The Unfortunate Fool

Part 1 – Things to Discuss

"So....now that we know what the hell is happening we should talk about things then. First of all, according to that Yoo Byung-Joon guy we can now log off and come here....though I don't see the point of that. But it is refreshing for once to live comfortably" I said hours after the time we were all brought here and told of our current situation.

This is me from now on. I am only Eden now and nothing can change that now. It took me a while for me to accept that fact. Well Viv completely accepted it with the words, "I can't change the past but I can forge my future" but Alexandra was certainly having the most trouble with it.

The three of us sat down on chairs in this virtual world in this cosy like house. There was food, a T.V, bathroom and practically everything that a normal household would have which actually made it extremely uncomfortable to live in for the us who have practically lived in the game Royal Road so far for the past few years to us.

"May I add, that the guy now named Adhémar who quite literally back stabbed you in the worst timing killed both of us with the other four. I was taken by surprise"

"It doesn't sound like you to be taken by a surprise attack" I commented.

"Well I was in the middle of trying to revive those guilds members of yours. I only got to revive two of them before they appeared and killed me. Thankfully I died and the mana fragment that I had on my wasn't stolen as well."

Well that was a really good thing since I wouldn't know what the hell would happen if they got another mana fragment...although them having those 5 mana fragments is bad enough. Anyway I'm now more curious on how survived by being revived. But first we need to discuss our two year training period.

"We have around two years according to Yoo Byung-Joon to get strong enough to take on five people with mana fragments powering them to the limit. The best thing besides get stronger than them in that time period is to quickly rush at them and take them out while they can't fully control the power of the mana fragments" I said.

Viv shook his head, "It seems the one called Adhémar and the black incarnation of Author both have good enough control of their mana fragments. It was them who pushed me and Al back with force along while the others were getting used to it. If we attack now, we will be just wiped again. It really looks like we have to train for 2 years in order to get stronger than them the normal way."

Alexandra realised something and said, "Wait in those 2 years, how much stronger will they be? A slime was enough to level a city....what about skilled humans?"

I pat her shoulder and said in reassurance, "The Mana Fragments are powered by potential and it took 6 years for that Slime to get to that level. A mere one or two years won't make each of them that much a monster."

"If you day so....you're the closest  one to the mana fragments to begin with. Anyway I think I good goal is to reach level 400 for all of us in that time span. Even in the last few years, we only gained around 50 levels over 4 years in the game. We have to half that time and the experience grind will be worst as well...." Alexandra sighed since this was literally difficult for us.

"But didn't Eden say the mana fragments were boosting our experience before which was why we levelled up so fast?" asked Viv.

[Actually I patched that a while back so you can't use that method to rapidly gain experience anymore]

The voice of the Goddess AI appeared all of a sudden.

[As a force that can influence the game, I cannot help you but one of the proven methods of gaining experience whether in levels or skills is to face creatures stronger than you. There are numerous regions where monsters of over level 400 live in the western continent while the southern continent houses some monsters over level 500 if you can survive the pit traps]

I have a feeling that I will never go there since with my luck I'm more likely to find a pit trap that would kill me every 5 steps. However the Goddess AI was helping us here.....hmm....

"Can you show us the locations of dungeons that have these mobs?"

[I cannot as it will no be fair for other players]

"What about you tell us information that had already been discovered by players? That would be fine since people already know about it."

[That will be also unfair but some certain people may be able to point you in the right direction when the time comes]

"I see thanks."

While the Goddess AI can't help us openly since that would be the equivalent of cheating, it can give us hidden hints at times. What a nice AI.

"Now that we have ways to level up quickly, what are we going to do with the Western Continent? The 5 shadow dragon kings plan to take over the continent and the western continent is where they will start. The chaos of the new king dying and being revived as one of them is going to pull many people to their side if we try to help the people" said Viv in a concern voice.

It is true that if we help the people and try to stabilise the area and the western continent it would inadvertently allow them to gain more power which means we have a harder time attacking them. But I'm pretty sure I got rid of most of the corrupt nobles in the western continent but that doesn't stop other corrupt nobles from other parts of the continent to help them as well....

