Nightmares Paradise [LITRPG System Integration]

Jon was somewhat disappointed that there was no task reward for the completion of Knowledge Mana Core. After integrating the Fragment Of Eyes into his Mana Core, Jon hoped that there would be some sort of reward waiting for him. Unfortunately, there was no such optional task reward.

His System task page had not changed since his last viewing of it, closing it down without claiming the reward of his choice he had saved up.

There was a specific fragment that Jon found himself leaning towards but refrained from making any hasty half-hearted decisions. If he ever found another person with an extraordinarily powerful or flexible ability which required a specific fragment, Jon would perhaps choose it as his task reward not giving it a second thought.

'There is such thing as a Fragment Of Resurrection and a Fragment Of Revival. Even with fragments with such powerful connotations behind them, there are still a couple which beat even a second chance at life'.

Wilheim remained fast asleep, while Avahni had decided to take over Jon's watch. The small realm was illuminated with an amount of light that suggested it was already past morning. The lutin and her ginseng summon gave Jon a smile and a thumbs up, gesturing towards the Ice Mana Core in his hands.

She pointed towards the forest, as if gesturing towards the direction she was heading in, but Jon just shook his head, patting the wooden log she had claimed as her chair.

While Jon would not put his life in Avahni's hands, he trusted the lutin enough that she would not stab him in the back while he slept. He considered that with the sheer number of fragments he had in his possession that Avahni might be tempted to steal one but just took one look at the lutin playing with her fat ginseng, before ignoring the thought entirely.

Instead, Jon focused his attention on the whiteish-blue Mana Core in his hands. The spherical jewel was beyond cold to the touch and holding it in on hand for too long would cause his fingers to go numb.

'The question is whether I should integrate this Ice Mana Core or not. While there isn't any compatibility between my Knowledge Mana Core or Wood Mana Core, perhaps what is considered "compatibility" is something more personal, rather than the Mana Cores we decide to integrate'.

'The spiritual energy from one Mana Core cannot be used to fuel the abilities of another Mana Core. Perhaps there is a specific fragment which can resolve this problem? A Fragment Of Equilibrium, or perhaps a Fragment Of Balance or something?' Jon thought as he switched the Ice Mana Core from one hand to the other.

There was also the existence of a "Source", which from Jon's understanding of the task details, was something that every being capable of integrating a Mana Core possessed. If one's Source was what determined compatibility between oneself and specific Mana Core or fragment, then perhaps the only way to see what best suited himself was to integrate another Mana Core.

The conceptual weight and connotations behind "Ice" was not too bad either. It was just as broad as "Wood" or "Fire" and could be integrated with a wide variety of fragments that could be changed in accordance with Jon's needs.

While all the abilities in his Knowledge Mana Core, in some way or another, increased Jon's ability to obtain or acquire knowledge, the common factor of his Wood Mana Core had yet to be determined.

Taking a deep breath, Jon clutched the Ice Mana Core in his hands, not wanting to put this off for any longer. He had so many fragments in his possession; it was about time he did something with all of them.

"Ice" Mana Core discovered.

Would you like to integrate this "Ice" Mana Core?

Y/N

Accepting the notification, Jon immediately felt the light around him vanish, being replaced with an overwhelming sense of nothingness. Any and all semblance of the outside world disappeared within the blink of an eye, leaving Jon alone within this colourless abyss.

Lifting his head, Jon felt significantly more in control in comparison to the last time he was here. His mind was not distracted from the temptation brought about from seeing into his infinite alternate possibilities.

Stepping forward without hesitation, Jon walked past the possibility of himself with a Titan Mana Core and a Nature Mana Core. His physical form had swelled to an almost monstrous size, wielding a green-coloured staff engraved with symbolic patterns and ancient glyphs.

There was the image of himself with enormous wings of pure night, wielding a Phoenix Mana Core and a Darkness Mana Core.

Feeling his gaze linger on a version of himself battling the hound-faced bear with an Imperial Mana Core and a Sun Mana Core, Jon swiftly moved his attention away from the vast array of possibilities in front of him, trying to look at what the System defined as "his Source".

