Cyril Sarnath
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Chapter 176
🕑 Added 2023-07-14 16:28:41 +0000 UTCHi everyone, I wonder if you'll pick up on one important detail in this chapter :)
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Keynes exhaled, then collapsed on his back. His health, stamina and mana were low but he didn’t care. He just killed twenty-third Heartwood but even that was second to his true goal. He was maxing his attributes again. Over the last three weeks he was combining snake trees with heartling plants, spawning the Heartwoods. It was a proof that these combinations weren’t random and should be taken advantage of. The monster dropped the same items, in this case it was the Heartwood Defiance. Keynes had 23 of them now. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t the only person to discover the secret of the dominion.
With the access to the Web through the tablet, he found that there were many specific monsters targeted for their loot. Quite a number of them dropped skills.
What was shocking was the fact that this information was not blocked by the Solar Council or the World Government. Actually, a few short exchanges with Jedd and Wagner painted a weird picture of the world outside the dominion. Their conflict with the Solar Council was ‘on hold’ though Untainted Paradise lost its membership in the council and their access to the Artefact Exchange was tenuous. It turned out that Untainted Paradise had some Level 4 rifts with rare or unique resources and the Solar Council turned a blind eye to their continued trade. Wagner explained that this wouldn’t last for long as over 30% of Level 4 rifts hadn’t been yet cleared and at some point, these resources might pop up and they would lose the leverage. At least, Emerald City was left in peace.
Also, Wagner told Keynes that they were nearing the completion of their interplanetary flight project and they were planning to set up a space base between Mars and Jupiter. It was quite exciting news.
On the other hand, there was no news about Pucci and Kora. Wherever they had been taken, it cut off the tracking. Another thing was that Freeman hadn’t shown up, which meant he had lied to them but Wagner assured him that this was for the best. He didn’t want Esopp and Freeman to clash anywhere near Emerald City. Apparently, Esopp neared Level 9 though Wagner had reservations about the mental state of another founder.
From Jedd, Keynes learned things Wagner omitted or wasn’t aware of. Somehow, Jedd had gotten involved in the mycelium AI project led by one of Pucci’s underlings. Jedd seemed worried and Keynes asked him to keep a close eye on the project. It sounded like a wild idea, but Keynes was curious what they could achieve.
As for the world itself, the world thrived in the face of the last outbreak and that affirmed Keynes that he had done the right thing even if Freeman had lied to them.
But he didn’t give much thought to the world outside the dominion. He had other things to contemplate. With the absorption of the trait, the system information improved and he noticed a few changes. The trait was added to his profile and Alice was now listed as an Independent Spiritual Companion. His techniques were a little more informative as well, indicating which was innate and which came from a scroll. It strongly hinted that techniques acquired through scrolls could be changed to innate, or so he hoped.
Finally, he learned what ‘???’ meant next to his Chaos debuff. Fundamental, which he knew was something to do with the fundamental forces of the Universe or the Greater System. Also, the dominion debuff showed up, which hadn’t been the case earlier.
Name: Keynes Kid
Species: Human
Trait: Spirituality
Level: 4 (Perfect State third degree)
Level Progression: 0%
Spirit Stage: Superior
Independent Spiritual Companion: Alice
Spells:
- [Spiritual Wraith] (Integrated)
- [Flight]
- [Create Water]
- [Telekinesis]
- [Night Sight]
- [Inspect Plant]
- [Chaos Aura]
- [Mind Illusion]
- [Purify] (Integrated)
- [Mana Shot]
Talent:
- Lockpicking
Techniques:
- Cultivation (Scroll)
- Aura Control (Scroll)
- Lesser Knowledge of Wind Currents (Scroll)
- Flight (Scroll)
- Meditation (Scroll)
- Spiritual Sensitivity (Innate)
Status:
- Buffs:
Rapid Learning (permanent); Pure Body (strong, permanent); Photographic Memory (strong); Untraceable (medium, permanent); Chaos (permanent, fundamental).
- Debuff
The Will of the Forest (temporary, medium, dominion).
Attributes / Permanent / Temporary / Total
Strength (35%) / 35 / 0 / 35
Dexterity (37%) / 35 / 0 / 35
Will (28%) / 35 / 0 / 35
Mind (30%) / 35 / 0 / 35
Perception (31%) / 35 / 0 / 35
Vitality (44%) / 35 / 0 / 35
He calculated that he needed another 6 to 8 weeks to finish maxing out his attributes, then would be time to grind to get 100% in Level progression. Unfortunately, dominion monsters didn’t provide much essence in comparison to the rifts. The difference was substantial with the dominion monsters providing around 10 to 20% of the rift monster counterparts inside rifts. It meant that he’d have to leave the dominion once he maxed out his attributes, failing Lem Solaris’s challenge.
As much as he wanted to finish the challenge, his true priority was maxing out attributes and levelling up. He already could feel the excitement building up in his chest at the thought of fourth degree Perfect State rewards.
Master, are you alright? Alice asked and Keynes opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
You look like a mess, she stated and one glance confirmed it. Most of Keynes’s clothes were shredded, including his favourite Cloak of Shadows. He didn’t use any of the attribute enhancing gear or clothes as he’d noticed that they had stopped his attributes from maxing out. Clearly, he hadn’t been pushing himself hard enough with extra attributes.
