 10-12

A/N: Whoops! Forgot to put one up yesterday.

When I rise from my slumber, I'm not on a beach anymore. In fact, I'm on a solid-stone floor. The why for my situation is answered straight away.

[Quest Complete!]

A mind needs rest. Constant, relentless effort shows determination, but one must know to take breaks.

+1 to all Matrices.

+1 Level.

Skill: [Meditation]

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Tenth Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (10)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 8 (/10)

Class: N/A

Might: 10 +

Mobility: 10 +

Mind: 10 +

Magic: 10 +

Matrix Points: 8

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent]

Powers: [Unkillable] Level 6, [Self-Healing] Level 3, [Power Strike] Level 1

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 6, [Glaive Mastery] Level 3, [Tracking] Level 1, [Meditation] Level 1, [Vigilance] Level 1

[The Tenth Step: Defeat the Retired Master]

I sit up quickly, expecting to be attacked at any moment.

Instead, the first thing I see is a rather elderly man sitting across a table from me. Then I see what's on that table.

Chess.

…Frick. I suck at chess.

Hesitantly, I take the seat across from him, claiming the black pieces.

He makes the first move, pushing his E-pawn to the center of the board. Not knowing what else to do, I copy his movements.

A couple moves later, I attack his queen with my pawn, he moves out of the way, saving his queen while simultaneously checkmating me.

He shakes my hand and we reset the board. I'm white this time, and I mimic his earlier opening, pushing the E-pawn.

I last until the mid-game this time, but still ultimately lose to a stupid blunder, removing the defense for the pawn in front of my king while his queen and bishop were aiming for it.

It takes a few more matches for me to last to an endgame, and it's pretty bad. I only have my rook, king, and two pawns, while he's got both bishops and four pawns.

In the end, he promotes a pawn and uses it to push my king into a corner, checking me left and right without even allowing me to move my rook.

After that, I take a moment to [Meditate]. My head is starting to ache from all the strain it's under, and I just need a second to not think.

A few minutes later, I return to the table where the elderly man is patiently waiting for me to return to the table.

We go a few more rounds and I can tell straight away that I'm doing much better than before. Eventually, a few dozen games and a handful of [Meditation] sessions later, he makes a blunder, and I start giving checks. Over and over, he's forced to move his king or sacrifice pieces to delay his fate.

Eventually, I can't figure out how to give another check, but then realize that I've maneuvered him into the center of the board, and move a pawn that had been lazing about the whole game two squares forward.

A few moves later and he's in checkmate.

His face cracks into a wide smile, and he stands to offer me a handshake. I follow suit, gently shaking his frail, wrinkled hand for an instant.

Then he turns to shuffle away from the table, and his image turns into a smudge, then a blue, and then he's gone.

[Quest Complete!]

Wisdom is a trait cultivated through experience. Practice, practice, practice.

Please choose a reward:

1. Trait: [Danger Sense]
2. Power: [Visualization]
3. Skill: [Strategy]

[Danger Sense]: Are you paranoid or something? I assure you, this Trait will not help with that. Gain a minor predictive sense for the movement of matter. The intensity and punctuality of the sensation scale with the Mind Matrix.

[Visualization]: Yeah, because you totally didn't already have trouble seeing things that aren't actually there. Spend a small but continuous quantity of Magic to link your vision with your imagination, allowing you to realistically picture and manipulate objects from your imagination.

[Strategy]: Nerd. Teaches you how to switch gears in your mind to think more tactically. Also teaches you to take advantage of terrain, what resources to prioritize for any given task, and the numerology required for calculations pertaining to warfare and economics.

I feel like the answer is pretty obvious here. Spidey sense is OP.

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (11)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 8 (/11)

Class: N/A

Might: 10 +

Mobility: 10 +

Mind: 10 +

Magic: 10 +

Matrix Points: 8

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent], [Danger Sense]

Powers: [Unkillable] Level 6, [Self-Healing] Level 3, [Power Strike] Level 1

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 6, [Glaive Mastery] Level 3, [Meditation] Level 3, [Vigilance] Level 2, [Tracking] Level 1

While in transit, I take a second to evenly distribute my Matrix Points again, raising all of my Matrices to 12, though their effectiveness stops at 11 due to the Step cap.

[The Eleventh Step: Execute the Despot]

Huh?

I look out and find myself standing before a crowd of people. Their faces are smeared with dirt and grime, and most are wearing clothing of poor quality, mostly brown with rips and stains visible even to my distant gaze.

At my feet, there was a man. His clothes were even more shredded than those of the commoners, though it's clear that they were once exceedingly fine, white, red, and people, with silver trims. His head is wrapped in a bag, and his arms and legs are bound.

The crowd screams and jeers at me, and though I can't tell what they're saying with all the jumble, one thing is clear: they want his blood.

I reach for Nadir, then think better of it. Kelsh told me to treat her well, and I'd rather not dirty her with this. Killing an unarmed man, one who's incapable of fighting back… it feels too much like murder for my tastes.

Still, it must be done.

Many members of the crowd are holding up weapons, and I reach for one that looks like it would suit my purposes. A rusty scythe enters my hands, and I look back at the place I'd grabbed it to make sure there's no trouble. The man I'd taken it from looks honored, his eyes meeting my own with adoration

Weird, but okay.

I raise the blade and press it against the condemned man 's neck, taking a few practice swings. With each one, the ex-ruler flinches, and a few in the crowd laugh. I just grimace.

Pulling it back one final time, I activate [Power Strike]. Might floods through my body, and the chips of rust on the scythe burn away as it glows with Magic.

I swing, and the farming implement punches straight through his neck, not wide enough to fully decapitate but sufficient to give him a second mouth and spray blood into the crowd.

They cheer as I kill the bound man.

They cheer.

That dreadful number in the back of my head hits seven.

[Quest Complete!]

Sometimes those who need to die are those most difficult to kill.

Please choose a reward:

1. Trait: [Freedom]
2. Power: [Execute]
3. Skill: [Incite]

[Freedom]: This one, right? This or death? Your culture is strange. Your resistance to Mobility-reducing and Mind-altering effects is increased massively.

[Execute]: Because I just know how much you love doing it. Drain a small amount of Magic into your weapon to channel death energy into your blade, giving you a small chance to inflict necrosis in a large area. This chance and it's damage scales with how much blood the target has lost, and is massively increased against immobile enemies.

[Incite]: Seriously, why are some of these even options? When would you use this? This is barely even useful fo warfare! You've learned to transmute the emotions of a crowd into anger towards a specific person or group of people. This Skill will direct you to do it better, faster, and more consistently. It will also reduce the likelihood that the crowd gets angry at you instead.

Well, it’s either [Freedom] or [Execute]. Critical hits sound fun, but being captured or mind controlled really doesn’t appeal to me, so I mentally prod at [Freedom] instead.

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (12)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 8 (/12)

Class: N/A

Might: 12

Mobility: 12

Mind: 12

Magic: 12

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent], [Danger Sense], [Freedom]

Powers: [Unkillable] Level 6, [Self-Healing] Level 3, [Power Strike] Level 1

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 6, [Glaive Mastery] Level 3, [Meditation] Level 3, [Vigilance] Level 1, [Tracking] Level 1

The world starts to warp, and gravity shifts. My back is caught by a soft, comfortable surface, my head cradled by a pillow.

It was a bed.

[The Twelth Step: Finish the Story]

The same quest as the sixth step, huh?

I wiggle for a second, struggling with my thick armor but eventually managing to climb off the bed.

The room is bright and opalescent. I can hear birds twittering and playing just outside the window.

Did I just get transported into a Disney movie? I hope not. I doubt that they'd allow me on set with all the bloodstains on my brigandine.

There's a knock at the door. “Are you alright in there, young master? Do you require assistance readying yourself?”

…Frick. I'm a prince, aren't I?

“Uhh, no. I'll be alright for now, I think.”

“If you insist,” the voice replies. I can make out the sound of footsteps retreating, and a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding escapes my lungs.

I quickly start examining the room. There's an extra-large closet, an extra-large bed, and a door leading to an extra-large bathroom. The only thing stopping me from thinking that this world is full of giants is the regularly sized doors.

There are also a bunch of trinkets and paintings attached to the walls, another sign of these people being crazy rich.

I quickly move to the bathroom, stripping off my armor and clothing as I try to figure out how it works. Yes, figure it out. There aren't any obvious knobs for me to turn the water on.

Eventually, I get tired of waiting and just shove my hand onto the metal plate that looks like it's where the showerhead should be, trying to push Magic into it the same way I would with [Power Strike].

Hot water pours down from the ceiling, and it keeps up even when I take my hand off.

Relieved, I step into the shower. Luckily, the soaps are all just how I'd expect on Earth, so I take some time cleaning up my hair and skin. I'm not as in need of it as I would have been before the Ninth Step, but there was still some grime and blood I hadn't been able to wash out in the ocean.

By the time I step out of the shower, I'm feeling refreshed and clean. I dry off with a towel and step into the huge closet.

The clothes in here are all pretty similar, extremely fancy and covered in crests and symbols. There are a couple simpler outfits though, probably for exercising.

I try to figure out the finer clothing, but eventually just shake my head. “Why would anyone ever wear this? How, even? What is this strap supposed to do?”

How does it make sense for clothing to be harder to put on than my armor?

I slip on one of the more normal outfits, hoping that nobody minds. My gear gets stuffed into the back of the closet in case somebody comes digging around.

I look at Nadir for a long moment, then strap her on. It might be strange, but better safe than sorry.

I take a single step out the door and immediately get stopped by a maid. “Sir, what are you wearing?” She hisses quietly, “The delegation from Exandris is coming today! Here, let's get you dressed properly…”

She enters the closet and quickly grabs a few items, then returns and starts taking off my clothing.

My embarrassment is immense, but she doesn't seem to notice my discomfort and instead just continues her work.

Eventually, she completely redresses me, then gives Nadir a long look. “An ornamental weapon, sir? An interesting choice. It looks good. Would you like me to get you a better attachment for it?”

I look at the glaive and the strap. It does look rather out of place with how beautiful Nadir is, so I give her a short nod. She rushes off, presumably to get that attachment.

I'm left sitting on my bed awkwardly for a few minutes, but she does eventually come back. She brings with her a silvery shoulder strap. It seems to have some slight magnetic properties as well, as Nadir holds to it better than she did with the previous leather strap.

I thank the maid and she gives me a strange look. Oops. Was whoever I supposedly replaced not a very nice guy? Or maybe her expectations for nobility were on the lower end.

“Your mother has been wondering where you are all morning, young master, and you've missed breakfast. I'll bring you straight to her.”

I acquiesce with a nod of my head and she starts marching out the door. I follow her into a wide hallway. One side of the hall is adorned with dozens of paintings, while the other is almost more stained glass than wall.

The maid walks me straight down the hallway and into a large chamber, where a red-haired woman stands. Her foot taps impatiently, and her expression lifts when she sees me.

“Lars, there you are!”

Eh? Who's Lars?

“Listen, the Exandris delegation is coming within the hour, and they're bringing their mistress. She's your age, rich, and her family has the ear of the royal family. This is the perfect opportunity to betrothe you to someone of worthy station.”

Wat.

“I'm even told that she's quite beautiful,” the woman gives me a sly grin.

…Is this a romance novel??

“Uh, r-really? You don't say?” My collar seems to constrict around my throat.

“Just imagine! The Cevan and Exandris families uniting under one flag! With our powers combined…” She cuts off her leading statement with a cackle. “And your babies will be so cute! Please, Lars, I've waited seventeen years for my son to get married, don't make me wait another ten!”

I… What? “Y-yeah, mom?”

She gives me a weird look, but shakes it off, instead looking at Nadir with a smile. “I'm surprised. You've never shown interest in learning to fight. Have you changed your mind about the tutors?”

I think for a second, then nod vigorously, making up a story on the spot. “I had a dream about fighting in the battlefield, welding a weapon just like this one. It felt good, and I'd like to learn.”

Her smile widened. “Oh, that's just perfect! A bit late to participate in the tournament at the end of the week, but knowing more about what's going on might impress the Exandris.” She clapped her hands, excitement filling her voice. “Oh, this is perfect!”

She practically skips off, and I look at the maid in confusion. I'm about to ask her what I'm supposed to do now when a shout echoes down the hallway my “mother” went.

“LAARRRSS!!” The voice calls out, accompanied by a sound that I can only describe as that of a stampede, all produced by a single, massive man. He grins at me maniacally as he barrels towards me.

I spin on my heels and run for it, but the storm behind me only grows closer.

Suddenly, my movement halts, my feet no longer in contact with the ground.

Pressure around my chest cuts off my breath. Suffocating, I wait for [Unkillable] to activate… but it doesn't. Apparently it doesn't work while the source of damage is still present. Also, it looks like it doesn't make up for lack of oxygen.

That's good to know.

The pressure lets up and I drop to the ground, gasping. Something tugs in my back, and I look behind myself to see the man inspecting Nadir with teary eyes. Tears begin to adorn his cheeks as his eyes lock with mine.

“Lars… my only son… you want to learn to fight?” He looks so hopeful that I can't help but nod, not able to verbally express my answer in my current breathless state.

He falls to his knees, hugging Nadir to his chest for a long moment.

Then, faster than I can blink, we're both on our feet again and Nadir is back in my hands. The manic grin is back on the madman's face. “Courtyard. Now.” He vanishes without a trace.

I stare at the maid again. Her eyes are wide, though she doesn't seem nearly as surprised as I feel.

I cough into my fist. “Mind escorting me there?”

She nods and starts walking again.

It didn't take long for us to reach an open, perfectly-manicured field. At the center, my “dad” sits in a lotus position, meditating.

I approach slowly, and his eyes snap open when I'm a few yards away from him.

“Have you used a soul gem on your blade yet?” His first question catches me off guard, and I shake my head.

His form flickers momentarily, and when it resolves he's holding a blue crystal in his right hand.

Did he just teleport?

“You should know how to do this, but I know you’ve never cared much about this stuff in the past so I’ll walk you through it,” the man– Mr. Cevan?– states, holding the gem out for me to take.

I accept it, and look it over.

[Soul Gem | High Quality]

Pretty lucky! Just so you know, your weapon will get a temporary growth bonus based on the quality of the gem. Some specialized gems can also add extra Modifiers! Don’t worry, though, you can apply more later, they’ll just be a bit less effective.

Wow, an actually helpful interjection from System dude? That’s a first.

“Hold the gem just over the flat of your weapon's blade and push just a little bit of Magic into it, then squeeze.” I do as he directs, maneuvering Nadir into position. The gem accepts my Magic easily, and shatters to dust in my hand as I apply pressure.

As the glittering dust touches Nadir, it disappears, and Nadir gains a blue gleam for a moment.

[Living Weapon Claimed!]

Yeah, this is why I was upset. Make sure you're careful with what you do here, kid. I can already tell that this little girl's gonna be sassy when she wakes up. Also, don't tell that guy that she's a Living Weapon.

As Living Glaive “Nadir Verlandsson” is currently unawakened and incapable of accessing System functions, you have been given Power of Attorney over its growth.

Name: “Nadir Verlandsson”

Grade: D (Living Weapon)

Boost: 75

Modifier: Unforged

I lock eyes with the nobleman.

“I have questions.”

“Hah! I can imagine! Hold them for just a minute, though. You see where it says ‘Unforged?’ Focus on that for a moment.”

I follow his instructions, and more blue text pops up.

[Celestial]: All Magic directed through this Weapon is converted to the Celestial alignment. -From material: Celestial Steel.

[Fractal]: Sharpness is set to the maximum of this Weapon's Grade. -From Trait: [Crafter of Eternal Iron].

[Masterwork]: Boost is increased by 100. -From Skill: [Bladesmithing] Level 1023.

[Wayforged]: This Weapon is indestructible and cannot be wielded by any other than its Intended. Furthermore, its wielder gains the Trait: [Slayer of Sin]. Intended: Xan Kim. -From lineage: Verlandsson.

My eyes skim the options, and then I look at him again.

“I have more questions.”

He smirks, then his posture straightens and he appears to focus. “I’d love to talk over your options, but usually the only person who should know about your Magic Weapon’s Modifiers is yourself, even if it's only D-Grade. Instead, I'll talk over the basics of Magic Weapons.

“The possible grades are pretty simple. Nonmagical weapons are called ‘Mortal’ Weapons, which means that they're regular and haven't had a chance to gain a soul. That's what the soul gem was for, by the way. Mixing your magic with it binds the soul to you, which has dozens of benefits, even ignoring potential Ability and Modifier interactions.”

He takes a deep breath, then continues explaining, “D-Grade is called ‘Decent,’ and it's pretty much what it sounds like. Most Magic Weapons start and end here. Your Weapon, for example, will forever be locked there unless you spend enough money to bankrupt a dragon on it.”

He catches my sad look at Nadir and waves his hands back and forth. “Don't worry, though! The Heavens sometimes offer quests to skip that step, or you can request relevant items in exchange for service to the Kingdom, or we can just get you a better Weapon when you outgrow this one.

“C-Grade is called Capable, B-Grade is Brilliant, A is Ascendant, and last is S, which is called ‘Supreme.’ These follow the same pattern as Classes do, with Decent being the equivalent of levels 1 through 9, Capable equating to levels 10 through 99, and so on up to Supreme at 10,000. If a weapon somehow surpasses that and reaches level 100,000, another S is added to its title.”

A thought crosses the titanic Noble's mind, and he raises a finger. ”There are also Living Weapons, though I've only ever seen a handful before. Living Weapons can pass through the Grade barriers. They're rare, though, and even if you do find one, the royal family is likely to requisition it. They'll pay you a massive sum, of course, but they like to ensure that every member of their family has a Living Weapon for life.

“Boost is pretty simple. Magic Weapons take a portion of the achievement, or ‘experience,’ that you acquire from slaying your enemies. Boost acts as a multiplier to that. You get some Boost just from applying a Soul Gem. It’s temporary, but you can always apply another once it's run out. It'll just be less effective.

