Weapons of Mass Destruction

Dennis couldn’t close his mouth for two days. That meant no eating and should have meant no drinking. I was ready to let go so he could at least drink, but they solved it somehow, and I decided I didn’t want to know the details. I guess his pride just couldn’t bear the thought of coming to me to have the effect removed.

I used those days to pull all the information I could out of Melel. Ignoring the fancy names she likes to use for everything, I quickly simplified it in my mind and immediately came up with my own ways to incorporate the new information into my training.

She hasn’t even complained about her lack of sleep over the past two days, though it’s no great feat of endurance for someone at her level.

Most of her knowledge is theoretical, mostly things she learned back on her home planet, her teacher apparently having been one of the oldest Champions from her planet’s First Generation.

When Melel was much younger, she did something terrible, though she refused to tell me what, and I respect that. That act led to her being sent to the Astral Prison.

At some point during the years she’s been here, after establishing her reputation, she ended up in Hollowgate, where she joined an expedition to explore the deep mines below.

They got lost in those dark tunnels, barely surviving the weeks of constant battle.

Melel suspects that one of the expedition’s members was caught in the influence of the prisoner, who had been drawing people down into the depths in hopes of finding a talent capable of freeing it. And that’s exactly what happened: after months of wandering, Melel, the only survivor, eventually stumbled onto a path close enough to the prisoner for it to speak to her.

Exhausted, wounded, and vulnerable, the less experienced and, at the time, much lower level Melel fell under the prisoner’s influence—though not full control, apparently the creature wasn’t capable of that, but by using subtle manipulation and trickery it managed to create a link that only grew stronger as Melel did.

Luck had been on the prisoner’s side. It found someone as talented as Melel before they could become powerful enough to resist its influence. For the last few decades, she’s been returning to the mines, gathering mana, joining expeditions, and working to break the chains of a being that she’d come to see as a friend and mentor—despite the obvious red flags. All warnings were ignored, silenced by the hold the prisoner had over her.

I asked because I was curious—and I’m sure the only reason she answered was because she felt like she still owed me. If she hadn’t, I’m sure she’d have just told me to fuck off, which I’d consider entirely reasonable. But that doesn’t mean I’m not shameless enough to take advantage and ask as many questions as I can to satisfy my curiosity.

Our relationship is simple. I helped her, and now she’s repaying the service by answering my questions and sharing her knowledge.

I had thought of requesting some items, but sometime over the last two days, I changed my mind. The knowledge I’ve acquired is more than good enough.

Melel is extremely good at handling her [Mana Crown] and manipulating stone. She can do some really fancy things with stone, but nothing of use to me. So, other than information on the crown, I listen to her lessons on theory and ask any questions I need to grasp the concepts before marking them down.

I was never the type to enjoy studying, and even now, I prefer to experience things on my own rather than getting bogged down in theory.

Then there’s the things she teaches me about the kinds of challenges a person can issue once they reach the rank of Champion Candidate or similar.

As we saw back in the mine, a person under the effects of something like mind control is incapable of declaring one. You can also create some really wild challenges, but they must be accepted, and the challenged party can usually adjust the wager slightly before seeking confirmation from the challenger, then it’s up to the system to acknowledge it.

You need to possess, or own, the things you are wagering. That little tidbit really drives home just how wild it is that my challenge to Whitey got approved. It’s something I even mention to him as I slip into my mind for our regular training regimen and get a laugh out of it for the trouble.

I think it’s even possible to wager things like traits, but you need to mean it and have a certain level of mastery over the trait in question for the system to acknowledge that you “own” it. At higher levels and for beings with the status of Champion and Absolute, these challenges get easier to make and allow for some crazy stuff. You can wager your stats, passives, and more besides.

Active skills seem to be the exception though, they’re one of the very few things that just aren’t possible to wager. That confirms my speculations on their importance, in fact maybe they’re even more important than I thought, and I already had them quite high up.

