With the new update to reality approaching I was wondering how many skill points I'd average. If there's going to be an EXP bar, will it start off low and get higher or will it be based on strengths we already have?
It was a lot of questions but I knew one thing. With everything that's gonna change when it comes, things might get more dangerous.
So, I was doing something I haven't done in years. Clearing a dungeon.
Assimilation is a legendary ability. Admittedly, I haven't been using it to it's fullest potential for me.
"Right, so what's the nearest dungeon I can rip apart?" I wondered, looking at the map Arthur has made a while ago to find any special spots.
"Three miles east." Mantis said. I didn't want to bring him, but his ability, Assimilate, was very similar to my own. The difference being his absorbs tech and biomass to become part of his body, meanwhile mine allows me to absorb enemies and such and take their inborn abilities. The two are basically the same power to slightly different degrees.
"Thanks Mantis…" I said. "Gonna take a day of stress relieving dungeon crawling."
"What are these dungeons like?" He asked as we started walking.
"Well, it depends on the type of dungeon, a tower dungeon has different amount of floors to go through, Arena is…kind of like Armageddon in general, and Field which is a combination of both." I answered.
"I see. And what of Void Dungeons? The Update Notice mentioned that."
"It's basically normal dungeons but three times harder, given it's amplified by Void energy, or for what your more accustomed to, Null."
"Hm. Back home Null Magic was an unknown. Very few animals were known to have Null Magic, and from what I overheard back when I was a Stalker, only one human ever had Null Affinity." Mantis said.
"And who was that?" I inquired.
"I don't know. All I do know is that she was one of five experimental BOW Nokori made."
"Alright." I nodded. "Well, Void Dungeon's are a lot more difficult with a lot more stronger enemies, but it gives a lot more and better loot, even Skill Points."
"Huh. So it's a risk versus reward with Void Dungeons then." Mantis hummed.
"Yes, but until the update happens, don't go into a Level Five Void Dungeon, that is the current hardest dungeon level and it can perma-kill you." I stated.
"... If that's true, and after, void level twenty becomes the new strongest, why increase the difficulty? Because of the EXP bar?"
"I have no idea." I admitted. "I've personally never seen such a huge change to how Dungeon's work and the new EXP bar…which I will admit is confusing as to why it wasn't there to begin with…it could lead to people getting a lot stronger a lot quicker now that people can just grind 'levels' for Skill Points."
"Right…" Mantis said.
As we walked we spotted something. It looked like… a stone coffin, surrounded by weapons.
That's suspicious…
"Right…" I used Scan on said Coffin, cause I remember Tegmine the multi limbed undead bastard had a similar theme with his boss fight of a Coffin with many weapons around it.
[Scan Complete!
Stone Coffin.]
Well, that's uninformative but if at my Scan level that's all it says then I guess it's okay… still don't like this.
"Either the weapons are Familiar's and will try to attack me or there's some cheeky fuck in the coffin hiding…" I thought to myself, as I drew Ol Reliable and carefully moved towards the Coffin.
As I walked up, keeping Mantis behind me, I used the tip of my sword to push the coffin lid off, finding it only full of skulls. Okay… creepy-
"Ska-eeeeeee!"
I looked up. Shit!
Descending down rapidly was the form of a humanoid angel, skin rotting and wings mostly bone. It welded a spear as is was striking down.
I backed up, pushing Mantis with me as I quickly used Scan.
[Scan Complete!
Name: Cursed Guardian Angel
Rank: AAA
ATT: 2,560
Def: 1,000
Mag: 1,200
Potential Loot Drops: Skill Points x20, Rem, Fallen Angel's Spear.
Special Ability: Physical Resistance - Physical Attacks deal 50% less damage.]
Oh fuck me… thank the Mother I put on my new armor otherwise I'd be totally screwed…
"Right…Oh! Wait…" I said with a growing smile. "I forgot…Perfect Custodian exists." I said, grabbing Ol'Reliable in both hands and swung it hard, sending out an air slash towards the thing swiftly as my stats should be high enough to still kick it's ass even with it's high defense and damage reduction.
The attack landed, the enemy falling instantly…
I looked back… oh fuck me…
The sky was full of these fuckers now!
"Are you gonna take them or retreat?" Mantis asked.
"Uh…I mean, I know I can take all these thing's on because my stats and armor would make me only take one damage…" I said, stabbing the ground and having a bit of rock push the angel's corpse into my waiting hand as I tried to Assimilate it quickly. "But as far as I know…this is way too many for you to handle."
[Assimilation Successful!
Fallen Angel Wings, Obtained!
Ability: Physical Resistance, has been Obtained!]
I smirked. The wings that popped out of my back looked more demonic than angelic and were still partly decayed looking, but a good flap told me they worked fine. Between that, my stats, this armor and that new ability… yeah… I can take these fucks.
"Okay, yeah I can take these bastards." I said. "But…again, this is too many, and I'm worried they'll try to attack you…" I said carefully, as I know his stats are nowhere near these pricks.
"I'll stay here and look at the coffin then." Mantis said, already heading over to it and examining it and the weapons.
Alright, time for some fun!
I flew up and got to hacking. It felt great to just slice and dice the fuckers like this without a second thought.
I wasn't sure how much time passed before I noticed their numbers were down. Once was hundreds, now looked to be maybe a little over a dozen left.
I kept checking on Mantis from up here, seeing the one armed ram Nokori kid seeming to use his own Assimilate Ability on the skulls and the weapons. Weird.
I was ready to slice the last few when-
"Kr-aaaaaaaaaaa!"
I looked up and… oh…
Floating down from above some clouds was the upper torso of a huge undead figure, female and humanoid with six sets of giant flapping body wings. Her head held three faces, she had five arms, maybe at one time there was six but one was completely gone from the remains of the body. Their skin and flesh pulsated with a vile black fluid as blood dropped from the ripped and missing waste/legs.
