NOVEL NEXT Chapter 68: Rarity Quest
<Alex, Real - Endure, High School Basement>
Alex stared at the perfectly full orb before him. The contained energy, liquid… stuff was a verdant, swirling mix of greens. Behind it, the distilling apparatus was silent and still.
Yes, Alex, the still is still. Brilliant observation.
He'd already examined it and found cracks and wear through the whole thing. Several places that he remembered sensing magic before—and where he was relatively sure he could still feel fading traces—were now inactive in a way that made it obvious that he'd not get it going again.
He sighed. "Right, I'm not meant to be able to use this setup again."
Lenka huffed. "You weren't meant to use it once. It's set dressing for the prize." She pointed at the sphere. "It's like the meme of a pile of gold in a video game that when you try to pick it up, you're told that 'The pile of gold is empty.'"
Alex gave her a look, lifting one eyebrow.
She shrugged. "It comes across better in a visual form, but you get the idea. This shows you how it could be accomplished in the future if you decide to attempt this on your own. I would bet that it would fall apart if you tried to remove it in any way, becoming even more decrepit than it already is."
He grunted in reluctant agreement to that, returning to his examination of the item.
The sphere was huge, a bit bigger than a basketball and obviously heavy, though he'd not tried to move it. He could probably lift it, and it would fit in his Inventory, but did he really want that? Couldn't he use it where it was?
He looked at his quest again, feeling growing hope that this would suffice.
Racial Rarity Advancement Quest
Your Race is Rare, but it could be Rarer. (Well, Epic.)
Complete the tasks to allow your Race to actualize some more of its latent potential.
Increase the power of your Life Force by whatever means you deem best (42/100)
Absorb the Core of a source of Life (1/1)
Make a meaningful Contribution to your group or tribe (3/3)
Despite him leveling and increasing both his stats and HP significantly, the counter on his Life Force power increase hadn't budged. That makes sense; it's power, not quantity, and I think that I've just been increasing quantity with HP and Physical Fortitude.
That did make sense. He was effectively adding another board to a wooden wall with each point. Was it stronger? More 'fortified'? Absolutely, but no part was actually more resilient, more powerful.
Yet, he had managed to increase the power of his Life Force somehow. His best guess was what he'd done during his tier advancement.
Power came flowing into me, working to alter and 'upgrade' me, and I diverted some of that power into my blood, my Life. He felt like that should have resulted in him being penalized. If he had designed the System, it would only send the right amount to upgrade the Initiate, and if the Initiate messed with the incoming flow, or diverted it? That was their own fault.
Blessedly, the System seemed to have other design parameters than pure focus on efficiency of operation.
That's 'taco tuesday' obvious from even a passing glance around. He was standing in a fabricated world. Nothing about that was 'efficient.'
Regardless, he was delaying.
He took a deep breath and sat down crosslegged on the floor, legs almost touching the sphere of power.
Without delaying further, he placed his hands on either side of the object. He cast Detect Life, the spell filling his mind with the location and very basic information on the life in the world all around him.
He did his best to shed the unneeded portions of the information, and he was helped in that effort by his practice ignoring his group members over the last days whenever he used this spell out and about. And how I ignore small plants, bugs, etc. every time I use it as well.
Focusing inward, he tried to determine anything about what the sphere contained.
He came up empty.
He tried a few more things without useful results before he finally settled on the most basic tactic.
He enacted Basic Life Transfusion, giving his Life a command as he sent it into the sphere. 'Harvest this to increase the power of my Life Force.'
He had a moment's hesitation as he had to choose how much of his Life to send, but he was in a safe location, Lenka was right beside him if something unexpected happened, and he wanted to get as much out of this as possible… He sent 4,000 of his 5,280 into the orb. If he messed up, he would be in a really bad way for a long time, but he didn't want to fail due to a lack of commitment.
He had little to no idea what his command actually meant, specifically, but given the fact that the Life moved, draining his mana as well, he figured that it was more or less effective.
The feeling of so much of his Life leaving him all at once was like waking up from a major surgery. He just felt off at a fundamental level. He didn't want to move, and even thinking was difficult.
Yup, this sucks pure citric acid.
He was practically praying that his attempt would work. He couldn't imagine feeling this way for the long span it would take for him to recover if he'd messed up.
Nearly three months of recovery might have been a bit too much of a gamble… Still, the die was cast. He couldn't go back now.
Blessedly, he could feel his Life moving through the liquid… energy… whatever it was inside the sphere, and when it was finished pervading the whole of it, he got a System message.
Notice:
Efficiency: 30%
60/200 potential accessed.
Reabsorb and self-augment?
Y/N
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Apology Tutorial Note:
A selection of 'N' will cause the gathered potential to be rejected and forever lost.
Alex felt his eye twitch. Thirty flipping percent? That's all? I had access to nearly four times the potential that I needed, and… what? I just messed it up? He then paled slightly. Is it because I sent four thousand in? Did I need more than thirteen thousand to get it all?
That was… a horrifying amount, but he hoped that that was the reason. Then, if he was in this situation again in the future, when he was more powerful, he could give just that.
Regardless, he couldn't figure it out with a sample size of one, and he couldn't go back now. Even if he could, he still didn't know what he'd done wrong to have gotten so little from what he had available. All of that aside, he needed this, and he wasn't going to reject it so…
"Yes."
The power flowed out of the sphere into his hands in a rush.
Several notifications chimed in his mind, even as the power roared through him along with his returned Life.
He felt a bit grateful that he didn't have to pay the mana cost a second time—he didn't actually have enough mana to have done so—but that gratitude was swept away as he noticed the power congregating in pockets, and where it gathered it burned.
