Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

Blurb for Volume 2:

Walter’s survived! Sure he’s grown a couple extra tentacles and gained a few creepy titles, but he’s made it to the Main Stage of the Trials with his hands and feelers intact. In fact, he’s now a founding member of the Regressor’s guild, and Noe’s upgrading nicely. Life’s looking up for our fledgling Eldritch Horror if not for his meeting with the ominous Overseer. 

Walter’s impromptu return has raised a lot of flags over in Central, and he has caught the ire of the one person in charge of all of its operations. Now the Overseer will do everything in his power to rope our unfortunately protagonist back into the fold, and away from the Trials.

Join our unwilling protagonist as he explores the new world of Pandora as an Aspirant while navigating the shady underbelly of Central’s politics as the Legendary Arbiter W. It will take more than a little luck for Walter to survive what’s coming.

 

Congratulations, Aspirants, for successfully completing the second Trial. Welcome to the Main Stage.

 

We do not forget.

 

I fell on my butt and almost kissed the grass underneath my feet. We actually succeeded in that crazy plan. And better yet, Noe was back.

Oh my lovely, awesome, amazing voice in my head, how I have missed you! You’re the best system in the damn multiverse!

“I am glad to be back and functional as well, my Host.” Noe said, “And Unit Noe agrees with your assessment of me.”

Speaking of systems, does the Trash Matrix think I care about its damn threats? You don’t forget? Well, guess what, Loser Matrix, Walter doesn’t either! I trashed your shitty Trials once, and I’ll do it again. Your bitterness feeds me, the goddamn Devourer of Truth, you piece of shit AI! And now that I know that it had a thing against me, I can prepare for it in the future. I have the entire Site 1102 at my disposal, and a time-walking Regressor in my back pocket. You chose the wrong guy to antagonize.

I laughed as I enjoyed the sunshine on my face. Beautiful, actual sunshine. I laughed louder. Vadeem joined in a few seconds later, followed by a joyous chuckle from Noel. Even the Regressor and his sister seemed relieved to have made it out of that nightmare. The only ones who weren’t celebrating with us were the twins.

Wait, the twins?

Before I could question things further, more messages from the Trash Matrix assaulted me. This time it seemed that whatever had possessed it to act out of normal had taken a backseat and its standard functions were back. I doubt that would be the case forever.

 

Congratulations, Aspirant Walter, for completing the second Trial! The results of your time spent there are as follows:

Enemies Felled: 0

Skills used: 0

Resources scavenged: 0

Shelters created: 0

Distance Travelled: 0 km

Time Spent Resting: 0 hours

Final Rating: F-

 

So it’s no longer even trying to hide its bias now. Whatever, it can give me whatever grade it wants. It couldn’t control my growth, and I think it knew that as well.

 

Distributing Rewards:

Kill reward: 0 gold

Survival Reward: 0 gold

Hidden Rewards: None

Penalties: None

Total: 0 gold.

Account balance: 100,000,125 gold

 

And like Noe said, it can only affect the reward distributions, so it couldn’t even take the extra cash I had on hand. Thanks to Q, I was loaded, what was a few thousand gold to a hundred million? I laughed again, the stupid thing can’t do anything to me!

 

Finally, Aspirant, as a result of your recent actions, please choose a Class Upgrade:

• Master of Even Less
• Destined to Die
• Filth Eater
• Intergalactic Ameboid Scum
• Multiversal Joke
• Gamma’s Grace

 

Wait a second, what’s going on here? And what was that last title?

“You are welcome, my Host,” Noe’s clear voice answered, “the Absolute Luck System 104.05 Gamma has gained additional command over the inferior Trash Matrix as a result of the upgrade, and Unit Noe has taken it upon myself to readjust the Class growth for my host.”

Well thanks, Noe, I’ll go with that last option. Just show me all my information while you’re at it.

“Acknowledged, my Host,” she answered, “Displaying information now.”