“A Weapon should take one in every ten portions of achievement from you, but 100 Boost will mean that the weapon grows at double the standard pace. It makes the trade more worthwhile and lets you use them for longer before they become irrelevant, as the achievement is used to make the weapon tougher, sharper, and heavier.”

He grimaces. “I hear that Living Weapons take two in five portions. Can you believe that? What warrior would willingly sacrifice almost half their growth for a Weapon that they could just replace later instead?” Thankfully, he stops talking, instead looking at me expectantly.

My brain takes a long, long moment to process.

So, D-Grade was a minimum of level 1, and every grade after that multiplied it by ten. Nadir would take 40% of my experience, but Boost would multiply her growth. Now…

“Okay, I guess I only have two questions then. First, what grade is your weapon?”

My “dad” grins at me with his perfect white teeth. “I was rewarded with a powerful B-Grade Magic Weapon for my achievements on the battlefield a few decades back. I haven't had many opportunities to increase in strength since then, so I'm not worried about outgrowing it.”

B-Grade… so he’s probably somewhere between levels 100 and 1,000? …Wow.

I look at him with a new sense of admiration. He must be crazy strong. No wonder it had felt like being chased by a thunderstorm when he was running at me before.

“Your dad's pretty strong, huh?” His smirk grows, and he turns to flex. He's so large I can actually see the muscles rippling through his clothes.

Part of me wants that to happen to me once my Might gets high enough, but the rest is praying that it won't.

“Ahem,” I interrupt his flexing, “what about Modifiers? Like, what's considered

He looks back at me, seeming confused for a second. Then he smiles again. Seriously, why are his teeth so bright? They're gonna blind someone!

“Modifiers are effects that can be granted to a Weapon in a bunch of different ways. Some improve Magic channeling, give the wielder Skills, make the weapon sharper, and so on. The ones you see are the best available to the Weapon. Those with effects that are completely outperformed by other Modifiers are hidden.”

He raised a finger of warning at me, explaining, “I need to remind you that you shouldn't share a Weapon's Modifiers with anyone. The way it's viewed in the martial community is that they're not your Modifiers, they're the Weapon's, so it's like giving people a full list of a fellow warrior’s abilities. If anyone ever asks for details on your blade you are well within your rights to demand a duel to the death.”

Well that's grim.

“One more thing and then I'll leave you to figure out what Modifiers to use. At D-Grade, a Weapon can have up to 3 Modifiers, but they must be worked into something like a title. For example, someone might make a ‘Decent Steel Sword.’ You can always slot in the type of Weapon in for free, as well as any conjugation you need. You can even break up certain words if you need to.”

He looks off into the distance, proclaiming, “That's all. No more questions? Great! Bye!” Then his form flickers again and he's gone.

…He's even weirder than Lars’ mom.

I pull the Modifiers back up to look over them in greater detail.

[Celestial Light]: All magic directed through this Weapon gains the [Radiant] property, shedding an intense light that dispels Magical darkness and sets damaged creatures and objects on fire. -From weapon material: Celestial Steel.

[Fractal]: Sharpness is set to the maximum of this Weapon’s Grade. -From crafter Trait: [Crafter of Eternal Iron].

[Masterwork]: Boost is increased by 100. -From crafter Skill: [Bladesmithing] Level 1023.

[Wayforged]: This Weapon is indestructible and cannot be wielded by any other than its Intended. Furthermore, its wielder gains the Trait: [Slayer of Sin]. Intended: Xan Kim. -From crafter lineage: Verlandsson.

“I wonder how many of these are only showing up because Nadir is a Living Weapon,” I mutter quietly. “Also, who the heck is Verlandsson? Or maybe I should be asking who Verland is. Is that Kelsh’s last name?”

I pull up the [Slayer of Sin] Trait on [Wayforged].

[Slayer of Sin]: As a warrior of the light, you have power against the creatures of darkness. Your Magic gains the [Holy] property, burning away [Sin], [Disease], [Death], and [Demonic] Magic, as well as associated creatures, objects, and effects.

Honestly, that's just the icing on the cake of that Modifier.

Whelp, [Wayforged] is obviously going to end up as part of the final product, so I slot it in with the word glaive, making the words [Wayforged Glaive] appear in my vision. [Masterwork] will help Nadir catch up with my level, so she momentarily becomes a [Wayforged Masterwork Glaive].

Deciding between the last two takes a moment, but in truth, [Slayer of Sin] makes part of the [Radiant] property completely redundant. Really, I was just thinking that setting stuff on fire would be cool, but that's not a good enough reason to pass up having Nadir act like a level 10 glaive at level 1.

I take a minute to work on the full name of Nadir's Modifier, eventually confirming my decision. Nadir's blade shimmers with golden light for an instant, and then her screen reappears before me.

Name: “Nadir Verlandsson”

Grade: D (Living Weapon)

Boost: 175

Modifier: [Wayforged Masterwork Glaive of Fractals]

I know, I know, it's not that clever or creative, but I think it's still pretty cool.

Inspecting Nadir once again, I notice that she's undergone a slight transformation. She's still got the same general format, with the point stretching from her flat end and the curvature of her edge all remaining the same, but now her pattern– a series of triangles that made up other triangles, which made up even smaller triangles, repeating and shrinking inwards over and over again until the distance between the incredibly fine lines was impossible to see with the naked eye– was shaded with the same color of gold that had emanated from her just moments ago.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results of all this.

A heavy hand clamps down on my shoulder.

“Now, I would want to fight you,” Lars’ father whispers into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine, “but your mother would probably kill me if I got you dirty right before you meet the girl she wants you to marry. We wouldn't want that, now would we?”

Swallowing my saliva, I nod vigorously.

“The maids are setting up the table now, and mom's gonna be looking for you. You should probably get to the banquet hall right away, don't wanna keep her waiting,” he chuckles. “There's a reason they called her the Cevan Blood Berserker back in the war. The only woman to ever best me in a fight…” the nobleman lets out a dreamy sigh.

…Seriously, I can't tell which one of them is the least sane. Also, hold up, she can beat him?? He's over level 100 though! And it was sorta implied that he might be closer to 1,000. What level is she?

I start walking back to the chamber I'd originally met my “mother,” talking a moment to examine Nadir, just out of curiosity.

I've found that I can get numbers and names for just about any Magic thing or creature I look at, but most other things don't come up.

Since Nadir is a Living Weapon now, though…

[Glaive | D-Grade]

Good to know. That should be what others see when they look at her, and it doesn't reveal much at all.

I quickly strap Nadir back into her spot and refocus on putting one foot in front of another. Soon, I find myself pushing through the door to the hall just in time to lock eyes with an unfamiliar man entering through the opposite entrance.

A/N: Step 12 is pretty long, and will cover the next two chapters. I actually haven't finished it quite yet, but y'know, I'm getting there.

(14,814) Steps 7-9

When my vision returns to me, I immediately spot an overturned carriage and a couple handfuls of men fighting, some trying to bar the path to the carriage and other trying to break through them.

The knightly attire of the guardians and look of the aggressors tells me what's going on straight away.

[The Seventh Step: Save the Princess]

And that just confirms it for me.

I pull Nadir from my back, happy to see that she's still there, and rush forward, slamming her into the nearest bandit.

His flesh gives way, and Nadir bursts soundlessly through his stomach, scrambling his insides and taking him out of the fight on the spot. I pull her loose, wincing at how dirty she'd already gotten.

I don't have much time to worry about it though, not with the shortsword lunging towards me.

I sidestep the blade and my return strike stabs into the bandit's side. Not a fatal cut, but probably enough to incapacitate him.

Stepping over the bodies that had already accumulated at my feet, I examine the battlegrounds, looking for my next target. I don't need to look for long, since it seems I'm not the only one looking for something to fight.

An arrow cuts into my brigandine, completely halted by the metal plates concealed within.

I look in the direction it came from, only to find another missile whizzing by my head. I charge at the archer, and an arrow skids off my leather helmet, but he's otherwise unable to get any more shots off.

He pulls out a dagger, but my reach is long enough to slice open his neck before he gets the chance to use it.

Once more, I examine the scene, realizing only now that my objective isn't to kill the bandits, it’s to save the princess. One might accomplish the other, but the more surefire way would be to directly guard her. With that in mind, I make my way towards the carriage, only to be stopped by a guard, clearly mistaking me for one of the bandits.

“I’m with you! I’m here to guard the princess!”

His face flushes red with anger, but then he glances off to the side for a moment. His eyes lock back onto me, and he nods, letting me pass. Weird.

I jump up and hop into the sideways carriage, finding a single little girl sobbing. She couldn’t have been older than seven, yet she'd been thrust in such a terrifying situation.

To be fair though, I probably shouldn't be here either.

“Hey there kid, don't worry, we'll get you out of there in a minute, we're just going to make sure everything's safe first, okay?”

She looks up at me through her tears and nods. “Is Charlie okay, mister?”

I look around the battlefield. “Could you describe what Charlie looks like for me?”

“I told Papa that he looked too much like the other knights, so they made his armor golden!”

My eyes flick to the guard whose armor bears golden filigree. His armor is dented in multiple spots, and his current opponent's sword strikes seem to bite into his armor easily.

He's not holding up well, but I can't just tell a kid something like that. “Charlie’s gonna be just fine. I've gotta go check on something, alright? I'll be right back.” I hop off the carriage and rush forward.

Just as the bastard-sword-wielding bandit manages to get around the golden knight, I slam the pointy bit of Nadir between his eyes. He drops to the floor, dead.

“Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to back off for now. Go protect the princess. We've got this.” Charlie turns to look at me, then lifts his visor to reveal the face of an older man with graying hair, far past his prime.

He lifts a clear vial to his lips and swallows the liquid inside with a single gulp. A moment passes, but the pain on his face abates, and his sharp brown eyes lock in on me.

“I think that's a good idea, young man, though I can't help but wonder how you got past our defensive line,” he says, suspicion clear in his face as he grips his longsword.

“Don't worry about that now. The princess needs you. Don't fail her now.” My words seem to strike a chord in his heart, as his eyes unfocus and turn misty.

“Alright, I'll go, but you'd better not let anything through, understood?” He demands. I give him a somber nod, and he trudges past me.

I grip Nadir tight with both hands, readying her for the next attack.

We don't have to wait long.

An unarmored man steps through the battlefield. One of the soldiers moves to attack him, but his strike is deflected by the strange man's staff, and the soldier’s head turns violently, snapping unnaturally.

It was a wizard.

I dashed forward while he's distracted, trusting in my abilities to aid me.

He notices me at the last second, and a bubble like the one Fitz had used in the last Step appeared. Nadir cuts through it with ease, and the wizard’s eyes widen beneath his hood.

The man steps out of the way, but I manage to leave a gash on his right shoulder.

He raises his staff at me, and a strange language spews from his mouth. Not intending to show him to finish, I smack his staff to the side and swipe at his chest.

Just as I'm about to score a hit, he discorporates, turning to black smoke.

I'm not stupid, so I start running towards where I’d left Charlie and the princess, spotting Charlie already engaged with the wizard a short distance away.

The knight's eyes widen when he sees me, and the wizard spins around, already forming a defensive bubble, but by then it's too late. My glaive cuts right into the base of his neck.

Blood burbles out of his injury, and the wizard’s hand clutches at his wound even as he gasps for air.

Charlie raises his sword to execute the man, but just before does so, the wizard shoots a chilling glare at me.

“Sah’akan!”

My neck turns violently,  and everything goes black for a moment. A wet laugh reaches my ears, the jerk clearly thinking he'd gotten his revenge.

I reach up and snap my head back into place. The look of utter shock on the mage’s face is priceless. Especially since it's the one that's stuck on him when his head goes flying off his shoulders.

Charlie gives me a curious look. “Are you some sort of undead? That was… strange.”

I just chuckle. “Nope, I just got lucky with my Powers, I guess.”

He nods in understanding. “Your abilities often determine your fate. Still, they don’t have to. My first Skill was Farming, and look where I am now!”

“I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got. Look, my neck’s completely fine now!” I poke myself in the side of the neck, [Self-Healing] having already restored me to perfect condition.

Charlie looks out at the battlefield. “Well, it looks like we’ve won. Good job, kid. What’s your name?”

[Quest Complete!]

Honor is critically important to the life of a warrior.

Please choose a reward:

1. Trait: [Noble Favor]
2. Power: [Power Strike]
3. Skill: [Intimidation]

[Noble Favor]: Are you the male protagonist of a romance novel where a poor commoner boy pines after a spoiled rich girl? Influences the perspective of others to make you appear more noble, attractive, and trustworthy. Has increased effectiveness on those of high class or royal blood.

[Power Strike]: To help supplement your clear lack of muscle. Spend Magic to imbue your weapon and body with power, increasing the velocity, sharpness, and durability of your weapon for a single attack.

[Intimidation]: Less golden retriever, more alpha wolf, please. Teaches you to position your body to maximize environmental effects, as well as to alter your posture and expression to appear more powerful, solid, and temperamental.

I don't feel particularly in need of social Skills, so I pick up [Power Strike].

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Eighth Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (8)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 7 (/8)

Class: N/A

Might: 8 +

Mobility: 8 (9) +

Mind: 7 +

Magic: 8 +

Matrix Points: 14

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent]

Powers: [Unkillable] Level 5, [Self-Healing] Level 3, [Power Strike] Level 1

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 5, [Glaive Mastery] Level 3, [Tracking] Level 1

I hold onto my consciousness even as the darkness engulfs me, focusing hard on my status sheet. Some maintenance is required.

First of all, I spend some Matrix Points to get all of my stats up to ten.

Might: 8 (10) +

Mobility: 8 (10) +

Mind: 8 (10) +

Magic: 8 (10) +

Matrix Points: 6

The next step– no pun intended– is to look over the Skills and Traits that I don’t know the effects of yet.

[Inheritance]: So, nepotism, huh? Fine, you spoiled brat. Certain objects and structures have been left for you to claim. Any defenses they have will not target you.

[Succession]: Wow, you really couldn’t just stop at nepotism? You have to copy everything about them?? You are in the process of following your predecessor’s path. Certain quests will appear, and their rewards will have been carefully selected by the individual you are succeeding.

[Improvised Fighting]: You have no idea what you’re doing, do you? Your mind will move faster in battle and you will find using the environment to your advantage much easier than a traditional fighter.

[Glaive Mastery]: How the… That wasn’t supposed to be there!! Boss, come look at this! What do you mean he can keep it, that’s– oh, right, whoops. You didn’t see anything, puny mortal! You know how to handle a glaive, and can learn glaive-related attacks, moves, and styles more quickly.

Is it just me or are these snarky comments totally being sent by an actual person and not just a program? What is that last message even supposed to mean? Did he forget to mute himself or something? Whatever, it doesn’t matter.

[Inheritance] and [Succession] are both from my Title, [Successor of 14,814 Steps (8)]. I don’t really know who my “predecessor” is supposed to be, but if I was following his path across these places, he must’ve been pretty strong.

[Improvised Fighting] and [Glaive Mastery] are also lumped together in my head as my “fighting Skills.” [Improvised Fighting] is like the style– chaotic and random– and [Glaive Mastery] relates to the weapon I use.

Suddenly, I can see again.

[The Eight Step: Prevent the Assassination]

I’m in a dark hallway, the only light coming from a room just behind me. I brandish Nadir– who I’d forgotten to wipe down after our last fight– and held her out in front of myself.

A figure slowly lopes into my view, holding a sword that seems to be made of a solid purple light. The individual fully enters the dim light, and I’m able to see that their entire body is covered in black cloth.

The rogue rushes me, batting Nadir aside with ease and moving to stab me in the chest. I manage to interpose my forearm, but they cut right through it, even managing to break the bone.

I hiss in pain, but the pain fades a moment later and I punch the jerk in the face with the very arm they'd stabbed.

My punch lands squarely on the assassin's nose, smashing them into the wall. They fell to their knees, clutching at their head.

Hehe. That never would've worked unless they'd expected that arm to be completely disabled.

Y'know, I'm starting to see the resemblance to an undead.

The assassin was stunned briefly from the concussion I'd probably given them, but would get back up soon unless I do something about it. So I do something about it.

I tear the assassin's hood off and grip them by the hair, briefly surprised by its length.

Apparently, this professional killer is a girl. I'm not gonna let that stop me though. Equal rights, equal fights and all that.

I pressed my glaive against her throat, knelt down, and muttered quietly into her ear, “Last chance to run away. I'll know if you plan to come back, and I will hunt you to the ends of the Earth. I am [Unkillable], and will stop at nothing to accomplish my goals. If I decide to kill you, then you will die. Understood?”

She nodded shakily, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. I don't allow myself to feel bad for her, though. In choosing to kill someone else, one forfeits all rights regarding their own life and death.

I grab her shoulder and yank her to her feet. My improved stats make the movement as easy as apple pie killing a doctor.

I shove her, and she stumbled against the wall briefly, then starts moving on her own. I watch until she's completely vanished from my sight.

See? I can be plenty intimidating without a Skill telling me what to do. I hadn't even gotten to try out my new Power, had I?

[Quest Complete!]

The blade obscured by shadow is duller than the one that glimmers with radiant light.

Please choose a reward:

1. Trait: [Bodyguard]
2. Power: [Target Lock]
3. Skill: [Vigilance]

I check on what the options could do for me.

[Bodyguard]: Are you seriously just a masochist? Weapons and missiles that would land attacks within 5 feet of yourself are instead magnetically attracted to you, potentially allowing you to take hits meant for your companions.

[Target Lock]: I have a particular set of Skills, acquired over a large number of Steps. You can reserve a small amount of your total Magic capacity to place a marker on any creature or object you touch. You know the exact distance to and direction of this marker at all times. This marker can be unravelled at any time. If the marker is ever more than 5,000 feet away from you, it dissipates.

[Vigilance]: A Skill relating to patience and observation, things you are in dire need of. You begin to learn how to read people, watch out for danger, and stay watchful for long periods of time.

[Bodyguard] would lean into the tank angle, [Target Lock] would make me even better at [Tracking] and sneaking up on prey [Silent]ly, but the description of [Vigilance] was probably right. I have yet to really get snuck up on, but I get the feeling that it’s just a matter of time before something like that happens.

