Nightmares Paradise [LITRPG System Integration]

[Jonathan Randall Guilliman; Polemarche Of Jade Warfare]

"… stand atop the battlements at twilight. Listening the soft whispers of leaves and battle. The distant clanging of steel against wood. The crushing of bone against leaves and roots. This is the birthright of the victorious. This is the will of the Verdant Night.

Oh child of growth and stillness, may thine eternal struggle birth horrors beyond imagination. Oh lord of spears and complexity, strike down the sinful delivering thy judgement. Polemarche of war and knowledge, may thine eyes pierce through the sanctimonious falsehoods and arrive at the truth.

This is the baptism of green. This is the birth of the Jade Polemarche."

[1]: Dramatically increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the Wood Trait. Dramatically increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the War Trait. Increases resistances towards war-related and wood-related damages, afflictions and debuffs.

[2]: Increases the ease of comprehending concepts and notions relating to "green", "life", "wood", "war", "conflict" and "struggle".

[3]: Infinitesimally increases physical capabilities for a small duration after defeating an enemy. This effect does stack with itself.

[4]: Increases the effectiveness of all abilities for a short duration after defeating an enemy. This effect does not stack with itself.

[5]: The Polemarche Of Jade Warfare can for an increased mana expenditure use abilities with the Wood Trait or War Trait without having to recite their associated chants.

[6]: The presence of the Polemarche Of Jade Warfare attracts Wonder Fragments. The presence of the Polemarche Of Jade Warfare nurtures Wonder Fragments that contain the concepts "green", "life," "wood", "war", "conflict" and "struggle".

Jon took a deep breath, allowing his new Title to settle within his Source. The churning of concepts within himself had subsided and the presence of the Polemarche Of Jade Warfare sat side-by-side with the Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation.

Although Jon was satisfied with the effects of Polemarche Of Jade Warfare, his expression was not one of pleasant surprise or abundant excitement. His brows were furrowed, unconsciously biting his lip as he examined the steps that he had taken to from his second Mortal Title.

'Shit! The effects of Voyager and Martial are both gone. If only I wasn't…' Jon suppressed the urge to grimace, instead moving to tap his thumb against his thigh somewhat awkwardly.

During the Title formation process, Jon had felt the new concepts he had introduced into his Source crash against the lingering concepts contained within his first Title. This minor loss of control had caused the effects that Jon intended on imbuing into the Title to vanish, bleeding into the Title Fragment that Jon used as the basis to create Polemarche Of Jade Warfare.

The Mortal Title Fragment, Viridis Benedictus.

He had not intended on allowing the concepts contained within to integrate themselves into Viridis Benedictus, transforming the increase in effectiveness of his Ability Trait and Technique Trait abilities into an increase in effectiveness to his Wood Trait and War Trait abilities.

Although not necessarily a bad thing in the long run, it exchanged some of the utility Jon was hoping to imbue into his Memento Source Fragment into a more focused and powerful passive buff for specific abilities of his.

'Having the effectiveness of all the abilities manifested from my Wood Mana Core and War Mana Core is pretty good, especially with both Archetype Avarice and Archetype Green experiencing a jump in the number of debuffs both can resist.'

'Choosing Polemarche Of Jade Warfare over Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation might have been reasonable if I did not possess my Yaochi-Jade Prana or Helel-Testament Pride.' Jon thought to himself.

Adjusting his legs from the position they had been stuck in for the past several hours, Jon allowed himself to lean back into the soft tendrils of the Earthen Treasury Womb. Allowing some of the tension he had built up in his lower back to dissipate, Jon glanced towards his task reward page, noticing just how many rewards he had yet to claim.

He still had over half a dozen possible fragments to choose from, and four Mana Cores of his choice to obtain from his completion of the fourth and sixth mandatory tasks.

Despite all of this however, Jon's eyes were drawn to the time still remaining on the System Introduction countdown. The last time he had observed it properly, had been the week after the defeat of the Malum Hobgoblin.

Time remaining: 859 days 22 hours 24 minutes 3 seconds…

"Almost one hundred and fifty days… almost six months back on Earth. I wonder if anyone is still looking for me at this point," Jon muttered to himself, knowing that the Earth would be going through an extraordinary amount of upheaval right this moment.

Eis had told him that the System would take one percent of a sapient population and place them within a System Introduction for evaluation. Although a rough estimate, Jon had guessed that there was around eight billion humans that lived on Earth.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

That meant that eighty million people had been pulled from their lives on Earth and placed within small realms to participate in the 37th universes System Introduction.

That was an incredible number of people. More than the populations of some small countries.

A System Introduction was a crucible, at least according to Ru Luan Di. Where the most talented, the most intelligent, the most unique and the most extraordinary of individuals were placed, tempering them amidst danger and wonder.

Those that did well often found themselves recorded in the annals of history as paragons and champions of their respective Races. Some even going so far as to figures of renown throughout the integrated universes.

But those that excelled… were lauded and admired by trillions upon trillions of lifeforms. Individuals that rivalled Ler Setanta in terms of strength. Schwarz Eis in terms of mastery. Ru Luan Di in terms of legend.

It was no exaggeration to say that Jon wanted to reach the same level as they all had. After being thrust into this world filled with beautiful horrors and wonderous nightmares, how could he be expected to return to ordinary life after experiencing Wonders beyond imagination?

