I returned to the old, run-down village, Stahille it was called. It's the only human settlement that doesn't induce Anger, instead unearthing a most unusual calmness from within me. An emotion more chaotic than the former in a strangely confusing and terrifying way. It is peaceful, a perfectly still pond within an aeonic forest, yet the antithesis of such.
Despair.
In a way, it's much worse than rampaging and mass murdering random people, but as enticing as well.
So I stayed there, wallowing, silent screams echoing through the aether. I wandered the surroundings, taking in the tainted nature of life.
Every night I escaped from an unknown enemy to the Dungeon, losing myself in a familiar trance for many hours.
My days were taken up by going to a shack and telling numerous stories from Doomed Earth's works of written word. The regulars there nicknamed me the Dreamer, one of them told me to never wake up, lest my power will wane.
Everyday, I go to the nearby Katze Plains to wander along with and akin to the undead that always toll, without any rest. Putting them down is truly easy, the only things that can damage me small amounts now are the Skeletal Dragons, and even then, a shot of a basic attack rune kills them.
I sometimes let them land a hit, because what? Are they going to kill me? Not possible, with my current stats, and it gives me a feeling of superiority as they realize their strongest bite isn't effective.
I reached level ninety eight, don't know how much time has passed. It may have been weeks, but years are just as likely of an option, with how I feel.
Got two perks for 250 points in WIS and INT.
Perfect Memory - Your memory will never fail you again.
Price of Blood - If you lose HP, you gain the same amount of MP.
Not the best, but acceptable.
Name - Suisei Kyoryokou
Title - The Gamer
Level - 98
Class - Runecrafter - LVL 37 [21%]
Race - 'Human'
Rank - Mortal
Allignment - Neutral Evil
HP - 1900/1900 [19 per minute]
MP - 2650/2650 [265 per minute]
SP - 1900/1900 [19 per minute]
STR - 124
END - 190
DEX - 147
INT - 265
WIS - 255
Nothing happened the first time my class leveled up, it was rather anticlimactic.
Not excited nearly as much as I once would've been to see such stats...
At least I've got some interesting rune programs, making them became one of the few things I was still interested in doing.
My strongest DPS rune is now a spark bolt that summons a giant explosion on contact. The explosion, due to placing many modifiers before it, deals billions of volts, flashes with light + dark elements, freezes + makes opponents catch fire, and causes a powerful earthquake all at the same time, as well as it's four times as powerful as it should have been, also due to clever use of a modifier. It has the capacity to completely destroy a Slane Theocracy fort in one shot, applying the effects dozens of meters around the seventy meter wide crater that's left in the place of the building, leaving a similarly beautiful, strange and chilling sight, a scarred, barren land.
The base damage of the explosion is INT + WIS.
I carved the sequence on a necklace made out of the fake gemstones I got a while ago.
The first time it was shot, tested against a boss, I discovered that my own runes don't damage me - it'd have been my doom if it wasn't so.
All in all, it deals 50296 DMG if the opponent isn't resistant or immune to certain types of damage.
It costs 2505 mana, but I can shoot it two times because of the perk that halves the price of all runes.
It is the most powerful, but also the least versatile rune program I have.
The program I generally use for dungeons is weaker, but still very powerful - the spell's called Bouncing Burst, it's normally a small green orb that bounces around, dealing three damage if it hits an opponent.
With modifiers, it homes onto enemies with blinding speed and punctures their heads like a bullet, all the while electrifying and setting them on fire, if that wasn't enough. It lasts four seconds before the projectile dissipates, that's enough for it to mow down around sixty humans in a loose group. This one costs 175 MP.
For difficult situations, there's a 'magic shield' rune as I call it - for half of 1780 MP it summons a blue flame that orbits around me for two minutes - it repels magical as well as mundane projectiles that travel up to 3500 KM/H, and carries a healing field that accelerates my HP regeneration four times.
-x-
Sitting on a pile of bones in the Plains, I contemplate.
I've become unthinkably powerful, even skeletal dragons are now laughably easy to vaporize, there is nothing for me to do anymore. It all resembles an infinite loop.