I take a moment to clean off Nadir before accepting the Skill.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Ninth Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (9)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 7 (/9)

Class: N/A

Might: 9 +

Mobility: 9 +

Mind: 9 +

Magic: 9 +

Matrix Points: 6

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent]

Powers: [Unkillable] Level 6, [Self-Healing] Level 3

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 6, [Glaive Mastery] Level 3, [Tracking] Level 1, [Vigilance] Level 1

[The Ninth Step: Catch Your Breath]

The first thing I notice is the sound of waves. Then, the endless blue stretching out infinitely ahead of me.

I'm on a beach.

Catch your breath? What sort of quest is that? How do I even…

I take a deep breath in, then release it slowly. I rise from my seated position and unbuckle my gear and pack, setting Nadir down next to me in the sand.

My clothing is getting pretty bloody and torn up at this point. I'll need to replace it soon anyways, so…

I strip down to my boxers. Slow, steady steps bring me closer and closer to the waves until I'm waist-deep in water.

I force myself to breathe slowly and stay calm, just… decompressing.

My mind flashes back to all that's happened over the past… what? Day? Longer? All the things that I've done…

Is there something wrong with me? I'd killed… well, the Doctor, and that one guy in the alley with a knife had probably ended up dying, too. I dunno if goblins count on the murder tally, but they were at least a little intelligent. There had also been four bandits and a mage.

That comes out to 6 people, if I include the Doctor.

I'd never considered myself a fighter. I'd never had any desire to join the armed services. Even then, it hadn't taken much for me to start outright killing people. Sure, they were all bad people, in theory, but even then…

I shake my head rapidly, taking another deep breath to clear my mind.

There was no way for me to make up for the things I'd done, not was there really a way for me to not do it the future. I would be forced into more situations like this. I could stop completing the quests, these Steps, but what then? I'd be stuck in another world, aimless.

Fitz had told me to complete the Steps. I wasn't clear on what exactly that meant, but there wasn't really another path for me, was there?

But… Fourteen thousand eight hundred and fourteen Steps? I hadn't even finished the first fourteen, and at least a full day must have passed me by.

What was going on back on Earth? Were my clubmates all dead?

I stepped out of the water after washing the dried blood off my skin and out of my hair.

Allowing myself to dry before putting my clothes back on, I just sit and breathe for a little while, not thinking of anything in particular. The rest proves effective, and my mind calms significantly in a short period of time.

Eventually, I rise to my feet, dressing myself and spending some time figuring out the straps and buckles of my gambeson and brigandine. I strap on the extra piece Kelsh gave me for Nadir, but rest her on top of my stomach.

With as tired as I am, it doesn't take long for sleep to claim me.

(LG:DM) Chapter 23: Fenrir, the Lord of Nails

I quickly stripped my creations for parts, laying all the different pieces I’d be needing out separately. The Arachnomicon bits were left separate, since I’d need to refashion that much later. For now, I started manipulating the bones of the Nailwolves.

My other creations had taught me that it was best to make a rough bone structure and only then coat it in muscle, like I was giving the skeleton a flesh mech. Following that same principle here, I fused the bones together but tried to keep most of their rough shape. I had to split them up in a few places to make sure that everything would fit together right. My hopes were that this creation would be as magically efficient as possible, which meant that I’d need to make it as anatomically correct as possible.

Wolf bones slowly took a more human form, and eventually I had a 7 foot tall werewolf skeleton to work with. I was slotting cartilage between the joints when an image suddenly popped into my head.

A skinned corpse sat on a table in front of me, half its body carved open to reveal its skeleton. The other half was staring into the sky with a fearful expression forever locked onto its face. That face, more than anything, revealed the truth: it wasn’t a human. Not even close.

Lycaos, I heard something whisper. It seemed that werewolves– or, perhaps, wolfmen?– already existed in this world.

The vision flickered out, and I immediately spotted some now-obvious flaws in my design. I fixed them up, and then did my best to improve the design. First of all, my creation wasn’t going to have organs, so some bone density could be shifted around. For a mortal, losing a leg was a big deal, but not instantly fatal. Getting stabbed in the heart was. Because of that, we’d evolved to have stronger ribs than would be needed for a creature without that vulnerability. It was preferable that this boss broke a rib, rather than a leg.

After that, there were a whole bunch of bones that I could just get rid of. The Lycaos had more than a human did, certainly, but the wolf bodies had over three hundred bones. Some of them could be reshaped or adjusted into other needed structures, but most of them ended up being melded into the rest of the body, further strengthening it. Cartilage and ligaments were added, and the skeletal system was complete.

Next came the muscles. I’d gotten a pretty good look at how the ones on the Lycaos had been shaped, so I only needed to make a few minor adjustments to account for the lack of internal organs in this creation.

Stretching skin and "fur” onto the new boss monster wasn’t too difficult, but I had to make some adjustments to make sure that the claws that made up the fur all went in the right direction. I also chose to lengthen and add density to many of those claws, making them into a decent imitation of scale mail.

Eventually, a more dungeon-appropriate version of the Lycaos was formed, and I inspected it for a moment, knowing that something was missing. Oh wait, eyes, duh. I took a set of Nailwolf eyes, increasing their size and altering their pigmentation just a bit to make them seem more human. Well, making the sclera red probably didn’t help with that, but whatever. They were then slotted into this new boss monster… who I had yet to name. I’ll work on that later.

Since he would be a humanoid, it felt weird leaving him unclothed, so I fashioned a cloak out of Twinscale hide, manipulated to a black coloration. Once I’d gotten that finished and covered him with it, he was starting to look like Death. Straight up.

I decided that he needed a staff. My plan was to make him into a summoner/caster, hence the Arachnomicon, and it just felt right. I didn’t have any wood, though, so I had to make do with some well-shaped and colored bone.

The main body was, for the most part, complete. Now I just needed to equip him with magic and make a Wisp to actually be him.

I reopened the Gate to Kelemnion, diving into it and setting off as soon as my boney feet touched the floor. Before I knew it, I was looking at a huge, glowing book. Images flashed into my head, each having one thing in common: death and chaos. My hand touched the book, and a new inscription appeared in my mind. Infliction.

I spent a brief moment refreshing my mind with my Repository, then took off once again. With Infliction, Defence, and Ordinance, I felt that I had enough versatility in terms of inscriptions. Now I just needed to come up with some unique intents.

Intent was a strange thing. You could name it, and call it something, but it wasn’t really accurate. What Conceptium really did was passively shape energy into a predetermined configuration. The longer it was in existence without being used, the less accurate it would become, and the more it would forget. It would eventually be reduced down into a basic concept, like the Death that I’d stored away.

Calling the Conceptium I’d gathered earlier “Barrier” intent was like pointing at burgundy and calling it red. Was it technically correct? Sure, but it wasn’t exact. Over time, though, some of its “color” would bleed out, leaving me with a more abstract Barrier intent, one with a more vague meaning.

Using less specific and definite Conceptium would allow for more variance. The Defense inscription I’d created before would always create a wall of force, but if I used a more aged Barrier intent, then it would be able to adapt more to different situations. That also meant that it would lose an amount of predictability, though.

In some situations, it would be worth it, and in others it wouldn’t. For the more passive effects, I’d probably want them to be more flexible, but talismans would often need more exact directions. Of course, it was possible to make a vague intent without letting the power drain from it, but sometimes it was better to start with something specific and then let it “mature.”

This method would allow me to more carefully control how exact the effects of your inscription could be. If you took an Infliction talisman and filled it with the intent to shoot a projectile, it would do that and only that. If you let it age a bit, though, it might develop some other effects, allowing the inscription to affect it more. For example, the aforementioned projectile might lose some efficiency, but become homing, or leave behind a DoT effect.

I kinda wanted to give my new boss access to multiple elements, but I decided against it for now. I was sure that there was a method, but I felt that I should stick to using Forbodum for now, since I’d just gotten access to it and wanted to increase my familiarity with it.

With that in mind, I exited the plane of knowledge and returned to my tower.

Slowly, painstakingly, I started thinking up designs for spells. Bolts of deathly energy, phantom armor, waves of chilling force… the works. For these first ones, I made sure to think up everything that I wanted the inscriptions to do, the bolts of death rotting flesh, the phantom armor only stopping things that moved too quickly, and the force settling into the bones of afflicted creatures.

For the next ones, though, I decided to be a bit more vague, thinking only in vague, general ideas. This was much easier to do, since the formed Conceptium was far less complex than one that was basically an entire spell in and of itself.

That actually got me thinking about what the whole System thing really was. Was it just an interpretation of my soul, or was there something more behind it? When I used my Skills and Boons, I didn’t struggle nearly as much at forming the intent. Maybe it was getting pulled from somewhere else, or processed somehow?

I didn’t know, which was a bit frustrating, but it was another topic to explore when I next visited Kelemnion.

Once I’d gathered a large enough variety of Conceptium to make a few of each inscription I’d come up with, I started slowly carving and pushing my energy into the talisman pages.

Boring. Tedious. Dull. Monotonous. Repetitive. Soulless.

Eventually, I gave up. Sure, I was a lich, but constant strenuous mental activity could get tiresome, especially if it’s just the same thing over and over again.

Instead, I animated some smaller copies of the boss I was working on– calling them Scholars, just for fun– designed some energy-conductive spikes, and had them work on it instead. I shoved Wisps into the quills to let the energy and Conceptium come directly from me.

It was more draining this way, but also a lot less boring, which was a plus in my books.

I turned my attention back to the boss himself. He was a giant wolfman wizard with a magic book and a black cloak. What was he missing?

Well, probably a staff. That was an easy fix, though. A moment later he had a staff of bones, and I shoved a Wisp into the small skull at the top to add some special effects.

What else was there?

Nothing?

Great, time to wake this dude up.

Another Wisp was formed, and this time I took the time and formed a consciousness for it. I had to cancel out all of the other large drains on my energy, specifically the new Scholars, but this time I had more power to throw at the problem that was giving life to a nascent mind. It still took a while, but I didn’t pass out, so that was a plus.

I decided to hand over all of my memories about science, math, history, mythology and most of my knowledge about energy, including the stuff from back on Earth. Right now, I had to form all of the Conceptium, but I wanted this guy to do it himself later on, which meant that it would be optimal for him to understand how the world worked, as well as know the scientific method.

While I didn’t pass out or get thrown into my Repository, my creation was sleepy, so I wasn’t able to see how it had gone. Instead, I looked back over my Scholars and restarted the flow of energy between myself and the quill spikes.

Then it was just a waiting game.

Actually, screw that.

I started carving out a huge basement beneath my tower, compressing all of the spare matter into pillars and up against the ceiling, making everything as stable as I could. Then I started spawning Scholars.

My goal was for this basement to be where all of the automation required for making my dungeon spire function took place. Wisps were formed with all sorts of knowledge, from how to terraform, to spreading my influence, to making my other creations. I had to spend some time with those last ones to make sure that they got everything that was required for doing so, since my mob list had gotten pretty long and some of them needed actual intelligence to work well.

After that, I took another look at the surrounding area to find something to do, examining every nook and cranny.

Then I found something, and remembered. I still had that Cadavrrhizae’s seed, didn’t I? My Forbodum could probably usurp control over its current affinities…

Just as I was about to mess around with the seed, my attention was dragged back to my new boss as it woke up gasping for air– air that it didn’t particularly need. I had shoved the Wisp into the body it was to possess before I’d gotten distracted, but it was still an undead. Maybe that was just my old memories influencing it?

“Hello there,” I projected to it through my skull.

The wolfman-zombie-boss shook for a moment, then looked at me with confusion. “Creator?” Its voice was rough, like someone with a sore throat.

“Yeah. You know what your job is, right?” The boss just nodded in reply, so I continued, “I haven’t been able to think of a name for you yet. What do you think?” With Uban, I’d just kinda fiddled around with stuff, but I wanted to give this guy a choice, since he had more of my knowledge and culture than the land dragon had.

He took a moment to consider, then nodded to himself and responded, “Fenrir, sire. I believe that name will suit me well.”

“The one from Nordic mythology?” I considered it, then gave him a boney thumbs-up in approval. “I like it. Do you want to go supervise the Scholars or would you prefer to get comfy in your new domain?”

“I’d prefer to go tame the Nails, if you don’t mind.” His voice grew slightly more violent, and I gave him a strange look.

“You know I can just tell them to do what you want, right?”

He just shrugged. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t do that, sire. I would like to prove my superiority over them.”

I frowned. “Will they even fight you? I’ve never seen my creatures fight one another.”

“If I challenge them openly, their residual wolf instincts should take over. When left on their own, they will follow those instincts, and fight for the position of alpha. I intend to win that battle. Currently, you’ve instilled cooperation into the packs, but I have not been included in that.” Fenrir smiled viciously. “I will prove myself and win their loyalty, master.”

I wagged a finger at him. “You don’t have your book yet, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t give you any magic.”

“Just because you intended for me to be a mage does not mean I am weak in other areas. Furthermore…” He drew a finger through the air, and a black line formed in the air. Slowly, it shaped itself into a rune. Specifically, Ordinance.

Fenrir moved slowly and methodically, but I was in awe. I hadn’t even tried to form inscriptions in the air yet, and he was just… doing it?? I didn’t interrupt, though, since he wasn’t done quite yet.

The Ordinance inscription seemed to solidify, then get a bit… wet? He pressed his palm into it, and it sunk into his fur like a tattoo.

“How did you do that?” I finally asked, shocked that he’d managed to teach me something immediately after being born. Seriously, he was at most a half hour old and he was already ahead of me in crafting inscriptions.

Fenrir just shrugged. “You taught me all I know, master. Perhaps you simply had yet to consider it from this angle? After all, you are far more spread out than I, whereas this is my purpose. You created me expressly for this, so all of my knowledge has built up this aspect of myself exclusively. You knew that magical energy could take on solid and liquid form. You also know how to alter and manipulate dead flesh, and how inscriptions work. You could have done this if you’d spent enough time on it, I’m certain.”

I frowned, then waved open a portal to the sixteenth floor. “Have fun, I guess?”

He leapt through the rift and nodded.

I spied for a moment with a sensor– my old Omnipresence ability. Sure enough, with a few growls and a bit of teeth-gnashing, the biggest of the Nailwolves were fighting with Fenrir.

I settled in to watch the proceedings, wishing I could get– or even eat– some popcorn.

(14,814) Step 6.1

Feeling extremely conflicted, I rushed to catch up to the rest of the party. They stopped and manhandled me to get my new armor equipped. I paid as much attention to the process as I could, knowing that I'd have to do it on my own at some point.
It turned out that Kelsh had also thrown in a back strap for the glaive– Nadir. I should probably remember that name, it seems important. She felt heavy in my hands, and the armor felt uncomfortable, like I’d strapped a bunch of pillows to my torso. It was only a dozen or so pounds though, and I'd run carrying much more than that before.
We went back outside and Enricha threw the blanket back over me with a soft smile. Then we started heading in yet another direction. It seemed completely random to me, with the snow obscuring everything, but the party members seemed to know exactly where they were going.
Soon yet another building came into sight, and we walked in to find what looked like a reception room. The party immediately marched over to a board on the wall, ripped a paper off, and slammed it down on one of the receptionist's desks.
“We've got our fifth member,” the archer said with a grin. I didn't know his name yet, but he seemed pretty smug. The fun kind of smug though, not the jerk kind.
The man at the desk, who was dressed as and held himself like a Victorian butler, sighed and raised a stamp over the page, then looked up at me and squinted. “Has he been tested yet?”
The archer's smile froze. “Frick.”
The group collectively turned to look at me with varied expressions. “We completely forgot about that.”
The receptionist smirked and rose from his seat. “It's a good thing we have a testing center in this very building, isn't it?”
“Fitz…” Randun gave him a meaningful look.
“Bah. I may not like you, but that doesn't get in the way of my work. I won't go too hard on the boy, but he'll have to be at least Iron rank to attempt this mission with you.”
Fitz turned to look at me. ”Now, what role do you see yourself filling in a party such as this? I'll be testing you in multiple aspects, but this will be the one I push the furthest with, so think carefully.
I looked back over my status.

Name: Xan Kim
Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (6)] (Upgradeable)
Level: 2 (/6)
Class: N/A

Might: 6 (7) +
Mobility: 6 (8) +
Mind: 6 +
Magic: 6 (7) +
Matrix Points: 4

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent]
Powers: [Self-Healing] Level 2, [Unkillable] Level 2
Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 3, [Tracking] Level 1

I decided to just confide in him. I'd probably be teleported out of here the moment I completed the quest, so hiding things wouldn't matter. “Definitely the person at the front, no matter the circumstances. I have a Stealth-related Trait and Tracking, low-level though it may be. I also have two Powers that make me more difficult to kill than I otherwise should be.”
Fitz was taking notes, but looked up when I finished to ask a follow-up question. “Would you mind sharing the names of your abilities with me?” A bubble appeared around us, and a string of golden text scrawled itself in the air.
Fitz Howal Jitters has sworn not to reveal any of your personal details shared with him without your consent, intentionally or otherwise.
When I finished reading the text, it dispersed into motes of light.
“Are you willing to give me some advice?” I asked anxiously.
Fitz shrugged. “It's not my place to tell you how to live your life, but I do have a lot of experience with adventurers. I may be able to assist you. Tell me, child, what is it that ails you?”
I look at my status again and will it to appear to him.
A look of surprise crosses his face, then his mouth opens slightly and he stares at me momentarily.
“I am sorry, child… have you opened up your title?” He sounded slightly hesitant.
I shook my head, then did just that.

[Successor of 14,814 Steps (6)]
You are Planet Earth’s Inheritor of the Lord of 14,814 Steps. You are on the 6th Step.
You gain the [Inheritance] and [Succession] Traits.
You will be transported to the location of your next Step whenever you complete the current one.
Your Level, Matrices, and Abilities are all capped by your current Step, rather than the standard Plausibility Cap.
You cannot organically gain Skill, Powers, or Traits.