Scan!
[Scan Complete!
Name: Undead Goddess of Nothing
Class: Wandering Boss
Rank: SSS
ATT: 56,500
Def: 45,000
Mag: 100,000
Special Ability: Physical Immunity - Physical Attacks deal no damage.
Potential Loot Drops: Skill Points x1,000, Rem, Primordial Creation]
…
…
Oh…OKAY! "You better have found some neat things in there Mantis! Cause my Magic is…not this level…" I said worriedly, cause while some of my attacks were magic in nature my stats, even with Perfect Custodian, couldn't match this bitch's stats.
I flew down, seeing it looked like Mantis has Assimilated all the weapons and skulls for some reason.
"Not for some reason, idiot." I thought to myself carefully. "Did you get anything nifty from Assimilating all the weapons and skulls?"
"I was testing something and it looks like there were other interesting finds under the skulls I already absorbed. What were you doing?" He asked, then looked up. "You missed one."
"Yeah, as I ask again, did you get anything nifty to help me kill a wandering boss that just so happens to be a god?" I asked quickly.
"Hmm… what's it's title?"
"Undead Goddess of Nothing, and also it has a skill that makes it completely immune to physical damage."
"Hmm… I think I have something then. Fly me up?"
I nodded, grabbing Mantis and flying up as I was able to block most of it's attacks with my new Armor.
I flew up close enough to the damn thing, and Mantis sailed his one hand towards the thing. Metal and parts began to sprout out of it and it took the shape of a-
Hold the fuck up is that what I think it is?!
He fired, the small literal hand gun shot out a wide beam of pure black energy that struck the entirety of the boss.
Mantis didn't stop until it's HP hit Zero, which was quick… it was struck with Void, and if it's a Goddess of Nothing, then it was dealt extra damage by it's natural antithesis.
With that dead, I flew back down, put Mantis down, his hand back to normal and looked him in the eyes.
"Uh…what the hell did you do?"
"After I absorbed all the weapons I began wondering, since Arthur learned he can read the memory in the blood within this place and you can unlock the memories in the genetics of Pod People, I wondered if I could use my Assimilate to absorb the skulls and read memories off the genetic remnants of it. Turns out I can, it's mostly bits and pieces though. Once I absorbed those I found a weapon called a Mouse Energy Weapon, and a Void Crystal. I absorbed the weapon and Void Crystal and when I did the Void Crystal gave me a Null Magic Core Affinity."
Okay so… the Mouse, I know. It's an old but powerful one handed energy weapon from way long ago. It's literally a gun that shoots fusion energy on par with a sun's core through an elemental crystal and on wide, it's a crowd clearer, on beam, it's a 'fuck you and your defences' gun…
"Right…so you got a very old and very powerful gun…and the fact you also got a Void Crystal to boot only made killing that thing easier…" I said. "Though…I didn't think you had a Void Affinity Mantis."
"I didn't." He said. "After absorbing the crystal my Assistant detected that the crystal reacted to my biology as a Nokori and gave me the affinity."
I… never heard of that before…
"That's…new and kind of unfair…" I admitted.
He shrugged. "New to me to. Back home having two magic affinities was impossible. Not even gods had more than one."
Hmm… well, maybe Nanny knows something. Mantis just gets more and more interesting… bright side, I got over seven thousand Skill Points from these fucking angels!
Good day!
"Really? Huh. I guess he is a Nokori then. Well, either way…" Nanny said after I got home with Mantis and told her about the fight and Mantis now having a Void Affinity.
"Yeah, it was a surprise…a little less surprising than a wandering triple S class boss…" I said nervously.
"True, Mantis is a Nokori and that is one of the benefits of their species."
"That is a very lucky trait to have…" I admitted.
"Indeed. Nokori are actually a lot like that," She motioned to Ol' Reliable. Specifically, it's fancy new Core Stone. "While they are weak against their magical counters, and heavily so, because of how their species and their souls are, they have an inborn ability similar to that of Core Stones. In fact, if they absorb a Core Stone, they are able to use it's powers and abilities and still have access to the Skill Trees."
"Oh that's some bull right there." I huffed, as the more I learn about Nokori the more I think they're either bullshit or whoever created them got into a dick measuring contest with a creator god.
"Every race has inborn positives and negatives." Nanny shrugged.
"Yes, I am wonder's in the ocean and, until I got Photosynthesis, the Sun was literal satan to me."
"Electricity still hurts you too if I recall."
"Yes…Electricity still stings like a bitch." I nodded.
"Hmm… you know that does make me wonder…" Nanny hummed. "Casey is part Nokori. Do you think he inherited this ability?"
"It's still weird to hear Casey is part Nokori after being with him for hundreds of years…" I said, as I knew basically everything about him since we were kids but that just…came up out of nowhere. "But maybe he did, we'll have to test it out but we don't really have an elemental gem on hand to see if that's the case."
"Another time then. If he did, it would definitely help him grow in power. So, what are you going to to do with all those Skill points you got?"
"Going to need Casey's help to probably circumvent the need of going up skill tree's, but I am most definitely going to be upgrading my stats and getting new skills cause if a SSS Clas Boss is just casually wandering around then I better be prepared for such events…plus, I really need to start hunting for Prize Pods…"
"Yes, there is much to do and seemingly little time to do it."
"Yeah…yeah…" I sighed. "And even though Arthur is having an absolute blast with his wife Indra back, I doubt she'll help us in our endeavor's when she's a Teacher for the Slayers guild."
"Well, why not ask? A Slayer on our side would be a valuable ally. Even if Carver helps, he doesn't really help us in any way that we need at the moment."