I've lost all meaning, is my life a trap? If it even can be called 'life'.
Is it an illusion?
I've changed, therefore the world has changed.
Suddenly, a soul shattering roar fills my senses, reverborating in my bones, breaking any trains of thought I might've had beforehand.
I turned to the direction it came from, seeing a... something.
A dark mass of tentacles hundereds of meters high, many mouths filled with teeth clampering on its body, dark mist slithering around its form.
It walked on five hoofed legs, in my direction.
Should I have been scared? Maybe. Don't know why or how, but I'm not.
I couldn't care less about this.
No feelings.
...
...
I take out the Explosion rune, and point it at the monster, at the eldritch abomination taken form, then fire two times, leaving me almost drained.
Two innocuous looking, small bolts of magic flew through the air, carrying an overwhelming amount of power.
When they connected, a swirling ball of white and black flame took up half of the giant monster's body, lightning crackled around it while the coldest winds blew in whirlwinds.
The ground beneath the hooves of the creature gave way to numerous cracks, as did the rest of its visible body, showing pure darkness where black skin tore.
Once the chaos of my spell dispresed, a hole was visible in the middle of the enemy. The beast wallowed in a dying breath as it collapsed.
.
.
.
What is this?
Why am I...
Am I feeling something?
Sadness? No.
Fear?
Anger?
Shame?
No.
Then what is it?
Acceptance?
A triumph, ecstasy.
That monster was the symbol of my strife, of stagnation, which I faced to die, surprised by my own power to vanquish it, stunned by how much I feel.
For the first time in months, my mouth curled up into a small, but genuine smile.
Which fell a second later, as I saw four more of the monsters further away, taking part in a ...battle? Someone appeared in front of the abomination in a flash of teleportation. It's difficult to discern who it is, but the robes of the stranger give me an idea.
That is the player from way back then, in that village.
Carne village.
He touches the dark, felled titan.
Are they with him?
Killing one left me without any magic, and it'll take ten minutes to regenerate enough to have a chance at defeating another.
Even if that is all the player has, then it's still enough to end me, and I seriously doubt they're their only card in this cursed game of domination.
Then he turns to look straight at me.
His void filled eyes, which shouldn't have been visible from such a distance, are glowing red, shock is written within them.
We look into each other for a moment, then he breaks the stand down by starting to say something which I hear with perfect clarity despite almost a kilometer between us.
"Time Sto-"
I didn't hear him finish that sentence, for my surroundings changed into the familiar urban form of a zombie dungeon.
That... Was he going to do what I thought he was going to do?
Was that what I thought it was?
Is the Player truly capable of stopping time?
It does seem like so.
If I was even a fifth of a second late with escaping that situation, it would've turned out badly. I don't want to think about being at the mercy of an unknown.
His existence proves to me now, I have let myself go too much, become less cautious. He showed me that a long road is ahead of me still, I am not the biggest fish in the pond, yet.
Damn it, how am I gonna get around stopping time?
Maybe an always running rune program that separates a bubble of reality around me from the rest of a universe? No, that would cost way too much mana I'm sure, and there aren't any runes in my collection to bend space-time like that. Not yet at least.
Well, I can escape to a dungeon, once per day. Once.
Once won't be enough.
And I have to know he's casting the spell to shift dimensions in time.
My train of thought is broken once again, this time by a zombie. I shrug and smile, may as well lose myself in slaughering them.
A truly quick change of feelings, something to ponder later.
Huh, that's quite the large undead horde before my eyes.
Two launches of the Bouncing Burst, and they're no longer a problem as twin crackling green flames blur, executing dozens by the second.
Killing some monsters always brings peace to the soul.
Oh hey, I got three level up notifications. From defeating the eldritch abomination?
And I'm level 101 now.
A popup appears.
[Choose your destination]
[Warhammer 40k]
[Highschool DXD]
[One Piece]
[Worm]
[DC Comics]
What?
Oh, it's because my level exceeded a hundered, I remember now.
Can I minimize this? Return to it sometime later? There's still some stuff that needs to be done here on this world before I make my choice.
[After you've made your choice, the message will disappear, and you will have to say 'planeswalk' to trigger the relocation.]
