World Seed_Expansion

by Justin Miller

  “...Maybe the lesser devils already took care of it, like they were doing for the envy floor?” I asked hopefully while we proceeded further in.

  Celeste giggled lightly. “Oh, they probably took care of it alright. Probably have her down in the next floor.”

  I tried really hard not to think about that, for one simple reason. If the demons from the pride floor were strong enough to take boss monsters as their pets, like they did for the cerberus on the first floor, then this was going to be trouble. Either way, we kept going, making our way to the final floor of the dungeon.

  When we got there, what we saw were not lesser devils, but a taller, black skinned demon in full obsidian armor. This one was… troublesome. It’s hard to summarize, so I’ll go over the battle in detail for this one.

  To start, Yo and Celeste’s four mechanical cats all charged up together, aiming to lock the demon down while the rest of us prepared ranged attacks. For me, I pulled out my plasma rifle, and took aim at the demon’s head with Celeste’s help. Sharon condensed a sphere of light in front of her, and fired off a laser while Celeste fired her mounted cannon. Meanwhile, Yin seemed to be focusing to use her telekinesis, since she didn’t have the need to use it on the lust floor.

  Just after the five melee attackers were in his face, the ranged attacks were arriving as well. However, instead of being obediently hit by our attacks, the demon kicked up at the first mechanical cat, using it as a shield to block Sharon’s laser attack. Then he ducked down behind Yo in a quick, fluid movement, dodging the two plasma blasts that were heading towards his previous position.

  The demon seemed to utter a word, and slammed its palm into Yo’s slime. A black spot appeared in her slime, and then exploded, scattering her body everywhere. Before any of us could react, he had appeared behind another of the mechanical cats, and kicked it at a certain part of slime on a nearby wall. I didn’t realize in time that that was where Yo’s slime core was, but even if I had there had been no time to act.

  The next instant, the last two mechanical cats were kicked in our direction, as well as a lunging demon that had no business moving that fast while wearing a full suit of armor. In order to keep up, I had to pull in as much time mana as I could, while disabling the limiter for my perception. Even still, he was moving faster than I was. So, I had to cheat.

  I urged my psychic power out, weaving it together to form a shield in front of the demon, hoping for him to collide against it and slow him down. But, at the last second, he ducked away from the invisible shield, moving for the closest target. Unfortunately, that target was Celeste.

  I kept urging my body to move faster, wrapping Celeste in a layer of woven psychic shields. With that, no matter which direction he attacked from, he shouldn’t be able to take out the Deus Ex. Or at least, I had hoped not.

  Just like he had with Yo, the demon slammed his palm against the psychic shields, and I felt an intense pain surging through my head. Before I could even cry out, I had been rendered unconscious. The last thing I saw was the demon shoving its hand through Celeste’s head.

  You have died. Good going!

  Soon, I heard new sounds, the sounds of people talking in the background. “Is he going to be wake up today?” The voice was familiar… Sharon?

  “He will.” That was definitely Yin, the lovely taciturn. And her confidence was reassuring.

  “I… will, huh?” I forced the words out, my throat feeling unusually dry. Looking down, my arm was hooked up to an IV, which was not filling me with any reassuring feelings.

  “See?” Yin asked with a smile as she walked over next to me. Before I could force out any more words, I had the two beauties wrapped around me in a tight embrace.

  “Good to see you awake, sleepyhead…” Sharon spoke with a small grin, apparently relieved to see me up. I must have suffered a backlash from my psychic power, if I had been out long enough for them to worry.

  “How long?”

  “A week.” Sharon shook her head as she answered. “And before you ask, no we didn’t win. Celeste’s new body is waiting for you to put a soul in, she started construction of it right after we got back. Thankfully, it seems like she uploaded a connection to the ship, so she hasn’t been idle.”

  I cringed, remembering that Celeste’s death had been a true one. Or at least, it had destroyed her body and soul. There was no way to bring her back without starting over… and that likely went for her items as well. But then… “Don’t worry, I didn’t graft the intelligent items onto my soul.” I was both comforted and creeped out as usual when the AI spoke up in my mind. “The graft works for you guys, because your souls can come back after you die, thanks to the clones. Not so easy for me, though I’m working on a fix.”

  I sighed, smiling slightly as I looked up to Sharon. “So.. we made it through six of the seven sins, and got wiped in the first room of the last floor, huh…? Guess conquering a dungeon is still too much at our level.”