“The Lord of 14,814 Steps… Who's that?” I looked up at Fitz with no small amount of confusion.
“Ah, well, that's a bit of a history lesson, one we really don't have the time for, but the important part is that you need to finish the Steps.” He took my arms in his hands and stared at me. “You cannot fail, do you understand me?”
I nodded, not fully getting the point but also not wanting to worry him anymore.
He breathed a sigh of relief, then stepped back and looked over my status again. “I have two suggestions for you, if you wouldn't mind listening to them?” I motioned for him to go ahead. “Firstly, you should keep your Matrices as even as possible for the time being. Your four points can be invested to raise all of them to 8. It would be inefficient for one of your stats to be above your Step limit and the others to be below it.
“Hmm, I would also recommend gaining more fighting Skills. You'll probably need them, if what I've heard is correct. Try to find things that work well together. Yes, I know that you cannot gain Skills naturally, but I assume there's another way for you, seeing the ones you have now.
“Finally, reach level 10 as soon as possible. You will gain access to your Class, which will be extremely useful for you. Once you're there, though, stop leveling until you get a very good option. Your Skills and Powers decide what options you'll be granted, but the quality thereof may be influenced by the level of said abilities. Keep your build cohesive and synergistic, and you'll be offered a good class.
“Anyways, I'm just going to sign off and say that you passed the test. Try not to die.” With those words, he scribbled something on his clipboard and handed a form to me. The privacy bubble popped, and the party rushed in to full the gap.
“Is that–” “Did he just–” “You can't just–”
“Yes, yes! I signed him off,” Fitz explained with great exasperation. “Now go on your little quest and leave me out of it.”
Randun wrapped Fitz in a huge hug. “Thank you, Fitz! I just knew that there was a nugget of gold buried in that dead heart of yours!”
“Yes, yes,” Fitz deadpanned. “Now get off of me.”
The party cheered all the way out the door.
My blanket was returned to me once again, and this time we started going down. The huge mountain grew more and more visible as we moved further away, eventually coming to rest at a small outcropping.
“Okay, troops!” Randun hollered with a wide grin. “Most of you probably already know this, but I'll reiterate it for Xan’s sake. We're hunting a wyvern! Ollie, would you mind explaining what that is for us?”
The archer rose to stand beside him, explaining, “People often mistake Wyverns for a breed of dragon. This is objectively incorrect. Then they assume that they're distant relatives. This is also wrong. Wyverns are a completely separate breed of flying lizard. Yes, I know, it's hard to believe that lizards evolved into massive flying creatures not just once but twice. Still, that's the truth, and it's clear in numerous ways.
“For one, wyverns act much more mammalian than dragons. Wyverns keep their eggs inside their bodies, rather than laying and hatching them. Even the earliest evolutions of dragon have the ability to breathe fire, whereas wyverns have a potent venom and heightened regenerative abilities. Yes, like a hydra, they are actually cousin species.
“Wyverns only have two legs! They're shaped like giant lizard bats. No horns either, unless you're dealing with a Dire Wyvern, which we are not. The plan to kill the beast is by completely overpowering its healing with acid, venom, fire, and huge attacks. Any questions?”
I raised my hand. “Feel free to speak whenever, kiddo. You're one of us now.” I lowered my hand, then vocalized, “I don't really have any of those things. What will I be doing here?”
Ollie looked at Randun, who got the hint and replied on his behalf, “You'll be climbing onto the beast and pouring tar into the wounds we make. That should slow its healing down quite a bit.”
The entire group looked at him open-mouthed, but he just rolled his eyes. “We'll be lopping off its wings and tying it to the ground the moment we catch it. If anything, this is a good opportunity for him to get some levels.”
“I'll be fine, guys,” I voiced, reassuring myself as much as them. I doubted that being bucked off would be able to kill me anyways. My biggest treat was the venom, but I'd be far from its mouth.
The last group member, a buff lady who looked like she'd been raised by wolves, piped up, “What are we doing with the body?”
Randun gave her a look. “Geisha, must I restate that we're going to be using venom, acid, fire, and tar? No. You can't eat it.”
She pouted like a toddler whose parents had told her that she couldn't have a toy they'd found in the store.
“If that's all…” Randun trailed off leadingly. When only silence followed his words, he coughed into his fist and continued, “Then I suppose we'll head to its roost now. Just a short way down the mountain and up the next one.”
We started marching again, making good time down the mountain and only stopping for a break halfway up the next one. I was completely out of breath by then, even with the running training I'd gone through in three full years of Track.
I normally wouldn't have felt too bad about that, but the rest of the party seemed perfectly fine, and it felt like I was just slowing them down. Still, I took my time recovering, knowing that I probably wouldn't get another chance.
This mountain was quite a bit shorter than the one we'd come down, so it didn't take much longer to climb to the top. It was especially obvious that we'd reached the peak when the sound of flapping reached my ears.
“Shhhh,” Randun intoned, motioning for us to get behind him. Geisha looked reluctant, but she followed his directions.
The flapping sound died down after a while, and the party silently began preparing, pulling out weapons, chains, vials, and nets. A bucket was handed to me. Yup, a bucket. It was full of, you guessed it, tar.
“I think you know what to do with this,” Randun whispers to me, “Listen for my signal to climb the beastie.”
I nod back at him and he returns to his position at the front of the party.
We wait and wait, until eventually we hear that flapping again, the wyvern rustling in its nest. The party tenses, but maintain their silent wait. A few minutes after the sounds stop, Randun makes a motion with his hands and the party mobilizes, with me following behind them.
The party’s surprisingly stealthy, but not enough. About fifteen feet away from it, the huge lizard takes a deep breath, sniffing at the air. Its eyes snap open.
The party rushes it, Geisha activating some sort of Power to burst forward and hack its left wing off with a single swing of her battleaxe. Ollie shoots a crossbow bolt at its eye, missing but still managing to embed it in the wyvern’s skull.
The monster roars in rage, spinning around and knocking Geisha away with its massive tail. It nearly falls prone without its left claw to stabilize it, but it’s recovering quickly.
Randun can't have that, though, so he tosses a chain over the wyvern’s back. Suddenly, Geisha is there, blood dripping from multiple gashes and scrapes from where she'd smashed through and skidded off the terrain. She pulls the chain tight, and the wyvern’s back lowers by a few inches.
Both fighters use some sort of post that fuses itself with both the chain and the stoney ground, locking it in place. Another chain joins the first, but this one is thrown back and forth, getting wrapped around the wyvern multiple times, fully trapping it and stopping it's movements.
The wyvern spots me, and I get a good look at the pain and hate in its eyes. Then, a hint of fear.
It doesn't want to die.

[Wyvern | Level 32]

“Xan! Now!”
The wyvern outclasses me by miles and miles, but that doesn't matter here. Proper planning had significantly reduced the danger to my life.
Now all I need to do is follow through.
I race up it's remaining wing. The overgrown lizard tries to throw me, but the wing is throughly trapped by the party’s chains, and I manage to climb up into its back, if just barely. Again, it thrashes about, trying to knock me loose, but I grab ahold of one of the chains to stabilize myself.
Ollie shoots bolt after bolt at the wyvern's face, but it always manages to jerk away just in time to avoid getting hit in the eyes.
I look at the bucket in my hand, realizing l can fix that.
Taking my bucket of tar, I ignore the fear in my heart and shouts of my teammates to climb up on top of the wyvern's neck. It keeps bucking and thrashing, but I pull Nadir from my back and stab her into the lizard's neck to keep me latched on.
I crawl forward until I lock eyes with the wyvern, then pour the contents of my bucket onto its face, blinding it and probably scalding it's eyes and nostrils.
It. Was. Furious.
When irritated, alligators and crocodiles do this thing called a “death roll.” What the wyvern does to me here isn't exactly that, but I imagine the experience is similar. Another easy comparison might be being a tick on the back of the neck of a wet dog shaking itself dry. Again, not perfectly accurate, since I'm not a tick and the wyvern isn't a dog, but it's close enough.
I manage to stick on for a solid few seconds, but Nadir loses her grip and I'm sent flying.
My head smashes into a rock and everything goes black.
…Then [Unkillable] kicks in and it's as if nothing happened. Well, based on the look Enricha gives me I apparently still look like my skull’s been smashed open, but hey, that's what [Self-Healing] is for, right?
Apparently Enricha doesn't agree, because she rushes to my side and green light begins to emanate from my wounds.
“Are you alright?! Please tell me this looks worse than it is!” Enricha sounds like she’s about to have a heart attack, then looks like she's going to faint when I start feeling around the injury to figure out what sort of state I'm in.
“Hmm, well my skull is moving around a lot more than I think it should, so I probably cracked it. I should probably be dead… Lucky me for being [Unkillable], right?”
The healer gives me a strange look then refocuses on healing me.
A quick look at the fight shows the wyvern roaring in pain as it's entire head is engulfed in flame and all of its limbs are hacked off.
We're winning. Go us!
A though crosses my mind, and I check my Magic reserves and a bit of panic flashes through me as I realize how quickly they're dwindling.
I cut off my own [Self-Healing] and give Enricha a guilty grin. “So uh… you think I'm going to be mostly healed in, say, a couple minutes?”
She presses a hand against my chest. “No. You stay right here and don't get back into that fight. I'm not going to push myself just for you to go get yourself killed right away.”
My smile turns grim. “Actually, I more meant that my Magic is declining rapidly and the moment it does, this injury will start affecting me again. It'll probably kill me.”
Her eyes go wide, and the green light that flows around my head suddenly turns golden, a long with her own eyes. “I know how cool that must have felt, but that doesn't mean you get to die just to have it be your last accomplishment, okay?!”
“Thanks, miss.” A wave of exhaustion passes through me, and I realize just how much I've been through since I last slept. It's been a long day. “I think I'm gonna take a nap now. Is that alright?”
I'm not awake for long enough to hear her reply.





I yawn and stretch out, noticing how awfully cold and hard my bed is. Did Josh sneak into my house again last night and turn down the AC? I swear Emi, you've gotta stop letting him in just because you think he's cute! You're my sister, for heaven's sake!
My eyes slowly flutter open and jolt backwards as I'm faced with a series of concerned faces staring down at me.
“Who–” My eyes catch on the wyvern's wrecked corpse. “Oh. Hi,” I say lamely.
“Bwahaha!” Randun slaps his hand down on my shoulder, making me quake a bit. “Good job, kiddo!”
“You might be almost as cool as I am,” Ollie says with a squint and grin that tells me he's just messing around. Geisha punches him in the shoulder anyways.
“How does your head feel?” Enricha asks with a concerned expression.
“I'm fine, I think. A bit hungry, I guess?” My stomach rumbles to punctuate my point, causing Geisha and Randun to laugh.
“Let's head back then, celebrate our victory in the tavern, eh?”
“He's not old enough for alcohol, Randun!” Enricha scolds.
“Well he's old enough tonight. No more boy could have managed something as ballsy as that.” He declares, winking at me. “Ya did good, kid.”
He helps me to my feet, and I spot Nadir laying in the snow beside me. I pick her up with a grin. The party had brought my pack back from where I'd left it, so I took a moment of time to pull out the rag and cleaner and clean Nadir’s blade.
After scrubbing the blood and grime off for a couple minutes, Nadir is returned to her former beauty. I strap everything into its place, with Nadir being attached to my back and my bundle resting on my side, then jog to catch up with the party, quickly reaching the spot where they’re waiting for me.

[Quest Complete!]
Teamwork makes the dream work.
+1 to all Matrices.
+1 Level.
You gain an automatically assigned weapon mastery Skill.

Oh. I guess it's time to leave, then.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Seventh Step.]

Name: Xan Kim
Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (7)] (Upgradeable)
Level: 6 (/7)
Class: N/A

Might: 7 (8) +
Mobility: 7 (9) +
Mind: 7 +
Magic: 7 (8) +
Matrix Points: 12

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent]
Powers: [Unkillable] Level 4, [Self-Healing] Level 3
Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 4, [Tracking] Level 1, [Glaive Mastery] Level 1

I exit the world, headed off to the next Step.

(14,814) Steps 4-6

A/N: This encompasses the first part of Step 6, the rest will be in the next chapter.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Fourth Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (4)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 1 (/4)

Class: N/A

Might: 4 (7) +

Mobility: 4 (8) +

Mind: 4 (6) +

Magic: 4 (7) +

Matrix Points: 2

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession]

Powers: [Self-Healing] Level 1, [Unkillable] Level 1

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 1

The screen broke me out of my thoughts, and I inspected the new entry. I saw that I could assign the “Matrix Points” wherever I wanted, but my stats would still all be locked at 4, so there wasn’t really a point in it.

I took a moment to look around before looking into the other stuff I didn’t understand, and it’s a good thing I did, else I might have been outright impaled by the goblin standing next to me.

[The Fourth Step: Survive the Horde]

I was in a village, in the middle of the forest. It looked medieval, but I suppose that makes more sense than the sci-fi city I’d been in for my second step.

Anyways, back to the goblin. It was trying to stab me, it really was, but it was missing a leg, so I could just… take a step back. The poor little guy was getting so angry about it, literally frothing at the mouth. Or… does he have rabies? That would make a lot of sense, actually.

On the next thrust, I grab the spear from his hands and smack him in the face with the butt of it. I might be weaker than average, but I’m still more than strong enough to overpower this infant-shaped monster.

It proves trivial to slay him with his own weapon.

After that, I step closer to the center of the village, the sounds of battle reaching my ears. Metal clashes, doors are smashed, and the wails of the dying echo out, some human, others not.

A pair of goblins round the corner and cackle at the sight of me, rushing forward with crude daggers.

They might be a bit faster than I currently am, but the reach a polearm provides once more proves useful. The first goblin tries to weave around my spear, but I’m working with an angle, which allows me to make larger motions more quickly.

A simple step backwards and reroute of my hands and he rushes straight towards my edge. A jab to the stomach and he’s finished, his tiny body proving easy to fully pierce with the sharp blade of this crude spear. I do my best to ignore the blood and entrails that spill out of him as he falls to the ground, his voice joining the chorus of the fallen.

His companion hesitates, looking at the body of his friend, but then fury consumes the logic within him and he rushes me.

This time, I'm not able to get a quick and easy kill, but I manage to kick him when he's close enough. I'd always wondered how far a child would fly if you punted them with all your might. Turns out you can get a couple feet out of it.

He tries to recover, but I smack him down with the shaft of my spear and raise it high before plunging it into his prone form, piercing his back right where the heart would be in a human.

He doesn't rise again.

Quickly, I lower myself and try to sneak along, making my way closer and closer to where the fighting is going on.

It's only when I reach the town square that I realize how bad the situation is.

Initially, I'd assumed that all the goblins would be as easy to kill as the ones I'd fought. I was wrong. The small green goblins were the majority, yes, but there were also large, red-skinned ones.

[Hobgoblin | Level 6]

That specific hobgoblin was the leader, and he was kitted out with actual armor and carried real sword, not just scrap gear. He was giving orders to the larger hobgoblins while the small green goblins hopped about causing chaos.

I backed away from the scene, feeling like a coward, but knowing that I wouldn't be able to handle that mess.

A few more goblins found their ends on my blade, giving me only small cuts and bruises that [Self-Healing] quickly erases, but for the most part I just hid in a wrecked building. It had already been ransacked and destroyed, so it wasn't checked on again. Eventually, I got the notification I'd been waiting for.

[Quest Complete!]

Discretion is the greater part of valor, and knowing your weaknesses is one of the most significant strengths one can have.

Please choose a reward:

1. Trait: [Silent]
2. Power: [Invisibility]
3. Skill: [Stealth]

I quickly examine my options, hoping to get away from this place of death as soon as possible.

[Silent]: Have you ever been called out for farting in class, or burping too loudly on a plane? No longer! All sounds, scents, and impressions you create unintentionally will be suppressed.

[Invisibility]: I think we all know what you're going to use this one for, you perv. Drain your Magic to allow light to pass through your body. May be extended to objects you are in contact with at a higher mana cost.

[Stealth]: The archetypal Skill of thieves, rogues, and hunters of all kinds. You will gain an instinctive knowledge of how to move in order to reduce your impact on the environment and visibility.

Now that middle one's just offensive. I am not like that!

I already have two Powers that drain my Magic, and [Silent] feels like it's a more passive version of [Stealth]. The only thing [Stealth] does that [Silent] doesn't is make me harder to see, but [Silent] means that I won't even have to try to be sneaky, it'll just sorta happen.

I poke [Silent] and am swiftly moved to my next Step.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Fifth Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (5)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 1 (/5)

Class: N/A

Might: 5 (7) +

Mobility: 5 (8) +

Mind: 5 (6) +

Magic: 5 (7) +

Matrix Points: 2

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent]

Powers: [Self-Healing] Level 1, [Unkillable] Level 1

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 2

I'm in another forest now. Luckily, I still have my spear, else–

[The Fifth Step: Hunt the Jaygeroas]

What the frick is a jaygeroas? And how am I meant to– nevermind, giant trail of ash, got it.

[Silent] mutes the sounds of my breath and footsteps as I walk through the woods, following the still-smoking trail of this “jaygeroas.”

The forest is completely silent, as though it's been completely suppressed by the presence of this apex predator. It feels… wrong, somehow, for a forest of all places to be this quiet. Not even I am making any sounds. It makes it all seem fake, somehow.

It doesn't take long for me to find the jaygeroas. The monster is lounging on a particularly large rock.

[Jaygeroas | Level 5]

It doesn't notice my approach, likely thanks to my new trait, so I take a moment to inspect it.

It somewhat resembles a cross between a wolf and a tiger, but its body seems almost plant-like, its green fur seeming strangely organic and alive. At the same time, it seems to be in a state of constant smoldering, heat radiating off it in waves.

Thank goodness I still have this spear. I do not want to get close to that thing.

I continue to approach [Silent]ly, maneuvering to ensure that I approach from its blind spot. Luckily, its lazy posture makes it especially easy to predict its movements and line up an attack.

Repeating what is probably the only attack I really know how to do, I thrust the spear downwards into the body of the jaygeroas.

The blade sinks a couple inches deep into the beast’s matter, then stops as a scream seems to emanate from every part of its body. A few follicles of fur rush towards the spear and begin wrapping around it, but I yank it free before it can be captured.