While I’m collecting this information, Biscuit is still unconscious, and after examining him a bit more, Lily’s come to the conclusion that he just needs time to “digest.” His regression into a puppy is probably some kind of backlash caused by overextending himself, but of course, how could that silly corgi ever hold himself back after seeing a deer like that.

Lily and the twins spend time slacking around and training. When I give my modified evil orbs to the twins, Melel shows an interest, and I make one for her as well, which, much to the twins’ frustration, she handles like a champ. When she thinks I’m not looking, she carefully places the orb into a mana cage, as if she intended to examine it later.

I want to ask her about the cage, but she looks so thrilled with the orb, almost like she’s just gotten a new toy, and I don’t want to ruin it out of mere curiosity. So, as a thank-you for all the information, I pretend I haven’t seen anything.

She then lies, trying to tell me that the orb she just secreted away had burst during her examinations, so I create another one, with a bit of added difficulty. She gives me a wordless nod of thanks and examines it while launching into the next lesson.

Even though this thylarin is clearly racist, I’ve also learned over the last two days that she’s an extreme introvert, and never thought twice about locking herself away in this place for 10 years. Spending all her time training, learning, and reading. And it’s something I can’t help but deeply admire.

Led by some incomprehensible impulse, I even say as much.

“What do you mean?” She asks, “I’m not racist, I just don’t like being around people, no matter the race.”

That answer raises my respect for her more than anything else she’s done so far.

Melel then continues, “I’ve given you all the knowledge you wanted, some of it I would’ve never shared under normal circumstances, and some of it I spent years trying to learn. I value my life a lot, but I value this knowledge almost as much.”

Getting a hint, I stand up. “Got it, this should be enough. Consider your debt paid in full.”

“Good, the exit is that way,” she says, gesturing towards a stone wall that shifts and molds itself to reveal a door. Then she turns away, heading back to her cottage whereupon she peruses her collection of books, presumably looking for something to read.

As I leave I come across Dennis and finally stop using kinetic energy to hold his mouth open, and he closes it very slowly, groaning, as his jaw proceeds to make a series of intense cracking noises as it closes. Aaron watches him with clear enjoyment, likely burning the moment into his memory to tease his brother later.

“That’s it?” Lily asks, rushing over to walk by my side.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Yes, it took longer than I thought, but to make up for it, I’ll fly faster and teleport us further per jump. What did Tess have to say in the Community?”

“The plan’s changed a bit, and we’re heading over to meet up with Sophie and Izzy.”

“Huh? They made up?”

“It seems likely, Izzy pacified Sophie already. But I really want to get there fast enough to see the two of them reconnect.”

“So, Mindblender City it is?”

“Yes, there’s supposed to be an old fort nearby where Sophie’s planning on meeting us. Apparently, it’s dangerous to just walk into the city.”

“Well, I hope the three of you trained your mental defenses properly like we practiced. Now let’s hurry, we don’t want to be late.”

Before we leave, we make a visit to the place I sent all the materials I got from the expedition. The hammer, anvil, and chains aren’t going to be something we can take with us given their size, weight, and the mana cost to transport them. So they stay where I left them, in my underground lab, which has been heavily damaged and nearly destroyed by their arrival.

I just grab the bust and a few pieces of the most valuable and interesting metals. After leaving the lab, I also remove any Ley Lines heading there and clear away all the signs I can. The shielding of the room should take care of the rest.

After thinking it over, I create a smaller hideout far from my lab and move over a few pieces of chain and metal. This way, I can retrieve them if I need to, without leaving any trace back to the main hideout.

Then we depart using my teleportation and flight. As always, when I find myself having to move more than a few people, it’s very janky, but so far, it’s still the fastest method of travel.

There are a few monster attacks along the way and we have to deal with and avoid a few random groups that would otherwise ambush the average traveler; though aside from that, it’s just a simple trip as we head deeper into the central region.

When we finally make our landing, the old fort Sophie mentioned is well within view, and far in the distance, we can even see the shimmering of the lake and the city with its many towers nestled on its banks.