"Hmm…true." I said honestly. "Though I'm also mildly concerned about what Arthur mentioned before about her wanting a 'strong pride' for the good doctor…" I admitted. "We'll need her help, not see her try to get him a Slayer Harem."
"Well, then best to speak to her. She is at his side at all times since arriving."
"Well…if I got reunited with Casey after being separated for a few thousand years I'd be just as clingy." I admitted. "Now, Doc's probably in his lab researching that poor kid's illness…" I muttered, turning and heading off to find Arthur and Indra.
It was a short walk to the Doc's clinic/lab. I saw him swapping between looking at samples and reading through texts.
Indra was there, sitting on a chair nearby just watching him. She wasn't in her Slayer armor, rather she was in normal clothes and she still looked huge and super buff.
"...Kinda wish I was that big and buff sometimes…" I thought to myself carefully. "Hey Indra." I said politely.
"Oh, Heather, right?" She asked me.
"Yes, I am Heather." I nodded. "Mind if I ask you something's real quick? They're kinda important."
"Sure." She nodded.
"Well, first question is, are you able to help us more…directly? Or are you still strictly bound to what the Slayer's Guild rules would be in this situation?"
"Well, given my rank and seniority I can help more than Carver can."
"Alright cool, cause right now I've noticed I have…a lot of crap to do." I said sheepishly.
"Yeah, like what?"
"So besides being a Guild Master to the fourth Mother Run Guild that has only me, I have to start searching for Prize Pod's to get them awake and unlock their True Memories, I also have to get a lot stronger and a roaming SSS Boss made that abundantly clear…plus we need to Expand our Outposts, get more resources and farm land cause of all the people we're going to be gaining…a lot of things in not a lot of time, and I still haven't heard anything from the New Foundation about their repairs after that attack."
"Huh. Yeah alright."
"So I got a lot on my plate…" I sighed. "Second question…when should I expect to see Arthur running from like…three or four hand picked women for the 'Royal Pride' as Arthur put it." I mentioned, as I heard Arthur stumble a bit.
"Now hold on a second, we just got back together, why would she even want to think that so soon?" Arthur asked, as I saw his now way younger form blushing brightly here.
"Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a few ladies I worked with in The Slayers Guild that would make fine new pride mates for Arthur~" Indra said. "But for the time being protecting this place should be top priority. Even after New Foundation moves their asses, they have a lot of work too, primarily regarding their own Custodian… which reminds me, be on the look out for a man, he'll physically look like a teenager and is usually dressed in a shabby, torn business suit."
"Why? Is he dangerous?" I asked carefully.
"His name is Midas, and he's the founder and leader of Greed." Indra stated.
I blinked. "And…why would the leader of Greed himself be roaming around all of a sudden?"
"Because not only Is the Legendary Ability, Township new and of interest to him, he also has been known to have a total fascination with the Perfect Custodian Title and it's holders."
"Right…" I said carefully. "You don't think he'll be trying to…buy Casey will he?" I asked worriedly, fearing that statement would be a lot more violent and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.
"No, based on the Intel we received, it appears Midas has been making deals with people who have either Perfect Custodian, Township, or both in Casey's and the New Foundations case."
"That's…strange." I said carefully. "You'd think making deals with people that are against Chaos Guilds would cut into his profits…"
"On the contrary. Intel from the larger Greed Markets report sales and profits for the guild have skyrocketed."
"How and why?" I asked in confusion. "There would be less buyers with all the fighting right?"
"Chaos Guilds have huge populations, usually born to them from Breeders. Not everyone who fights for the guild is the only members of it. Like any city or town, there's the ones who fight, the ones who govern, and of course, the civilian labor force. The 'Military' sides of the guilds for so long have been the only ones buying, but ever since some hot shots over in The Nightmare started taking out and raiding Nexus checkpoints and hide outs, looting them empty and all personal being reverted to infants from the Second Change Keyblade, after a memory wipe from the Memory Stealer Keyblade, they're losing both soldiers and property. So when a guild as old and influential as Nexus begins to show panic, the other guilds will follow."
"Huh…yeah that would make sense." I admitted.
"Yes. There is likely another motive, but for now that's the most well known and assumed motive of his."
"Right…so he's war profiteering….goodie." I sighed. "Can't wait to meet the guy since he's roaming around the place looking for people like us."
"You aren't that hard to find at all." I jumped, the lot of us were on our feet as we looked at the examination table, seeing the person Indra described, laying on it and messing with a party discolored rubix cube. "You don't hide yourselves very well at all."
"Kind of hard to hide when we have mountain sized BFG's around the place." I admitted.
"You look…familiar…" Arthur frowned, as I was a tad confused as to why Arthur would say such a thing like he actually met this young man before. "But can you please get off the examination table?"
"But it's comfy." He whined, sounding like the teen he looked like. "Seriously, this is a surprisingly comfy examination table. You make this yourself or something?"
"Well…I want my patients to be comfy while I do my examinations." Arthur admitted.
"I'll pay ya for it." Midas offered.
"No thank you." Arthur shook his head. "So, I presume you have some business with Heather here?"
"Come on~ Two million rem cash right now."
I think I shit my stomach… Two million rem?!
"Hold up, two million!?" I asked incredulously.
"That's…a lot of money for an examination table…" Arthur said carefully. "Are you sure?"
"Sure. I mean, this thing I paid eight million for." She said, shaking the discolored rubix cube in his hand.
"That…what rubix cube would cost eight million?" I asked incredulously.
"This one." He said with a smirk. "So, we got a deal Doc?"
We were…all so confused. "I'll need to find and make a new one…" He sighed. "But I suppose deal, cause I would need the money for whatever marked up medical supplies your guild sells."
"How dare." He said with a sassy tone as he sat up. "The prices are fair, especially given Eden is owned by Nexus and Violence. That's the major zone where any and all plants, be them food or medicine are grown. Pesky and territorial those two. Amazed they can share a zone especially given the old days they fought one another like dogs over a bone for anything and everything of value."