Just a moment later, the monster is fully upright, glaring at me with its flaming eyes and dripping green… What's it called? Phloem? Or is it just chlorophyll?

My consideration is cut short as the jaygeroas breathes fire at me.

I do my best to roll out of the way, but my side is still singed, my left arm getting completely charred.

For a bare instant it goes slack, the burns on my skin making it extremely painful to move it. It's completely unbearable, and I can feel my skin carbonizing and popping. Then [Unkillable] kicks in, and it's all gone.

The jaygeroas hacks out a lungful of smoke, and I rush in to capitalize on its moment of weakness. It's prepared, though, and swipes at me to buy itself some room.

The paw catches me off guard, smashing into me mid-lunge. I'm thrown to the ground, spear knocked out of my hands. I hear a crunch in my right arm from my impact with the ground, but [Unkillable] allows me to ignore the injury and push forward as though I were in peak condition.

I rush to grab my spear, getting my hands on it just in time for the jaygeroas to pounce on me, smoke curling around its huge fangs.

I orient the spear point between myself and the beast, catching it in the chest as it descends upon me.

*SNAP*

*Shhhh!*

The tip of my spear snaps off inside the jaygeroas and it makes a sound of pain landing somewhere between a cat's hiss and the rustling of leaves. It backs off, inspecting me warily.

I let out a breath of relief, then cringe at the state of my spear. Now I'll just have to hope that this monstrosity dies before I do.

With that in mind, I feel out my Magic reserves, wincing again when I find that they're already half empty.

I'll have to finish this quickly, then.

The jaygeroas notices my distraction and lunges for me, but rather than back off, I follow suit, dashing inwards and carefully aiming the broken end of my spear. My opponent realizes what I'm doing too late to stop me, and I jab my staff down it's throat.

This won't be enough to kill it, but–

*FSHEEEW*

I'm blown backwards by an eruption of flame that escapes the body of my opponent, tearing itself to shreds as a bomb detonates inside of it.

[Quest Complete!]

Expect the unexpected.

Please choose a reward:

1. Trait: [Photosynthesis]
2. Power: [Fire Breath]
3. Skill: [Tracking]

I reduce the flow of magic to [Unkillable] until the pain is a dull ache, then turn on [Self-Healing] while looking over my options.

[Photosynthesis]: Eat the sun! Wait, that sounded cooler than it was supposed to… Drastically increases your Magic regeneration based on how much sunlight your body is exposed to.

[Fire Breath]: Have you ever wanted to be a dragon? Step right up and find out what it feels like to be burned from the inside out! Drain your Magic at a prodigious rate to expel flames from your mouth. Does not directly harm the user.

[Tracking]: Ever lost your keys or credit card? If so, you'll know the value of this Skill. Guides you and helps you know what to look for while tracking or hunting.

[Fire Breath] immediately appeals to me, but I already have two Powers that demand a lot of Magic, so I can't afford to use it. If I could take [Photosynthesis] at the same time, then it might have been great, but I can't, so yeah.

[Tracking] appears to be the worst of the choices at first glance, but I wouldn't have been able to find the jaygeroas if it hadn't left such an obvious trail. I might need to do something like this again, and there would be no guarantee that it would be so simple.

I take [Tracking], letting the other options vanish.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Sixth Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (6)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 2 (/6)

Class: N/A

Might: 6 (7) +

Mobility: 6 (8) +

Mind: 6 +

Magic: 6 (7) +

Matrix Points: 4

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession], [Silent]

Powers: [Self-Healing] Level 2, [Unkillable] Level 2

Skills: [Improvised Fighting] Level 3, [Tracking] Level 1

Music fills my ears, and my eyes catch on a musician playing a tune atop a table. Her ears are pointed, and her guitar is oddly curved and bent at the head.

Wait, is that… She’s one of those Tolkien elves, and that’s a… lute? Or is it called a lyre? Whatever, it doesn’t matter.

I’m in a fantasy tavern.

[The Sixth Step: Finish the Story]

A large man steps into my line of sight, plopping himself down across the table with a thud.

“So you’re the one, eh?” He grunts, looking me up and down. He has a strange accent, halfway between Russian and Irish, and his voice is deep, rough, and strong.

“The one?” Does he know something about my… situation?

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” he said, waving away my question. “Look, all you need to know is that my group and I–” he gestures at a group of three individuals standing near the entrance to the tavern– “are looking to take on a quest to hunt a wyvern in the area, but we need an extra member to qualify for the mission. Are you up for it?”

I glance back at the quest prompt, sigh, and nod. Hopefully I won't have to do much.

“Wonderful!” He cheers, throwing a thumbs-up at his party members. “Now, you’re looking pretty poorly equipped. I could get you some gear, but you’d have to accept that as your payment for the mission. We’ll provide supplies and rations, but you must swear to me that you’ll stick with us.”

I think it over, then acquiesce, “I can agree to that. Unless you mistreat me. If, on the course of this quest, I feel like I’m in danger because of your actions and not in spite of them, I’ll be leaving. Does that sound fair?”

“Aye. The name’s Randun. I’m party leader, and I fight up front, with my sword. You?” He stands up, moving around the table to extend a hand.

I stand before returning the gesture, shaking his massive hand. His grip is tight, not because he’s squeezing hard but just because his hands are so huge and muscular. “I’m Xan. I… I don’t really know how I fight. I guess I’m a tank? As in, the guy that stands up front and takes all the hits. Though that’s more based on my abilities than any actual fighting style.”

Randun looks me up and down, raising an eyebrow. “Aren’t you a bit… small for that?”

“Well… yeah. I was just talking about the magic I use.”

“So you’re a mage, then?” He’s even more confused now. “What kind of wizard wants to get hit?”

I just shrug. “I mean, I don’t really want to be hit, I just have a couple Powers that help me not die if I am.”

“We’ll see. Let’s get you some armor, then. Probably something lighter, unless you have experience wearing anything heavier? Who am I kidding, look at ya! Let’s get you some gear..”

Randun hauls me over to his party, where I’m fussed over and considered up and down, then dragged out into the snow. It seems the city we’re in was founded atop a mountain, but luckily I didn’t have to suffer the cold for long. The healer in the party, a female elf– seriously, the only more stereotypical thing would be if she used a bow– threw a blanket over me straight away. Instantly, magically, I began to feel warmer.

We soon arrive at our destination, and I’m pulled into an armory. Instantly, the snow that had been stuck all over my body evaporates into steam, and I’m able to hand the blanket back to the healer– Enricha– along with my thanks.

Randun continues to pull me around by the arm until we stand in front of a man at a desk. His arms are as thick as my legs, and his right eye is covered by a brown eye patch.

“Kelsh, we’ve got a new one!” Randun grins at him.

“Ahh, brother!” Kelsh slowly pulls himself from the desk, his huge form rising up and up… and then sinking until his head is just above his table. “You need to come and visit more often, it gets lonely here, all by my lonesome.”

His accent is much thicker than Randun’s, but his height is so distracting to me that I barely notice it. His eyes caught on mine, and he rumbled, “Never seen a dwarf, laddie?”

I shake my head, looking away. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have stared.”

“Yer fine, kid. I don’t mind your curiosity. It’s a good thing, in fact.” He grins, moving around the desk and reaching way up to clap Randun on the shoulder. “Well, let’s get you some actual protection, eh?”

The pair lead the way through rows of supplies, arrows, weapons of all kinds, and all sorts of armor and armor accessories. Eventually, they stop amidst rows and rows of what look like really thick, long, stuffy shirts.

“Ever worn armor before, kid?” Kelsh whispers to me.

I shake my head, and he moves to stand beside me, inspecting the armor.

“Good armor is the key to your survival out there,” he mutters, “treat it well and you live. Allow it to fall apart, and so will you.” His single eye moves to look at me, burning a bright, intense blue. “In battle, your equipment is as good and important a companion as any. Learn to love your armor, and you’ll survive almost anything.”

The light in his eye calms, and he begins pulling gear from the shelves in a flurry.

“Um, what’s he doing?” I point at the odd dwarf and raise an eyebrow at Randun.

“Bah, don’t worry too much about it. That eye of his is potent. He’ll find the best equipment for ya, just be patient.”

A handful of minutes later, Kelsh stands before me with his arms full of stuff. “This is the first real gear you’ll ever wear, yes? Someday, you will need to replace it, but that’s no excuse to treat it poorly.” He pulls a rag and a bottle of clear liquid from a bundle, holding them out for me to see.

“Use this to clean the blade of your weapon every week, and then again after every battle. Don’t worry about running out of cleaning fluid, I packed enough for a solid year, provided you don’t get in too many fights, and there’s a note that you can hand off to any apothecary or alchemist to have them reproduce it. You don’t need as much as you think you do, trust me.”

The bundle is lowered to the floor, and Kelsh pulls out one of those odd shirts. “This is gambeson. You’ll be wearing it under this.” He pulled another piece of armor out. This one was more leather, but it had studs in it and– “Brigandine. It’s got metal plates in it to help deflect attacks. Together, these should protect you from most attacks, so long as you’re not completely overpowered. There’s a brush in there to clean it off. Do it dry, it’s better for the leather.

“Oh, and don’t forget to wear this.” He slaps a leather helmet down on top of the pack. “Your head is your most vulnerable point. Don’t lose it,” he finally finishes. I stare at him in shock. Then I turn to Randun to look at him, too. Was he seriously going to pay for all of this? Oh no… That grin of his grin is answer enough.

“How… How can I repay you for all of this?”

Randun just shrugs. “We made a deal. Come on the quest, and remember us when you’re a top-tier adventurer, okay?”

I continued to stare at him, but nodded slowly.

“Oh, my bad, I forgot to show ya this little beauty,” Kelsh interrupts, pulling a simple yet beautiful steel glaive from beneath the pack. Its blade is etched with a fractal pattern of lines, and its luster is so fine that everything else seems to fade away as I focus on it.

He slowly hands it to me, eying me carefully. “Weapons, like armor, must be carefully protected and maintained. They are tools of war, yes, and they are extremely tough, but you’ll burn through that durability far too swiftly if you’re careless with your blade.”

I hold the weapon in my hand, completely in awe. It’s so clean and beautiful, the light that reflects off of it seems to glow.

“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? She’s never seen combat before, so be careful with her, ease her into it. Still, I think you’ll be a good match.” Kelsh eyes the glaive like a proud father. “Her name’s Nadir. She’ll be there for you in the darkest moment, when you need her the most.”

His blue eye seems to burn with intensity again as he looks at Nadir, and he smiles. “Yes, yes, do treat her well.” He looks up at Randun. “I think we’re done here. You’ll show them out?”

“Of course, brother.” Randun’s voice seemed solemn, filled with reverence and respect. “What’s the total?”

Kelsh waves his hand. “Don’t pay me. Nadir’s been lonely for far too long. Finding a good match for her is enough.”

…Why are these two so generous?!

“Goodbye, brother.” Randun gives him a nod as he turns to exit the shop. The rest of us turn to follow, but I look back at the last minute to see Kelsh eying the glaive he gave me with his one eye.

“Goodbye…” He whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear.

(14,814) Steps 1-3

A/N: I asked one of your member and have been convinced to post this. You may kowtow before me 14 times for my generosity.

“Xan, are you coming?” My friend, Josh, anxiously calls out from the door.

“Of course,” I reply with a wide grin, stepping up beside him. “I wouldn't miss this for the world.”

The two of us are headed to the coast on a “special training mission” with our track team. At least, that's how the coach had sold it to the faculty. In reality, we'd probably just run around on the beach and hang out all week.

Josh had swung by to make sure I get to school on time, since he knows my history with being late. It's not my fault school starts at such an unreasonable hour. If the education system was going to try to shape me into the perfect little factory worker, they could at least do it when I was fully awake.

We have an uneventful, if a bit cold, jog to the school, and make it just in time for the bell to ring. We rush through the hall and check in with Mr. Pennin, our Language Arts teacher– seriously, who wants to do English that early in the morning?– and make our way through the winding hallways to the back of the school. The bus is already running when we arrive, and we’re the last students on, having made it just in time.

“Alright guys,” the track coach instructs with a grin, “I know we're all excited, but I told the principal that this was a training mission, so we've gotta do at least a little running.” A few of the least industrious members– especially my fellow throwers– groan, but Mr. Justin just rolls his eyes.

“Anyways, make sure you're all on good behavior for David. He's being very generous with his time this week, so treat him with respect and don't forget to thank him!” He sits, ignoring the chorus of at least a dozen thank you’s.

With that over and done with, I slip on my headphones and turn on an audiobook to help distract my mind. Josh had already done the same before Mr. Justin even stood up, so I don't feel particularly bad about shutting him out.

I close my eyes and drift into oblivion for a time…

BEEEEEEP!

I throw my headphones off and rub at my ears. Had they malfunctioned? But they’re brand new! I swear, if I got scammed I'm gonna– BEEEEEEEEEP!

Now I’m looking around– finding everyone else on the bus doing the same, with even the bus driver having slowed to a crawl. Though that might have had more to do with the huge pileup ahead of us. Had everyone heard that noise?

Blue flashes at me from the corner of my eye, and I look around, finding nothing. I move to stand up, only to find that I… can’t.

A rumbling sound comes from just ahead, and a tear opens in the Earth. Suddenly, our bus is falling into a pit, aiming to be impaled on the largest stalactite I've ever seen. Stalagmite? Ugh, not the time for this!

Once again I try to move, but I’m paralyzed, my body completely limp. Some incredibly manly screams echo around me, but I find myself incapable of joining in.

We fall down, down, and just as we’re about to crash into the spike…

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Steps.]

[Good luck, Inheritor.]

I fall on my face, and blue fills my vision.

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (1)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 0 (/1)

Class: N/A

Might: 1 (6)

Mobility: 1 (7)

Mind: 1 (5)

Magic: 1 (6)

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession]

Powers: N/A

Skills: N/A

…Huh? What’s this nerd crap?

[The First Step: Escape Him]

What?

I rise to my feet, finding myself no longer paralyzed. Even so, I felt… weak. My body was slow to respond to my mind, I moved at a snail's pace, everything felt more difficult, and I just felt lesser.

Examining my surroundings, I found myself in an orchard. I also found “Him.”

[Doctor | Level 1]

The first thought that crosses my mind is, am I in a horror movie? Before me stood a bloodsoaked plague doctor, holding a huge saw in one hand and a scalpel in the other, both incredibly rusted and coated in congealed blood.

He takes a single, slow step forward, and I run for it.

Even with as frail as I’d become, I’m still in Track, and I quickly reach the end of the row, finding myself at a turn. I ran down the next, and was faced with two choices: left or right?

With no time to deliberate, I took the right turn, cursing whoever decided to design this orchard like a maze. When I turn, I find the Doctor at the end of the row. He’s still walking, but somehow he’s kept pace with me.

A few more right turns and I’m at a dead end. I sprint back the way I'd come, but the Doctor turns the corner just then and I have to dive out of the way of an overhead swipe. I land face-first in a pile of suspiciously perfect apples, quickly turning to find the strange Doctor readying another chop.

I barely manage to crawl out of the way of the strike, but the Doctor doesn't falter, instead creeping forward and preparing another.

Terror fills me. Am I seriously going to die like this? The stalactite would have at least gotten me in the news! At the very last moment, grasping around for something, anything, I do the only thing I can think of: I chuck an apple at his forehead.

*POP*

To my surprise, his head… vanishes. The space where the apple would have struck him is simply reduced to atoms.

[Quest Complete!]

An apple a day really does keep the Doctor away!

Please choose a reward.

1. Trait: [Tough]
2. Power: [Self-Healing]
3. Skill: [Healthy Living]

I stare open-mouthed at the corpse that had frozen in time, then the screen in my vision.

“I'm going insane,” I mutter to myself, “There's no other explanation. My bus fell into that sinkhole and I'm in the hospital. This is all a hallucination, caused by the drugs they put me on.”

Sadly, saying that doesn't make the images go away, so instead I focus on my choices, something that might give me some sort of control.

[Tough]: Your flesh hardens in response to light compression and damage. Your body simply shrugs off minor injuries. Never stub your toe again!

I've been called tough before, but I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant…

[Self-Healing]: Never suffer permanent disfigurement from scars again! Drain your Magic in order to recover from injuries that may otherwise become permanent or leave lasting damage.

A couple guys who used to be on the team could probably use that to heal their old injuries.

[Healthy Living]: Eat your veggies! Your Matrices gain a slight percentage boost based on how healthy your recent actions have been.

Matrices? Oh, M, like Might and Magic and stuff? Wait, so it'll make me stronger, faster, and smarter based on how healthy I eat and whether or not I work out? …Isn't that already how that works though?

I poke at the [Self-Healing] option, and more screens pop up.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Second Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (2)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 0 (/2)

Class: N/A

Might: 2 (6)

Mobility: 2 (7)

Mind: 2 (5)

Magic: 2 (6)

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession]

Powers: [Self-Healing] Level 1

Skills: N/A

Darkness engulfs me, and then I’m once more somewhere else.

This time I find myself looking up at a sky filled with lights and metal skyscrapers in every direction. Colorful shapes streak across the sky, and as one passes closer to me, I see that they’re cars. Well, not quite. They’re really more like sci-fi fighter jets, the type used in space.

I was in a park, and–

[The Second Step: Save the Cat]

…Can you even call it a cat when it's clearly made of solid metal?

The dumb “cat” is lodged between the base of two tree branches. How it got there was a mystery to me, but the objective is clear.

Not taking the time to second guess myself or think over what the heck had just happened in that stupid maze, I immediately get to climbing.

The last time I climbed a tree was back in fourth grade, so I'm a bit rusty, but my physicality is vastly superior to what it was back then. At least… it should have been. I’m much stronger than I was in that maze, but I'm still incredibly weak.

Still, I manage to clamber my way up the tree, and reach out to pull the cat off the tree… and it leaps down like nothing happened. Apparently, it didn't particularly feel like being “saved.”

[Quest Complete!]