  Sharon giggled lightly. “We’ll get more chances. Celeste’s already planning on how to wipe out that entire floor from existence. For now, you rest up. Then you can give the tin man a heart again.”

  Chapter 67 - Items, All of the Items!

  After taking a little bit of time to recover, I went ahead and spent all of my stat points from my level-ups in the dungeon, and took a look at my new status. At the very least, I felt somewhat secure in my ability now.

  Name

  John Hulett

  Race

  Wood Elf

  Titles

  Vengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship Captain

  Fame

  25,000

  Level 110

  13%

  Class

  Druid

  Advanced Class

  Xeno-Shifter

  Deity

  Malthan

  Health

  940/940

  Health Regen

  0

  Mana

  3000/3000

  Mana Regen

  20.6

  Strength

  30

  Wisdom

  200

  Agility

  40

  Intelligence

  300

  Dexterity

  40

  Charisma

  35

  Vitality

  94

  Luck

  25

  Points Remaining

  0

  Earth 31%

  Fire 28%

  Wind 27%

  Water 28%

  Lightning 25%

  Light 25%

  Dark 28%

  Plant 25%

  Void 25%

  Metal 25%

  Magnetism 25%

  Plasma 25%

  Gravity 25%

  Time 9%

  Now, my health had nearly doubled, and I could feel as if my body had become lighter as well. Although I doubted that I would be able to keep up with the demon that wiped us out, it should be enough for normal enemies. With that taken care of, I could move on to other matters, namely giving Celeste’s new body a soul.

  “Hey, John.” Celeste called out to me shortly after I went looking. When I found the wandering robot, her appearance looked much the same as my parents had when I first found them on Gerin. Tall, sleek, and bland… channeling my buffer, which I now had in abundance, I poured some of my soul into her. Then, after infusing it throughout her body, she began changing into a Deus Ex.

  Apparently, she hadn’t been expecting the sudden procedure, and was caught a bit off-guard by it. However, soon her body began shifting. Unlike my parents, who gained completely new looks when they changed races, Celeste seemed to have customized her new look to perfectly match what she had before. She even bought the same flight and weapon upgrades. Well, she wasn’t able to get everything, since the experience I gave her wouldn’t bring her up that high.

  “Thanks, John.” She said with a small grin, now back in the same appearance that s
he was in before. “I’ll need to spend a couple days to integrate all of my skills again, then I’ve got something to show you. If you need me before then, you know where to find me.” She tapped her own head with a smile, before turning and skipping off down the hall. Of course, now I was curious what it was she wanted to show me…

  Anyways, while I was waiting for my new clone body to be prepared, I read over the reports that had piled up. While I was out, it seemed that Celeste continued to have the crew challenge the dungeons. In the time I was unconscious, the average level of the crew had risen by five, which was a pretty decent increase. One dungeon had even been fully mapped out, thanks to Nathan’s team successfully completing the goblin dungeon.

  From their report, the goblin dungeon had a much more gradual increase in difficulty than the demon one. On the other hand, the abilities inside did not vary as much. Though, they might not have been able to conquer the dungeon if there was not a rebellion on the final floor, where the minotaurs were attacking the dungeon boss.

  Next, and something I had been looking forward to hearing about, was Yang. Given that it’s been two weeks since we killed the boss monster near my lab, she has had plenty of time to disassemble it and craft a full set of armor. Sharon even brought out a team of enchanters from her grove in order to add the finishing touches. Below is a full list of the armor set, provided by Sharon after she identified the finished pieces.

  Hooded Cape of the Frozen Scourge

  This cape was crafted from a low-level world boss, and retains some of the properties associated with that monster. It was further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

  Defensive value: 30

  Cold resistance: 40

  Vitality: +15

  Health Regen rate: +0.5

  Fire resistance: 20

  Piercing resistance: 30

  Special skill: Frozen cloud

  Hide Armor of the Frozen Scourge

  This armor was crafted from a low-level world boss, and retains some of the properties associated with that monster. It was further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

  Defensive value: 50

  Cold resistance: 60

  Vitality: +30

  Health Regen rate: +1

  Adaptive shape

  Special skill: Second wind

  Set skill: Scourge Form

  Bracers of the Frozen Scourge

  These bracers were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

  Defensive value: 20

  Cold Resistance: 15

  Vitality: +10

  Adaptive shape

  Special skill: Ice Shield(enhanced)

  Gloves of the Frozen Scourge

  These gloves were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

  Defensive value: 15

  Cold Resistance: 10

  Vitality: +10

  Adaptive shape

  Special skill: Ice Swords(enhanced)

