Jake’s first question when he heard about the Demon Lord having a harem regarded the logistics. You see, the Demon Lord was quite large, while all the regular demons he saw in his sphere were human-sized, so…
Anyway, not important. What was important was the entire theming of the thirty-fourth floor, as the friendly demon explained it to them.
“The evil Demon Lord Gubrothas had a harem back before he was sealed away consisting of nine Mistresses and one Prime Consort that he...
2023-04-19 10:19:15 +0000 UTC
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”I rate this floor nine out of ten when it comes to combat but a solid negative one out of ten when it comes to creativity. You just copy-pasted rooms over and over again. Downright shameful,” Jake admonished Minaga out loud as he stood atop a tower identical to four other towers in prior rooms.
“Oh, well, thank you for your expert review of my labyrinth! Do tell me, for how many years have you been making dungeons since you are such a master at it?” Minaga fire...
2023-04-18 10:20:03 +0000 UTC
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After Jake had killed the Warden, the demons more or less fell apart, and it was just a cleanup from there. A few of them had tried to get to the prisoners during the attack, but Dina’s bark-covered roots had completely stopped all their attempts.
Jake joined the others in killing, and in the end, they finished off every single demon, with not a single prisoner dying. To make things even better, Jake got an unexpected level upon killing one of the last Torturers still left alive.
<...
2023-04-17 10:46:53 +0000 UTC
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For the first time since entering Minaga’s Labyrinth, Jake had truly met his match. Minaga had claimed Jake wouldn’t be able to ”cheat” on this floor, and Jake had obviously not believed him. It wasn’t that there was no way to cheat him, just that doing it would fuck over others far too much.
Make the labyrinth randomly shuffle around to make Jake’s Pulse of Perception useless? That would make it utterly impossible to find anything and have all exploration just be pure luck,...
2023-04-14 10:41:57 +0000 UTC
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The cathedral had, amazingly so, not at all been affected by the attack from the Sword Saint. It was maybe protected by some magical barrier, or perhaps the construction was indeed durable enough to handle his weird reversal of the rain.
This meant that the interior was also spotless and bereft of damage. It was also entirely empty, save for a hidden cellar dungeon with no obvious entrance. Jake managed to sniff out how to enter through his sphere, and they found a secret door opened by...
2023-04-13 10:02:18 +0000 UTC
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Even if they didn’t have to do the bonus objective to dispel the curse, they still wanted to kill this Prime Summoner, as it would no doubt reward extra Nevermore Points. Jake couldn’t really say he felt sorry about breaking whatever scenario Minaga had planned, though he could see what their host had been going for.
If they had done the first part without freeing the Demon Lord but had instead gotten help to teleport here, they would have met this Knight who was tasked with guardin...
2023-04-12 10:04:03 +0000 UTC
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Going through the gateway leading out of the thirty-first floor, Jake wasn’t exactly sure what he had expected. Considering the uniqueness of these next ten floors and Minaga being the one in charge, it wasn’t even sure there would be an in-between room. There was one, but it wasn’t at all what Jake had predicted.
All the prior in-between rooms had consisted of three gates – one they exit from, one leading to the next floor, and one to exit Nevermore. Besides that, there was a p...
2023-04-11 10:11:41 +0000 UTC
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Jake was blasted backward as he blocked with a barrier of stable arcane mana. A torrent of flames bellowed out from the Demon Lord, obscuring its form even as it walked forward. As the one closest to the gate, Jake had taken the brunt of it, but he had reacted quickly due to his danger sense, not truly taking any damage.
A wall of roots shot up from the ground just after Jake got shot back, but a blast of deep red flames removed it instantly. Everyone retreated back to Jake as the Demon...
2023-04-10 10:21:36 +0000 UTC
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”Lucky bunch! Found your way to the first room right off the bat without encountering any dead ends! Now to find the key… if there even is one here!” Minaga said with his usual glee as Jake and company walked out of what looked like a wall of fog and entered a massive chamber. As their host had explained, these large chambers did not have any of the usual mist, and it felt liberating to finally be free of the restrictive environment.
On second thought, merely call...
2023-04-07 10:54:47 +0000 UTC
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The thirty-first floor felt different the moment they arrived. They walked out of the gateway and into a large chamber that looked out of some temple, with white pillars lining the walls and a large elevated stone platform in the middle. Towards the other end of the chamber was a massive gate with a glowing rune on it, emanating impressive power. Through his sphere, Jake also felt that outside of these chamber walls, only the void existed, meaning they were definitely not meant to try and go ...
