Anti-Mage

You would think that being on the Elemental Plane of Life would be a good thing; you would be wrong. As Anton considered how he was going to get back to the Adventurer's Guild in Traverse, he started to feel full. No, that wasn't right. He started to feel like he was swelling. He quickly checked his status and noticed that his hit points had reached their maximum and then began increasing above it at a rate of 160 per second. His normal regeneration rate was 16 per second, so that +1,000% to his healing rate was working overtime.

If he was healing, and it was continuing past his maxim, why did he feel like he was swelling? Perhaps bodies were like bags, with a limit to how much they could hold before bursting. With that thought, he considered everything he could do. He had absorbed a lot of different races, and he could adjust his body into one of them now. Maybe one of them could tolerate this environment.

Anton went through the list of races quickly. Anything that had death or undeath in its makeup, he discounted immediately. Demons and devils as well. He considered the Ethereal and Shadow variants but discounted them. There were some creatures and monsters he'd added, but he didn't really know what they were. However, his Title Fons Genesis Knowledge provided a basic description of each, which did give him a sense of whether they would work or not. Since that sense was telling him no, they wouldn't work, he moved. On.

Anton considered everything as his hit points hit 150% their normal value and decided to go with plan V for void. He opened the floodgates of his void core, allowing the void to flood his mana channels. Immediately, the excess energy in his body was sucked directly into his Void Core as if it were a whirlpool. Within ten seconds, his hit points were back to normal.

Unlike before, he did not allow the void to coat his skin; instead, he allowed it to absorb his mana and any energy trying to heal his body. His Mana Pool bottomed out quickly, leaving him with only his Stamina, Hit Points, and Psychic Energy and Psychic Energy Reserve. As he'd never actually watched his status screen when he'd done this before, he immediately noticed that the only regeneration that was going on involved his stamina. Well, his hit points were regenerating as well, but they had been reduced to less than 1% of his normal regeneration rate. Mana and Psychic Energy were a no-go. He'd thought he'd been regenerating Psychic Energy, but all that had been was his reserve replacing what he'd used.

Fortunately, though, he felt like he was swelling up to a point where he'd burst anymore. Now that he had that problem solved for the moment, he looked around and took in his surroundings again. If the life mana here would cause him to explode, why weren't the plants exploding? Then he noticed it. The life energy wasn't causing the plants around him to explode. It was causing them to go through the life cycle at an accelerated rate.

He hadn't noticed before, but now that he was watching for it, he could see that the plant life, insects, and even the animals seemed to move at a frenzied pace. Anton walked over to a push and plucked one of the leaves before he dropped it to the forest floor. As he watched, it visibly decomposed and broke apart.

"That's just weird," he said out loud to no one in particular. This was the Elemental Plane of Life. Why would decay accelerate…bacteria were growing faster. Every process in the life and death process was faster. Without proper protection, this plane was a death trap. If there was an Elemental Plane of Death, it couldn't be much better than this, could it?

Well, he had a workaround for now. He could keep the void over his mana channels. When he needed to recharge his psychic energy or regain hit points, he could draw the void back into his core and allow them to regenerate, which meant that he could use his Master ranked Flight spell that utilized his psychic energy without fear of burning out his channels, as they were protected by void energy, a very cool workaround. Shoot, he could use all of his Master ranked spells, at least until he ran out of Psychic Energy. At which point, he'd close his void core and recharge.

Anton activated Flight and rose through the canopy until he was above the trees, which put him almost one thousand feet above the ground. He flew up a bit further until he was nearly half a mile above the forest and looked around slowly.eHeadfadsfasdfasdfadsfadf Directly below him was a forest that extended outward in all directions. Off in one direction, the trees started to rise and drop as the ground became hilly, and off in the other direction, the tree line seemed to fall away, as if there were a downslope.

If he was looking for an entrance into a dungeon and possibly the labyrinth, he probably needed to find a cave. Most likely, that would be in the hilly and hopefully mountainous region. Choice made, he began flying toward the hills. He could have also cast Force Construct to create a shield against the wind, but decided to keep things at a slower pace as he looked around. He also extended Echo Location back out to 6,000 feet, which caused him to pause for a second. What skills did this require? He'd just added a lot of classes to his core; shouldn't he have more skills available?

