Nightmares Paradise [LITRPG System Integration]

Jon swiftly devoured one of the root-like limbs from Avahni's summon, feeling himself be filled with a fiery, almost passionate natured spiritual energy. Her summon, whose name he later realized to be "Roland", was born from the integration of a Fragment Of Ginseng into her Fire Mana Core.

While it did nothing to alleviate the weakening effects caused by [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits], it did increase the speed at which his arm recovered from his third-degree burns.

This increase to his natural healing speed stacked on top of the effects the [Golden Warmth] buff Wilheim gave him. He was sure that Spells were able to be cancelled through the manipulation of their associated Mana Cores rotation speed but considered that Wilheim might not have had any time to experiment with his Spells or spiritual energy.

Avahni had yet to try something similar, although Jon felt as though she had quite the number of different abilities already. Perhaps she was focused on instead obtaining more fragments and Mana Cores rather than mastering the manipulation and control over their spiritual energy.

"Avahni… I'm fine, truly," Jon tried to gesture towards the lutin that he was fine, but the beautiful-looking alien kept narrowing her eyes at him, arms crossed with a disapproving expression on her face.

Jon did not fail to notice the envious expression on Wilheim's face either.

In fact, getting a better look at the halfling-esque humanoid, Jon could quite clearly see the traces of purplish blood splattered across some of their clothes. Wilheim appeared quite obviously male, with a somewhat hazelnut skin tone, a light dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks.

Even without taking his height into account, his facial features made him appear even younger than Jon. Roughly the same ages as his younger siblings, the oldest of which was still only in the tenth grade. Although, there was one particular feature that stood out to Jon the most.

'Wilheim has… purple eyes. Like an actual fantasy character. I wonder if that feature is quite rare amongst his Race, or if it is common considering he has purple blood,' Jon thought that they were quite pretty, even if he was also a man.

Despite everything regarding Avahni and Wilheim, the focus of Jon's mind was primarily on the corpse of the white-coloured bear laying silently on the riverbank. There were quite a few wounds scattered across the head, torso and midsection of the beast, drenching its pleasant white coloured fur with deep patches of crimson red.

However, given the sheer size of the beast, even if Jon managed to skin the beast and turn its fur into a blanket or piece of clothing, he thought that it would produce quite the pretty penny back on Earth.

Of course, he possessed no method to treat the hide of a beast, processing it from a raw material into an actual product.

Instead, Jon was much more focused on what things he would find inside the creature.

Even with a dull ache stretching across the majority of his form, Jon, with Avahni assisting him, managed to split the enormous, white-furred beast open from neck to taint. It took the group of two, with Wilheim standing off to the side, roughly half an hour to complete the task. Jon switching out with Avahni every few minutes, stretching his shoulders and forearms.

Their actions caused an expression of disgust to appear on the face of their fourth companion, but not before an expression of awe appeared on his face, seeing the contents contained within the heart of the beast.

Almost a dozen or so gemstones sat in palms of Jon's hands. Some gleaming with a lustre almost bordering on luminescent, others containing the image of a concept or object, alluding to something greater than itself.

Colours ranging from golden yellow to verdant green. From bone bleached white all the way through to crimson red.

There was quite the assortment of different fragments, causing not just Jon, but Wilheim, and even Avahni to go wide-eyed, glancing at each other while inspecting the name of each fragment.

Fragment Of "White" discovered.

Fragment Of "Brumal" discovered.

Fragment Of "Myriad" discovered.

Fragment Of "Rime" discovered.

Fragment Of "Beetle" discovered.

Fragment Of "Claw" discovered.

Fragment Of "Strength" discovered.

Jon felt these four in particular, were quite important, his [Monstrous Intuition] causing his eye to twitch.

Fragment Of "Marrow" discovered.

Fragment Of "Heart" discovered.

Fragment Of "Destruction" discovered.

Fragment Of "Extreme" discovered.

While two more large spherical shaped gemstones laid within Avahni's hands. The first possessing a beautiful whiteish-blue colouring to it, cold to the touch and capable of freezing the water that it came into contact with.

Something that Avahni accidentally found out after cleaning it in the river. The effect was minor, but the three aliens could only watch as chunks of ice started flowing downstream, carried off by the flow of the water.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ice" Mana Core discovered.

Would you like to integrate this Mana Core?

Y/N

The second Mana Core possessed two distinct colour palettes. A pair of strange, viscous, almost fluid-like colours shifting and warping within the gemstone. A golden, almost luminescent topaz colour on one end, and a bright, silverish platinum colour on the other.

The pair of colours rotated in on each other, almost giving Jon the impression of a certain symbol from Taoist mythology.

"Mountain" Mana Core detected.

Would you like to integrate this Mana Core?

Y/N

The total number of fragments and Mana Cores obtained from this single beast was almost greater than the total number of fragments and Mana Cores in Jon's possession. His eyes almost bulged out of his head, gazing down at the brightly coloured gemstones in his hands.

'I am almost tempted to take everything for myself, regardless of whether Avahni or Wilheim want any of them. I mean, I did do almost all the work, so I should receive the majority of the rewards but…' Jon didn't voice his thoughts at loud but knew deep within himself how the fight would have ended without Wilheim's support.

Jon did not think he would have survived. At least not without receiving a damage greater than what his Fragment Of Regeneration could restore, or through completely losing a limb in the process.

He underestimated both the number of abilities the white bear possessed, and the amount of strength said abilities could produce.

That monstrous eruption of ice and freezing winds caused Jon to receive a debuff of sorts. The effect of which, he also underestimated.

