“So what’s the plan?” Adrian asks as they leave the inn and onto the road. The harsh weather is beating on them, but the pendant keeps the worst of it away. Truly the best purchase ever.
“Hmm, I wanna go check some places, but I don’t know if you’ll be strong enough for that or not. What is your level?”
“24.”
“How many upgrades?”
“Only one, but I have another prepared. I just need to complete the ritual.”
“It’s not completely bad, but I don’t think you’ll be able to deal with them yet. We need to level you up a bit. Get you one or two more upgrades, and then we’ll go,” She says, nodding to herself.
“Where is it that we’ll be going exactly?”
“To meet someone from whom I think might be able to get the answer, but uh, we’ll see,” She shrugs, “First let’s complete this ritual of yours. What is it this time?”
“I have to consume 5 different kinds of poison and survive.”
“Hmm, tricky but doable. What is your Resistance? I don’t think you’ll be able to tank it.”
“You’ll be right. It’s only 14, that too after adding in the stats from the artifacts.”
“I figured. An ability like Avatar would have higher and higher cost the more you increase it. At this point the most you can digest are mild laxatives or viagra, and maybe a few more unawakened level poison. Would that be enough?”
“I think so, yes, but my ability forces me to drink stronger and stronger poison in order to increase the potency of the skill.”
“Why the fuck, would you even choose an Upgrade like this!?” Ji-a hisses. “You know you’ll probably die faster than your enemies if you take this path!”
“What else am I supposed to do? Do you have any ideas?” Adrian asks, exasperated.
“Why not go for psychic damage instead? It’s more potent, and very few have the means to block it.”
“Huh,” Adrian imagines someone walking out of the prison, having completely lost their minds, and couldn’t help but agree that it does sound like a better torture. “I’m sold, but what would have a core like that?”
Adrian notices that they are walking out of the settlement as the buildings get sparse, and the crowd gets thinner. “There are these things called Rattlers. These are snakes who live in deserted oases, making it their own. It’s said that they create a field around it, either changing it into an annoying frequency to annoy off tougher opponents, or entrance weaker ones. Nasty things, but very good sacrifices. Also tasty!”
“How do we find deserted oases though?” Adrian asks.
“For that we’ll have to find someone else now. If I remember correctly, they should still be in the Northern Settlement. We should be able to get some practice meanwhile, and also find some good cores. Let’s go!” Ji-a says with enthusiasm, the monkey on her shoulder jumping in excitement.
Adrian can feel that this journey is already gonna be difficult, but at least it’ll be fun.
#
“What do you know about the crystals?” Adrian asks in the middle of the journey as they come across a particularly dense patch of crystals.
“Oh, they are actually monsters.”
“All of them?” He suddenly looks at them with a newfound wariness. The crystals themselves are dull now, just a slab of grey sitting on the desert, gone is their radiance from the night.
“Well most of them are dead. Lemme start from the beginning,” Ji-a says, a charge of mana flowing through her, and although Adrian couldn’t see it, he can feel a surge of air around him. Then a thud sounds from the crystals.
Adrian brings out his sword in anticipation, and in front of him 3 of the crystals he had assumed to be inanimate suddenly wakes up. They have short stubby legs buried under the sand which they are starting to release now, as if waking up from a long sleep.
“Prison on two, now!” Ji-a shouts, and Adrian snaps out of his daze, before quickly trying to cast the spell. The usual tug of mind comes at him after the snap, but this time something feels different. Unlike the last times when he has been facing a single opponent, this time it feels like facing a hundred.
In one way he can win, but the 99 others pull him away.
Adrian snaps out of the spell, the monster he has been trying to imprison looking more enraged now than earlier.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“It won’t work. It’s mind is weird,” Adrian reports.
“I figured as much. Then we fight him normally. Be careful of its light attacks. There’ll usually be a gathering of energy so keep track of it and get out of the way before it can release that,” Ji-a orders.
“How do we defeat it?” They backpedal as the first crystal monster comes their way, knocking onto other dead crystals.
“The most typical way to deal with one is to either explode it through giant explosions, or just beat it to pieces until the core is revealed. Once the core is removed they go inactive,” Ji-a says, before stopping in place, her hidden hands moving beside her.
“Can you keep the other two busy while I take care of this one?” She says while cracking her fingers. Adrian nods, and quickly creates a few avatars to charge at the other two.
The avatars run around the crystals, hitting them whenever they can. The monsters are quite fragile, he notices, breaking easily under his fist, although the hit also leaves him with a broken hand.
The avatars, being beings with no pain receptors, did not care about the broken hand, as they continued to break themselves against the crystals, in turn taking away their legs and their ability to walk.
Adrian stands at his position beside Ji-a, one avatar beside him to look for any danger, as he shuttles through the consciousness of other avatars to find places his direct help may be needed.
