Nightmares Paradise [LITRPG System Integration]

"Fragment pathways?" Said Jon, brushing Schwarz Eis' hand away from his head. Despite the height difference between himself and the winter demon spirit, it did not stop the White Lady Of The Winter Castle from trying to pat his hair.

Schwarz Eis just grinned watching as Jon backed away, tilting his head down to peer at her, unsure of the meaning behind her words. Schwarz Eis was sure that Ashvattha Rana would not have mentioned such a concept, given that the Earthen Treasury Womb only reached Barony during her lifetime.

Ashvattha Rana never would have had the time to experiment with the integration of different fragments into her abilities. Creating a fragment pathway required the dedication and hard work of several generations, testing and experimenting with the integration of different fragments into specific Mortal Ranked abilities.

Ashvattha Rana did not belong to powerful organization that stretched across the integrated universes, nor was she born into a wealth or influence. There was no way for her to form a fragment pathway given her circumstances within life.

Schwarz Eis smiled at Jon, seeing the obvious confusion on his face.

"Although it is the nature of fragments to be chaotic, occasionally, random defined patterns will repeat themselves over an infinite series. Abilities will often manifest themselves differently from person to person, but that is not to say that two people cannot possess the exact same ability."

"At least, not without knowledge of a fragment pathway," Schwarz Eis said, sitting back down on her throne-shaped barrier of ice natured spiritual energy. The confusion on his face only became more apparent as he muttered the words "fragment pathway" underneath his breath.

The winter demon spirit crossed one leg over the other while gesturing towards Jon. Or more specifically, the Wood Mana Core contained within him.

"Allow me to give an example."

"[Temperance Of Green, Imperial Wood Barrier]. Fragment Of Barrier integrated into a Wood Mana Core. Manifests a physical barrier constructed from wood natured spiritual energy. Quite simple, all things considered. Now, just purely based on the information placed in front of you, what fragments would you desire to integrate into this Spell upon reaching Knighthood, Lordship and Barony?" Schwarz Eis asked.

Jon paused before tapping his chin. Using his free hand to list the fragments that he considered integrating into [Temperance Of Green, Imperial Wood Barrier].

"Fragment Of Shield at Knighthood to increase the innate resistances of the Spell. Fragment Of Regeneration at Lordship to hopefully allow the Spell to recover from damage received. And a Fragment Of Preparation maybe, or store charges of the Spell without having to cast it?"

"I might change it in the future. It depends on what fragments I integrate into other abilities first," said Jon, shrugging his shoulders as he thought about the future avenues of development he could take his Fragment Of Barrier.

[Temperance Of Green, Imperial Wood Barrier] was not the strongest defensive Spell, something which was obvious even at a glance. Both Wilheim's [Light Of Thou Consecrated Shields] and Sariel's [Thou Shalt Stand Before The Boundless Maw] were stronger than his Fragment Of Barrier.

A Fragment Of Shield should help rectify the lacklustre resistances of his Spell but left a sour taste in Jon's mouth.

It was quite frankly, a waste of a fragment, knowing that the properties of his defensive Spell could not match the qualities of others without being supplemented at Knighthood. Although there was quite the conceptual difference between the defensive characteristics of "castles" and "shields" in comparison to "wood," there was nothing that Jon could do about it until he became a Knight.

Schwarz Eis nodded at his words.

"A fine set of fragments given the circumstances. Although conceptually, a Fragment Of Growth would be more suitable than a Fragment Of Regeneration."

The White Lady Of The Winter Castle flashed Jon smile, fluttering her white-eyelashes as she pointed towards the Fragment Of Barrier within his chest.

"Allow me to inform you of the fragments I would choose to integrate."

"Fragment Of Ice and Knighthood. Fragment Of Castle at Lordship. And a Fragment Of Shield at Barony. I would even consider waiting until I become a Viscount before forming an ability pathway, integrating a Fragment Of Propagation or a Fragment Of Space, but that is another story in its entirety." Schwarz Eis hummed, pursing her lips in thought before nodding at her chosen fragments.

"I would use these fragments to form an ability pathway, forcibly transforming the Fragment Of Barrier upon reaching Barony. Do you have an idea on how this would be done Jon?" Schwarz Eis glanced towards the young human in front of her, watching as Jon froze, Fragment Of Mind producing numerous different possibilities all at once.