Despite the fact that there was nothing around him, Jon was fully aware that everything around him was "himself". All these possibilities were also him, even if they were also not quite him.

There was too much information around Jon. His Knowledge Mana Core made it too difficult to comprehend so much information all at once, and his enhanced perceptions and sensory capacity pushed the effectiveness of his five senses beyond that of an ordinary human being.

Even if Jon just wanted to read a book in peace, his preternatural senses would take a snapshot of each page, imprinting them within the depths of his Sea Of Knowledge. Jon felt as though he would only need to flip through each of the pages a couple of times, and even a book with several hundred pages would be memorized.

Jon himself pause before muttering something under his breath.

The position of his head shifted downwards, towards something that he didn't even consider before, seeing the enormous structure of his Fragment Of Mind beneath his feet.

An endless ocean of possibilities. A vast sea of information, churning and frothing with waves of knowledge and tides of memories. This veritable Sea Of Knowledge existed just beneath Jon's feet, and he never once realized its existence.

Somehow the water's surface was both churning and still at the same time. One moment he would be standing on a glassy black surface, unmoved by thought or experience. The next, he would be standing atop an enormous black wave of information, crashing down on another wave of dull knowledge.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Just as water desires to flow downwards, so too did Jon's accumulated knowledge, experiences and memories flow downwards into his Sea Of Knowledge. If everything around himself was also considered to be "Jonathan Randall Guilliman", then it was wrong of Jon to consider his Sea Of Knowledge to be something separate from himself.

If this was the case, then it was true that fragments could influence his "Source".

Jon felt his eyes widen, as the possibilities all around himself fragmented and crumbled away. The temptation of infinite possibilities and what-could-have-been crashed into the surface of his Sea Of Knowledge becoming one with it, and becoming one with Jon.

While he had yet to understand the connection between his Source, his Mana Cores and the fragments he chose to integrate, Jon could begin to see that specific fragments could influence his Source, even changing the form it decided to take.

While Jon did not know what other Fragments could influence the shape of his Source, he couldn't help but glance towards the flickering image of one such possibility.

A shimmering firefly of whiteish-blue light. The sensation of ice and cold against his chest, causing Jon to instinctively reach out, trying to grasp onto the possibility that existed just out of arm's length.

His fingers growing numb as they clutched onto the whiteish-blue light, his vision suddenly shifting, being replaced with a world of colour and form.

Jon could see his arm unconsciously extended outwards as if to reach towards something, earning a series of strange looks from Wilheim, Avahni and her summon Roland.

In fact, the fat ginseng summons looked strangely interested in Jon. What Jon could only describe as the "head" of the ginseng leaning forward from its position, gazing at Jon with some unknown expression on its face.

Moving up from his supine position, Jon felt himself being overwhelmed with another series of System notifications.

"Ice" Mana Core successfully integrated.

"Knowledge" Mana Core detected. First Mana Core detected.

"Wood" Mana Core detected. Second Mana Core detected.

"Ice" Mana Core detected. Third Mana Core detected.

Spiritual energy has reached the maximum threshold for the Second Initiation.

Increasing Tier from Second Initiation to Third Initiation.

Increasing maximum spiritual energy capacity.

Increasing rate of spiritual energy regeneration.

Increasing compatibility with associated mana.

Congratulations individual! You have taken your next step towards Knighthood!

Jon skimmed through them, considering that the majority of them were no different from when he increased his Tier from the First Initiation to the Second Initiation. Jon could quite clearly feel the presence of a whiteish-blue Mana Core within himself, a brand-new source of spiritual energy flooding his physical form.

Despite the fact that both Wilheim and Avahni had already gone back to their attempts at communicating and learning each other's language, Jon had swiftly moved towards his backpack, reaching inside to grab at the various fragments contained within.

Picking out the two fragments which Jon felt suited himself best, he accepted the integration notice of both, waiting roughly two minutes for the effect description to appear in front of him.