He hadn’t noticed it properly last night, but he can certainly feel his avatars reacting faster, developing a more refined mind, and creating formations on their own. He kinda wishes to try it all on himself now, and feel the difference.
Investing in a ring with a greater percentage would be smart.
Adrian also notices that the pieces which break from the crystals are moving towards it again before being assimilated into it.
Do the pieces have a mind of their own? What is the smallest size which can have a mind of its own?
Adrian looks around and finds that some of the much smaller pieces, ones barely bigger than a fingernail, are completely still, indicating a clear range within which the mind can exist.
Suddenly his attention is taken away from the sound and explosion beside him, memories of being blaster and his stomach being torn apart through heat and energy assault him. Adrian focuses shuttling to another avatar close to the explosion and notes how a crater exists where the other one used to be.
He looks at the crystal while moving away as rings of energy congregate on its grey structure, focusing on him.
The light attacks Ji-a warned about.
Adrian notices the other one preparing the same, so he quickly changes the formation of his avatars, making them more chaotic, spreading them apart. Finally he comes back to his main body to look at the main crystal… already dealt with.
He looks at Ji-a where a single bright white core bounces on her hand.
“Your avatars are like bugs right now. They can overwhelm someone, but it’s hard for them to defeat someone physically resilient with their current strength. And someone weaker would usually have strong magic, and be able to deal with easily given their Resistance.
“You need to either make them physically tougher, or find a way to equip them with artifacts. Can they not use yours?” Ji-a asks.
“I’ve tried, but it doesn’t work with them for some reason. The Tower doesn’t consider them real enough to make use of the stat bonuses, and they can’t use their own mana to make use of the artifacts’ features.”
“And lugging around several normal weapons would be very cumbersome, hmm,” She hums in understanding. “I’d personally recommend finding a way for them to use artifacts. Stat boosts are nice, but not every enemy can be dealt with your punches, but artifacts can help bridge that gap. If they can cast your abilities as well, then it’ll be perfect,”
“I’ve been thinking along the same lines,” Adrian nods, “By the way can you handle the other two before all my avatars get slaughtered?”
“Sure, encircle the other crystal with your avatars and don’t break it too much. It’ll be harder for me in that case.” Adrian does so, leaving one of the crystals alone. Rings of energy gather on its surface, aiming for one of his avatars, but suddenly its surface begins cracking.
The crystal rumbles, trying to stop the cracking, firing its light rays here and there as Adrian and Ji-a move to the side to avoid getting hit by one. Sadly for it, its surface soon breaks beyond repair, presenting the core hidden within it.
An invisible hand grasps it and brings it over to Adrian. It’s mildly warm, comforting even.
The last crystal is dealt in much the same way, giving them a total of 3 Fractured Minds core. Adrian keeps one of them, giving the last two to Ji-a. He has been inspired by looking at the crystals fight, and perhaps he can use it for an upgrade.
You have defeated Asharth’s Descendent (lvl 32)
You have defeated Asharth’s Descendent (lvl 33)
You have levelled up! Manifold Warden lvl 25
You have four Upgrades pending!
Perhaps defeating them alone would have granted him another level. He can’t really complain as he doesn’t have a clear method to defeat them yet.
“As I was saying!” Ji-a exclaims, her cheerfulness returning with the end of the fight, “These monsters when they become too old, their mind slowly degrades until there’s nothing left and they sit at one place, forever becoming a crystal, and a lighthouse for travellers in the night.”
“I think you could’ve said so without us having to go through it either,” Adrian points out.
“Well yes, but it wouldn’t be fun, and you wouldn’t have known how dangerous these things can be if you don’t know how to handle them,” Ji-a shrugs.
“What did you do there anyway? Compressing it with your invisible hands? Do you have enough strength for that?”
“It’s a very simple use of creating a vacuum around it. With the sudden drop in pressure from the atmosphere and inside the vacuum, the fragile crystalline structure of the crystal easily breaks. The theory is rather easy, but creating a perfect bubble around it is really the hard part,” Ji-a explains.
“I thought your skill only sucked in water, I assume you upgraded it?”
“Yes. I’m trying to make it a perfect vacuum cleaner for everything. Everything. Also combining it with the hidden hands really helps me to play a long range duty.”
“It is pretty neat,” Adrian admits.
“I know right! Anyway, let’s get going. We still have a bit of a journey to cover. I’d rather get there before dinner.” Adrian agrees. Eating food in the desert is the worst. It’s coarse and rough and it gets everywhere.
From the shaking of the monkey’s head, it seems like even he agrees.
“What is his name, by the way?”
“Monkey.”
“You named your monkey, Monkey?” Adrian asks deadpanned.
“He likes it!”
“Uh huh.” The monkey laughs as the two of them continue to bicker throughout the journey.