2023-04-06 10:34:41 +0000 UTC
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Due to the inability to give out concrete information about the floors of Nevermore, no one even knew how many there were in the C-grade section. Jake and Co naturally also didn’t know, but they could infer based on how slowly the levels of enemies increased. To see the average levels of enemies go up by 1 to 3 per floor was expected, which meant that the “easy” section of Nevermore that they planned on blazing through was much longer than they had initially expected.
Nevertheless...
2023-04-05 10:41:53 +0000 UTC
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Floors 1 to 5 had pretty clear goals in mind: determine the dungeon divers’ ability to adapt to different environments and handle different enemy types. It also included a good deal of exploration, with a major part of each floor being about finding the exit.
Floors 6 to 10, on the other hand, had none of this. There was no difficult environment to adapt to, no mystery about where one had to go, and no doubts about the objective. These five floors were all about one thing and one thin...
2023-04-04 10:41:37 +0000 UTC
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Nevermore was often called the greatest dungeon in the multiverse, but it wasn’t just one dungeon. In fact, it was a multitude of dungeons stacked on top of one another, and even if Nevermore broke conventional rules, it was still classified as a dungeon. However, be it due to fairness from the system or the will of the Wyrmgod himself, every single floor did not count as its own independent” dungeon.”
Instead, a set number of floors in a row would as be classified together, with ...
2023-04-03 10:23:24 +0000 UTC
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The dryad didn’t seem to register the words immediately but finally reacted after a second.
“Huh?” Dina asked, confused. “I… I could… but why?”
The old man shook his head and smiled. “The four of us have either fought side by side or against each other before. We know about one another. I believe it would be pertinent to get a better idea of your skills, too, before we move on to the later floors so none of us are taken by surprise.”
Dina seemed to consider...
2023-03-31 07:56:00 +0000 UTC
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The fourth floor. Jake and his party entered and were all met by a very different environment than the one they had just been in. Pure darkness roamed, and the air smelled of soil and death. The environmental mana affinity matched this as it was an odd mix of earth, death, and dark. Shortly after they were all there, the dungeon informed them of their objectives for this floor.
Welcome to the fourth floor of Nevermore: Darkrock Caverns.
Main objective: Def...
2023-03-30 10:05:41 +0000 UTC
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The Wyrmgod of Nevermore. One of twelve Primordials, and a being often viewed as the greatest of all the dragons. The Draconian Accords had been overseen by the Wyrmgod, and all dragons in existence viewed him as the most powerful. While the Malefic Viper was also a dragon before godhood, simply by his chosen name, it was clear he identified as a snake more than a dragon. Hence why the Wyrmgod got the title.
When the Wyrmgod managed to directly work with the system and create the World ...
2023-03-29 09:56:45 +0000 UTC
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Just after Jake was contacted and told his teammates were done, he just happened to find himself standing in front of a large gateway that he didn’t doubt led to the next floor. One thing did confuse him a bit, though. There was also another smaller teleportation circle of some kind near the wall of the cavern, but it was slightly damaged.
“Pretty sure I found it, but there is also this other teleportation circle. It looks like a short-range one, though,” Jake sent throug...
2023-03-28 05:00:33 +0000 UTC
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Jake didn’t know how long they were falling. It felt like minutes, yet also hours. No notification ever popped up, and no prompt asked them to enter. They did not have to register or do anything to confirm they were a party, as the system handled all that. All they had to do was enter together and fall together.
Then, suddenly, Jake felt solid ground beneath his feet, and his sphere spread out to reveal the world around him. He also opened his eyes and was nearly blinded by the bright...
2023-03-27 04:25:24 +0000 UTC
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“That must have been cathartic,” the Sword Saint said after they had made some good distance between themselves and the northern arenas. “I take it no one is following us?”
“Nobody, as far as I can tell. And yes, it felt damn good to finally tell that fucker off,” Jake wholeheartedly agreed, though he scratched his chin a bit embarrassed as he asked:. “But… eh… was that entire speech a bit overboard?”
“Hm, it was adequate and communicated what had to be said,...
2023-03-24 03:02:14 +0000 UTC
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The Nevermore Arenas. To Jake and the others in his party, these did not have much pull, but to others, they were a cornerstone of Nevermore City. They pulled in huge audiences and were somewhere geniuses from all over the multiverse gathered from C-grade to S-grade. It was a chance to show off their skills to others for a myriad of reasons, most of which revolved around recruitment.
Faction-less Individuals could show off their power and potentially find party members to join them in t...