Oh, so it'll wait, thanks game.
Now to choose.
DC is out from the start, the two hundered year old verse has some ridiculously powerful entites that I won't reach even in the two centuries I'm given to become a universal being. DC has multiversal, outerversal entities.
I don't recognise Worm, so it's not an option as well.
One Piece...
Nope, the Piece will earse me from existence the moment I change canon too much.
Highschool DXD is...
It's an old ecchi anime, an early twenty first ceuntry Earth packed with deities made real. I am definitely not gonna be going to a planet on which dozens of planetary level beings reside.
That leaves Warhammer 40k.
Some would call me insane, but it really isn't as deadly as one may think. The worst danger is to the weaker folks, I understand that a new Gamer wouldn't want to go there, they would get shredded with bullets, lasers and chainswords before they have a chance to level up.
But being even slightly superhuman is enough to survive there for some time - regular people live their lives as guardsmen, and they live for years at times.
And I am not 'slightly' superhuman.
Faster than race cars, reaction speed enough to closely inspect arrows as they're flying, and probably more than enough to dodge bullets, durablilty to shrug off boulders being thrown at me- without taking any damage, strength to launch those boulders hundereds of meters into the air to test my durability...
That is solely my physical abilities.
And you know, if one has to choose between facing a million sci-fi laser rifles versus the devil himself, the choice is obvious when the person has a chance of surviving the rain of plasma.
The true danger of 40k, of course, is the corruptive influence of the Chaos Gods.
Which is negated by Gamer's Mind.
Honestly, 40k is basically an EXP bath, battles that include billions of humans, demons, orks, and other aliens? Count me the fuck in. It'd give me one hell of an opportunity to gain power.
Besides, the verse is pretty large, and any possible threats to me are spread out across an entire galaxy, compared to a single damn planet in DXD.
And I'd bet there aren't nearly as many things that could threaten me in 40k compared to DXD - Emperor, a few Chaos entities, maybe five or six legendary psykers, and the primarchs versus dozens of devils, angels, fallen, youkai, sacred gear users, hundereds of gods.
So, Warhammer 40k it is, as the destination of my first world jump.
Though, I won't be leaving this place for some time still, even if it feels tempting to just abandon it all, and let the currents take me.
-x-
Uncertainty stirred within me as I was about to return from the dungeon.
What if the player's still there, waiting for me? What if he set a trap?
My only hope is that he thought I teleported, which is no doubt likely, but the small fear is still there, in the corner of my mind.
Well, here goes nothing.
Returning to Katze, the first thing I notice is four behemoths of darkness, those abominations, standing a few kilometers away, making that distance look like they're just next to me.
I have no idea if they noticed me, but thankfully aren't charging in my direction.
With my full speed I leave the plains, crossing many hours of walking in a few minutes.
Looks like no traps had been set, neither was anyone waiting for me, that's a relief.
I've got to go far away from the plains, as far as possible. I do not want to be suddenly trampled by giant hooves, thank you very much.
So I blitz into the forest without stopping, my DEX high enough to maneuver between the trees.
There isn't a need to go slower, and my END should make me last for a while.
-x-
Hours later, I'm deep within the theocracy, not having crossed it because I slowed down after seeing a familiar mountain range.
I want to return to E-Rantel, but knowing it wouldn't be fruitful besides gaining some EXP from possible human prey, it isnt all that worth it; humans are everywhere. My innermost reason behind that desire is to feel the presence of Naela. Yet she isn't there. She isn't.
I must find her, but without any leads...
I'd be wandering in the dark.
So, if no matter what I did, it was always going to be darkness, then why shouldn't I profit from it as well?
The papers with magical artifact locations from the first destroyed theocracy fort are still in my inventory, I could quest for artifacts, and be on the lookout for any leads to Naela at the same time.
With my new plan of action in place, I took out the papers.
-x-
After a day of wandering around, I still can't find that blasted ruin. It's supposed to be somewhere here, in this valley. Yet, no sign of any historical structures.
The ruin which supposedly holds a necklace that brings the wearer great magical power, as was written in the documents.