Anton checked his skill page and whistled.

Of 397 Skills Slots, he now had 382 available. As he reviewed the screen, he noticed a tab that had been asterisked and opened it. A list of "Shelved Perks." At the top of the tabs, there was a note (Maximum 60 per Rank, Normally 10). Since he only had 19 total perks, he was nowhere near his maximum. Anton scrolled the list. One perk immediately caught his attention, and he chose it.

Congratulations! You have unlocked the Evolutionary Perk: Evolutionary Metamorphosis.

Evolutionary Metamorphosis

You can now take on the physical properties of any creature whose evolutionary shard you have incorporated into your Evolutionary Core with certain restrictions.

First, the Evolutionary shard or core absorbed into your evolutionary core must be part of your evolutionary core. As your evolutionary core increases in rank, so to will the powers of this perk.

Second, you may only metamorphose into creatures up to the numerical value of your rank times your current height and weight in size. As an example, you may be able to metamorphose into an ogre and even some smaller giants at Rare Rank. Large giants, titans, and dragons will be outside of your ability.

Benefits:

First, you gain all innate physical perks that any creature or monster that you metamorphose into possesses, for example. If you assume the form of a fish, you would gain the ability to breathe underwater. If the form has wings, you will be able to fly.

WARNING! Void Core Detected. Creature and Monster forms that incorporate the void will work while the Void Core is active. Innately magical forms you assume may not work normally when your Void Core is active.

All attributes are increased by +10 per creature type incorporated into your Evolutionary Core: All Attributes +180

Disadvantages:

When a form is assumed, there is no difference between you and the form you have assumed. Therefore, you inherit all the weaknesses of that creature type. For Example, if you assume the form of an elemental creature from the Elemental Plane of Fire, you become susceptible to cold and water.

SYSTEM NOTE: It should be noted that, between Evolutionary Metamorphosis and Malleable Body, assuming the form and identity of any one of your base species flawlessly is possible. If you assume the form of a woman, you are a woman. If you assume the form of a man, you are a man. Note, you cannot create a new soul, so assuming the form of a pregnant woman is NOT possible. However, if you assume the form of a woman you can become pregnant.

WARNING! If you become pregnant while in a female form, leaving that form will immediately terminate the pregnancy.

Anton considered what he'd just read. Why the hell would the SYSTEM let him know that? Sure, it was the best morning-after pill ever, or better yet, if he did decide to have sex as a female, he could quickly switch forms to ensure that he, no she, damn that was confusing. Anyway, all he had to do was change his form to avoid getting pregnant. No muss, no fuss.

Mom and Dad were going to be so confused. Of course, switching back and forth between the sexes could be fun, especially when messing with his sisters and brother. However, he didn't have time for idle thoughts right now. Anton began reviewing all the skills he could purchase.

Anton pulled up his skill list. Currently, he has nine class skills. At the same time, the tab he'd found looked to have additional class skills, which weren't free. The nine he had seemed to automatically level without a skill slot cost, while every skill he currently saw would cost him a skill slot, up to three if he increased the skill to Rare Rank.

Many of the skills appeared to be class-specific and had a lot of repeats. For instance, the Rifleman Class skill Aim did precisely the same thing as the Soldier Class Skill Aim did: spend one action and either target a critical location with a normal chance to hit, or shoot to automatically hit the target. Overall, it is a pretty useful skill. Before he looked at common combat skills, though, he wanted to see if there were any skills for some of his more exotic classes.

While he flew along at a leisurely pace, Anton divided his attention between reviewing his 172 class and their associated class skills and keeping an eye on his surroundings, which still consisted of forest as far as he could see in all directions, with the addition of the hills he was flying toward, of course. No signs of any mountains yet.

Anton went through the list of classes he picked up at Common rank; Alchemist, Aristocrat, Barbarian, Brawler, Cleric, Commoner, Expert, Fighter, Guard, Minstrel, Rogue, Warrior, Wizard, Acolyte, Adept, Bard, Hedge Wizard, Initiate, Inquisitor, Investigator, Monk, Ranger, Shifter, Slayer, Sorcerer, Summoner, Vigilante, Witch, Arcansit, Hunter, Oracle, Pact Scion, Paladin, Shaman, Sigil Mage, Skald, Spellblaze, Swashbuckler, Warder, Cavalier, Druid, Gunslinger, Warpriest, Antipaladin, Bloodrager, Magus, Ninja, Rune Master, Samaurai and Shadow Master.