Many of the people who will want your help will simply be choosing not to help themselves.

Please choose a reward:

1. Trait: [Soft Landing]
2. Power: [Unkillable]
3. Skill: [Climbing]

…Seriously?

Time once more seems to have stopped, so I drop from the tree and catch up with the metal cat. It looks oddly smug, so I kick it, which does more to hurt me than the robot. Maybe I should've paid more attention to the toe-stubbing immunity?

I use [Self-Healing] on my foot and arms, which were scratched up from my climbing endeavors. I feel a sort of energy flow out of my heart and into the rest of my body as if by instinct, and watch as my small cuts and scrapes vanish. The Power makes me feel drained, but I think it was worth it.

[Soft Landing]: Have you ever broken a leg falling from a rooftop? No more! With this Trait, you'll always land on your feet, and your downward drag will be increased massively, reducing the speed at which you fall drastically.

[Unkillable]: Okay, well, maybe not unkillable, but it'll certainly look that way! Drain your Magic to ignore the effects of your wounds, potentially preventing the loss of your limbs or delaying your death. At least, until you run out of Magic.

[Climbing]: Hee hee, hoo hoo! You're adept at climbing. Trees, rocks, mountains, you'll always be able to find and reach the next ledge.

I haven't really been seriously hurt yet, but at the same time, I don't see myself needing to climb very often. I also don't plan on falling off high places a whole lot.

Also, [Unkillable] just seems to work really well with [Self-Healing]. If I can just choose to not die, then heal myself, it'll be pretty hard for something like that Doctor to kill me.

I poke that one, and a familiar scene plays out.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Third Step.]

Name: Xan Kim

Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (3)] (Upgradeable)

Level: 0 (/3)

Class: N/A

Might: 3 (6)

Mobility: 3 (7)

Mind: 3 (5)

Magic: 3 (6)

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession]

Powers: [Self-Healing] Level 1, [Unkillable] Level 1

Skills: N/A

I'm staring at the back of a man's head now. He's bald, and it's so shiny I'm pretty confident that he greases his pate.

“Hehe, we're gonna have fun with you.”

[The Third Step: Save the Girl]

“Hhurgh!” The bald man moans, falling to his knees. My foot follows him to the ground. The two other men, and the girl between them, stare at me in shock. Getting kicked in the balls really sucks, and I can tell that these two do not want to follow in their friend's footsteps.

“Who's next?” I growl, staring down the smaller of the two. He flinches, looks at his companions, and runs off. The other merely clicks his tongue and throws the girl to the alley wall by the hair.

He whips out a knife, and I stare at it.

Maybe this hadn't been a good idea after all? Why was I even doing these quests? I could have just left, walked away and not given it a second thought.

My thoughts are cut short as the reprobate swings at me with his knife. He's clearly got no technique, but to be fair, neither do I. Furthermore, I'm still weaker than I should be.

I try to dodge the blow, but he manages to slice open my side. I grunt in pain, but my reactions are still on point, and I grapple his overextended arm and wrest the blade from him. [Unkillable] kicks in and my pain fades away, leaving only a sharp focus and determination.

He wriggles out of my grasp, but then I'm there with the knife, cutting into his left shoulder. I don't penetrate nearly as far as I felt I should have been able to, but it's enough to weaken him.

He grabs me with his other arm, but I stab again, this time closer to his neck.

The brute's hand jerks away as he coughs wetly. I take another look at his neck, realizing that I hadn't just stabbed closer to his throat: I’d bit right into it.

Luckily, a mixture between Criminal Minds and my recollection of my Anatomy teacher’s rants come to mind, reminding me that slit throats aren't always fatal, so long as they don't cut the trachea or carotid arteries. I don't worry too much. He's in pain, but he deserves that much. If he gets out of here, he'll live. If not, that's more his fault than mine.

He falls to his knees, but I know I'm not done yet. The baldie I floored at the start of the fight is shakily rising to his legs. His eyes are filled with vitriol, a rage that suddenly vanishes when I point my knife at him.

He runs away.

Coward.

I turn on [Self-Healing] and move to the girl's side. After checking on her to make sure she's relatively uninjured, I offer her a hand. Her eyes catch on the knife, and she flinches away from me.

Then time stops.

[Quest Complete!]

Heroes are rarely called such until they've washed the blood from their hands.

+1 to all Matrices.

+1 Level.

[Improvised Fighting] Skill

Everything fades again, but the image of the fear in her eyes doesn’t leave me, even as I’m whisked away.

A/N: More will follow soon.

Sneak Peek at 14,814

“Xan, are you coming?” My friend, Josh, anxiously calls out from the door.

“Of course,” I reply with a wide grin, stepping up beside him. “I wouldn't miss this for the world.”

The two of us are headed to the coast on a “special training mission” with our track team. At least, that's how the coach had sold it to the faculty. In reality, we'd probably just run around on the beach and hang out all week.

Josh swung by to make sure I get to school on time, since he knows my history with being late. It's not my fault school starts at such an unreasonable hour. If the education system was going to try to shape me into the perfect little factory worker, they could at least do it when I was fully awake.

We have an uneventful, if a bit cold, jog to the school, and make it just in time for the bell to ring. We rush through the hall and check in with Mr. Pennin, our Language Arts teacher– seriously, who wants to do English that early in the morning?– and make our way through the winding hallways to the back of the school. The bus is already running when we arrive, and we’re the last students on, having made it just in time.

“Alright guys,” the track coach instructs with a grin, “I know we're all excited, but I told the principal that this was a training mission, so we've gotta do at least a little running.” A few of the least industrious members– especially my fellow throwers– groan, but Mr. Justin just rolls his eyes.

“Anyways, make sure you're all on good behavior for David. He's being very generous with his time this week, so treat him with respect and don't forget to thank him!” He sits, ignoring the chorus of at least a dozen thank you’s.

With that over and done with, I slip on my headphones and turn on an audiobook to help distract my mind. Josh had already done the same before Mr. Justin even stood up, so I don't feel particularly bad about shutting him out.

I close my eyes and drift into oblivion for a time…

BEEEEEEP!

I throw my headphones off and rub at my ears. Had they malfunctioned? But they’re brand new! I swear, if I got scammed I'm gonna– BEEEEEEEEEP!

Now I’m looking around– finding everyone else on the bus doing the same, with even the bus driver having slowed to a crawl. Though that might have had more to do with the huge pileup ahead of us. Had everyone heard that noise?

Blue flashes at me from the corner of my eye, and I look around, finding nothing. I move to stand up, only to find that I… can’t.

A rumbling sound comes from just ahead, and a tear opens in the Earth. Suddenly, our bus is falling into a pit, aiming to be impaled on the largest stalactite I've ever seen. Stalagmite? Ugh, not the time for this!

Once again I try to move, but I’m paralyzed, my body completely limp. Some incredibly manly screams echo around me, but I find myself incapable of joining in.

We fall down, down, and just as we’re about to crash into the spike…

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Steps.]

[Good luck, Inheritor.]

===

I fall flat on my face, and blue fills my vision.

Name: Xan Kim
Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (1)] (Upgradeable)
Level: 0 (/1)
Class: N/A

Might: 1 (6)
Mobility: 1 (7)
Mind: 1 (5)
Magic: 1 (6)

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession]
Powers: N/A
Skills: N/A

…Huh? What’s this nerd crap?

[The First Step: Escape Him]

What?
I rise to my feet, finding myself no longer paralyzed. Even so, I felt… weak. My body was slow to respond to my mind, I moved at a snail's pace, everything felt more difficult, and I just felt lesser.
Examining my surroundings, I found myself in an orchard. I also found “Him.”

[Doctor | Level 1]

The first thought that crosses my mind is, am I in a horror movie? Before me stood a bloodsoaked plague doctor, holding a huge saw in one hand and a scalpel in the other, both incredibly rusted and coated in congealed blood.
He takes a single, slow step forward, and I run for it.
Even with as frail as I’d become, I’m still in Track, and I quickly reach the end of the row, finding myself at a turn. I ran down the next, and was faced with two choices: left or right?
With no time to deliberate, I took the right turn, cursing whoever decided to design this orchard like a maze. When I turn, I find the Doctor at the end of the row. He’s still walking, but somehow he’s kept pace with me.
A few more right turns and I’m at a dead end. I sprint back the way I'd come, but the Doctor turns the corner just then and I have to dive out of the way of an overhead swipe. I land face-first in a pile of suspiciously perfect apples, quickly turning to find the strange Doctor readying another chop.
I barely manage to crawl out of the way of the strike, but the Doctor doesn't falter, instead creeping forward and preparing another.
Terror fills me. Am I seriously going to die like this? The stalactite would have at least gotten me in the news! At the very last moment, grasping around for something, anything, I do the only thing I can think of: I chuck an apple at his forehead.
*POP*
To my surprise, his head… vanishes. The space where the apple would have struck him is simply reduced to atoms.

[Quest Complete!]
An apple a day really does keep the Doctor away!
Please choose a reward.
Trait: [Tough]
Power: [Self-Healing]
Skill: [Healthy Living]

I stare open-mouthed at the corpse that had frozen in time, then the screen in my vision.
“I'm going insane,” I mutter to myself, “There's no other explanation. My bus fell into that sinkhole and I'm in the hospital. This is all a hallucination, caused by the drugs they put me on.”
Sadly, saying that doesn't make the images go away, so instead I focus on my choices, something that might give me some sort of control.

[Tough]: Your flesh hardens in response to light compression and damage. Your body simply shrugs off minor injuries. Never stub your toe again!

I've been called tough before, but I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant…

[Self-Healing]: Never suffer permanent disfigurement from scars again! Drain your Magic in order to recover from injuries that may otherwise become permanent or leave lasting damage.

A couple guys who used to be on the team could probably use that to heal their old injuries.

[Healthy Living]: Eat your veggies! Your Matrices gain a slight percentage boost based on how healthy your recent actions have been.

Matrices? Oh, M, like Might and Magic and stuff? Wait, so it'll make me stronger, faster, and smarter based on how healthy I eat and whether or not I work out? …Isn't that already how that works though?
I poke at the [Self-Healing] option, and more screens pop up.

[Transporting User: Xan Kim to The Second Step.]

Name: Xan Kim
Title: [Successor of 14,814 Steps (2)] (Upgradeable)
Level: 0 (/2)
Class: N/A

Might: 2 (6)
Mobility: 2 (7)
Mind: 2 (5)
Magic: 2 (6)

Traits: [Inheritance], [Succession]
Powers: [Self-Healing] Level 1
Skills: N/A

Chapter 22: Inscriptions

I pulled myself out of the Loci Server, and was glad to see that I hadn’t simply discorporated, and was still in the megalibrary. I suppose my bodies falling apart wasn’t really a thingI had to worry about anymore, since the bodies I connected to weren’t actually storing my consciousness, but rather acted as a conduit for it.

I thought over the image I’d been shown and the knowledge that had been installed into my brain. It was an inscription, which was sorta like a rune. Inscriptions were like words in the language of magic, and they had the ability to passively use energy in ways that corresponded to their meanings. The process of finding inscriptions was supposed to be pretty rough, but Kelemnion was stuffed full of information about obscure stuff like that.

With that said, I was most certainly not ready for whatever that had been. Nope, I’m just gonna go over here and mess around with this dinky little introductory guide, thank you very much.

The first book didn’t take too long to read through, its knowledge seeming to flow into my mind as I held it. I quickly gained a more detailed perspective on what I’d just experienced.

Honestly, this book was more of a warning against using inscriptions than anything else. It described them as inefficient and wasteful. Once an inscription was given an intent, a touch of Conceptium, it would start replicating and using it when it was supplied with energy. Whatever "word" it was would determine how it would manifest. They tended to work like Auras or Domains, and would slowly alter the world to suit their purposes.

Exploring my knowledge of Ordinance, I found that it represented law and order. It would impose a set of rules upon the world, and the stronger the initially supplied intent, the more strict they would be. At the same time, the more energy that I poured into it, the more powerful the compulsion would be, both for the energies of the world and other creatures.

There was a lot more I wanted to learn here in Kelemnion before I went off to go test this stuff out. For example, I needed a way to grant my creatures greater resistance against Light-based attacks, as well as a way to counter whatever magic that Esheth guy was using. Hopefully the answer to one would lead me to the other.

I focused on giving the undead resistance to Light-based magics, and soon found myself in a somewhat more ornate part of the library. Perhaps this place was closer to Alephdria than I’d been before? Come to think of it, the area just before this one had seemed a bit… simpler. Maybe it was reaching the boundaries of what knowledge could be considered “forbidden?” That was an interesting theory. If I ever needed to know something that was just common knowledge, would Kelemnion even be able to help me find an answer?

Anyways, looking into the books around myself, I found that they were somewhat sparse, but extremely varied nonetheless. Did Kelemnion reorganize the shelves to slide everything I was searching for into the same space? Yet another interesting quirk about this place.

The first book that caught my attention whispered into my mind as I stepped closer. It was hard to grasp exactly what it was saying, but I got the sense that it had the answers I was looking for. Then again, that might just be the book talking.

I pulled it from the shelves and started leafing through. Like before, the book’s knowledge seemed to leech from the pages and into my brain.

This book, entitled Jackel's Affinities, detailed a method of forcing open the affinities of a creature to grant it resistances and magic of its own, and perhaps even specializations. As for the reason this was considered forbidden knowledge…

The creator of this book seemed to care very little for life other than his own, and had vivisected multiple people, some who had specializations and some who didn’t. For context, humans typically gain access to their legends and specialize when they’re 12. So, basically, he tortured small children to death. I think the stigma against him was justified.

Furthermore, he'd experimented on live creatures, some of which had then been set loose into populated areas. In other words, he wasn’t a very cool dude. Still, the information he’d left behind was perfectly usable, though I’d need to find a way to dunk my monsters in Lux without melting them.

The book itself recommended using items that granted elemental resistance, but I didn't have any of those. Perhaps I could figure out how to make some?

With that thought on my mind, I refocused and took a few steps, suddenly appearing much closer to the neutral zone of the Aethenium. The closest, thickest book in the area immediately started whispering into my mind, so I just picked it up to get it over with.

Just like with the Ordinance inscription that I'd accidently found, this one was just… so many things. It was a bit less vague, so the effects were slightly less varied, but they're was still a whole lot packed into this rune. Defense.

This inscription was simple, in theory. One might assume that to defend was simply to provide protection, maybe make automatic shields or provide resistance, like what I was after. In reality, defense was much more than that. Automatic traps. Weaponry. With the right intent and energy derivative, an inscription could take on nearly any attributes. An army reduced to ash by black fire. Pillars of stone rising to engulf a massive wolf, immobilizing it before it could attack a town. A warrior’s skull exploding as they tried to slash down at a robed figure.

I could feel my mind buckling from the images, but managed to hold on this time. That was, apparently, a mistake.

An urge swept over me, then faded to a slight tickle. It was, predictably, telling me to use and embody this Defense inscription. I tried to push it away, but found that I couldn't. Instead, I drew into my Loci Server, that semi-physical space within my Repository that stored the pure state of my soul.

Rapidly, the tingling sensation at the back of my brain vanished, and I felt a burden leave my body. Perhaps this place had affected me more than I'd been able to notice? I would have to be more careful with what I chose to read here in the future.

Now, I could try to cross reference the information I've gained with the other books here, but I think I'd rather just go test this stuff out. An inky pool spread out before my feet as I activated Library Pass for the second time, stepping forward and sinking into it for a moment. Then I stood before my Repository, in my tower once again.

As soon as I stepped through, I felt a strong buzz, so I checked on my legend to see the change.

Seif Ambrose

Ancient Seeker 5

Repository 2

• Infomorph 2
• Loci Server 2
• Available Boon (Mind Drones, Firewall)

Forbodum Manipulation 1

• Esoteric Sight 2
• Conceptual Control 1

Occult Sovereignty 1

• Encompassing Knowledge 1
• Abstractive Influence 1

Kelemnion’s Gate 1

• Library Pass 1
• Available Boon (Librarian’s Favor, Book Borrowing)

Dark Whispers 1

• Ancient Mutterings 1
• Inspiration 0

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Caerbalope, Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban

Ooh, two options at once. Then again, these Skills are very low-leveled, especially when you consider that I won’t be able to level up again until they’re all at least level 6. They were more powerful, and were based on a more esoteric energy, but they were still currently weak, especially for someone with five Willpower Enhancements.

Anyways, the options. Mind Drones would allow me to create small splinters of my consciousness which would carry out specific tasks. I had Wisps that could do the same, so it didn’t appeal all that much, though they would have more of my abilities, considering that they would basically be autonomous extensions of myself. Still, I could replicate the effect by stuffing a ton of knowledge and energy into a Wisp, so it wouldn’t be unique. Firewall would strengthen the barrier between my Loci Server and any potential threats by creating a filter throughout the bonds between itself and the real world, specifically between my bodies and physical Repository.

Firewall was also somewhat redundant, considering that I knew how to replicate the Mental Shield from my previous evolution, but in this case it would also function as a more passive defense, whereas I actually needed to waste a bit of focus to get Mental Shield working. Another interesting thing about Firewall was that it would also block hostile Conceptium from entering my Loci Server, so any that entered my space would be completely under my control.

I looked over the Gate options before confirming my selection, just to make sure that I wouldn’t regret my decision.

Librarian’s Favor would give me more power and authority within Kelemnion, which was something I was already greatly enjoying. I would be able to reorganize bookshelves at a glance and control exactly where I went and exactly what books I saw. For example, if I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, I would just be able to wander around and maybe find my way to the border of Kelemnion, wherever it intersected with another affinity, and then search around to see what sort of things were there.

Book Borrowing was exactly what it sounded like. I would be able to take a single book out of Kelemnion without incurring any penalties or facing repercussions. What those penalties and repercussions would be, I had no clue, but in any case I would be glad to avoid them.

Still, Librarian’s Favor felt better to me. I had a pretty good memory, even if I sometimes forgot or overlooked details here and there, and I sorta doubted that I’d be able to find anything fun for Azrael to read. The poor girl was going loopy from the boredom, and even her occasional hunts had stopped cheering her up.