Following a hunch, he used his new Basic Internal Life Manipulation to try to even it out. The attempt was about as effective as using a meat-hammer to flatten chicken… So, it worked for the most part, but no one would call the result 'level' or truly even. It was far more so than it had been, however, so Alex counted it as a win.
Then, the power seemed to lock in place and settle in.
To say it was painful wouldn't really be accurate. There was pain, make no mistake, but that wasn't the primary sensation.
It was pulling out an ingrown hair, or lancing a boil, or having a shoulder or knee put back into the joint.
There was a spike of unbelievable pain, seemingly building toward unbearable levels of agony… then there was just relief, the absence of the anticipated pain almost as intoxicating and pleasurable as anything he'd ever experienced.
He'd fallen back without really realizing it. Thankfully, it seemed that he'd not cracked his skull on the hard floor.
Still in a bit of a euphoric daze, he pulled up the first of the notifications.
Notice:
60 Life aligned potential absorbed, 58 required for Racial Rarity Advancement Quest.
Where do you wish to direct the remaining 2?
Class?
Race?
Body?
Reject?
He felt his eyes twitching. One hundred and forty of whatever this is… gone.
He hoped the class advancement was worth it… A yawn tore itself free as he felt the events of the day more fully, telling him that he should sleep soon.
Still, he had to choose, and the notification was waiting for his selection. He imagined that Race or Class would move him toward another advancement, even if he didn't have any quest for that, yet.
Reject was fairly self-explanatory.
With nothing really on the line, he decided to choose the unknown.
"Body."
Notice
Insufficient potential for unaided upgrade. Advancement smoothed and body prepped for integration with one (1) natural treasure.
The little bit of remaining energy seemed to smooth out what he'd 'meat hammered' flat, taking the fully settled in power and slightly redistributing it.
A natural treasure, eh? He hadn't come across such a thing yet, but he was new to the whole System. Might be worth asking a teacher about.
But that was for later. He felt a weariness growing deep within him, and he still wanted to see what the rarity advancement had netted him.
As he pulled up the notification on his Race change, he wished that he could simply see the new version, rather than having to read through both. He might want to see both versions again in the future, but at the moment, he was exhausted.
The System complied.
Congratulations! Race Rarity Advancement Quest Complete
New Race:
Life-Aspected Human (Epic), E
Life-Aspected Human (Epic), E
Despite a potential to be on your own, you have chosen to remain with and assist those of your tribe or group. You are infused and deeply tied to the energy of Life itself.
Moreover, you have sought and fought to increase that suffusion.
This restricts you from following certain paths, while opening others before you.
This is an Epic Race within the System and has proportionally higher stat gains per level.
This is an Epic Race within the System and has proportionally slower level gain.
Base Health Points(HP) is Physical Fortitude x30
Base Stamina Points (SP) as 25x the sum of Physical Fortitude and Mental Fortitude
Stat Gains per Level
+16 all stats, including allocatable points
It mentioned his work to suffuse himself with Life, as well as acknowledging that he'd been helpful to those around him. He actually appreciated that quite a bit.
I do try.
As to more tangible gains? His HP and SP had both gained increased multipliers, and the true capstone was a doubling of the stats that he gained per level.
By this point, he'd fully healed his missing Life, even that which he'd used to repair his finger. With his stats, he healed one 'Life Point'—seemingly represented by his HP Maximum—in a bit more than thirty minutes or so…
No… that's what it was before my race advancement. He did some quick math, checking his basic resources.
Alex Johnson
Life-Aspected Human (Epic), E, Level 7
Class: Life-Aspected Great-Bladesman (Epic), E, Level 7
Class 2: NA
HP: 5940/5940
SP: 823/4977
MP: 1002/1980
Now, he would recover one Life Point in a bit less than thirty minutes. Big gains, Alex, big gains. He chuckled to himself.
Still, he was happy with his gains, even if most wouldn't be in evidence until he leveled again. He knew that he'd have to pay a higher price in experience to advance for each of those levels, but mathematically, he believed that it worked out in his favor.
He waited a moment, and felt only minor disappointment that he didn't get any 'make up' stats like he had when elevating to E tier. That had come in the form of a title.
No such luck here it seemed.
Finally, he opened his eyes, groaning.
Lenka was standing over him, looking down with one eyebrow raised. "Do you want help getting to your bed? You look epicly tired."
He groaned again. "That was a bad pun, and you should feel bad."
She shrugged. "It's one my dad would have made, and it seemed to fit. I suppose dad humor doesn't land for everyone."
Alex flinched slightly, but the woman didn't seem to notice. Come on, Alex. It's not like she took a stab at you because you aren't a dad. It's just banter.
He held out one hand, and she pulled him to his feet. "I do love being so much stronger than pre-System."
"Indeed." Alex was quite unsteady. Reluctantly, he accepted her offer of help up to where he was sleeping, and away they went, leaving the empty sphere and decrepit distillery behind.
He didn't remember falling asleep, or even getting up to bed.
He jerked awake what seemed like moments after he'd left the basement, Kaylee shaking him, her face showing stress and worry even in the dim light of the communal sleeping room.
Alex sat up rubbing his eyes as he looked around. A few other adults had laid down in the bedding around the room likely after he passed out. I didn't even hear them come in.
Still, that wasn't the priority at the moment. He locked eyes with Kaylee. "What is it?"
Clearly steeling herself, she swallowed. "There's a group of teens missing. It's those who have been disgruntled of late… I think they went to look for their families."
In his tiredness, Alex fought a miniature war within himself. A deep part wanted to shrug in resignation, chalk them up as lost and go back to sleep. But that wasn't who he wanted to be. Alex grimaced, shook his head and rubbed at his temples. He would act like the man he wanted to be even if these were fake people. "Alright… let's go after our lost sheep."