2023-03-23 11:53:27 +0000 UTC
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Jake instantly understood how the list was full when he laid his eyes on the first wall, which displayed the top ten individuals of the ninety-third universe.
Nevermore Leaderboards (C-grade): 93rd Universe.
1. Holy Templar – Low Tier
2. Holy Knight – Low Tier
3. Holy Priestess – Low Tier
4. Holy Ranger – Low Tier
5. Holy Knight – Low Tier
6. Holy Mage – Low Tier
7. Holy Duelist – Low Tier
8. Holy Mage – Lo...
2023-03-22 11:59:43 +0000 UTC
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Every single universe in existence was filled with life, planets, stars, and incredible opportunities. Yet the thing it had more of than anything else was nothingness. Empty spaces that seemed infinitely large, so big that some S-grades would struggle to pass through it in their entire lifetimes.
One of the largest empty spaces of all could be found within the second universe.
And at its center, one could find it: Nevermore.
A floating flat landmass that looked like a contin...
2023-03-21 11:12:58 +0000 UTC
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Back in the main hall, the festivities that were actually just a glorified political event continued. A number of people still held hope that they could join the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and his party for Nevermore, as they all knew what that would mean.
It wasn’t out of the question for weaker individuals to effectively get carried through the mega-dungeon, thus earning a better title, more levels, and more items than if they had gone with equally skilled people. That was why thos...
2023-03-20 12:04:25 +0000 UTC
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Jake felt how serious Viridia was, so he assumed this Nature’s Attendant was someone important just from her reaction.
”How will we meet?” Jake asked.
”I believe a private meeting room has been prepared. A god of his level descending upon this hall filled with mortals wouldn’t end well for anyone but you and a few others,” Viridia said.
”That strong?” Jake asked, a bit surprised. ”I must admit I have never heard of this god be...
2023-03-17 07:02:03 +0000 UTC
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He had known from the very beginning he would be the primary target of anyone interested in joining Jake’s party. The reason for this was manifold. Firstly, he was the only other human in the group and an earthling like Jake, which unintuitively made him stand out. Miyamoto also had what most would perceive as the most replaceable role in the group, as he was simply a swordsman. The Fallen King was a Unique Lifeform, and the Sylphian Hawk was clearly closely tied to the Chosen and had unkno...
2023-03-16 12:00:33 +0000 UTC
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While Jake and the Automata Legion had their discussion, Vesperia got the chance to have a talk with her fellow True Royal.
“I hope I am not overstepping by wanting a more private conversation,” the True Royal Hive Queen reached out to her.
Vesperia naturally took no offense to a sister of hers taking such liberty, and she found it only proper to show respect towards one of superior power and position to herself. They may both be True Royals, but the one before her wa...
2023-03-15 11:59:57 +0000 UTC
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Jake appeared together with Villy inside a new, far smaller hall. A few seconds later, Vesperia also popped into existence.
“I greet the Malefic One and my sire,” she bowed towards the snake god after she oriented herself.
“Hey again,” Jake said with a smile. “Say, what have you been doing during this gift exchange?”
“I simply went back to the waiting room,” Vesperia answered. “My presence would have caused undue issues if I had been there, and I would pers...
2023-03-14 12:03:29 +0000 UTC
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Why? Why had he done it? Jake briefly remembered some stupid ideas he had shown Felix, but… why? Why had that sculpture-loving moron thought this was a good idea? Should Jake have seen this coming?
No… no, it was too late to consider any of these things. Now, all he could do was damage control as he stared at the monstrosity in front of him.
The statue was nearly three meters tall and composed of three elements. Jake barely registered the awe, claps, and confusion of all those...
2023-03-13 12:03:35 +0000 UTC
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As Jake had been briefed on earlier, then the majority of presents would not be handed to him directly. Most would go through the Order and simply be delivered to his residence, or somewhere else he designated, with Miranda or Viridia briefing Jake on any important things he may want to bring along to Nevermore.
Only gifts from the top factions would be handed over directly and opened in front of everyone. Even if the gift was not one that could just be handed over, they would still voi...
2023-03-10 12:02:51 +0000 UTC
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After Jake and Villy had time to wind down, it was time to move on to the next session of the ceremony. The two of them had only discussed what had happened a bit, with the Viper reminding Jake that the entire ceremony so far had effectively been televised across the multiverse, meaning all the big factions now knew what had happened. Giving them all an hour meant the higher-ups back at the headquarters of all the bigger groups could decide on their course of action and allow them to make an ...
2023-03-09 12:02:19 +0000 UTC
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