I was sitting on a boulder when I heard something rustle in the bushes. An animal? Wind? Something entirely different?
Out of nowhere dozens of mages appeared, all in the robes of the siegers from day one. Hundereds of angelic summons came to be, floating in the air above and behind the men.
One of the mages stepped forward, clad in slightly different robes, face uncovered.
"I am-" He began monologuing.
Ah, an ambush, now I see why that ruin was so hard to find; there's none here after all.
As the leader was still talking, I took out my trusty Bouncing Burst rune, the BB for short, and activated it a few times.
Within seconds most of the mages and angels were no longer on this world, the men that were still alive took out a crystal from the former monologuer's pocket, they were trembling. How cute.
...That thing looked rare.
I gotta have it.
And so, with a tug of my willpower, and a second of concentration, the item was within my inventory.
The enemies seemed to be on the verge of crying as they saw said object leave their grasp.
"Hey, what's the name of the guy that was talking to me before I killed you all?"
They were too horrified of me not to answer truthfully, the name's Ulthar Pomalide.
I shot another BB, killing the rest of the enemies, and searched my material info addon for 'the magical crystal Ulthar Pomalide possessed when he was killed by Suisei Kyoryokou'. Sure enough, there was one result, perfectly matching the thing I have in my inventory.
[Sealing Crystal]
An artifact originating in a Dive game called Yggdrasil, given to Ulthar Pomalide to use as a last resort against Nature's Wrath. It contains the spell Hell Flame, a seventh tier spell that works best against nature aligned or holy entities.
Any kind of visible scratch will destabilize, and destroy it in a burst of magic; it is unusable as rune program material.
To activate it, choose a target, and pour any amount of mana into the crystal.
Nature's Wrath? They nicknamed me? Huh.
Not a title I would've picked myself, but it's alright.
It's a shame I can't use the crystal for runes, it was the reason I took it.
I got five level-ups from this ambush, gotta keep my way of getting stronger a secret so enemies send more armies after me~
My thoughts unexpectedly drifted to Naela. I wonder what's she doing now? Is she safe? Probably not.
Is she being kept somewhere? Also not likely, she was quite powerful when we finished the training months - physically stronger and faster than me a month after coming to this world. Plus, she isn't known for slaughtering, for destroying. She's just a simple shopkeeper after all.
Well, it could be that someone's taken her as bait for me, but they would've told me that they have her if that was the case.
...
So. I can't trust the documents regarding the artifacts in the most direct way. The directions could of course be followed at the very least for possible ambushes, the juicy EXP.
The 'treasures' won't go anywhere for another few weeks at least, I can check on E-Rantel in that time, at the very least feel Her presence...
I'll have to go around the Plains though, to avoid the abominations.
-x- A few days later, location unknown, Ainz POV
"Nature's Wrath has been spotted before the gates of E-Rantel, my lord." The undead rasped with the most respect rotten vocal cords can allow it, bowing its decaying head before me. At my wordless command, it continued - "Reports from the summons standing guard say she seemed shocked at first, though fear was negligible. After a moment the entity ran off into the forest. They gave chase, but seconds later her presence vanished from all types of sensory magic and racial traits."
Her existence is an unknown variable.
Just what is that woman? Is she a creature native to New World?
Or maybe a player, from Yggdrasil?
No, I doubt that. Her magic is something I haven't seen before. The fireball she used to defeat one of the Dark Young, it was light and dark aligned. Both. At the same time.
And it certainly isn't something I remember from the game.
Ahh, so much work to do...
-x- Suisei POV, a week later
He took it away from me.
He took E-Rantel from me, took my greatest memories.
'I'm gonna go out into the wilderness and make my own base, a safe haven of my own.' - I remember saying that with such conviction, only days after settling in with Naela. Here I am, six months later, homeless once again, forced so by that damn player. To spite him, to quench the frustration, and to change said fact, I decided to create the grandest home; realize my past dream.
Here in the middle of nowhere, far away from any manmade construction, deep in a dense forest. It is this place where I begin digging- shoving my arms deep into the soil like it wasn't there, taking a large chunk of dirt, and depositing it in my inventory with a little effort.