None of those classes looked like they'd help him get out of this Elemental Plane specifically. Something was tickling his memory, so he checked the Uncommon classes he'd added to this core; Abjurer, Acrobat, Adventurer, Aeromancer, Aeronaut, Apothecary, Arbalester, Arbiter, Archeologist, Archer, Armorer, Artificer, Assassin, Astrologer, Bandit, Battlemage, Binder, Blacksmith, Brewmeister, Brigand, Cavalryman, Charioteer, Chevalier, Corsair, Crossbowman, Crusader, Defender, Dervish, Diplomat, Dirgesinger, Duelist, Enchanter, Engineer, Fencer, Forrester, Grappler, Guardian, Healer, Herbalist, Hermit, Hypnotist, Infiltrator, Jester, Machinist, Magician, Mercenary, Merchant, Miner, Mountaineer, Occultist, Pathfinder, Pugilist, Raider, Rifleman, Ritualist, Scavenger, Scout, Shapeshifter, Tactician, and Wanderer.

Wanderer might have something, but that wasn't quite what he was looking for. He pulled up the list of Rare classes; Alienist, Animist, Armiger, Avenger, Beastlord, Beastrider, Beguiler, Berserker, Bishop, Blackguard, Bladesinger, Bloodmage, Bravo, Champion, Channeler, Chronomancer, Conjurer, Cursebearer, Deathknight, Demolitionist, Diabolist, Diviner, Dragonrider, Dragoon, Dreadnaught, Dreamwalker, Earthspeaker, Elementalist, Empath, Evoker, Executioner, Exorcist, Explorer, Fearmonger, Firedancer, Fleshwarper, Frostmage, Fusilier, Gadgeteer, Geomancer, Gladiator, Gravecaller, Guerilla, Gypsy, Harbinger, Heirophant, Herald, Hero, Knight, Marauder, Medium, Mentalist, Planeswalker, Soldier, Spy, Thief, Tinkerer, Transmuter, Warlock, and Warlord.

And there it was, Planeswalker. Anton opened the tab to the possible skills and searched for the skills that Planeswalker had available. There were only two listed, each of which contained a warning.

WARNING! This skill is only available to those who have incorporated the class Planeswalker into their Primary Core.

The first skill was Transverse Reality.

Transverse Reality

As a Planeswalker, you can travel anywhere that your mind can take you if your mental focus is strong enough. As you walk through the worlds, you can call for minor changes in the environment that will move you through the multiverse toward your desired location.

Please note that you do NOT change the world around you; instead, YOU cross through dimensional and planar barriers until you come to a place that matches the environment you desire. Minor changes require less focus and energy. Larger changes in the environment and travel through the greater dimensional barriers that separate the Basic, Intrinsic, Higher, Supernatural, and Fundamental planes will cost more. Focusing on moving through physical planes that match the world you're in with relatively minor changes requires 10e ("e" represents either mana or psychic energy, as this Class Skill can utilize both) per dimensional crossing. Crossing from worlds within the physical universes into the higher and alternate dimensions costs more:

Energy requirements are as follows:

Minor changes to Prime Material Plane: 10e per Dimensional Crossing

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Crossing into one of the Eight (8) Basic Elemental Planes and Demi-Elemental Planes and Dimensions: 100e

Intrinsic: 1,000e per dimensional crossing

Higher: 10,000e per dimensional crossing

Supernatural: 100,000e per dimensional crossing.

Fundamental: 1,000,000e to enter either plane, of which there is only one.

Note: All costs must be paid immediately. This skill cannot be channeled. If the Planeswalker runs out of energy, the skill deactivates and the Planeswalker is left in the dimension or plane they are in.

Traveling to locations you have visited will be easier. Your ability to do so is entirely dependent on your ability to hold an image of your destination in your mind while utilizing this skill. Therefore, those with higher Perception, Intelligence, Willpower, and in some cases Luck will have a higher degree of success using this skill.