Taking a breath, Jon pointed towards Wilheim. The floresiensis snapped out of his trance, lifting his head to stare back at the human named Jon.

Trying to articulate his gestures in a manner that Wilheim was capable of understanding, Jon tried to push his message across to the short, purple blooded man. He was attempting to communicate with him, in an effort to get him to choose a fragment or Mana Core of his choice, eventually causing Wilheim to go wide eyed in shock.

"Me?" Jon thought Wilheim said, pointing to himself with his head slightly tilted. An expression of disbelief on his face.

Jon nodded.

Wilheim blinked a couple times, before slowly reaching towards one of the fragments, pausing his hand over one. Jon thought that he was going to choose the Fragment Of Strength but just observed the short alien as they lifted their gaze to stare up at him, continuing to move their hand towards one of the Mana Cores.

Wilheim's hand lingered over the Ice Mana Core for a few moments, continuing to observe Jon's expression before eventually landing on the Mountain Mana Core. Grasping the spherical jewel, Wilheim held it in both hands, his expression somewhere in between entranced and obsessed as the alien patted it, rubbing it against his cheek.

Jon and Avahni shared a glance before Jon placed the Ice Mana Core in his pocket before moving onto the remaining fragments.

There was a total of eleven fragments obtained from the beast. That meant there was eleven chances to obtain a new ability up for grabs. While Jon still had a few fragments stored away within his bag, with so many available right this moment, now seemed like the time to use them.

Keeping them all hoarded up for a rainy day was not the smart decision in Jon's mind. There was an abundance of powers and abilities just lying there, waiting for him to obtain them. Not doing so would just senselessly prevent himself from growing stronger.

He had almost died in that previous fight. And that was with two Mana Cores and seven abilities at his disposal. If Jon had four Mana Cores and fourteen abilities within his repertoire, he might have been able to defeat the white-coloured bear on his own without any assistance from Wilheim.

Jon reached towards the fragment which attracted him the most, the reddish-black coloured Fragment Of Destruction. While the name of the fragment seemed somewhat childish, Avahni and Wilheim each shivered the moment the fragment touched their skin. The jewel was somewhat cloudy, rippling with a violent red-black liquid within.

Jon thought that it would be quite suitable for himself. And planned to integrate this alongside his newest Mana Core.

Jon gestured for Wilheim to take one, but saw the short humanoid shake their head, pointing towards Jon while holding up two fingers. Jon furrowed his brows in confusion for a moment before realizing what the floresiensis was trying to convey.

'He doesn't think it is fair that we receive an equal share of the rewards… I can only assume that because Wilheim did not damage the beast in any way, that he does not feel as though we deserve an equivalent share of the fragments… I can work with that,' Jon's didn't feel the need to refuse the offer, giving Wilheim a bright smile before picking out the Fragment Of Myriad he also had his eye on.

The gemstone shone with a vast array of colours and tones that even Jon found himself unable to name all of them. Even with his Sea Of Knowledge at his disposal, he found himself entranced with the radiant multi-coloured gleam this specific fragment possessed.

Wilheim subsequently picked up the Fragment Of Marrow before gesturing back towards Jon to decide his next two fragments.

The human and floresiensis eventually divided up the fragments between them, with Jon receiving seven and Wilheim receiving three of the eleven fragments. Jon was somewhat surprised when Wilheim offered Avahni the choice of his final fragment, giving her an overexaggerated bow, causing her to giggle as a result.

The final tally went as such, with Avahni obtaining the lone Fragment Of Beetle which neither Jon nor Wilheim desired.

Wilheim receiving the Fragment Of Marrow, Fragment Of Rime and the Fragment Of Strength alongside his Mountain Mana Core.

And Jon obtaining the Ice Mana Core, in addition to the remaining seven fragments.

With a new addition to their group in tow, Avahi and Wilheim almost immediately began to integrate their new fragments, sitting around the campfire with their hands raised, sighing blissfully as the heat warmed their bones.

Avahni swiftly reclaimed Jon's sleeping bag, returning to sleep moments after obtaining another ability. From the expression on her face, Jon seemed to think that she was quite happy with what ability she integrated into her Fire Mana Core. Her first summon, Ru Luan Di did not make any outward change in its expression or demeanour, silently sitting in front of the fire, occasionally lifting its head to stare at Jon or Wilheim.

Patting what he thought was the creature's head, Jon reached into his bag, dismissing System prompt after System prompt trying to find which fragment he was looking for. Despite his initial scepticism regarding this particular fragment, Jon felt as though out of all the fragments in his possession it was the best suited towards his Knowledge Mana Core.

Fragment Of "Eyes" discovered.

Would you like to integrate this into your Knowledge Mana Core or Wood Mana Core?

After finding the right one, he accepted the integration notice, waiting barely sixty seconds before the familiar sight of an effect description page appeared in front of him.

[Fragment Of Eyes]
[Eyes Through The Looking Glass]
(Knowledge, Eyes, Mutation, Ability, Enhancement, Spell, Perception, Sensory)

Effect (Mortal): Transforms the mortal nature of one's eyes into that of Minerva-Sagacity Eyes. Dramatically increases visual acuity and retina quality. Dramatically increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the Perception Trait.

Chant, then infuse your eyes with the essence of piercing truth and unbidden knowledge. Pierce through the personal defences of those resistances is equal to or less than the Rank of this ability. Knowledge acquired by the Minerva-Sagacity Eyes shall appear in a manner most befitting the observer.