In no time I reach rock, which doesn't change my speed of working - with my STR it's like digging into loose styrofoam.
I'd went deep, as the light of day nearly wasn't able to reach here. It should be enough for what I'm about to do.
A Multiply by Ten modifier before a Spell Enlargement modifier, last a Digging Blast.
The Digging Blast is a flash of light that destroys all flora and dead matter in a radius of one meter around the rune, a prefect sphere.
The Multiply by Ten rune affects the Spell Enlargement modifier, which normally would resize a spell five times, now it does so fifty times.
With a negligible dip in my mana and a flash of light, a chamber comes to be.
It doesn't collapse on itself because of the arch the blast left.
It's pretty dark here, to change that I quickly carved a simple rune which once charged, will remain a strong light source for days.
Now it's time to make this greater.
-x-
Three weeks later, with the aid of many automated rune programs, it is done.
My greatest accomplishment in this entire world, it is truly grand.
A hundered halls, a throne room worthy of Durin, mines created with the purpose of seeking rune program materials going down to the planet's mantle, all of a size unseen on this world.
Many pillars sculptured with eternally glowing runes, which will alert me if their light would be cast upon intruders.
Said runes flash not only in the visible spectrum, but in as wide as was possible with my modifiers. Being near them without being me, as my runes cannot harm me, would be fatal within one to five seconds - radiation is a form of light. Gamma, beta, all the good stuff. That is, if I don't take into account the other things it can do.
If the light falls on an intruder... Well, there are modifiers that make it deal all kinds of damage over time, and if someone's a mage then it's even worse- they siphon their mana to deal even more damage, it's exponential. Through a detection sequence, the programs can figure out instantly which type of DMG is most effective against the intruder, maximizing its output while minimizing other ones.
I doubt even the Player would survive long within my halls, if they didn't use time stop or become truly invisible. I'd say those are the only ways to survive being in here if one's not a multiversal god, or me. Even then, the invisibility would have to be perfect - conceptual disappearance. Regular forms of it wouldn't work. Also, freezing time would have to be a realistic version which ceases the flow of photons, and that isn't viable because of lack of sight.
Heh, no need for any guardians if the lamps I use everywhere for lighting are magnitudes deadlier than a dragon.
Though, it shouldn't be likely that anyone even finds this place, it's many kilometers deep underground, without any means of reaching it.
The way I use to get in and out of here is through a Stasis Teleport Bolt - an ever-floating ray of energy that will transport me to itself should I will it. The one on the surface is hidden by a mana concealment modifier.
...I might've gotten a bit carried away in building this base of operations.
At least it was something to take my mind off the numerous problems of my life, and a pretext to continue a routine.
-x- Two weeks later
I have done nothing but wander around my halls, gaze upon the mantle's forever-moving sea of magma from a balcony and wonder upon a great many topics.
It was during one of such sessions that a thought occured to me - what if the Mirvulean Gem is actually in the planet's core? That could be a place 'gods', players in other words would be afraid of going to, either due to concerns about liquifying within the extremely hot rock, not being able to hold their breath long enough, or not being able to find a palm sized thing in such a large space, trillions of times more difficult than trying to find a 'needle in a haystack', as the saying goes.
Though, how could I, an entity weaker than such beings, attempt to reach where they would not have been able to?
My runes don't have an answer to that question.
Yet.
Maybe never.
No, most likely they will give me an answer, if I wait between a day and a decade, but that's kinda unpredictable.
Maybe the class I choose next would be the anwer to this problem? But what could allow me to manipulate the flow of molten rock to bring the Gem to me?
Geomancy.
It is perfect, it'd fit in my Dryad alibi, and should technically give me control over this red hot ocean of what is basically earth.
It'll be some time before I get the chance to choose a new class, it's much easier to level my current one due to the level 50 removal of that starter debuff, however it still is quite slow.
Over all this work, the digging, exploring new program possibilities, carving decorative and functional runes, dungeons, Naela has a place in my mind, a place that will never cease. I never thought of her during the past weeks, and yet never took her off my mind. I need to return to her, no idea how, but I must. Somehow.