"Well, I assumed they were marked up due to the current panic buyers needing to buy medical supplies against whoever is currently destroying Nexus bases." Arthur brought up.
"And getting Eden out of their grasp would be practically impossible here." I admitted. "So, back to the proper questions…why are you here?"
"The Slayer was just talking about it. I'm here to make a deal with your Custodian… and Township holder." He said, a large bag of rem appearing in his hand. He tossed it to Arthur… who collapsed from the tossed weight thrown at him.
"How is this so heavy!?" Arthur groaned.
"Right…and this is just a talk right?" I asked, really hoping this won't be some trap as he tries to buy/kidnap Casey.
"Why so suspicious? I'm just gonna offer a work contract." Midas said.
"Because this 'work contract' could also be an enslavement contract and you could easily take him away from me." I admitted carefully. "The Sin of Greed, willing to do anything and everything for the next bit of prophet, no matter how minor it is…I know what Indra has said about your interactions with others like Casey…"
"You mean how I'm paying them in goods and Information to hunt down and eradicate Lust, Violence, Nexus and other Chaos Guilds facilities for me?"
I looked at him…I was…so confused. "Wait what?"
"Allow me to shed some insight, but first, I'd like to see the Custodian Title Holder who also welds Township. He should be present for these dealings first."
I…was so confused here but…I sighed. "Alright, follow me." I said, leading him to Casey.
He got off the table, putting it into his own Assistant before he followed me into town. He looked around, looking at everyone and everything around before I saw him pause a second at seeing Mantis, then kept walking behind me.
"Why did you pause at Mantis?"
"Hm? So that's his name? Heh, no reason. I just feel like I… may know his manufacturer."
I frowned. "Well…that would be of interest to know who that actually was." I admitted.
"We can hash it out in a bit." He said.
We soon arrived where Casey was. He was sitting on a park bench, using his Township Ability to decorate parts of this little park he built.
"Hey Casey." I said. "We have…a visitor that wants to talk to you."
"Hm?" He hummed as he saw Midas. "Who are you?"
"Midas. Founder and owner of Greed." He said with a bow.
"Oh… uh… hi?"
"Yeah…he's here to hash out a deal."
"A deal?" Casey asked.
"Correct." Midas said with a nod. "In exchange for goods and information, I want you to help your Custodian hunt and exterminated Chaos Guilds Bases. Lust, Violence and Nexus specifically."
"Uh… and what goods will we be getting out of this?" Casey asked.
"Food, raw materials, weapons, munitions, anything and everything your town could want. I can even throw in the fact anything and everything you loot and raid from Chaos Guild bases, you keep."
"Really?" I asked in surprise. "You want to give us all of that for this?"
"Yes, why so shocked?"
"Just surprised on how much your willing to spend for us to start attacking Chaos Guild bases…" I admitted.
"Why would I pinch pennies for something that will, in the end, earn me something far more valuable than all the loot on Armageddon?"
"And…what would that be?" I inquired, cause so far he's currently extorting the Chaos Guilds from what I was told.
"The same thing you all had before getting yanked here by Nexus and their Immigration department. Freedom." Midas smirked.
I looked at him…"N-no, that's impossible." I said, as I realized what he truly meant.
"It's entirely possible and has been so since this planets birth. See, Armageddon is a game board with two very powerful people playing a three Eras long game of… chess. There's Dark Gray, unlimited pawns, limits on his other pieces, and the other, with limitless prices working to make small pockets on this planet better or eliminate them entirely. Of course, that's what Dark Gray wants in the end anyway. A loss."
"And…the world opens up if he loses…" I said in fear.
"Each side that loses the game gets a Retaliation. An undisturbed change in the game that is the balance of good and evil in reality. Not only would the monsters and people of Armageddon be allowed to come and go so freely, Dark Grey will as well."
"That sounds outlandishly horrifying." I admitted.
"Perhaps, but it's the only way you and your children will ever be able to set foot off Armageddon again. If not, then they're going to live their whole lives here, all your kids, grand kids, ECT, and as time goes on, without a drastic change, well, how long until Lust or Violence gets bold and views your settlement as… livestock."
I growled. "That'll never be the case, never."
"Said the last group. And the group before that. And the group before that. You are not the first group to know this, but as with the others, I do pray you're the last."
I sighed, really wishing he was right but also wrong cause this would be horrifying for all of reality if they escaped. "Well…I suppose there's still an attempt to be made to win and get off this rock…"
"Find all Dark Gray's pieces and once all are defeated, all the limited ones anyway, then he loses, we win, freedom for all."
"And…we can only guess who the hell we're supposed to hunt." I said honestly.
"That is information I need to find and gather. When I know, you will all know."
"Alright." I nodded. "So…just a whole lot of things, Casey? What do you think about this?"
"Well… it's dangerous, there's no denying that… but I don't want our kids stuck here their whole lives… it's bad enough they've lived here for ten whole years…" Casey sighed. "If we agree to this… can you guarantee that in the end, our family will be alright?"
"Honestly? I can probably pull something… might take a bit, but I can make something like that happen." Midas said.
"Thank you." I nodded. "Our family is the most important thing in our lives…them being safe will be perfect."
"Can't get more greedy than that." Midas chuckled as he pulled out a paper and handed it to Casey.
"Protecting our family is 'greedy'?" I asked.
"Of course. At the end of the day, greed is just the want of something to have for your own. You want safety for your family, I wanted that comfy table, maybe tomorrow you'll want bacon for breakfast. So many think of the word greed and think negatively, no one ever thinks there's another side to it that makes good."
"Because…greed has always been the logical extreme of want?" I suggested.
