Gestation
Page 26
For six long minutes, I have to wait for it to replenish, and the enemy approaches all the while. The second raid boss is an enormous colossus, a statue complete with escort.
Monster, Colossus Amanir, Level 312, raid boss
Yes, there’s a whole escort behind the twenty-meter giant, a statue of a man with the head of a dog and wearing nothing more than a loincloth. He’s holding a two-handed sword. I quickly heal myself before sending another meteor down on top of the group. I heal again, and a second finishes off the fallen colossus. My luck has been pushed pretty far, so I decide to grab my loot and step away. Like they say, meteors never strike the same spot twice. First, though, I need to finish up what I’m working on. My ritual was interrupted right before the end.
Strangler belt
A famed strangler once lived in the world. He earned his reputation by first paralyzing his victims, and then slowly strangling them with his belt. They executed him, but his belt was lost in the process.
Defense: +5
Effect:
Morale +2
Wisdom +2
Intellect +4
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
Apparently, I’m putting together the world’s largest collection of evidence left over from executed killers…or dragging them out of the local jail.
The reason I don’t have many cloth items is that really good material is exceedingly expensive, and the usual stuff doesn’t give you more than three effects. After Hell and life in the village, I don’t even mind. I like rough cloth more than silk.
Finally, I have six red master rings, the sun-eater ring, the monster-eater, and the strangler belt. I also picked up a fantastic amulet with a scarab made out of a black gem.
Black mark amulet
In life, a mage practiced necromancy, understanding all its depths and intricacies. His own team ended up killing him over his inhuman experiments, shooting him with the weapons found on a captured ship the mage was working on. The necromancer returned as a lich and decided to wreak vengeance on his betrayers, however. Everyone died in the battle, including him, and this amulet floated to shore on a piece of the ship.
Effect:
Morale +2
Wisdom +4
Intellect +2
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
I have the world’s best pants! I’ve been running around the desert in just my underwear with my cart behind me, since my clothes were all destroyed by the dragon breath recoils. Now, I can make myself some indestructible trousers.
Self-moving pants
A boy once lived in the far east of Congul, and he didn’t listen to his parents, causing problems all through his area. But there came a day of reckoning. A demon possessed him and made him run until he died, and nobody found his body. A random passer-by did find his bloody pants on the side of the road, however. They have changed hands many times over the past thousand years.
Defense: +15
Effect:
Speed +5
Stamina +5
Athelticism +5
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
It looks like I made the local divinity angry, and my own pants are going to eat me soon. It’s just a good thing that they aren’t still caked with the boy’s blood. They’re grayish-white and look like normal village pants.
Oh, and I have a great shirt. Mama isn’t going to have to mend it anymore.
Demon shirt
Several thousand years ago, a demon walked the world of men in human form and decided to stay at a roadside inn. The service was terrible, so he made up his mind to kill everyone as soon as he finished his dinner. A servant girl, however, recognized that he was a demon when the milk soured and the torch over his table flashed blue. Without telling anyone, she decided to drive him out. She switched his bottle for one full of holy water, and oh, how the demon howled when he drank the contents in a single mouthful. He melted away, leaving nothing but a spare shirt behind.
Defense: +20
Effect:
Agility +2
Intellect +5
Wisdom +5
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
The farther I go, the more fun it is. A bucket hat is the perfect finishing touch for my village boy costume.
Red hat
The northern tribes in Gunny like to christen their children in battle. The son of a chief ran out into his christening completely naked, just with a white hat on his head that turned naked from the sprays of blood. He whirled and cut his way across the field of battle so vigorously that his enemies couldn’t forget him. Red Hat was his new moniker. His fellow tribesmen, looking to build the fame of their people, said that it wasn’t red. “He just keeps the flesh on the outside.”
Defense: +10
Effect:
Stamina +5
Intellect +5
Wisdom +5
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
Back on the island, when I was learning how to reinforce wood, I remembered father’s lessons about reinforcing and deforming bone. Then, on the ship, I thought for a while about what I could give him when I get back. I decided to make two sets of identical bracelets out of wyvern bone.
Dragon-killer bracelet
In all the history of mankind, there have been many orders of dragon killers, though only one man has ever been able to kill a dragon one on one. He never told anyone about the terrible things he had to do, not to mention all the modifications he had to make to his body, in order to gain enough power to pull off the feat. He experimented on his victims, both human and monster. As a result, he went crazy from the uncontrollable strength. Some of his things can be found in the world’s most dangerous places.