I really couldn’t do much since I was so busy handling my own progression to prepare for that Esheth guy’s return. I was hoping that her upcoming specialization upgrade would help, but she needed a Light affinity. Hopefully my work here will help with that.

Having concluded my deliberations, I discarded Mind Drones and Book Borrowing, then created an Arachnomicon in front of me, having chosen it because of its flat shape and relative inexpensiveness. The creation and animation process was a bit… odd, though. Much like the creation of my own body and the Wisp from earlier, it was completely different, but in a good way. Once I completed the process by animating it, I inspected it for a long moment.

A couple basic commands were followed by more complex ones, and I slowly nodded my head. Forbodem was a knowledge-based energy, and so it seemed that creations using it were just more intelligent. Had my intelligence increased as well, since it had altered my Phylactery into a Repository? An interesting question, but I hadn’t noticed any shift, so there probably wasn’t any difference.

On my other side, I formed a bone dagger. I was skilled enough with creating undead flesh that I could freehand stuff like that, and I needed it for the inscriptions I’d be making. The books I’d studied–read: downloaded into my head–had informed me in no uncertain terms that inscriptions had to be done by hand. It had something to do with energy flow and Conceptium that was slowly formed and fed into the material as you carved. Eventually, I would probably get a specialized Antigo/Wisp task force to work on this, but for now I would have to do it myself.

I grabbed the monstrosity by its cover and commanded it to stay still as I began to carve. Being a creation of pure Forbodem, the energies within it rapidly began to shift to accommodate the rune that was forming. This process was actually quite interesting, and had been briefly covered by the instructional books. The more compatible a surface you were working with, the faster the process would go by. Opposing elements would resist the transformation.

Using a pure form of one energy for both the creation and activation of an inscription, though, was considered a bad idea for reasons that will become obvious when I use this one.

The defensive rune rapidly took shape on the Arachnomicon’s cover, and I was soon glaring down at a somehow-familiar group of scratches. It didn't really look like anything, but it felt like it did.

With the physical portion of the work finished, I started searching around for an intent to shove into the rune, but came up mostly blank. I had the Death Conceptium stored in my Repository, but I felt that it would be unwise to use Death in a Defense inscription, especially if I was going to power it with Forbidden Knowledge.

Instead, I started focusing on gathering Conceptium with my Abstractive Influence, concentrating on the idea of making a wall. Pretty basic, I know, but I felt that it would be effective as an initial experiment.

Once I’d gathered enough, I siphoned off a bit of this “Barrier” Conceptium to make another rat in my Repository, chuckling as it took shape. The rest of the energy was slowly inserted into the inscription I’d made. A “normal” crafter would have to focus completely on their intent and purpose for the rune while making it and just spew energy into it the whole time. If their concentration faltered or they ran out of energy before the inscription was finished and completely suffused with Conceptium, then the project would need to be scrapped. Forbodem was letting me skip that step and guarantee a 100% success rate, so long as I knew what I was doing and didn’t mess up the inscription itself.

When I’d stuffed enough Barrier intent into the Defense inscription, it started to glow. This was the sign that it was complete, so I stuffed the remaining energy into the rat in my head, making it grow even larger. It was now about the same height as an infant, but I only took a moment to appreciate the giant glowing rat stuck in the rubber room that was my mind.

I slowly pushed a bit of Forbodem out into the inscription, and it was latched onto. The color of the inscription’s glow shifted to a dark purple, with small bits of black floating around. Quickly, I grabbed the Arachnomicon and pointed it at the wall before shunting even more energy into it. My creation started to quiver and shriek, and then the inscription activated.

A huge plane of symbols formed in front of me even as the living book crumbled to dust. I stepped towards the wall of force, and felt a slight shift, like I was back in Kelemnion and approaching a particularly powerful book. I threw a rock at it, and it was repelled with the same power that it struck the barrier with.

As for why my book turned to dust, that was actually a pretty easy question. When an inscription was created on and powered with the same type of energy, it was called a talisman. Talismans had limited uses, but were stronger than the other, more lasting type, which were called enchantments. A talisman would basically cannibalize itself to make an effect, whereas an enchantment would provide a weaker effect whenever you provided it with energy.

Anyways, I didn't yet have all the parts to put the plan of immunizing my creatures to the Light into action, but I did have some new ideas for how they could function. I ran some quick tests and found that I could still recreate all of my creatures, even Uban and the Nailwolves. In fact, the Nailwolves’ magic was much stronger now, which made sense since they were using my new affinity. I could also still access and create Seams, and all the rest of my “Spatium” abilities were stronger than ever.

I inspected the second set of floors. I’d never actually gotten a good look at what my Wisps had styled them after, but when I got a good look at it, I was actually quite surprised. It was a karst, with stone pillars and sinkholes littering the terrain. The Nailwolves sat up on elevated peaks, hidden from the view of their prey. From this position, they’d be able to ambush adventurers easily, which would let them utilize their devastating attacks more effectively.

The Nailwolves were mostly solitary, since they were just so powerful, but I decided to organize a couple into packs throughout this second section of my tower. They’d be something like the elites of the floor, anyone unlucky enough to find them would have a high likelihood of simply dying. That might be a little unfair, but that’s just how chance works. If they take the risk and roll snake eyes, that’s on them.

Having done all of that inspection, I created three Nailwolves and a single Arachnomicon on the 16th floor.

It was boss time, and this was going to be cool.

Chapter 21: A Rubber Room With Rats

Obviously, figuring out how my new Repository worked was at the top of my list. It was my brain, after all, and would also dictate how I’d control my body. Well, bodies.

I returned my mind to its natural resting place and felt a shift in my gem. I let the change take place, then looked out into my influence, finding that my body hadn't disintegrated like it usually did. It was instead bound to me by a small thread of Mentum, reinforced by Forbodum.

When I concentrated on the body, the stream became more active, and I was suddenly piloting it again. It was an instant transition, and I knew that my consciousness hadn’t moved at all. Exiting the body was similarly immediate.

I also practiced this with the bodies that I’d layered on top of each other previously, and found that it worked just as well there. With that said, something about the bodies felt lacking. I had access to a higher tier of energy now, and these forms were just less than I was capable of.

To rectify this, I started to form a new body for myself right away. The Forbodum flowed in to fund my experiment, and it rapidly took shape in front of me. I’d gone for another basic skeleton form, but even so, the body felt like it was somehow… more. This was the power of advanced energies. They were categorically stronger, with each individual concept that they contained enhancing the others rather than working against them.

Soon, my new body had taken form, and I felt that it responded nigh-instantaneously to my commands. Like in my example before, Death piloted the corpse, Space enhanced its physical movements, and Arcane allowed energy to travel through it rapidly. Of course, I wasn’t talking about the energies themselves, since I didn’t actually have those affinities. I meant that this one energy, Forbodum, was applying different aspects of itself to accomplish this goal.

I used Infomorph on the body, locking onto it and gaining control over it. It was actually a much smoother and cleaner process than simply possessing things had been, likely because the energy that both made and connected me to the puppet was so good at transferring knowledge and information. It wasn’t just that, though. The body was much stronger than it had been before–exponentially so.

Combination energies were wild.

I got the buzzing sensation that told me I’d obtained a Skill level, and realized that I could now pull up my status without needing to look at my Repository. Instead, the information would transfer directly to me, taking whatever form I was comfortable with. In this case, a visual effect. With that said, I ignored it for now. It would be best to get at least somewhat of a grip on my capabilities before upgrading anything.

Forbodum Manipulation was the next on my list, and I turned on the new sense it had provided for me. Esoteric Sight showed that there was a distinct lack of Forbodum in my surroundings, though there was quite a bit of it in and around my Repository, and there was also a bit in the Conflict Tungsten I’d found a while back. That made sense, considering that Forbodum was an energy centered on dark magic and knowledge, and so Conflict Tungsten–a tough metal that was infused with quite a bit of Death energy and was probably an unknown to the majority of the world–would give off at least a little bit of it. My Repository also gave off energy, though it wasn’t drawn from my Mentum. Rather, I believe it’s because it was absolutely a dark art that the common man would never have an opportunity to learn about.

As for actually Manipulating the stuff, it turned out to be much harder than I’d expected. Forbodum was a strictly conceptual energy, and that meant that understanding the things that brought the energy into the world was needed to control it.

I understood the Conflict Tungsten pretty well–it was a metal that had become infused with a massive quantity of Death energy, the result of a series of wars that had been waged here, in the Dead Belt. The intent of those who had fallen to produce that Death energy had seeped into the metal, causing it to be even more violent than normal Necrosis. It would destroy any other energies that came close. Well, clearly that wasn’t the case with Forbodum, but in all other cases that I’d observed, it held true.

To move and control that idea, I needed to keep it within my mind. If the intent that held it together and in that state faltered, then the Death energy would return to being simple Necrosis, and the Forbodum would be destroyed.

I also realized during this time that my recreated Conflict Tungsten was far less powerful than the natural one. I’d only managed to copy a small amount of its intent, meaning that this stuff was far less anti-magical than it should have been.

As for controlling the Forbodum that my Repository spat out, that wasn’t too hard once I thought of what it did and what it was, locking that into my mind. I probably just had a naturally greater understanding of it, since it was basically my soul’s house.

After screwing around with that for a little bit, I tested out my Occult Sovereignty. Encompassing Knowledge was the Spread Undeath equivalent for this Skill, except it also had some information gathering capabilities, like a built-in Omniscience. Anything that this influence passed over would instantly be easier for me to understand. Of course, I wouldn’t know everything about it instantly, but I’d learn much faster than I would without the Boon.

I began the arduous process of converting my old influence into this new one, but eventually got bored and made a Wisp to do it for me. Doing so brought my attention to the annoying fact that Create Undead, like all the rest of my old Boons, was harder for me to use. Still, when the Wisp eventually popped out, it was just… better. Its comprehension, speed, and energy retention capabilities were all much higher than any of the ones I’d made in the past. It started rapidly doing my job for me, and I turned my attention to the next thing I could do.

Library Pass, huh? I’m going to wait a minute on that one. I get the feeling that traveling to another dimension might not be the best idea right now.

Dark Whispers… yeah, that was definitely a passive effect. I suppose that it must have been installed into my brain when I got access to Forbodum. In fact, the Forbodum energy itself was probably the source of them, and this Skill was just a representation of that. It also would give me some ability to control its progression and hopefully keep myself from going insane.

Seif Ambrose

Ancient Seeker 5

Repository 1

• Infomorph 1
• Available Boon (Mental Plurality, Loci Server)

Forbodum Manipulation 1

• Esoteric Sight 1
• Available Boon (Dark Psionics, Conceptual Control)

Occult Sovereignty 1

• Encompassing Knowledge 1
• Available Boon (Abstractive Influence, Corrupt Mind)

Kelemnion’s Gate 0

• Library Pass 0

Dark Whispers 0

• Ancient Mutterings 0

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Caerbalope, Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban

Oooh, exciting. It hadn’t been all that long since I’d last gotten Boon options, but it felt like it’d been an eternity. My previous Skills had capped out some time ago, and so it was nice to finally see some real progression again.

The Boons on offer were just… amazing. It really showed the difference between normal elements and these higher affinities. Mental Plurality would literally allow me to think of two things at a time, whereas Loci Server would back up my mind and allow me to seek refuge in my Repository, gaining effective immunity to all mental effects and making my memory perfect. It was like one of those mind palace things from the movies, almost a physical space for me to escape into and control. Anything inside was completely under my control.

Dark Psionics was a Boon that would let me use Forbodum to affect basically anything, even things that I normally wouldn't be able to control or manipulate without dedicated Skills. Conceptual Control, though, focused on what I was unsuccessfully trying to do before with the Conflict Tungsten, allowing me to move specific magical intents from one place to another, though it would be different when stored in Forebodum.

Abstractive Influence was also based on concepts, except this one expelled them into my influence, having minor effects on everything in the target areas. Corrupt Mind was somewhat similar, but it would just drive people in my influence insane, which didn't appeal as much.

I saw something of a build forming, and decided to go with my instincts, taking Loci Server, Conceptual Control, and Abstractive Influence.

The latter two just felt like they'd work well together, whereas the former would likely help me hold off the madness that was bound to encroach on my own mind. Furthermore, I didn't really need to think about multiple things at a time. It was strong, sure, but I wasn't planning on being much of a fighter, so I didn't need quick reactions, and it wasn't like it would increase my Mentum capacity or anything. I'd be limited to the same amount of energy while having multiple brains drawing from it. Furthermore, I could foresee myself having issues with… me.

Plus, I'd had a little idea while looking at this combination of Boons.

First, I used Abstractive Influence. This slowly, slowly gathered and altered intent, applying it to an area. This could have a few effects, but that's not exactly what I was thinking of while picking up this combo. The way it worked was actually pretty easy: it took whatever intent I pushed into it and applied it to the magic in the area.

I didn't use any specific one here, though, and instead just pushed blank intent into the area. It sounds pretty contradictory to call any amount of intent "blank," but that's just what it was. It was like throwing Mentum at something. The blank intent was absorbed by the magic in the area I was concentrating on.

Once a small amount of concept had gathered–it was Death intent, but that should be obvious when you consider where this was taking place–I used my Conceptual Control to strip it from the w magic. Now that I had the Boon, it was much simpler to maintain a hold over the ethereal power. When I used regular magic, I was able to simply direct energies, but that hasn't been working so I'd switched over to using a vice grip. That had forced me to focus far more than necessary.

Instead, the correct way to control this concept stuff was to let it be mostly free and only occasionally push it back together. Then, just form mental boundaries wherever you want it not to go. With this method, the concept/intent energy–I still wasn't sure which was which–would gradually pool out and then recondense closer to your goal post.

I took a moment to check out my new Loci Server and chuckled gleefully when I found that it would work how I wanted. Slowly, the Death concept stuff–"Conceptium."–was shoved towards the center of the room.

Wait, what? Conceptium? Where had that come from?

A buzz came a second later and I got my answer. With that said, I didn't stop working on what I was currently doing after that brief interruption. I'd lost a bit of Death Conceptium from the distraction, but there was still plenty so long as I kept ahold of the rest.

Soon, the mysterious power touched my Repository and vanished. I followed it into the space, and looked around at the small space in my soul. Currently, it was blank and empty, save for myself and a ball of smoke that was sitting there, stationary except for the black tendrils that came off of it. That was obviously the Conceptium I'd gathered.

The room, though, gave me an uncomfortable feeling. It wasn't because of any size constraints–in fact, there didn't seem to be any–and it didn't have anything in particular that was causing the feeling, it was just that… Well, there was nothing. At all.

The Boon had let me know that I would be able to control this space with even greater ease than I had when controlling my domain. In that case…

A cube the size of a warehouse rapidly formed around me. As soon as it was done, I chuckled to myself and covered the walls with rubber panels. I laughed harder when I realized that I could shape the Death concept, and transformed it into a rat.

If I was going to be going crazy, then for goodness’ sake, it would be in a rubber room with rats.

After taking another few moments to explore and admire this new mental space, I stepped out of it and got back to tinkering with my other Skills.

Seif Ambrose

Ancient Seeker 5

Repository 1

• Infomorph 1
• Loci Server 1

Forbodum Manipulation 1

• Esoteric Sight 2
• Conceptual Control 1

Occult Sovereignty 1

• Encompassing Knowledge 1
• Abstractive Influence 1

Kelemnion’s Gate 0

• Library Pass 0

Dark Whispers 0

• Ancient Mutterings 1
• Available Boon (Obsession, Inspiration)

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Caerbalope, Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban

Schnitzel. Both of these sucked.

Obsession would assign the memories of a few creatures to each task. For example, if I were experimenting with making new undead, I would always get whatever advice I received from the same spirit, making it more predictable and contiguous. However, it would also make me hear the voices much more often, which wasn’t something I really wanted.

Inspiration was… good and bad. Instead of voices, I’d also see images, visions of the finished product of the advice I was receiving. While it might lead to some horrific images popping into my head now and then, I still felt it was better than Obsession. Hearing different voices would provide me with a more diverse portfolio of knowledge, and this way, I’d get more out of fewer interactions with these spirits. I felt that was for the best.

Inspiration soon joined the other entries on my list, and I returned my gaze to the final, unexplored Skill. With a sigh, I reached out for the knowledge it sought to provide me with, and started using the ability.

A pool of black ink spread across the floor. After a few moments, it stabilized, and I stepped onto it. My body slowly started sinking into the gate, and after a moment of pure darkness and a lack of all sensation, my senses returned to me all at once.

Kelemnion was, simply put, an infinite library. Well, okay, infinite was a bit of a stretch, but as I looked out into the hall of bookshelves I’d been dropped in, I found it hard to believe that it wasn’t. The shelves stretched so far into the distance that it looked downright non-Euclidian.

I looked over the thousands of books, and quickly realized that I had no idea what sort of system they used here. Perhaps I could find a librarian?

Sadly, no such caretaker showed up, and eventually I just opened up a random book. I read the first few lines, then slowly closed it. Sure, a bestiary of Abyssal creatures would be quite an interesting read, but it wasn’t currently applicable to my situation.

In lieu of a better solution, I turned on my Esoteric Sight. Instantly, the books started glowing with Forbodum, some more than others, but each with a different, unique flavor. It took me a moment to grasp what it all meant, but soon I was navigating my way through the library. Currently, I was in a section dedicated to listing and describing different monsters, nightmares, and abominations.

My senses told me that what I was looking for was elsewhere, and I started following them. Rapidly, the books around me started to shift, and soon I was in a completely different section of the library. When I looked back, I found completely unfamiliar titles.

Had I been teleported here, or had the distance just shrunk? Or, maybe, did the books themselves move? I hadn’t been paying enough attention, so I had no clue. Another thing to experiment with later.

I reached out to one of the books, and found that it was a simple guide. How to Get Started, to be specific. There was no author listed.

The book was about starting off on your journey with Forbodum, though that was obvious considering what plane this was and the title of the book. The manual didn’t take that long to skim through, and it helped reinforce some of my fears towards this energy, but also reinforced how powerful it could be in the right hands.