"Want, progress, justice, Greed is many things. Good and bad, I take it and have seen both sides of greed."
"Well…you are the leader of Greed so of course." I admitted.
"Damn straight." Midas chuckled.
Huh… surprisingly, Midas seems… alright. Nothing like what I was expecting. How'd a guy like this run the largest and only neutral guild on Armageddon?
"Well…so far, I'm glad this entire meeting has been going well." I said.
"So, when can we expect the… shipments?" Casey asked, having already read over and signed the papers.
"In a week. I'll have them shipped easier when New Foundation finishes their Portal construction. Especially given their own Township holder is working on their portals with his own Frontier. I look forward to you all meeting, wish I could be there. It's sure to be Interesting."
"Yeah, we wanted to head out and see our son that's in the New Foundation but…then all that shit happened." I admitted.
After Midas left, I was back out in the field with Mantis. I wanted to explore this species ability he apparently has…
According to Nanny, as a Nokori any elemental gems he absorbs he'll gain a Magic Core and Affinity for, and if he ever gets a Core Stone, it's basically gonna take his Assimilate Ability to the next level. For now though, I know he absorbed the Void Gem, and he already had Nature when he arrived…
"Right…so today's going to be some testing on your new abilities Mantis, and if we manage to find any Elemental Gems or Mother forbid a Core Stone, I want you to absorb it and we'll see what new nonsense your Nokori Biology has to offer."
"Alright. So… how should I proceed?" He asked. I did notice his ears folded back when I said test. Right. He's gotten better, still hates that word.
"I'm sorry Mantis, I didn't mean to say that word." I said quickly and worriedly. "But…right now, it'll be training, as we'll be fighting against monsters and see how strong you are and how your new Void powers work."
"Do you know how Null- Void, works?"
"Not fully, considering it's a tad rare for people to use it even if there's an entire Guild for it." I admitted. "Void is…hmm, have you ever heard of Lovecraft? Or at least the Lovecraftian monsters and not the turbo racism?"
"On my earth, HP Lovecraft was a cult leader of dark magic users who tried to force use Null Magic. Their cult HQ was found soaked in blood but no bodies were ever found." Mantis said.
Oh… well…
"Uh…right…" I said carefully. "Well, Void is weird…it's a Corrupting force that hurts any that don't have an Affinity to it, and even though it's an all consuming force of Eldritch Abominations, it's also been told that there are quite a lot of creatures and beings that live in such a realm." I admitted.
"Hmm…" Mantis said with some thought as he looked at his hand, Void flowing over it.
He then attached and reached his void covered hand out. A pitch black ring of Void appeared on the ground and I flinched as I saw bone emerge from it. The head, a skull with no flesh at all on it, the skull of a snake, what passed for eyes in it's sockets were two glass gems that glittered in the light.
It looked around, its bone body moving as if flesh was still on it. It spotted Mantis and gave a nod, as if recognizing him.
"Uh…the actual hell…" I said, ready to bring out Ol'Reliable at a moment's notice to deal with the thing.
"I think… it came to me?" Mantis said, putting their hand near it. The bone snake seemed to nuzzle against Mantis's fingers. "Huh… Interesting…"
"So…I believe I heard rumors on Void users…where they are capable of calling Bone Familiar's to their aid but I've never actually seen it done before." I admitted.
"Strange…" Mantis hummed, the bone snake retreating into the void of the ground as the portal closed behind it once Mantis turned his void off.
"Yeah…" I said carefully. "It's definitely a thing that's for sure." I said, as I thought back and wondered if I ever bothered to see what Elemental Affinity I had…
Probably water. Hmm… I wonder…
If Mantis is, and Nokori in general, are like Core Stones for magic and elemental energies… can Mantis extract that energy from objects he Assimilates?
"Hmm…" I hummed. "So much to think about here…what other weapons did you assimilate?"
Mantis raised his arm up. From the elbow up it morphed and changed into a rotating three barreled shotgun.
It then morphed again, going from a shotgun to a kind of Plasma Rifle.
Another morph, this time rather than a gun it changed into an armored gauntlet with three small blades on the back hand, and four larger blades on the arm itself. His arm then returned to normal.
"Well, those are some neat weapons." I admitted.
"They seemed useful and it looks like I can shoot the ammunition either after I Assimilate it, it will pull ammo from my Assistant storage, and when I Assimilated the guns I got a new Ability that allows me to substitute the ammo with magic or elemental energy."
Okay, very useful. A shotgun that can shoot Void, Magic and other various energy type bullets? Not a lot one can do against that…
"Okay, so you are becoming rather powerful Mantis, if you can just shoot Void magic at will…not many things are resistant to that."
"What is?"
"Void Creatures as an obvious thing." I shrugged. "Some types of Undead, people with a Void Affinity, anyone who took Void resistant skills but all those are rather rare."
"Hmm… Interesting… does that mean there are Artifacts made from Void?"
"Oh yeah, there's a lot of things made from Void, some great swords I'm hunting are Void based."
"Hmm…" Mantis hummed. He held out his hand again, Void flowing over his palm and fingers as another Void Portal opened, his skeleton snake slipping out. "Can you understand me?" Mantis asked the snake.
The snake nodded.
"You reside in the Void itself, are there any Artifacts in the area?"
Again, the Snake nodded.
"Can you bring them here?"
The snake shook its head.
"Hmm… can you take me there?"
The snake nodded, the Void Portal growing larger.
"Well…" I started, lightly reaching out to the portal and wondering if just touching it would cause me physical harm cause I heard Void does not take kindly to anyone not of the Void Affinity.
I touched the portal. I didn't feel pain, and the portal felt like I touched oil and slime.
Mantis jumped into it without hesitation.
"Well…this'll be a bit gross…" I muttered as I went in after Mantis.