Effect:
Stamina +5
Intellect +1
Wisdom +5
Morale +2
Survivability +2
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
I’m a wonder child who has wandered far outside the realm of the normal. Here I am, wearing my village shirt and pants, and I have rings set with gems all over my fingers. There’s an amulet on a green chain, and the whole thing is topped off by my red bucket hat. The picture of a boy hauling a cart across the desert dressed like this, enormous monsters all around it, definitely says something about my mental abilities. I’m a diamond in the rough!
“Attribute window.”
Name: Sagie
Level: 0
Experience: 0/100 (100 left until the next level)
Race: Human
Class: None selected
Basic attributes
Strength: 97
Agility: 104
Stamina: 120
Intellect: 206
Wisdom: 178
Available attribute points: 0
Additional attributes
Speed: 119
Athleticism: 107
Morale: 194
Survivability: 109
Derivative ratings
Physical damage: 48.5 (strength/2, but no less than 1)
Carrying capacity: 235 kg (strength*10/4)
Mana: 17030 (1780+15250 from tattoos) (wisdom*10)
Health: 1200 (stamina*10)
Strength: 1200 (stamina*10)
Health restoration: 1090/minute (survivability*10)
Mana restoration: 1940/minute (morale*10)
Strength restoration: 1070/minute (athleticism*10)
Running speed: 47 km/h (1+speed/10)
Defense: 51
Resistance
Physical damage: 1.72% (damage ignored: up to 421/second)
Poison: 8.66% (damage ignored: up to 25811/second)
Fire: 20.62% (damage ignored: up to 117204/second)
Electricity: 18.35% (damage ignored: up to 92088/second)
Mental damage: 8.12% (damage ignored: up to 24537/second)
Skills
Cooking: 250
Trap setting and disarming: 19
Archery: 250
Swimming: 250
Breath-holding: 250
Stealth: 250
Life Magic: 250
Mind Magic: 250
Space Magic: 250
Earth Magic: 250
Water Magic: 250
Fire Magic: 250
Air Magic: 250
Light Magic: 250
Dark Magic: 250
Meditation: 250
Hand-to-hand combat: 92
Perception: 172
Necromancy: 250
Blood magic: 250
Chimerology: 250
Ritual magic: 250
Artifact creation: 250
Poison-making: 25
Ointment-making: 25
Metal reinforcing: 25
Wood reinforcing: 25
Body enhancement: 25
Professions
Herbalist: 250
Fisherman: 250
Tailor: 250
Blacksmith: 250
Carpenter: 250
Miner: 25
Skills
Imp eye
Undecuple consciousness
One of our own
Shroud of Darkness
Gifts
Meeting deferred
My blood malachite tattoos give me more than 15000 mana, and I would be lost without that extra. Just one meteor costs 10000. I can only cast two in a row or two at the same time, though the effect is incredible. To use meteors, you need Level 300 and 300 each for Earth, Air, and Fire Magic. I can get around that, however, using a “scroll,” my skills, and my body as mana storage. A normal mage would be able to do the same, only they would have the right skills and material, and they wouldn’t need the indestructible tattoo on their body. There’s no point making meteor scrolls when your magic skills are only up to 100—you’d go broke on mana storage.
I decide not to make gloves or boots yet. I want to wait and see what kinds of items I’ll get from stronger monsters first. All the ring blanks are for unique work, and I’ll use them as soon as I need to bump up a specific attribute. On the way back, I’m definitely going to need extra strength as I’m already being forced to empower my body in order to pull the cart. Boosting my defense against physical damage demands a high level of stamina, and I’m going to need a ton of mana when I finish setting up my defense. My second set of clothes will also be focused on magic use. It’ll be unique, not scalable.
It’s hard to find the monsters I need to create unique items with the right attributes and ratios.
On earth, there were tribes of Bedouins who lived in and regularly crossed the desert. Earth is now a reserve where they don’t even let tourists go, and I’m a sort of neo-Bedouin crossing this world’s most dangerous desert on my own two feet.
∞ ∞ ∞
Damage taken: 28400 (ignored: 24547)
108/2370
Resistance to mental damage: +0.01%
Mental damage ignored up to 24811/second
The center of the desert gives off an aura that does mental and fire damage. Using dragon breath, I boost my resistance to fire so high that I can use all eleven streams without threatening my health. The damage from the aura is half-thermal, so I’m fine so far.