Jon showed a wry smile, feeling his cheeks flush at the thought.

It seemed kind of childish, but he had enjoyed the past six months immensely.

Talking with Wilheim about the theoretical aspects of spiritual energy while debating mana control after blowing up their initial attempts at forming a Mortal Ranked spiritual item.

Practicing his hand-to-hand combat with Sariel and allowing her to get used to side-casting and even multi-casting using her Fragment Of Duplicity.

Chatting with Shamael about the different types of fragments he could integrate into his Hydra Mana Core and Summon Mana Core. Even offering him additional copies of fragments that he would need to complete his summoning rituals.

And even the time he had spent with Avahni.

The first alien he had ever encountered within the System Introduction. The green-haired "elf" that trusted him with her life despite having met each other just minutes before. Who seemed to consider him her friend from the moment they first met and whose presence was comforting, always brining a smile to his face.

Jon felt his eye twitch but did not react, lifting his head and glancing towards his companions all sleeping around the campfire. Wilheim had used one of his task rewards to obtain a type of "tent" spiritual item, while Sariel and Shamael had decided to share the single blanket that was in Jon's possession.

'And Avahni seems to have taken my…' Jon's thoughts trailed off, furrowing his brows in confusion at the presence of his empty sleeping bag.

Both Ru Luan Di and Titus Claudius continued to sleep around the sleeping bag. The enormous form of Lucia Zenobia slept motionlessly beside Annwn Boann. Both the myriad wind bee and ordinance staghorn remained unmoving, causing Jon to step off Rana's roots while channelling spiritual energy into his Fragment Of Eyes.

His Minerva-Sagacity Eyes, enhanced through the effects of his Title observed the motionless figures of Avahni's bee and staghorn coral companions.

The two of them possessed almost monstrous sizes, the Twelve-Coloured Cloud Hive exceeding the size of a mortal elephant while the Aquatic Ordinance Staghorn possessed similar dimensions to a motor home back on Earth.

It was strange for them to remain so still, given that even the sound of a twig snapping in the distance would cause them all to wake up.

Standing before the myriad wind bee queen, Jon placed a hand on rotund figure of Lucia Zenobia, feeling something warm and wet dribble down the sides of her abdomen. Given how close he now was to both summoned companions, the scent that had been obscured from his senses was now impossible to conceal, causing his eyes to widen and several of his abilities to activate all at once.

"Ortlinde! Where the hell is Avahni!?" Jon shouted, manifesting the Thulian Spellspear in his hand.

The sound of his voice echoed throughout the landscape, prompting Wilheim, Sariel and Shamael to all stir from their dreamless sleep. Ru Luan Di and Titus Claudius similarly twitched from both of their respective positions but never seemed quite be fully awake.

Schwarz Eis manifested herself into physical reality, furrowing her brows at Jon before glancing towards Ashvattha Rana. The winter demon spirit noticed something strange about the golden-green bodhi tree, her gaze lingering on the Earthen Treasury Womb.

Jon stood above the Second Sister Of Destruction, kicking her foot trying to stir the lightning fey awake. The elfin-looking summon, with short, raven-coloured hair twitched as Jon tapped her foot groaning softly as she roused herself awake.

"Princeps? What the hell do you think you are-. Avahni!" Ortlinde sat up, clutching her head with a groan as she struggled to sit herself back up.

Almost immediately did the lightning fey notice her breathing turn faint, using her free hand to grip onto Jon, scrunching up her face while fighting against the debuffs that had been inflicted upon her.

Wisps of lie natured spiritual energy and knowledge natured spiritual energy entwined together to create an effect that inverted truth and falsehoods. What Ortlinde intended on doing was remaining awake and protecting Avahni, but instead found herself falling asleep, thoughts focused on harming the one who had summoned her into this world.

"Ortlinde! Did someone take Avahni!?" Jon asked, watching as the lightning fey struggled to reply, just nodding her head in response.

The Second Sister Of Destruction opened her mouth to speak, but found it shut against her own wishes. The debuffs inflicted upon her had run rampart for far too long without anything to resist it.

She could barely stop herself from manifesting lightning and hurling at the human in front of her.

"Can you still feel Avahni through your connection? Can you tell me where she has gone?" Jon asked again.

Ortlinde shook her head from side to side cursing her own frail Mortality. If she was still in possession of her Fragment Of Absolution and Fragment Of Incarnation then cleansing this debuff would be done in a matter of moments!

"S-south! G-go south!" Were the only words she managed to speak before collapsing back onto the ground, writhing in pain from the foreign spiritual energy wreaking havoc within her mind and spirit.

Knowledge natured spiritual energy was not the most offensive type of mana in existence. But it was perhaps one of the more troublesome to deal with.

And lie natured spiritual energy was even more annoying, its existence hollow and transient. As if soap bubble floating higher and higher into the air. Eventually, it would reach a point where it would be pierced by the truth.

Ortlinde just hoped that she was able to survive the fall.

Jon glanced towards Schwarz Eis, noticing that the winter demon spirit was looking after Ashvattha Rana. Opening his mouth to speak, Jon found himself interrupted by the words of his Fragment Of Summon.

"Jon. The strength of these effects… It goes beyond what a Mortal should be capable of." Eis expression was serious, devoid of any impishness.

"Whoever we are dealing with… is someone that has attained Knighthood."