And hug her again.
Retrieve the Gem as well, that's not nearly as important, but the rewards for the quest and the item itself are well worth mentioning it.
But, what will I do once we're together again? What plan will there be except for jumping worlds to Warhammer as soon as possible?
The Player had some powerful looking gear, would it be worth the risk to confront him, take something with the use of Inventory, and then instantly escape this verse? No. He can stop time, you idiot. Even the slightest risk is too much.
Fuck you, Sin of Greed.
Then what? Should I go and kill everyone in a populated area as a goodbye?
That isn't such a bad idea actually, I could easily escape the consequences, and the additional exp would be a treat.
Hit a capital city.
The capital of the Baharuth Empire, as I read it's the largest out of all.
It'll bring in a lot of exp, months of dungeons.
Though what kind of rune can accomplish such a feat? I'll have to think about it. Maybe making Bouncing Burst eternal, ever accelerating? Leave this place's humanity to be doomed by a never ceasing spell?
Yeah, that could work. Not like I'd destroy the concept of Human, and this planet is probably doomed either way, due to the Player's existence.
Oh, it occured to me I'd be taking away Player's playthings if I was to unleash an unending massacre.
It won't matter by that time.
Still, months ago I really wanted to save humanity...
Game, are there infinite universes in this omniverse?
[Not as you understand the concept of infinity, but technically yes.]
Then the monkeys will survive no matter what I do. No need to hold myself back.
At least till my power stops being finite. If there's a chance of me truly dooming said race, then I shall cease killing, if only to fulfill my strange past selves' wish.
I don't really care for them anymore to be honest. The things I put value to are now Power, Naela and Nature.
Yes, after all this time, Mother Nature is still something, 'someone' I care about.
Perhaps killing people isn't only for my own gain, but to protect the planet, stop any industrialization from beginning?
Eh, I don't really know.
-x- Somewhere
A medium sized, dimly lit room could be seen, the only light's from a very matte window, eroded by time, decades. By all walls there's a lot of furniture, bookshelves, tables, drawers, to name a few among many. A single bed is nestled in the corner, hugged by a wardrobe and a small bedside table.
There's a giant corkboard covering most of one wall, pinned on it are documents, seemingly random objects, a dagger that looks as if half its handle had been vaporised, cleaved clean off, and a single picture; a month old Dead or Alive bounty warrant for an individual going by the pseudonym 'Nature's Wrath', a supposed to be Dryad, unthinkably powerful.
The various pinned items were connected by a white thread, in a way that makes sense only to one person.
A particular person, standing before this mess of a thinking board, one young man, sprouting long dark hair, and loose black robes with a white shirt underneath. He was reaching out to the bounty warrant, grasping the air just before it.
"Ooh I will reach you at last, my... oh Greatest... oh my... My greatest Idol!" he exclaimed in a hushed, but excited voice, letting out many emotions in the last word; grandest of which was sheer respect for said person's ultimate goal. No lust, or power fantasy had blinded this assumed fanatic.
His assumptions, based on a series of Dreams he had, of being a different person, of slaughtering, of becoming It, of Understanding, achieving Balance, Infinity, uncovering the Spiral.
-x- A certain document
Imperial Magic Academy Report
Student 74E,
N-A, eR of Re-Estize BHRTH EMP
-Ability-
"She's, simply put, a prodigy. Has all possible affinites, is capable of learning things that would take years in a few days. All her scores are a hundered percent, but that hardly matters with how talented she is. Such a promising youth hasn't been seen since... Ever. Even the Court Wizard, Fluder Paradyne, wasn't nearly as great as a student, I dare say."
-Behaviour-
"She keeps away from peers, has no desire to socialise. Goes out to the city very often. When asked about it, avoids answering."
-Statistics-
AFF- Ea/Fi/Ai/Wa/Da/Li/Co
Marks:
MT 100%
MPT 100%
HM 100%
PT 100%
TSR 100%
EOM 100%
CST 100%
CSP 100%
RIKT 20/20
[A/N]:
Suisei's system isn't linear with Yggdrasil levels.
The next chapter's going to be delayed by 2 to 3 weeks.