"In that case we won't help them."

""Huh?""

Those two looked at me confused.

"If we help with all the reconstruction and such we will only make it worse for us later. In that case, we have to reduce the amount of help we give and instead prevent it to increase the hate levels towards the 5 shadow kings as much as possible. Alexandra with your church networks you can spread the rumours that those 5 are the cause of everything bad right?"

"Yeah...."

"In that case we can do as much horrible things as possible in their name if we conceal ourselves properly...though there's really no point in me hiding since my reputation is almost as low as it can get...."

Alexandra smiled and said, "If that's all then I can use my influence to block out most of the support that the other churches in the other parts of the continents since all they want to begin with is to increase their influence to wriggle into the lives of other people in their time of crisis."

Good....Good....wait you can do that?

"I'll try to make contracts with those spirits again since I need more power. I'm sure they will help me now that my power isn't enough anymore. They did say they would make contracts with me if there was a time where my power wasn't enough....to think it would be so soon...." Viv had a scary look in his eyes.

"Say...." I should confirm some things beforehand, "How do contracts with spirits work anyway?"

"The contract is a semi-permanent agreement between the person and spirit. The contract requires the spirit to supply the person with part of their power over the elements or whatever the spirit is aligned to as well as provide help at times. The person in exchange has to supply them with mana when they are summoned and a bit of my experience is taken. However there is a higher level contract where all of this doesn't apply and it is instead life binding. Normally its a sign of trust with each other but.....hehehe."

Why do I feel something bad is going to happen to those spirits....

"Just joking, I'm not going to harm them at all~" teased Viv with a grin, "All a contract is, is something that says each party will help each other and nothing more. Gaining more power over an element is a side thing but is normally what powers look for in the first place so there isn't that many powerful spirits that want to make contracts. Contracts are a way for spirits to gain mana so its benefits them more than players in the first place."

Oh I see so its a take-take situation with spirits.

"I guess I didn't need that spirit enslavement spell after all...."

I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

"Anyway the first thing we need to do when we revive is to sort of what to do next. I think rebuilding a force to oppose the 5 shadow dragon kings will be the first thing we need to do besides getting stronger."

"So....recruit an army?"

"Not exactly, we need information on them first. Where they are, their powers and how to counter them properly. Knowing is better than not knowing and I think there are a number of people who will be pissed at those guys after what they did. We also need to hold those people back for 2 years in game so there isn't a chance another Kingdom can get their hands on the mana fragments which will be a political hell for us."

We all agreed on that and we made a somewhat achievable plan for the next two years in game.

1) Get to Level 400 at least before 2 years

2) Increase Skill levels and overall get more powerful in various departments

3) Information gathering on the 5 Shadow Dragon Kings

4) Increase hate towards them via church network plus decrease support to those in the Western Continent

5) Prevent other forces getting their hands on the Mana Fragments, those 5 have to live until we kill them personally

Part 2 – Another Change

When I revived I didn't spawn in the city. Instead I revived in a place that a while back I came to though mostly unwilling.

"This is......"

I looked around at this familiar place. It was the middle of the tower which Warlic and Crysero lived 'together' in even though there was a great line that divided the tower into two sections. I looked to see Warlic sitting down casually as I spawned next to him in a flash of light.

"It has been a while" I scratched my head as I said this. Warlic nodded and said, "It has and I believe you know why you were called here."

"The mana fragments....." I muttered, for some reason the sight of Warlic right now was extremely angry, he wasn't going to torture me to death over and over again because of that right...?

"I've found some interesting things about the mana fragment and you in particular. First of all is about the mana fragments" started Warlic, "The ones that call themselves the 5 Shadow Dragon Kings are being Dragonfied."

"Huh?"

"There are reasons but they are indeed becoming more and more like Dragons in many ways. Some of them have scales now and gain their own powers with it. This is troublesome in many ways I believe you know. They are going to the same stage as you right now."