I find out something interesting: the whitish veil I noticed back in Hell is the limit of my resistance. As soon as I cross it, the damage from the aura starts taking off health. The higher my resistance, the farther off the veil is. Thinking through things logically, the veil is where my perception of the concentrated energy field begins. Different kinds of energy impact the body differently. For example, the first time I used dragon breath at maximum power, I got a blinding debuff, with the fire being bright white in the middle and changing shades as it expanded outward. It doesn’t blind me anymore, however, and I’m fine even standing in the middle of melting sand.
There are about five hundred kilometers to go until I get to the center of the desert, and the monsters here are around Level 550. I can’t stun them, so I have to kill them with a single powerful attack or paralyze them with poison. My spikes laced with blood malachite need recharging every once in a while. It takes a lot of strength to paralyze these kinds of monsters.
I can already see the river of souls in the sky, though it doesn’t much look like a river. It’s more a cloud dousing the sand on the horizon with rain. That’s where the center of the desert is, so I’m going to get a better look.
Every evening ends with me digging the cart into the stand, sitting down on top of it, and logging out of the game. Mornings are for exercise: digging myself out and then digging the cart out.
The terrain changes quickly along with the monsters. It looks like they’re all here, all the different kinds. The closer I get to the center of the desert, the stronger the aura is, and today I’m starting to see semi-astral creatures floating above the ground. They don’t attack right away, so I’m able to kill them. And while they have wings, they don’t have bodies, and their faces are covered with hoods. The lower part of their bodies looks like a breeze or smoke.
I use them to make myself a pair of gloves.
Soul-catcher gloves
There was once a mage who hunted monsters and had an interesting hobby. He skinned everything he killed and made gloves, selling them at the market when he returned from his excursions. The gloves he himself wore gradually took on their master’s qualities over the period of his long life.
Defense: +5
Effect:
Morale +5
Intellect +2
Wisdom +4
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
It’s the first item I have that isn’t linked to a killer. Although, there’s no telling what kind of monsters the mage hunted. What if he preferred vampires and werewolves? My enemies are getting too strong for me, so I need to make gloves and a cloak.
It takes me two days. In a way, I invest a part of my soul into every item I create. I don’t make personal items anymore for two reasons: first, it’s scary to think about cutting off a finger for something that simple. Second, I don’t even know how I would. Here I am planning on being able to survive a direct hit from a meteorite, and I would need to find a way to… No way. Because of that, everything I make is just unique or scalable. And what would happen if my pants, for example, embedded themselves in my body? How would I take them off? And what about my cloak? Would it embed itself in me and form a cocoon?
I really am horrible! I’m prepared to kill monsters by the dozen for just one ring. Although, everyone else in the game would kill a hundred times more just for one of them, only not created with blood magic.
I could have created a pack animal with necromancy, but that would have attracted Eliza’s attention.
Death cloak
Everyone knows that death never shows its true appearance. Darkness itself hides beneath its cape, looking deep into your soul, and sometimes cloaks like this one are found after great battles are fought.
Effect: Your face is not visible under this cloak
Requirement: Unique item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
It’s the first item that gives me an effect that has nothing to do with my attributes. The only difference between the ri
tual I completed to create the cloak and other rituals I’ve done is the victims. I used completely spiritual creatures called live armor. Apparently, that means that the effect victims like this give doesn’t boost your attributes.
Unlucky death gloves
Death sometimes takes people unawares. Years go by before the undead regains consciousness. They realize that they have died and been reborn when they look at their hands and see nothing but bone.
Effect: Your hands look like those of a skeleton
Requirement: Unique item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
Suddenly, I realize what kind of weapon I’m going to make myself. Even without the cloak, I can use my shroud of darkness to give myself a terrifying appearance. Even monsters are afraid of me when I look like a blob of darkness in human form. All you can see are my eyes. It’s a nice look, but I’m not planning on the grim reaper. I don’t want to disappoint my parents. Mama would frown; father would say that I made a poor choice.
But what should I do about shoes? I only have one pair, and if I give them an effect that isn’t for my attributes, they’ll be what I have to use. On the other hand, when will I have this many spiritual creatures to play with ever again?
Lord sandals
…
Effect: Let you walk on water
Requirement: Unique item
Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
∞ ∞ ∞
I take one look at them and kick myself for wasting my most valuable sandals—I already have a seal that lets me walk on water. And what about the description? I half expect some god to walk up, demand that I give him back his sandals, and send me to Hell. “Although, no, you’ll just run away again.” I’ll have to see what happens. Maybe, I’ll be out of mana, and I’ll have to traverse the valley of the shadow of death. Phew, I need to stop reading so much.