The slimy, oily sensation coated me for a moment, only leaving once I emerged out the other wise. I went down then found myself grabbing hold of the edge of the Void end of the Portal. Mantis pulled me up. His bone snake wrapped around his torso and looking like it was his new arm on the side that was missing it.
It was pitch black all around. I can't see two feet in front of me…
"I can't see shit…" I grumbled.
"Really?" Mantis asked. "I can see fine."
"Hiss!"
His snake said as suddenly I felt my eyes stinging as it spat venom at me. My panic halted by my notification from my Assistant.
[Notice! Void Familiar Blessing Received!
You can now see within the Void or any zero light environment for twenty four hours!]
Suddenly, as if someone turned the sun on, I could see… and immediately wished I wasn't able to…
The ground was made from a mix of dirt and flesh for as far as my eyes could see. Floating things swam through the lightless sky and bodies of creatures and Mother knows what else littered the ground like stones.
"A little warning next time please?" I asked, rubbing my eyes a bit. "But…this place looks…interesting."
"According to the Assistant, this is still the Demonic Invasion Zone, but just within the Realm of Void." Mantis said.
We traveled to a different dimension… and the Void of all them…
"Yeah…this was not the first dimension I expected to travel to in Armageddon…" I admitted.
"Useful though." Mantis said.
"Yes, it is rather useful." I nodded. "So, just got to look around for some neat stuff for twenty four hours…Arthur would have a field day here I just know it." I chuckled.
"So, which way are the Artifacts?" Mantis asked the bone snake who pointed to the right.
As we walked I kept close to Mantis. This place made my more primal instincts scream with each step that I should not be here.
Among the flesh, bones, dirt and death we came across a shack, made from metal and brick.
"Hmm…" I hummed, trying to get my instincts under control as I carefully moved to the shack and knocked on it. "Hello?"
There was shuffling inside. The door opened with a rusty screech. Inside… oh…
He was about my height, a bit more muscular and seemed to have a pale lips skin tone. Three eyes looked at me with tiredness and confusion.
A member of the Godhood race… one of the strongest species naturally born to this reality, only surpassed by the Admins…
"Who are you?" He asked dryly.
"My name's Heather, and this is Mantis…sorry if we woke you up." I said to the rarest species in this reality.
"What brings you to the Void?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.
"We were traveling around cause my son's familiar said there was neat things here." I motioned to Mantis and his bone snake. "Who are you sir?"
"Artifacts." Mantis corrected.
"Urus." He said, scratching his head. "Artifacts huh? Yeah I might have something like that around here…" He said, walking back into the shack, the door wide open. I looked inside and blinked… a small twin sized bed was in the corner, well used and worn. The rest of the other 3/4ths of the shack was piled high in loot that I was able to feel it was all super OP stuff…
"Jeez…I can feel how strong the loot is here…" I said in surprise.
"Huh? Oh, I guess. Take whatever." He said, then flopped face first onto the old worn bed.
I blinked. "Uh…you sure?"
"Sure, whatever." He said, waving a hand at Mantis and I. "Just don't touch the stuff on the shelf above me."
I looked at said shelf. On one side of it, rested a pair of beautiful blue gauntlets that seemed angelic or maybe divine in design, next to them was a red stone that pulsated with a green energy.
And next to those… was a folded, tattered cloak, on top of the cloak was… a pair of Tighty Whities… and on top of that, was a wooden stick, a single leaf still stuck to it as if it had come off the tree recently.
…
Okay…?
"Uh…right…" I said, looking over to what else he had and deciding to scan some of the more unique looking ones.
[Scan Complete!
Armor of the Void Knight
PR: 70,000
MR: 70,000
ER: 65,000
Special Ability: Arcane Immunity - Magic Attacks and Status Attacks have zero effect on the wearer.
Dagger of Torment
ATT: 104,700
Def: 97,400
Mag: 15,000
Special Ability: Agony's Triumph - Critical attacks deal instant bleed damage and are 500%more painful to the inflicted.]
Oh sweet- Those are high numbers…
"Plus the Void Knight armor looks so cool…" I mentally whined, wishing I could wear or at least transmog the thing over my Memory armor cause fuck is my armor awesome but this looks cooler. "Right…just gonna take some of these…"
"What manner of artifacts are those?" Mantis asked as he looked up at the shelf.
"Personal. They belonged to two friends I had long ago… they're not around anymore…" Urus sighed.
I mean, the Gauntlets I get but the other stuff…?
"Well…what about all of these?" I asked, motioning to the knight armor and the dagger in the pile of stupidly strong shit.
"Crap I picked up from monsters that bothered me." Urus stated.
He calls this crap?!
"Uh…what do you mean this is 'crap'?" I asked, motioning to the overpowered crap that he wants us to take. "I know you're a Godhood race but…come on…" I said carefully, as I only scanned two of the damn thing's and was both excited and worried about scanning the rest.
"Ech…" Urus replied.
I sighed, deciding to take up his offer and carefully taking the super strong items he told us we were able to take and I'll sort through it all later. "So…what brought you here to Armageddon?"
"Flying." He said blankly.
"How long ago?" Mantis asked.
"Eh… Era two I think?"
"No, how long ago did your friends pass?" Mantis asked.
"... A few centuries before the end of Era One…" Urus said.
He's that old?!
"Uh…" I blinked. "Wow that's…something I didn't expect to hear…"
"Were you always a Godhood race member?" Mantis asked.
"No. The world I came from was added to everything and such after the war was over. We didn't even know it was happening." Urus said. "Back in that world, I wasn't even a genuine being. I was the AI of the great Urus of Pride, strongest boss monster of a videogame, and a twin headed dragon."
"You were an AI before as well?"
"Yes." Urus said, looking over at Mantis now. "Were you?"