Jon narrowed his eyes in thought, examining the information that the winter demon spirit had placed before him.

'Form an ability pathway? What in the world is Eis talking about? How can someone produce an ability with clear and specific effects, given that it is within the nature of fragments, or the conceptus contained within them to be chaotic and unmeasurable?'

'What did she say before again? Something about chaos theory? Random patterns often appear within chaos? Is it the order of the fragments integrated? Or something about the fragments themselves when integrated into a Fragment Of Barrier?'

'Not to mention her use of the word "transforming." How would I transform my Fragment Of Barrier upon reaching Barony? Is there something about the integration of specific concepts that-.'

Jon felt his Sea Of Knowledge come to a halt, Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation assisting in his understanding of "fragment pathways". The gentle lapping of waves within his mental construct drowned out whatever unnecessary thoughts plagued Jon's mind, allowing him to focus on the singular comprehension of this new concept.

Schwarz Eis raised an eyebrow, feeling the presence of new concepts waft from out of Jon's Source. She knew that Jon had used the Mortal Title Fragments Ariya and Prodigy to manifest Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Although their effects were secondary in comparison to Mutare Dominus and Ortus, both of them still contained extraordinarily heavy concepts within them. The winter demon spirit could feel the soft emanations of Jon's Title spill out from within him, nodding as some of its effects spilled over into her.

'I think that even Grandfather might be pleased with Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation. Abilities with the Mutation Trait cannot be obscured from his senses. Mutated characteristics produce spiritual energy. Even increasing control over spiritual energy.'

'Although I cannot benefit from the latter, I can borrow the power of Jon's Title and use it to find mutations around myself. In time, Ashvattha Rana should be able to do the same thing.' Schwarz Eis thought to herself.

Jon remained silent as he continued to contemplate Schwarz Eis' words.

Although unknowingly, Jon was using the effects of his Title to help comprehend the ideas that Schwarz Eis had presented towards him. The difference between his selection of fragments and the ones that the winter demon spirit had chosen would produce something called an "ability pathway."

Something that would produce a clear and defined result, even amidst the randomness of manifested abilities.

'The description of a fragment is literally "a fragment of the concept of "x." The integration of new fragments into an ability introduces new concepts into it. But does not link them together. Think of it as just layering them on top of one another, as if putting water and oil into a cup.'

'The effects are just added on top of the original, rather than the concepts contained within each being integrated into one another.'

Jon took a deep breath, lifting his head and peering towards his summoned companion.

"An ability pathway… somehow would integrate the concepts contained within fragments together, rather than just integrating the fragment. This… amalgamated concept would produce a clear and defined result, at least, I think it would." Said Jon, frowning as he struggled to explain the conclusion that he had come to.

It was difficult to explain his hypothesis knowing that he was unsure of the processes regarding the creation of an ability pathway. Concepts were abstract ideas given form through fragments. How someone was supposed to create a "pathway" from them, Jon had no idea.

Schwarz Eis hummed listening to Jon's words, tapping her chin thoughtfully for a few moments, before half-nodding, half-shaking her head.

"Not entirely correct, but not necessarily incorrect either. Although your metaphor about water and oil and the staking of concepts is quite apt I have to admit."

"What I was searching for, was the birth of a new concept. One born from the numerous defining characteristics of all the fragments that one had integrated together. The transformation of individual concepts into a single new notion." Said Schwarz Eis, lifting her hand and manifesting a series of floating ice gemstones.

Although each of them were constructed from ice natured spiritual energy, Schwarz Eis gestured towards them, pointing out each individual construct.

"Take the example that you gave me before. Barrier. Shield. Regeneration and Preparation. What manner of concept can you birth from the combination of these four?" The winter demon spirit asked.

Jon blinked, surprised by the question but remained quiet, thinking for several moments.

After about a minute, Jon shrugged his shoulders, unable to conceive of a new concept.

"I don't know. Fragment Of… Metamorphosis?" Jon blurted out.

Schwarz Eis contemplated the fragment that Jon had proposed, before shaking her head.