WARNING! This skill is only available to those who have incorporated the class Planeswalker into their Primary Core.

The second skill was a little more useful: Dimensional Adaptation.

Dimensional Adaptation

This skill ensures the Planeswalker's survival as they traverse the various worlds and dimensions.

Prerequisite. This Skill draws upon the energy of the dimensional barriers that the Planeswalker traverses; therefore, its effects remain active only as long as the skill Transverse Reality is active, and one turn after the skill is deactivated.

While Dimensional Adaptation is active, the Planeswalker, and only the Planeswalker, is unaffected by gravity and pressure and will find that they can breathe normally in any environment.

Dimensional Adaptation requires 10e per turn.

WARNING! This skill is only available to those who have incorporated the class Planeswalker into their Primary Core.

Anton considered the two skills and decided that modifying his Primary and Evolutionary Core to incorporate this class would be an excellent idea. Currently, he had only 60,000 mana and a total of 160,000 psychic energy when both his reserve and resource pool of psychic energy were full. This meant there were places he wouldn't be able to go, but getting out of this elemental plane should be easy enough.

Anton looked down into the forest, searching for a large tree with sturdy branches to land on. He found a place where three large branches created a slight depression and sat down. First, Anton drew his Void Energy back into his core, and then he pulled ten of his twelve Advanced Shock Trooper Class shards out and converted them into a single Advanced Trooper Class Core. Then, He pulled out 50 Advanced Generic Class Shards and transformed them into five Advanced Generic Class Cores. He took the six cores, absorbed them, increasing his Rank to Advanced.

Next, He pulled out ten Advanced Slechi Evolutionary Shards and converted them into a single core. Then he pulled out 50 Advanced Generic Evolutionary Shards and transformed them into five Advanced Generic Evolutionary Cores. Once he had six Advanced Evolutionary Cores, he incorporated them into his Evolutionary Core and increased its rank to Advanced as well.

Now that he had an Advanced Primary Core and an Advanced Evolutionary Core, he opened his class screen, chose Planeswalker as his Advanced Class, and checked his Notifications.

Congratulations! Your Rank has increased to Advanced.

+60,000 to all attributes

Congratulations! Your Evolutionary Core has reached Advanced Rank

+60,000 to all attributes

Congratulations! You have chosen the Class Planeswalker.

Banked Experience has been applied.

You have reached level 100

Hit Points, Stamina, Mana, and Psychic Energy have increased by 15,500

All Base Attributes have increased by 5,670

You have unlocked the Class Skills Transverse Reality and Dimensional Adaptation.

Congratulations, you have attained enough experience to reach Master Class Level 100.

Congratulations, you have attained enough experience to reach Epic Class Level 100.

Congratulations, you have attained enough experience to reach Legendary Class Level 100.

Congratulations, you have attained enough experience to reach Mythic Class Level 100.

WARNING! Upgrades to your Primary and Evolutionary Core, as well as your rapid rise through all Advanced Class levels, have increased your base attributes by more than 750%.

Changes to your body may have…

***

… Unforeseen consequences

Warning! Hit Points have reached 150%

Warning! Hit Points have reached 175%

Unforeseen consequences? He'd passed out. Anton closed his notifications and immediately opened his Void Core, flooding his body with void energy. The feeling that he'd been about to burst faded as he quickly looked around and made sure he was still secure where he was. He hadn't been unconscious for long, but even in the five, no six minutes he'd been unconscious, the wood had started to grow up and around him as the branches continued expanding at their insane growth rate.

Now that he had a moment, he opened his Status Screen and checked his attributes.

Hit Points: 428,696 / PDR: 4,099.8 / Armor: 0

-Health Regeneration: 201

Stamina: 484,499

-Stamina Regeneration: 261,248

Mana: 428,154

-Mana Regeneration: 26,291

Psychic Energy: 428,154

-Psychic Regeneration: 41,125

Strength: 261,126

Agility: 261,127

Dexterity: 261,066

Endurance: 261,066

Constitution: 409,990

Perception: 261,127

Intelligence: 261,122

Wisdom: 261,064

Willpower: 409,463

Charisma: 261,122

Luck: 2,051,827

Chaos: 180

Order: 180

Over two million Luck. Why wasn't he feeling lucky? Then again, he had picked up a class that reminded him of a mode of dimensional travel he'd seen in a story by Roger Zelazny. The Chronicles of Amber, yeah, that had been the series, well, two series. He really hoped the skill would work as described in those books. Well, except for the part where the skill was genetically locked until he could walk a pattern, of course. He also hoped the ability would work while he was flying. Spoiler, it really didn't.