  Armored Pants of the Frozen Scourge

  These pants were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

  Defensive value: 30

  Cold Resistance: 20

  Vitality: +20

  Health Regen: +0.75

  Adaptive shape

  Slashing Resistance: 15

  Piercing Resistance: 20

  Fire Resistance: 10

  Boots of the Frozen Scourge

  These boots were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

  Defensive value: 20

  Cold Resistance: 20

  Vitality: +10

  Adaptive shape

  Special skill: Ice Walk(enhanced)

  Fang of the Frozen Scourge

  This fang was taken from the body of a low-level world boss, and fashioned into a deadly spear. The entire weapon is a single piece, and retains the freezing properties of the monster it was taken from.

  Piercing value: 50

  Cold value: 60

  Special skill: Frozen Breath

  Special skill: Ice Domain

  Special skill: Poisonous Cold

  This was the set of armor that she submitted to complete her quest with her patron. And as her reward… She actually spent it on me. Rather than getting herself something to increase her abilities, she exchanged the favor for an item that would more rapidly increase my cultivation speed. Perhaps she realized that I wouldn’t be able to accept the new armor set, so she wanted to give me something special instead.

  Archdruid’s Elemental Ring

  Bestowed by the Goddess of Evolved Beasts, this ring was prepared as a gift for someone precious. By equipping this ring, mana of all types that the user absorbs will be drawn into the ring, condensed, and then fed through the user’s body.

  Special effect: Removes passive cultivation cap

  Needless to say, I was surprised when I looked at the information that came with the ring. Yin had given it to me on Yang’s behalf, because the demi was still busy working on the rest of the materials from the Frozen Scourge. Aside from the main set, there were ten other identical sets of armor that had been crafted, as well as nearly a hundred spears planned. Additionally, there had been twenty-four swords made from its claws that had similar, albeit weaker effects.

  I could safely say that our security team would not be under-equipped for the foreseeable future. If anything, we had a lot of extra gear. Of course, I was wearing the ring that Yang had exchanged her favor for. Why wouldn’t I, when she went through all the effort to get it for me?

  I decided to let her continue her work without interruption for now, and thank her when she was done. Out of all the items I had received, this one is very likely the most helpful to me. With it, wouldn’t it be possible to cultivate all the way to 100% affinity if I just waited long enough?

  After taking care of the reports, I went down to the lab again, and got ready for my mad scientist experiments. We had a lot more information about monster spawns now, so I should finally be able to start making my time monster. But first, I needed to make some things to help.

  I expanded the basement of my lab so that I would have all of the room I needed to work, and could take care of any monsters that seemed to want to run wild before too much damage was caused. Next, I set up eight spell formation circles. Each one would be set to gather a specific amount of elemental mana, in order for me to accurately measure my results. The types of mana drawn in to these circles were the seven primary elements, as well as time mana. I wanted to try to keep any other type of mana out of the equation for now.

  Next, a larger spell formation that fully encompassed the other eight, with spiral patterns to draw the mana gathered to a single point. This would be what I ultimately use to create the monster, after I have the mana ready. Although I could do the work myself, this way should be more accurate.

  In order to test it, I set the configuration in the circles to draw in the amount of mana needed to summon an ettin. Since I had plenty of experience doing this, it should prove as an accurate example.

  Once all of the settings were complete, I activated the smaller spell formations to begin drawing in the mana. Then, once the runes around the edges began glowing brightly, I used a much larger amount of my own mana to activate the bigger formation. Sure enough, the energy contained within the various circles slowly worked its way through the diagram and joined together in the center.

  I felt the familiar pull of mana in the area, as a monster began forming. Perhaps because of the way the formation was set up, the monster spawning process was not interfered with by the anti-spawn barrier. I’d have to l
ook into why that was the case later, as it showed a weakness with the method. However, soon a large figure emerged within the center of the spell formation. As expected, it was the familiar two-headed form of an ettin.

  A small smile formed on my lips as I sent a wind blade out to behead the creature. With this, I could begin my work to create a custom monster. Hopefully…. We’ll see. Either way, at least things will get interesting from here! Worst case scenario, I make something that eats me. It can’t get much worse than that, right?

  Chapter 68 - I made a What?

  Impressed with the results of the formation circles, I went back to the terminal and began reviewing the information that the scanners had gathered. Thankfully, Celeste had had a full week to get the spawn simulator program set up, while using the additional information gathered from the dungeons as a basis. However, this presented other problems.