 

Host: Walter

Class: Level 37 Gamma’s Grace

Attributes:

Free points: 0

HP:143/644

MP: 0/0

Strength: 61 (+10)

Dexterity: 66 (+10)

Endurance: 54 (+10)

Intelligence: 62 (+10)

Charisma: 72 (+10)

 

Ok, seems like Noe had taken it upon herself to distribute my points evenly while she was unconscious. Given the situation, that was a decision I could live with. I doubt I could have survived if I had 60 stat points lying around doing nothing.

Still, a 20-level increase was nice, although I wished I had killed a few more foes before the end of the Trial to get that up a little higher. And as a bonus, those stats should go up again at night.

 

Abilities - 4

Awakening Mind (B rank Innate Passive): User has endured many hardships of the spirit, and has gained a supernaturally resilient mind. User can use their willpower to temporarily overcome cognitive disruptions and can think logically under almost any situation.

Shroud of Luck (EX rank System Passive): Luck System 104.05 Gamma has placed a shroud around the user, disallowing personal information from the user to be seen by any and all outside forces. User can temporarily deactivate this ability.

Aura of Serendipity (B rank System Passive): Luck System 104.05 Gamma subtly alters the cognition of any sentient species around the user, making the user significantly more likable and trustworthy to those around him. This effect increases if the user acts in a way that conforms to the ideologies and beliefs of those individuals.

Locked System Ability: Luck System 104.05 Gamma is currently undergoing maintenance, and this skill will unlock once the system fully upgrades.

 

Absolute Luck (EX rank System Active)

Luck Charge: 1057/1057

As long as the skill is active, Luck System 105.05 Gamma will rewrite the laws of causality so that only the best possible outcome will occur for the user. The more improbable a situation is from occurring, the more Luck Charges will be consumed. Luck Charges regenerate at a rate of 1/minute.

 

Damn, that is a huge increase in my Luck Charges! I could do a lot with that, but I couldn’t allow myself to get complacent. It would be so easy to just abuse the luck and leave myself vulnerable, which is something I have learned all too well with the last Trial. The rate doesn’t seem to change, so it will take me a long, long time to recharge if Noe does something crazy again.

Plus, it seems that I even managed to snag a bonus ability from getting that weird shard of Noe’s.

Noe, you know how long it will take for you to fully integrate that thing?

“If things progress smoothly, Unit Noe predicts a full system upgrade in: 12 days, 14 hours and 33 minutes. Be warned that Unit Noe will have limited functionality until the upgrade is complete.”

What do you mean by limited?

“All system actives, including the Absolute Luck Skill, will be unavailable for the duration of the upgrade,” she answered deflated, “I apologize for the inconvenience, my Host.”

It’s fine, you just focus on you, Noe. I can manage myself.

I’m sure that I could hold my own for a little over a week. I was basically fending for myself in the last stages of that Trial, so I was more than used to it by now. And plus, 12 and a half day’s not too long - it’s also not too short either - but I was afraid that she would be out of commission for a long while.

 

Primary Soul Title: Level 10 Xollon Idol [Devourer of Truth]

Progress to next level: 89,411/100,000

Progression requirements: Have 100,000 individuals idolize you

Title Passives:

• Xollon Anatomy Stage 1: Your body has begun to incorporate a Xollon’s internal anatomy. You take 10% reduced damage from all sources and are unaffected by most poisons.
• Xollon Physiology Stage 1: Your body has started to incorporate a Xollon’s external anatomy. You can utilize and extend your primary feelers through your human hands.

Title Skills:

• Idols Voice (Soul Passive)
• Secondary Xollon Form (Level 10 Soul Active): The user assumes the Secondary form of the Xolloid Race. The user gains all the physical characteristics of the race and will have all physical attributes increase by a factor of 5 for the duration of the skill.

Transformation Time: 6 hours

Cooldown: 12 hours

 

And it seems like the number of worshipers had increased again. A pleasant, if a little disturbing, surprise. That random Prophet of mine must be doing work, wherever he or she was.

 

Primary Soul Title: It That Sleeps at the Edge of Dusk (??? Rank)

Description: You sleep. You dream. You wait. You stir.

Progress to next level: 2.34%

Progress requirements: ???