"Originally. I gained sentience and self awareness through several critical system errors and some third party events."
"Heh. I always had it. A personality, memories of a past that was purely game lore, and I was self aware of all of this. Back then, I didn't think much of it. After, my Master, my friend brought me out of that world and into the physical one, I did think back and grew bitter towards my Makers, but in the end, I was free, and could care less."
"Well…that makes sense." I nodded.
"Which was his, your late Master's?" Mantis asked.
"The Undies, stick and cloak." Urus laughed. "He wore those in the game the day we met and all throughout his life in this reality."
"Was he a wizard or something?" I inquired, cause that sounds like what a wizard that doesn't care about looks would have on their person.
"Pfft! Ha! Oh, far from it. He was a brutal fighter who beat the ever loving shit out of everyone and anyone with his sheer strength. Any magic he got he rarely used unless physical force was off the table completely."
"Yeah, that makes more sense." I admitted. "Must have been a good friend."
"The best." Urus sighed. "The day we met, he almost killed me."
"You were a boss monster in a game, and it sounds like he was a Player." Mantis said.
"Yeah. His weapon, that stick, somehow he got impossibly lucky and it was reinforced to the in-game max level for a weapon, +99. So, despite it being a wooden stick, it did damage enough to take me out in two hits. He got one hit in, and I Made a deal with him. Since his overpowered weapon was one strike away from breaking, I let my soul become part of his weapon and turn it into an unbreakable Ego Weapon, allowing him to use it indefinitely. And he did."
"And in exchange, he didn't kill you. How'd you get this body?"
"I had a smaller, admittedly adorable form at first but after he brought me into the physical reality, he found a way to get me a new profile for the Assistant, and I was given a human form. Stats were not all for a human and for a long time he helped me get stronger enough to evolve into a Godhood."
"So…the hard question, how did he die?" I asked carefully.
Urus's smile fell. "Madness. Even in a reality like this, he was still mortal, and so, a few centuries before Era Two began, Time Walker's appeared and informed him. At first, he thought it impossible and tried to fight them… that was the first time I saw him lose a fight. In the end, when they showed up later, he willingly went. Shortly after, his wife joined him, the two leaving me their gear and memories…"
I sighed. "Yeah…" I said, thinking about Dexter and what 05-1 told me. "Madness is a horrible thing…but…" I stopped myself, as that dumb idea cropped up again.
"You miss them a lot…" Mantis said. "I miss Mathew, and Zena…"
"We're they your friends?" Urus asked, sitting up now.
"Family. Zena… I guess she was my mother, before Heather here. Matthew… he was basically my brother." Mantis said, taking a deep breath. "Emotions are still new to me. Sometimes I wonder why I miss them when I didn't really have emotions before arriving here… but, other times I just feel…"
"Like there is a hole, deep in your very being that swallows all other emotions but pain and sadness…" Urus said.
"... Yes. That is a… accurate statement."
I looked at Mantis, then looked down, hating how I couldn't at least make him feel better from such horrible pain.
"You know, in a way, I pity and envy you."
"How so?" Mantis asked.
"Pitty because you're going through this hardship, now learning emotions and knowing such ache first before any other, and envy because it reminds me of how I was when I first met my friend. Peace made me a better person, and he made me realize I was more than just my design and programming, and he really hammered that in back when he gave me this physical body." Urus chuckled, rubbing his head at the memory.
"... Could you teach me?" Mantis asked. "How to understand emotions other than sadness?"
Urus seemed to pause, thinking the question over. "Perhaps, under one condition."
"And what would that condition be?" I asked, cause now it felt like I was losing my son here but I kept that feeling hidden.
"It would seem that for the last two era's I've done nothing but sulk and mourn my late Master, Peace. He was many things, powerful, a great hero, greedy, idiotic, Impatient… the living embodiment of chaos and 'What the Fuck' in human form…" Urus said, sighing before chuckling at memories. "Seems I can't live on my own or for myself. If I'm gonna teach you, then I'd like you to be my new Master."
Wait what-
"I accept." Mantis said.
Wat?!
"Hold the fuck up, what!?" I asked incredulously.
"Is there a problem?" Urus asked.
"Well…just the request of Mantis being your master and how fast you were to accept said offer." I said carefully.
"I get a teacher who's like me and can help me learn emotions and you get someone powerful to help defend the town. Are both not valuable?" Mantis asked me.
"Heh. I guess if you are to be my new Master, you deserve these." Urus said, standing and reaching over and giving Mantis the Stick, Cloak and… undies… and he gave me the Gauntlets and the gem. "You can have these Heather. They belonged to Peace's wife, Luv, she left them to me when she left with the Time Walkers."
I scanned all the items just in case so I know what they are as I took the gem and gauntlets.
[Scan Complete!
Gauntlets of The Ascended
ATT: 3,500,650
Def: 3,500,650
Mag: 1,500,000
Special Ability: Critical Proficiency - Each Strike is a Critical hit worth x10 Damage.
Special Ability: Weakest Link - Detects the weak spot on any enemy. Weak spot will glow white.
Special Ability: Resistance Debuff - Enemy Resistances are reduced by 50%
Power of the Demon Lord!
Absorbing this gem will grant you the powers of a Demon Lord, access to all Demon Race Skill Trees, and Multiply your base stats all by 10.]
Oh my fucking…
"You okay Heather? You turned rather pale." Mantis asked me.
"Uh~..." I looked at the numbers and stats and abilities again…"Uh…y-yeah…I'm fine…just having an existential crises on how bonkers strong these things are and how retardedly rare they are…" I said, having read that these two thing's were SS Class Rarity… "Uh…okay wow…" I said, wondering if I should absorb the gem and get a bullshit power boost…and I wondered if Ol Reliable Core could also absorb the Gauntlets cause that would be such a bullshit boost to it's power it's not even funny.