Anton looked at his Psychic Energy and Mana regeneration rates. He should be fine moving through most dimensions with his new skill. The Fundamental planes would be out of range, but he was okay with that. He needed to get used to the skill before attempting to navigate one of the two polar opposite planes. He should be able to walk among the normal, elemental, and intrinsic planes and dimensions with ease.

Anton stood and dropped over the edge of the branch before he floated down to the ground. Now it was time to get out of here. Anton pulled the void energy back into his core and began walking. He had an intuitive sense of how to utilize the skill, but it wasn't as straightforward as using a portal to cross dimensions.

First, to utilize the skill he had to walk. He quickly realized that he had to be able to visualize changes in the environment as he moved along. As he utilized the skill, there was a constant loss of mana, which his regeneration rate easily kept up with. It was also much easier to travel to locations he'd been to and become familiar with.

Almost immediately, he left the Elemental Plane of Life behind. Still, it was nearly a full two hours later before he realized that without a clear visualization of his destination, finding the location he was looking for was a bit tedious. Only when he decided to head back to the forest on Terra did he feel like he had started making progress toward a destination.

The travel wasn't quick, though. As he walked along, he had to impose his will to add a change to his environment. Significant changes, such as altering the sky's color, usually didn't work. Adding this type of flower or a different type of tree would appear. As he walked along, he'd feel a slight resistance, like he was stepping through molasses, and then the resistance would fade away. Sometimes the buildup of resistance would happen multiple times before the change he was looking for would appear. In those cases, he was pretty sure he was crossing through multiple dimensions while he made his way to his target.

While he walked, Dimensional Adaptation remained active. He could choose if it drained from his Mana or Psychic Energy. The same was also true with Transverse Reality. To keep it simple, he used his Psychic Energy to fuel Transverse Reality and mana to maintain Dimensional Adaptation.

Another thing he noticed while he walked was that he lost track of time. It wasn't just him, though. While the skill was active, the clock changed from his default setting for Terra or whichever place he'd last been to a walking timer, or a skill use timer. As he stepped through the last barrier, he felt a change and noticed that the timer in his vision changed to 7:13 p.m.

He felt both of his skills deactivate and looked around. The forest did look somewhat familiar. A quick check of his Basic Map verified that he was back on Terra on the other side of the city of Bensen from the town of Alifax, where the Labyrinth entrance was.

Anton activated Stealth and then took to the air, shooting toward Alifax. With his new Physical Damage Resistance, he easily increased his speed to 600 miles per hour. Within a minute, he was over Alifax and descending toward the Dungeon Entrance. He could stick around and even visit his family, but he needed to return to Traverse to warn them about what he'd found. Additionally, he should revisit Marvin's store to see if he could pick up the shards and cores he needed to increase his rank.

Anton landed at the entrance and floated down the tunnel. Once inside, he made his way to the Node, touched it, and transferred to the Traverse Node without interruption.

Anton appeared near the Node in the center of Traverse, just another arrival that everyone noted and then ignored. He looked around, figured out where Marvin's was, and then headed toward the Adventurer's Guild. As he stepped through the large double doors, he noticed that the activity within wasn't as chaotic, but there was a sense of urgency as people moved around.

He didn't get to look around to long before Charlene recognized him and ran over, "Anton. Where are the survivors?"

"There were no survivors," Anton answered honestly.

"What about Robert, Gerald, Jess, Vance, and Drez?" another man asked as he came up beside Charlene.

"We were ambushed by this race called the Slechi. Humanoid, technologically armored. Complete Assholes," Anton said.

"How'd you get away if everyone else didn't?" The man asked.