"Not a bad guess but is something that already exists as an actual fragment. No. The answer that I am looking for is… "I have actually no idea"." Schwarz Eis said, standing up while twirling the ice constructs in the space above her palm.

"You see Jon, ability pathways are concepts that have been discovered over numerous years of experimentation and fragment research. There might be a concept hidden somewhere in between your four fragments, although will remain as such until someone is game enough to try combining them all together."

"The four fragments that I proposed on the other hand, will produce a single defined result. Barriers of Wood and Ice would become the foundation. While Castles and Shields shall shape the form."

Schwarz Eis closed her fist, gesturing for the four ice-shaped gemstones to crash into one another, congealed and compressed into a singular gemstones of an indescribable shape. For a moment, Jon thought as though he was perceiving non-Euclidean space, but noticed it was just the angle at which he observed the object.

Schwarz Eis extended her palm, allowing the strange, three-dimensional object to float over towards him.

"What you will receive Jon, is quite the interesting fragment."

"A Fragment Of The White-Sylvan Fortress."

Break.

"Is everyone ready?" Jon turned around towards his four companions, each of them dressed in an assortment of Mortal Ranked spiritual items, an overabundance of spiritual energy almost radiating off their bodies.

The five of them stood before the enormous arched gates of the Dungeon entrance, gazing at the construct with varying degrees of wonder and angst evident on their faces.

Shamael gave Jon a small but resolute nod, returning the Mountain-Devouring Rafflesia into his liver. The blue-skinned satanas seemed kind of pale, despite his blue complexion. The not-so-subtle tap of his foot an outward display of how nervous he was.

Avahni just gave Jon a double thumbs up, grinning at her human friend standing in front of their Dungeon entrance. The green-haired lutin had returned all her summoned companions into herself, including Ler Setanta, despite the indomitus shastasaurus being against the decision.

Sariel glanced towards her Shamael for a few seconds, before turning back towards Jon and giving the human a smile. The short green-haired satanas had integrated a handful of fragments the night before and had been quite eager to test some of them out within the Dungeon.

Wilheim gave Jon a wink, causing the human to roll his eyes at the playful antics of the floresiensis. Ever since Jon had agreed to the bet with Wilheim, the shorter man had tried to annoy him at every opportunity, watching as Jon attempted to practice with his Fragment Of Creation.

'I'll need to practice more once we leave the Dungeon. I have to reserve my weave natured spiritual energy for casting [Ten Thousand Threads]." Jon thought to himself.

The discussion that he and Schwarz Eis had the previous night had left a lot for Jon to think about. The direction in which he should develop several of his abilities had come to a complete and utter standstill as Jon now considered the idea of forming fragment pathways instead.

His plans for developing mutations had paused for the time being. Schwarz Eis informing him of several fragment pathways for both his Yaochi-Jade Prana and Hades-Sagacity Shadow.

Ideas regarding the development of [Temperance Of Green, Imperial Wood Barrier] and [False Spear Art; Concealed Spear Detonation] had to be revised. Not to mention [Mine Is The Sea Of Knowledge].

The effects that Jon now wanted to add to Archetype Green and Archetype Avarice had changed, knowing that he could now transform his Fragment Of Incarnation and Fragment Of Avarice.

[Envious Is The Beast That Lurks Within] and [Wrath Is The Paradise Whispered On Thou Lips] underwent revision as well. Jon now hoping to ask Ru Luan Di how to transform his two abilities.

'Leave such thoughts to the side for the time being.' Jon thought to himself, controlling his Sea Of Knowledge to drown such thoughts amidst a wave of crushing clarity.

Taking a deep breath, Jon gave his four friends a wide smile, holding up a Fire Mana Core in one hand. It had been one of the Mana Cores he had obtained from the Malum Goblins, and one that he had numerous copies of.

"Let's clear us a Dungeon!" Jon shouted in Nain, causing his four companions to cheer, each one of them placing a hand on the Dungeon entrance.

Jon placed the Fire Mana Core in his hands into the slot in the centre of the arched gate. The moment he did so, each one of them vanished from the small realm, a single shared page appearing in the centre of their vision.

Key Of "Fire" accepted!

Mortal Dungeon Of "Sand" discovered!

Defeat [Heph; Venomous-Sand Hydra] to clear the [Burning Desert Of Kel]!