[Fragment Of Destruction]
[Requiem Of The White Star]
(Ice, Destruction, Technique, Debuff)

Effect (Mortal): Enter the [Stance Of The White Star] to saturate the flesh and muscles with the horrendous strength of a white star.

While within the [Stance Of The White Star] successful strikes against enemies inflict instances of [Cold Requiem] up to a maximum threshold. Reaching the threshold transforms all instances of [Cold Requiem] into a single instance of [Requiem Of The White Star]

[Stance Of The White Star]: Increases physical strength and endurance. Physical strikes will inflict traces of ice natured damage.

[Cold Requiem]: Reduces resistances towards ice-related damages, afflictions and debuffs. Additional stacks have an additive effect.

[Requiem Of The White Star]: Reduces physical agility and dexterity. Reduces stamina regeneration and mana regeneration. Reduces resistances towards ice-related and cold-related damages, afflictions and debuffs.

Jon felt his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. The ability born between the union of his Ice Mana Core and his Fragment Of Destruction was something that Jon did not expect. Jon initially suspected that it would be some sort of Spell which required an overwhelming amount of mana to deal a single instance of damage.

He somewhat expected this ability to be the opposite of his [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption], without any direct control over the length and number of branches he could create.

This [Requiem Of The White Star] pleasantly surprised Jon at how flexible it was.

He could feel an enormous bubble of information swell within his Sea Of Knowledge. In a similar way to how the information regarding his Spell chants appeared in his mind, Jon felt a torrent of information regarding the ability enter his mind.

'The [Stance Of The White Star] … it would be wrong to call it a martial art. It is probably closer to a philosophy more than anything else. Notions and beliefs about the nature of combat, and the best decisions to make when evading, disengaging or moving in to strike an opponent. How strange.' Jon thought to himself, letting out a small hum before moving his attention onto his additional ability.

While [Requiem Of The White Star] went against his theory that a single ability could only possess a maximum of three effects, Jon was perhaps even more surprised by the effects of his other ability.

[Fragment Of Heart]
[Lamentations Of A Frozen Affection]
(Ice, Heart, Mutation, Ability, Passive)

Effect (Mortal): Transform the mortal nature of one's heart into a Seir-Glacial Heart. The Seir-Glacial Heart is a pseudo-spiritual organ containing within it conceptual understandings of ice, winter and cold.

Dramatically increases maximum mana capacity and mana regeneration. Moderately increases all physical capabilities. Moderately increases resistances towards cold-related damages, afflictions and debuffs. Slightly increases longevity.

Jon felt his breath hitch, feeling a slight shift within his chest as the effect description settled within his mind. While Jon was unsure regarding his compatibility with the Fragment Of Mouth, there was the unmistakeably feeling of yearning within his to integrate the Fragment Of Heart. It was as if every fibre of his being was calling out towards the fragment, urging Jon to integrate it into himself.

It was undoubtably the effects of his [Monstrous Intuition], driving him towards this decision. The moment he finished reading the description of [Lamentations Of A Frozen Affection], Jon felt something stir within him.

The eighteen-year-old human inhaled, feeling the rise of his chest and injection of new oxygen into his bloodstream. A strange almost icy feeling filling his veins and arteries.

There was no doubt in Jon's mind that a distinct change in Jon's biology had suddenly occurred.

A mutation born from the integration of this Fragment Of Heart into his Ice Mana Core.

[Lamentations Of A Frozen Affection].

And the Seir-Glacial Heart that it brought.

Jon could almost imagine his heart turning white, growing colder as if his blood had turned to ice.

He could feel the gentle, pulsing cadence of his heart within his chest. The slow, almost unnatural rhythm that it possessed gave Jon the impression that he was close to death. Despite this however, Jon clenched his fist around a piece of dried driftwood, crushing it with nothing but his bare hands.

Without question, Jon had grown stronger.

While he was unsure of what or who Seir was, Jon found himself smiling, enjoying sense of belonging within his chest.