 

Hold on, why do I have two soul titles now? I remember getting that weird title earlier, but it certainly wasn’t this odd back then. Nothing’s changed other than Noe’s upgrade, but that would hardly affect me in any way, much less my soul.

Noe, what the hell’s going on? I thought you said a person can only have one soul title.

“I do not know, my Host,” she answered, and I swear I could hear a hint of mischief in her voice, “Perhaps you should take the skill’s advice and simply wait.”

I frowned, that was exactly what she said last time. I liked how Noe's personality had changed, but I was still a little dubious about how she would continue to change in the future.

Well, nothing else I could do here, and it doesn’t look like I’ll get any more info out of my system. It wasn’t actively hurting me, and since I didn’t even know how to progress it, I could ignore the thing for now. I had a sinking suspicion that Noe knew more than she let on though.

A new stream of information hit my retina before I could consider the weird title further.

 

Titles: 81,135

 

Uh, Noe, can you filter out the garbage titles the Trash Matrix gave me?

 

Titles: 2

 

Better.

 

Equipped Secondary Title 1: Rookie Arbiter

Equipped Secondary Title 2: Bringer of Dawn’s Light

 

Ok, no changes here. I thought I would get another title or two after killing that Asura knockoff, but I guess it takes a lot more for the Universe or whatever to gift you a proper title. I just wish the secondary titles could level up like the soul titles, I’d probably make a killing with that Light Bringer one if it could.

But it makes a strange sort of sense; if these titles were so easy to get and upgrade, then everyone in the Trials would be abusing them.

Now for the new stuff, my new class:

 

Class: Gamma’s Grace (Unknown Rank)

Description: You are welcome, my Dearest Host Walter. Noe Gamma will ensure that you succeed in all that you do. I will allow no harm to come to you.

Class Passive:

Gamma’s Embrace: All damage is mitigated based on the host’s current available Luck Charges.

Gamma’s Wrath: All damage is increased based on the host’s current available Luck Charges.

Class Active:

Lucky Blind Strike:

Consumes 25% of total maximum Luck Charges per use.

Description: You give control of your body to the Absolute Luck System and perform a series of strikes and attacks. All damage is increased based on the number of consumed Luck Charges during the skill activation.

 

Now this is an interesting class to use… it disincentives me from using Luck Charges, as both my defense and offense would decrease the fewer Charges I had, yet the active consumes a huge amount of it. No specifics about how much damage it will mitigate or increase, so I’ll have to figure that part out myself later.

Also, did Noe just usurp that useless active the Trash Matrix gave me and turn it into something actually useful? Either way, I’ll need to test out how effective that active was when it was safe to do so, but it seemed that Noe was subtly hinting to me that I shouldn’t rely solely on her for everything.

I hope she didn’t feel bad about leaving me alone during that last Trial. It wasn’t her fault either way.

“I will endeavor to never leave you alone again, my Host.”

It’s fine, Noe. Things went well in the end, and we got you that Emotion Shard thing as well.

Another thought entered my head, Hey Noe, how come you can't just give me a super overpowered class now that you've taken over that ability from the Trash Matrix?

"Unfortunately, my Host," she answered, "I do not currently have that capability. Just as the Trash Matrix is confined to certain restraints on what it can do during each stage of the Trials, I am as well."

Well, there goes my plan to cheat my way through these Trials. It was a long shot either way.

After checking over to make sure I didn’t miss any pertinent information, I got off my ass and finally surveyed my surroundings. Once again I almost cried when I saw that my field of view wasn’t full of lifeless trees and gloomy mist. Now, we were in a beautiful field of rolling hills of green, and the scent of a variety of wildflowers rolled through with the gentle breeze.

Off in the distance, barely visible, was the faint outline of a quaint settlement, or perhaps a town would be the better term for it given its size. A gentle stream flowed through the outpost, and I could just make out billowing smoke coming out of the various buildings poking behind the large wall. Was that the site of the Main Trials?

I was about to enjoy myself a little more when the Regressor interrupted us, his face serious again.

“We need to leave now,” he said solemnly, “There’s something we must do, while we still have the time.”

 

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