"I have a few tricks," Anton said. "But I didn't just get away, I made sure that they paid in blood," Anton said as he pulled up his Combat Log and shared it with the two people in front of him.

You have killed 120 Advanced, average level 20, Shock Troopers.

You have killed 480 Advanced, average level 5, Selechi military support personnel.

You have indirectly killed 1,232,457 Advanced, average level 1, Selechi civilian personnel.

The man read over the log and then said, "How the hell did you kill so many of them?"

"I have a technological background. If you know what explodes and how to store it, it's not hard to make it go boom. If you have the right tool for the job, which I do," Anton explained.

"And the portal they were coming through?" the man asked.

"It was technological, I destroyed it. That doesn't mean they can make another, but it was gone when I forced out of the area.

"Great Work, Anton. My name is Calvin Nevan. I'm one of the Sub Commanders for the Adventurer's guild. You said you were forced out of the area?"

"Yeah, I got thrown into one of the Elemental Planes. I would have been back sooner, but it took me a while to get out of there."

"You did get the Node point from Robert before you came back, though, right?" Calvin asked.

"I did."

"Very well. Please take me to it so I can get the node. I'm going to need to escort a couple of parties over there to make sure these slechi don't come through again."

"Better make sure whoever you send can Stealth and hide naturally. Their tech was allowing them to see through stealth without an issue. The spell invisibility seemed to work, though," Anton said as he followed Calvin out of the Adventurer's Guild and headed toward Node Plaza.

Calvin joined Anton's party, accompanied him to the Adros Dungeon 117 Node, and watched as Calvin added it to his list. Next, they walked up to the entrance, and Anton pointed in the direction the portal had appeared and described the location.

"You won't be able to miss it. There should be a huge scorch mark on the ground. The other side of their portal should be a crater, so I would expect that if they're coming back here, they'll arrive in another location.

"Duly noted," Calvin said. Now, let's get back to Traverse, and I'll take care of getting a couple of teams over here."

"Sounds good, I have to stop by Marvin's Shop and see about picking up some more shards and cores.

As they headed back to the Node, Calvin turned to Anton, "How did you survive?"

"It's tough to keep me down," Anton said.

Calvin looked like he was going to ask another question, but decided better of it, left the party, and vanished. A moment later, Anton disappeared from the cavern as he also returned to Traverse.

***

"Ten billion, one hundred sixty-four million (10,164,000,000) credits for everything? Anton asked Aqwas.

"Yes, Sir."

"Does that include the trade-ins?" Anton asked.

"No, Sir, Everything you're selling is worth two hundred six million, three hundred thirty four thousand, one hundred twenty (206,334,120) credits. Therefore, the total cost to you should be Nine Billion, Nine hundred fifty-seven million, six hundred sixty-five thousand, eight hundred eighty (9,957,665,880) credits."

"Very well, let's do this," Anton said as he placed his hand on the tablet and transferred the required credits as Aqwas set the ring down with his 240 shards. He picked up the ring, transferred the shards to his Portable exchange, and smiled, "Thank you."

"You are quite welcome, if that is all?"

"It is," Anton said as he placed the empty ring back on the table before he stood and left the shop. Once outside, he crossed the street to the White Dragon Tavern and purchased a meal while keeping to himself. He needed a secure place…Then he paused as he had a thought. He considered that thought for a moment and then muttered, "There's no way it could be that easy."

Anton quickly finished his meal and returned to the Node Plaza before he teleported back to Terra. Once on Terra, he ensured he was Stealthed before leaving the dungeon and then found a secluded place to land before he began walking as he activated Transverse Reality. He fixed a single location in his mind that he had actually visited and that he knew still existed.

As he'd been sitting there eating, the idea had just come to him. He sought a completely secure location where he could focus on adding classes to his primary core and races to his evolutionary core without interruption. The only place that might meet those criteria would be Keres's temple on Terra or the Physical location of the dimension where his Portable Exchange stored his goods. Somehow, his Portable exchange was still operational, indicating that the physical location remained within the pocket dimension where it had initially existed. So, why couldn't he visit it? If he had a teleport spell, he could probably teleport in, but he didn't, so his newest class would have to do.

With his memory of the location firmly in mind, Anton set off on a journey to visit his Portable Exchange.