Deactivating the Restrictive Training Emblem, the pressure on my body alleviates, and I activate one of Lily’s healing marks.

Examining my body, it’s still not fully healed. My muscles are weaker and they still don’t feel right, my mana is much more difficult to move, and sometimes I get spasms of pain, or find that my right arm has become entirely paralyzed.

Fracture is a very powerful weapon, mid grade arcane—it’s not something I expected when I set out to make it. The cost of its power is the danger inherent to its use and the fact it’s constantly crumbling away, but even now, I’m still learning from it.

So now, as we head towards a tower where I sense a single mana signature lying in wait, I check my status and with it, the results of my training.

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn

Title: Champion Candidate

Difficulty: Hell

Floor: 6 - Astral Prison

Time left until forced return: 3y 120d 11h 36m 11s

Traits (2/3): Mana Circuit 2/3, Mana Wavelength Iris 1/3

Lvl 297

Strength: 164

Dexterity: 160

Constitution: 342

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1197 + 1197

Primary Class: Focused Channeler (Epic)

Sub-class: [Adept of Pride]

Active skills (10/10):

Focus - Lvl 59

Perception - Lvl 54

Redistribution - Lvl 57

Resonance - Lvl 59

Mana Domain (Pride) - Lvl 55

Infusion - Lvl 47

Mana Crown - Lvl 49

Mana Manipulation - Lvl 60

Ley Line - Lvl 39

Bone Knitting - Lvl 20

Constructs:

Reinforcement (Construct)

Thermokinetic Mana Heart (Construct)

Mana Regulator (Construct)

Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)

Vortex Core (Construct)

Passive skills (5/5):

Arcane Resilience (Mid Epic)

Phoenix Embrace (Mid Epic)

Cognitive Fortress (Mid Epic)

Mana-Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)

Mana-Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)

Tokens:

Trait strengthening token (2nd stage)

Beyond 3 day stay token

Beyond 3 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Shards:279,936

That’s close to 30 levels of free stats I’ve gained, mostly evenly split into Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution.

But best of all, there’s also my first strengthening of Mana Wavelength Iris—something I’m quite used to at this point, but damn, the beginning hurt. The strengthened trait allows me to see mana particles and the structures of skills with even greater clarity. Though the cost is high, and I still feel like I haven’t fully uncovered the trait’s potential.

With the second-stage strengthening token, I could enhance it further. I just need a bit more time to fully adapt and before I do, especially before I get my Primary Class selection.

I have my hopes it will make the offerings better. Having Mana Wavelength Iris at the second stage by then could be huge.

As for my constructs, I’ve upgraded all of them at this point—all.

I had Lily’s help for the Reinforcement construct and my Thermokinetic Mana Heart; Reinforcement is markedly better now when I decide to use it, and with my mana reserves, it was already quite powerful to begin with.

And the output of my heart has increased as well, especially when it comes to kinetic energy—something I could directly compare with Whitey and the bits of information Lily got from the pieces of his heart before they disappeared. That made the white-haired demon shut up about my weak heart for the most part, and he only really mentions it when, according to him, I do exceptionaly poorly.

For any further upgrades, I’ll need more to work with, ‘though I have have high hopes in the form of the Champion’s heart Lissandra promised to get me from the pyramid. If all goes well, I could give it a good boost in strength during the tournament - if the healing field doesn't interfere again.

My mantle got the second most noticeable upgrade after the heart, the inspiration I gained from the combination of [Ley Line], [Resonance], working on Fracture, and my arcane passive. To be honest, my Mana Sovereignty Mantle might be approaching the level of an arcane passive, nicely rounding out my defenses against mental attacks and any attempts to hijack my body, mana, or otherwise interfere with my use of either.

I now have plenty of stay tokens, and there's been no change when it comes to my passive skills, but there is a good reason for it.

Shards: 279,936

I’ve gained over 150 thousand shards during these past few months, and I’m currently saving for a mid arcane passive, and I swear, I will sell Fracture if I need to just to get it before the Primary class upgrade, Fracture itself representing another 150 thousand shards in value.