…
"Why do I overthink things?" I mentally wondered as I immediately absorbed the Demon Lord Gem and brought out Ol'Reliable and touched the gauntlets to my baby and saw it get absorbed into the Core.
Woah… suddenly I feel more powerful! And… sexy?
"Huh. Is that supposed to happen?" Mantis asked Urus.
"From the game to the real world, the power was altered but yes that is supposed to happen." Urus said, nodding to Mantis.
"Uh…what happened?" I asked, looking over myself worriedly.
I now noticed I was sporting a lovely pair of red wings. My tail fins ended in some sharp horns. I felt my head, feeling two curled horns and… is… is this-
I pulled the new thing on me and saw it attached to my head. Hair?! I have hair now?! Silvery-white hair?!
I pulled a mirror from my Assistant. The horns were also red, a ruby red and so were my eyes now. Woah…
"Wow…this actually looks really good on me…" I hummed.
"It also comes with several attacks and abilities specific to the Demon Lord. Also, you should be able to summon your loyal right hand as the Demon Lord now." Urus informed.
"I'm going to have to look into this…cause this is awesome."
"So anything special about this stuff?" Mantis asked.
"Before Peace left, he had the Time Walker's transfer his stats and Abilities to his cloak. The Undies hold the powers of the great dragon of the northern continent, Aventador. He preferred not to join us so we left his mind behind in the game, but Peace took his powers and abilities. And lastly, this +99 reinforced Stick, on top of its stats the user can use all my abilities and stats." Urus said.
"Hmm…" Mantis hummed, then Assimilated the Cloak… and Undies… gross.
"Heh. That works." Urus said.
"Right, so now Mantis is now probably one of the strongest being's on this planet." I admitted, deciding to Scan Mantis to see how strong he got.
Before I could though, he suddenly sprouted a new arm where his missing one should have been. Now there was a blue scaled arm that ended in sharp ice like talons. From his back, his wings grew larger, the colors changing from brown to blue and a second pair of wings shot out, leathery and blue with horns at the joints.
His small little horns he had shot out and were the same blue as his new scaled arm, growing long enough to curl and turn around before ending about six inches from his skull.
"Is this normal?" Mantis asked as he looked at and flexed his new arm.
"Hmm… maybe? Peace never absorbed the power of Aventador, just bound him to his Undies." Urus hummed.
"Or this is your Nokori biology doing something weird and the Stalker bit's finally gave up against such an outlandishly strong thing became a part of you." I admitted.
In any case… Scan. Both Mantis and that Stick.
[Scan Complete!
Mantis
HP: 15,000,000,000 (5,000,000,000 Base)
MP: 30,000,000,000 (10,000,000,000 Base)
ATT: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
DEF: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
PR: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
MR: 15/Max+9(5/Max+3 Base)
ER: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
Status R: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
Poison R: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
Fear R: 15/Max+12 (5/Max+4 Base)
Bleed R: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
Acid R: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
Psychic R: 15/Max+9 (5/Mac+3 Base)
Disease R: 15/Max+9 (5/Max+3 Base)
Strength: 102/Max+9 (34/Max+3 Base)
Agility: 240/Max+9 (80/Max+3 Base)
Vitality: 150/Max+9 (50/Max+3 Base)
Vigor: 120/Max+9 (40/Max+3 Base)
Intelligence: 3,000/Max+9 (1,000/Max+3 Base)
Endurance: 300/Max+9 (100/Max+3 Base)
Dexterity: 210/Max+9 (70/Max+3 Base)
Wooden Stick (+99 Reinforced)
ATT: 2/Max+
Def: 2/Max+
Mag: 2/Max+
A simple wooden stick.
Special Ability: Ego Weapon(Urus of Pride) - Wielder will be able to utilize all the power of the Twin Headed Dragon Urus of Pride and command them in combat.]
…
…
…
…
FUCKING WHAT!?
"Wow… your friend was strong." Mantis said.
"Yes, Peace was indeed very strong." Urus nodded.
…
"This is some bullshit…" I muttered. "So…Mantis, you are now the strongest person on this Planet…"
"... for some reason, I doubt that." Mantis said.
"Well, unless we meet Admin's or Reality Warpers." I corrected myself.
"Well, I guess this means I can take my other form. Been a while." Urus said. He took a breath, his body glowing with light…
A poof of white smoke and…
…
…
He was half Mantis's size, looked like a tiny little horned dragon plushie, a blueish purple color that floated there with so cute!
"My cheeks are pinch and pull magnets I swear…" Urus said as I was doing just that to the now adorable chibi dragon.
"I'm sorry Urus, but you are just so adorable." I giggled.
"Yeah… so I've been told…" He said. I let go and he rubbed his cheeks. "Well, guess you should collect the rest of this junk then." He said, looking at the pile of other OP gear.
"Well…now I can understand why you think this is all junk but to me this is still overpowered gear." I said, collecting the rest of the gear as I'll have to look at them later.
I began pocketing all this stuff into the Assistant. Eventually I finally could see the floors and walls of this shack.
"Nice. Are you gonna want the rest of it or not?" Urus asked.
… the rest of it?
"Uh…what do you mean by the rest of it?" I asked.
"It's all out back." He said, floating out the door. Mantis and I followed…
…
…
…
All I could see was loot. Weapons. Armors. Crafting materials. Giant sacks of rem and even Skill Points chests all just… piled in a hole as deep as a ten story building and as wide as a small city!
"That's a lot." Mantis noted.
Urus shrugged. "At least two or three used to try and kill me a day when I first showed up. Now it's once a day on average."
"Uh…holy shit…" I said.
"And this is all of it?" Mantis asked.
"Everything not in my Assistant." Urus said with a nod.
"Right…" I said slowly. "This is…going to take a while…"