Forbodum could do a lot of things, but that had its ups and downs. Here in Kelemnion, I had a sort of authority, hence why space had naturally bent to accommodate my desires. I had the Forbodum Manipulation Skill, and there was so much that even subconscious desires could be quickly fulfilled by it without the user even knowing what they wanted, themselves.

For wielders of other elements, the same would hold true in their own realms. There might be some more powerful beings, but they would be acknowledged and respected by the creatures and energies there, for the most part. One of Forbodum’s main features, outside of its ability to manipulate concepts and things that would normally be outside of its own purview, was the fact that it could open gates to other realms.

One of the most repeated statements in this guide was some or another variation on “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” Examples were given of powerful warlocks–a title given to skilled users of Forbodum–who met their ends trying to extract deals or favors from creatures that belonged to other dimensions. If you can’t kill it, don’t contact it. Don’t directly enter other planes. The lists went on, words of warning spilling from the pages.

There were also some brief suggestions. First off, it quickly clarified something that I’d been rather confused about. I’d been led to believe that Forbodum was some kind of ritual magic, and it turned out that was a somewhat debatable topic. Its ability to manipulate Conceptium allowed it to act something like alchemy, using each different concept to produce a reaction, then moving on to the next bit. It could also create magic items, which I was very interested in.

Imbuing items with concepts was supposed to be a difficult and time-consuming task, but the book said that many chose to go down this path. I spent a little while focusing on the vibe from the parts of the book that were talking about rituals and item crafting, then looked around for that same frequency of Forbodum.

I took a couple steps forward and this time I managed to catch my surroundings shifting. Still, the books in front of me perfectly matched what I wanted, and I pulled the nearest few out of their places on the shelves. As I was looking over the first of them–a thicker book entitled Inscriptions For Dummies–I felt a shiver run down my spine, and slowly turned.

My eyes landed on a specific book on the shelves that radiated such a massive quantity of energy that it called to me. I felt something familiar shift in my brain, and knew that the voices had just made an appearance. However, no instructions were given, and no temptations were whispered. Instead, a feeling of limitless power echoed through my mind, and an image seared itself into my brain. Then, a single word. Ordinance.

The pain was so great that everything momentarily went dark. Then, I was in a rubber room. A rubber room with rats.

(LG:DM) Chapter 20: Crazy or Crazy, Pick Your Poison

In the middle of beating me up for absolutely no justifiable reason, Azrael’s nigh-invisibility flickered and cut out. She had an ugly expression, and it was pretty obvious that she was getting a headache from lack of Mentum. I took the opportunity to check my Phylactery, and silently rejoiced when I found that I no longer needed to allow Azzy to kick my butt all around my tower.

Seif Ambrose

Spatial Lich 5 (Max, Specialization Available)

Phylactery 5 (Max)

• Undead Possession 8
• Reconstitution 7
• Incorporate Phylactery 6
• Mental Shield 6
• Mentum Generator 8
• Clone 6

Necrosis Manipulation 5 (Max)

• Deadsight 7
• Animate Necrosis 8
• Shape Necrosis 5
• Create Undead 9
• Necrotic Restoration 6
• Construct Consciousness 10

Domain of Undeath 5 (Max)

• Spread Undeath 9
• Mold Terrain 10
• Transmute 8
• Omnipresence 7
• Omniscience 5
• Empowered Control 5

Spatium Manipulation 5 (Max)

• Delinear Sight 7
• Stitching 8
• Folding 6
• Notions 6
• Notching 8
• Seaming 6

Calling 5 (Max)

• Taglock 6
• Nomantic Call 5
• Bondsight 7
• Alter Bond 6
• Sympathetic Bonding 6
• Call Through Space 5

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Caerbalope, Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban

I’d managed to get to the point where I could pretty reliably get past her Skill if I focused for a few seconds. Sadly, she’d realized this, and started moving faster to compensate. That also meant that her strikes generally hurt more, but I guess it probably helped with my Boon growth?

“Alright, that’s all I needed help with. I’d thank you, but I’m pretty sure you got more out of this than I did.”

“Awh.” She pouted. “Are you sure I can’t get just a few more hits in?”

I glared at her. “Yes. I’m sure.”

Azrael walked back upstairs with a huff, and I refocused on my Phylactery, healing myself up a bit as I did so.

I wanted to go over my Boons and make sure that I understood all of them pretty well before I picked a specialization. That way, I’d be able to replicate their effects even after I lost them. I was confident that I could already do this with a few of my Boons, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Undead Possession was simple. An application of Mentum and Necrosis, similar to what I would do when Animating a corpse but slightly different, and then I’d will my consciousness towards it. The Phylactery itself would handle the rest. Alternatively, if there was already an undead under my control, I’d just need to carve out a small metaphysical imprint for my soul and then send myself into it.

Reconstitution was the first Boon I’d gotten that allowed me to create matter out of energy. I basically just needed to mix in the right amounts of energy, pack it in tightly, and then instruct it to stay compact. Once my consciousness was inside of it, it would be held together subconsciously.

Incorporate Phylactery was a weird one. I had to use it a couple times to figure out exactly how it worked, but eventually realized that the Boon had actually just changed the way my Phylactery worked, so it wasn’t something I’d need to worry about. Mental Shield was similar in that my Phylactery naturally handled it, but I’d be able to replicate that effect by pulsing out Mentum with the intent to block and destroy hostile energies.

Mentum Generator was yet another fundamental, subconscious change to myself, but this one could also be replicated. I spawned a few Nailwolves to drain out a bit of my energy, then focused on my pool of Mentum.

At base, my Mentum was something like a landlocked lake, and it would fill over time from rainwater. In other words, energies from the surroundings would soak in and become purified, then trickle into the pool. What Mentum Generator did was make a stream running into the lake. The lower the lake got, the harder the stream would work to fill it back up.

To put it in more real terms, Mentum Generator passively shoved all of my energy to one side of the pool, creating a vacuum on the opposite side of a small hole it would create. Energy would rush in to fill the gap, then be purified as it passed into the pool. I could replicate this by simply focusing on manipulating my Mentum inside of the pool to do the same, which was easier than manipulating it on the outside.

Clone was basically the same as Reconstitution. It would mimic whatever body I was using at the time and put a small bit of my consciousness into it to maintain the energies. It was honestly pretty simple, once I realized that it was the same sort of Mentum pool manipulation as Mentum Generator, except I would instead cut off a tiny portion of the pool itself and stuff it into the metaphysical space that my consciousness itself would normally rest in.

Deadsight could be copied by just sending a small bit of Necrosis towards my eyes, and my undead nature would make that even easier than it already was. Animate Necrosis was practically second nature to me at this point. Shape Necrosis was just intent-based energy manipulation, telling the Necrosis to hold onto the flesh it was inside of.

Create Undead was basically just the same as Reconstitution, except I didn’t have to worry about making a place for my own soul and there was a bit less hand-waviness in terms of musculature and such, so I needed a template. While I was piloting my own body, it was basically just a hunk of ballistic gel that I subconsciously forced to move with Necrosis. My creatures couldn’t really do the same, at least not as effectively. Necrotic Restoration, in turn, was pretty much the same, but instead allowed the soul of the target to provide the template.

Construct Consciousness was a type of bond, which was something I was very familiar with at this point. This bond was focused on allowing information to pass on, and for my soul to imprint on the body of the other creature, which formed a nascent soul that would grow larger and larger the longer I held onto the bond, which in turn needed to be maintained by that information as well as a supply of energy so that the incipient soul could grow. The soul could continue to grow after that, but it would have to happen in a way similar to how “normal people” did.

Spread Undeath was simple. Just put Mentum and whatever other energies I felt like using into the air and bind it all to my Phylactery. Mold Terrain was just the same as Shape Necrosis, but I did it mostly with matter and Mentum instead.

Transmute was a little weirder. It went deep, rearranging things on an atomic level to create the effects I desired. I honestly didn’t know if I would be able to understand this one well enough to replicate it once all was said and done, but I focused on it for a while to at least try. My Omniscience was very critical in this, and I was able to watch things alter themselves slowly. I still wasn’t completely sure if this ability would be able to stick around, but I’d at least given it a shot.

Omnipresence was kinda similar to my Phylactery abilities in that I just had to send out a portion of my consciousness, but it would be latched onto my Domain itself. It should be pretty simple to replicate. I’d never really looked into the mechanics of Omniscience before, but it looked like it latched a bond between the targeted object and my Phylactery, and then some sort of information transfer occurred, like with Construct Consciousness. I had absolutely no clue how to replicate that, so I’d just have to hope that my new specialization would give me some abilities to replace it.

Empowered Control… I mean, to be honest, it gave me a little bit of everything. The Skill and associated Boons were enhanced by this one, so rather than me needing to make sure it would carry over, it would instead help me internalize the others.

Delinear Sight was basically the same as Deadsight, just sending energy into my eyes, except that more perspective was required. For example, Stitching was one of my first Boons in the tree, but it didn’t actually do very much on its own. All it did was provide me with some of the theory behind space magic. That, in turn, provided me with a new way to utilize my Delinear Sight and acted as the base for all of my other Boons in the Skill's tree.

Folding was pretty simple. Just create snips in the fabric of reality and make a certain shape on a 2D plane that I picture with my Delinear Sight. Then, reattach it with a bit of Spatium, repeat the process elsewhere, and then bring the two cut-out planes together. Tada! You have a portal.

Notions was even easier. I basically just made some strings out of Spatium and Mentum, then used the Mentum to give it an identity. Or not. Depends on what I was trying to do.

Even Notching, one of my greatest abilities, was pretty simple. To use it, I needed to be able to see whatever I'd created, which meant using Stitching, but then make a simple structure that wasn't bound to those strings of reality but rather the location itself. Seaming… could theoretically be used without Stitching, but it would be harder, I think. Instead of picturing new stitches appearing in the same place as the old ones, I would have to basically pour Spatium into the air and try to send it into the fourth dimension. I wasn't completely certain it would even work, but maybe I'd have to try it sometime, if things didn't go according to plan with the upcoming specialization.

Taglock and Nomantic Call both let me use bonds based on certain things, specifically genetics and names. As for how to replicate their effects, I just needed to find those bonds and then Call with them. Bondsight was another visual application of magic, though this one had more Mentum in it than Spatium, and I needed to focus on seeing those bonds. Alter Bond was just using a touch of Spatium to control the bonds I saw.

Sympathetic Bonding created a bond with Spatium and Mentum, then put a knot in it to reroute the energy and removed a bit of the casing inside the knot to let it move in both directions. The bond also needed to encompass the entirety of both target creatures, almost putting them inside the bond, rather than connecting them with it. Call Through Space used Spatium to tug on a bond and force it to shrink, thus closing the physical distance between two things.

That was all there was. I'd internalized as much of the magic as I could. Now…

Please select a Specialization Advancement.

Spatial Archlich (Death+, Space)

Archlich of Space (Space+, Death)

Ancient Seeker (Forbidden Knowledge)

Death’s Custodian (Phantom)

Caretaker of Slumber (Burial)

Debt Collector (Death Pact)

Bearer of Nothingness (Abyss)

Witness of Azathoth (Eldritch)

I pulled out the book that the crazy old geezer had left behind for me, consulting the descriptions of my two favorite options: Forbidden Knowledge and Eldritch. I'd only read the summaries of the options before, but now it was time to delve a bit deeper.

Forbidden Knowledge was first. The biggest question in my mind was what exactly that encompassed, and it turned out that it could access many of the dimensions that were adjacent to it, including the Abyss and the Far Realm, which was the name of the Eldritch plane. That's not an exact translation, but I'm calling it that for my own sake.

Forbidden Knowledge focused on multiple things, from contacting dark gods and ancient entities and calling on their power, to summoning creatures and objects from other realms. It sounded super cool, but there was a catch. Even the most basic of uses of Forbidden Knowledge required you to directly interface with another realm, one where you had no authority. The dimension of Forbidden Knowledge was actually just a subsection of a greater plane called the Greater Aethenium, with the Forbidden Knowledge section being known as the Kelemnion.

The Aethenium was effectively just a massive library, containing all information that had ever been known by any creature from any universe. Each section of the Aethenium had its own quirks. The Light section, Alephdria, had books where the ink was replaced by pure light. Kelemnion’s books whispered dark secrets to you, things that had driven people mad, information that had been lost in holy crusades against its use, knowledge that had been sealed away for the eternities.

If you could maintain your sanity within Kelemnion, you could learn every dark art that had ever been known to man. That, however, was the issue. Who could keep their mind intact when inundated with the whisperings of mad sages, unfathomable deities, and dark eidolons?

Eldritch had similar problems. You could make Vitasis and Necrosis into one, denying the natural cycle of nature while simultaneously rebuking the opposing nature of undeath. You could contact a plane where time had no meaning, where titanic gods ruled, and where everything would bend to your will. You could infect our world with that same power. Yet, witnessing the Far Realm was purportedly an endeavor that few survived. Stumbling across the wrong entity at the wrong time could just mean death, or eternal torment. With that said, at least with Eldritch I could mostly choose to stay in this world, though I got the feeling that I’d need to spend a bit of time in the Far Realm to progress to my next specialization. With Forbidden Knowledge, going to Kelemnion or drawing on some of the knowledge stored there was practically required.

What to choose?

I went over the options once again, specifically the realms that the two energies were found most prevalently in. Specializing in one of them didn't guarantee that I would have access to one of the planes, but it was a good example of what they could do.

Alright, pros and cons. Forbidden Knowledge would help me gain information about things in this world, which was something I lacked. It would likely improve my versatility and help me experiment with my own magic. Cons, like all other Jack Of All Trades archetypes, I’d be stretched a bit thin if I tried to be good at everything all at once. Also, it might slowly drive me insane.

Eldritch would probably provide me with an immediate boost to my powers, though it might be a bit hard to grasp or handle all at once. It would reduce my current obvious weakness to Light and Life magic. Furthermore, it might put me into contact with beings that could eliminate Esheth before he was a true threat. Cons, it might put me into contact being that could eliminate Esheth before he was a true threat. Also, it might quickly drive me crazy.

Part of me hovered over the options for a moment, but after taking a moment to steel my nerves, I accepted my new specialization.

Class Specialization selected.

You are now an Ancient Seeker.

Skill: Phylactery has been transformed into Skill: Repository.

Skill: Necrosis Manipulation and Skill: Spatium Manipulation have been combined into Skill: Forbodum Manipulation.

Skill: Domain of Undeath has been transformed into Skill: Occult Sovereignty.

Skill: Calling has been transformed into Skill: Kelemnion’s Gate.

You have gained a Skill: Dark Whispers.

Seif Ambrose

Ancient Seeker 5

Repository 0

• Infomorph 0

Forbodum Manipulation 0

• Esoteric Sight 0

Occult Sovereignty 0

• Encompassing Knowledge 0

Kelemnion’s Gate 0

• Library Pass 0

Dark Whispers 0

• Ancient Mutterings 0

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Caerbalope, Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban

I stared at my new Skills with some longing. Once, I’d had beeg numbers. Now, all but two were zeros. At least the decision was made, and I wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. It had been a bit of a weight on my shoulders, and now that it was done, I got the feeling that I’d really be able to let loose again, figuring out all of these new Skills and mastering this new Forbodum energy.

Each of my new Skills and Boons were carefully turned over in my mind, and soon I was nodding, happy about my decision to take this class.

First of all, Repository was something of a straight upgrade to my old Phylactery. Instead of potentially risking my soul by sending it out every single time, it would stay within my Repository at all times, connected only by a stream of energy. That’s what Infomorph was, actually. It would bind me and whatever I targeted, meaning we’d be treated as the same entity until one, preferably the puppet, was destroyed. Meanwhile, I’d share in the senses of my body, even though my mind would be elsewhere.

Forbodum Manipulation itself was both similar and unique to my old Manipulation Skills. First of all, I got the distinct sense that it would be able to do everything my old affinities could do, which was pretty much what I’d expected, having read something similar in the books. In fact, the perfect mesh between the energies led to them working together to strengthen whatever they were used in.

If I wanted to raise a corpse, then the Forbodum would take the role of Necrosis, animating it, but it would simultaneously fulfill the normal roles of Spatium and Arcanum, using the former to smooth out the physical portions of the animation and the latter to do the same with any magical barriers or detriments.

I would have never been able to get my elements to work together this well before. They’d ultimately had different desires and needs, so the most I could do was stop them from going to war. Forbodum, though, had a singular goal and purpose, meaning that all aspects of it were one in that.

To be more specific, that goal was gathering knowledge. The more obscure, dark, and hidden. the better. With this at the heart of the magic, it treated anything it was thrown at as a scientist might treat their thesis project; that is, with extreme care and obsessive levels of detail.

Next up was the upgrade for Domain of Undeath, labeled Occult Sovereignty.

While the biggest part of these Domain Skills was their Boons, which taught you how to directly interact with it, I immediately realized that the Skill itself reminded me of one of my own Boons. This new Domain would be like Omniscience on crack, with flavor text from thousands of long-forgotten masters of the dark arts. That was relieving, since I honestly had no idea how to replicate that Boon now that I’d lost it. The rest weren’t that hard, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around that one.

Kelemnion’s Gate was pretty much what it sounded like. It would let me send myself to the plane of Forbidden Knowledge. I did wonder how that one might upgrade, but I wasn’t ready to experiment quite yet.

The last Skill was pretty much what the book had warned me of, though a bit more tame for now. Whenever I was working on something, there was a chance that the ghost of something that had experience with the matter would whisper the answer to my problem into my ear.

This sounded pretty great, until you realized that this knowledge would come exclusively from those who were powerful and wicked enough to leave permanent imprints in Kelemnion’s records. The knowledge they gave me could be a blessing, for sure, but it could also be a curse. While I wasn’t human anymore, I didn’t exactly want to hear a demon detail how to use the death energy from a thousand children’s fresh corpses to fuel rituals. Overall, this Skill left me feeling a bit conflicted, and I knew that I’d have to make wise choices when picking out its Boons, else it might drive me completely crazy.

Without waiting any longer, I dove right into tinkering with my new abilities.