So....the mana fragments are turning them into part Dragon?

"Wait, I thought the mana fragment only drew out the potential of the person. Why are they turning them into part Dragon?" I was anxious since it would not be fun to fight part dragon people.

"Namely instead of bringing out their potential, the mana fragments are instead bringing out your potential into them. I believe this has something to do with the fact that the mana fragments have been in your possession for years. Another reason is your current race which is Humanoid Dragon."

"?"

"Namely because you changed races from Anhrefn, it meant that you were not entirely neutral to the influence you would cause the mana fragments to have. But to talk about that we must first discuss the matter involving the ranking of races in the world."

Okay...

"There are generally three tiers in the world, no four if you include the Gods and those who are on their level naturally. The lower tier includes species such as Goblins, Kobolds and others like them who while not having that much intelligence or power, have a large number in population in which puts them above some of the bottom races. The middle tier belongs to the Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs who have large numbers and vary in strength and intelligence in certain individuals. Namely they aren't that strong but not that weak as well. The higher tier belongs to mostly magical creatures or those who have extremely high physical powers such as Demons, Mythical Beasts and Dragons."

Okay I get it so far....so tiers determine the base stats in which you get?

"The highest tier belongs to the Gods naturally as well as beings that can match them in power. There are also rankings in which thus tier works but generally Divine Beasts are also included in this list as well as certain beings originally from other tiers that reached this level as well. Beings such as Dragon Kings or the once lost Destroyers or more common Overload often ranked in this tier as well."

Gods and other beings that can face Gods are in this tier....so Gods are really on the top of the chain here.

"Now with the race of Anhrefn, you were in the highest tier as well even though you did not have the strength to match it. Namely the potential you had was so high to the point you could one day face Gods evenly. However by changing into one of the Dragon species, your basic which is your body turned into something of the higher tier essentially downgrading but with power to match of the highest tier."

"What does this have to do with the mana fragments?"

"The race known as Anhrefn is a combination of the strengths of countless races which eliminates the weaknesses other races may have. Think of humans with no good or bad points but raise the power they can have several tiers to the highest. Because of this, you did not have any particular strengths and weaknesses that the mana fragment can use and as such the mana fragmetns remained neutral in your care. However by changing into one of the Dragon race, you opened up for the mana fragments to your new strengths and therefore new weaknesses."

"So...even if I get the mana fragments back, this would continue with it being in my hands."

"More or less but its too late to even consider an alternative now. The point is that those 5 now have your potential and can bring their levels as high or even higher than you are right now. Even if you train it would match up to their level at all since they now represent your end point."

"..."

So...training is useless now? Damn.

"But there is a way to change this."

I have a feeling that it will be painful at least...

"All we have to do is raise your base level up higher than theirs. This means you change race again though but not the same way as you did last time. I won't be changing your body in any way, what I'm doing is worse. I have to change the blueprint of your soul."

"Umm....what does that mean?"

"Well even if you change the body, the soul will always remain the same so you have a human soul no matter what happens since you started as one. Even when changing into a Humanoid Dragon you still had a human soul. Now I'm adjusting that soul to fit your body to bring out the most of it. Naturally this change will be determined by your true nature and I believe both of us know what will happen more or less."

Warlic set up a magic circle around me in the centre that had symbols that I didn't recognise.

"Soul Magic is highly dangerous and in most cases a forbidden magic but this time I suppose I can break that rule a bit" he said while activating whatever he was doing.

"Ack!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Guk!

Sudden pain pointed everywhere in my body as something felt wrong with my body....no this involves my soul right?

After a while the pain disappeared and my body seemed...the same?

"Good the spell as sucessful, you should now be getting some messages that tell you the changes."

Ding

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So many messages appearing....also why did I unlock another two aura types?

So...this is pretty much Aura Mastery but with three different types of auras right? I have a great feeling that I won't be using the blue aura anytime soon but....to be safe I better train it later with the red aura. I do have two years to do this....

Hmm....I might as well check if anything else changed.

"Open Status Window."