He suspected that Level 5 rifts wouldn’t be enough for him to max out his attributes after levelling up. The System was irritating. This ‘all or nothing’ with only Levels providing permanent attributes while training only made it easier to fully utilise them was an annoying design. At least, in the future, he would have access to quests.
Opening Level 6 rifts, albeit risky, would be a must and Level 7 were the end of Keynes’s usefulness to the System. If there was any ‘divine’ protection, it would surely end at this point. A question was, did Shaper know about it? Because if that knowledge would get out, the Solar Council might not care about accidentally killing Keynes and turn Emerald City into a nuclear desert.
He sighed, dismissing the dark thoughts as they were of no use to him. Level 7 rifts were at least a year or two away and worrying about them was pointless.
“I am hungry. Have you tracked any tasty monster?”
Alice became a young woman made out of light as tall as Keynes. She looked at him with a mix of shock and confusion.
I was under the impression that my job was to scout other ascenders… or should I say spy on them as you still do not know the way toward the dominion centre, she said with a fake pretence. She was getting better at pretending. Good. Sometimes, Keynes missed her antics.
“There may be a change of plans…” he muttered, getting to his feet and frowning at the state of his dimensional bags’ inventory. The amount of random resources was getting out of hand. As he had learned, he hardly relied on items. First, they were getting in the way of maxing out attributes. Secondly, skills and attributes gained by items felt distinctly weaker than the innate stuff. Skills shards were a different story but one look at the list of his skills painted a grim picture. His abilities were all over the place without any synergy. So, he wanted to sit down and be smart about selecting new skills. It didn’t mean the current ones were redundant as he had often relied on them but when it came to facing strong opponents, the lacking in his skillset started to show.
Excuse me, but what do you mean by a change of plans? You have said that reaching the centre of the dominion is the most important right now, she said, continuing to act like a high born woman.
“Unless we can find several Level 4 rifts inside the dominion, I don’t think I’ll be able to level up within a year after maxing out my attributes with the full penalty.”
Hm, yes, that may be an issue, she agreed. But, at the same time, we are close to the centre of the dominion.
Keynes glanced at her, frowning. She was hiding something. He could pick up the mischievous undercurrent through their bond.
“You’ve learned the way forward?”
She smiled, excitedly like a small child, which was such a contrast to Lem Solaris’s child body but adult’s demeanour. Her head bobbed down and up but he picked a sliver of hesitation.
I have, she said as her form started to change, returning to her hand-size appearance. But it is not one combination of plants. It changes as you progress forward… And there are strong monsters involved. It does not look easy. The group of four ascenders perished to a single Level 5 monster. It was of epic rarity.
Keynes used [Create Water] splashing his face, then refilled his water container and drank until he was full. Next, he [Purify]ed himself, removing dried blood, dirt, and anything he considered as unwanted foreign body and replaced his clothes with another set. He had only one more left. It would be handy to be able to teleport items. He was sure it was possible but the question wasn’t if but when.
Once he was as good as new, he looked at Alice.
“Let’s find these plants and discuss this epic Level 5 monster while I’m recovering.”
*
A few weeks ago…
Shaper leaned back, enjoying a culinary masterpiece served by Paris’ most exclusive restaurant’s head chef. The paper thin slices of pink meat belonged to an exotic rarity, Level 4 rift monster killed in one of eight Paris’ rifts. All other complementary ingredients were of Level 3 and paled in comparison to the Level 4 meat. Unlike rift monster’s meat, rift plants required a bit more effort to make them safe to eat.
It wasn’t like Shaper particularly cared. High Level food wasn’t about taste—even though it tasted divine—but nutrition. It increased mana, stamina and health regeneration. There were even claims of attribute gains, which Shaper dismissed as a marketing propaganda. Not that these restaurants needed any help. The heavy disbalance of demand and supply kept prices at all time high, making it a very lucrative business.
Over the centuries Shaper had amassed substantial equity. His connection to it was buried beneath layers of proxies and puppet companies so his existence remained hidden from the world. But all of these things were immaterial and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Wealth was an illusion. Only absolute strength mattered.
He had to admit that other ascenders were rapidly gaining Levels which was a good sign but in itself not enough. Levels were only part of the power equation. Spiritual stages were another. Then there were skills, techniques and items. From what Shaper had learned over the Web and among adventurers as the monster hunting ascenders called themselves—Why not monster hunters? —knowledge about spiritual stages was rudimental and mostly ignored as it slowed down levelling. Items and skills were jackpots and most preferred to sell them for massive amounts of money. Techniques were almost unheard of outside of scrolls of random teaching. Shaper had several of them in his dimensional pouch but didn’t like the seemingly easy power ups they provided. The System was unlikely to hand out free power without some counter-balance. Perfect State was the best example. It was devilishly difficult to go beyond third degree but if one achieved it, one reaped immense benefits. So there, Shaper concluded, had to be a catch with these scrolls. Especially, given the fact that natural techniques were extremely hard to obtain. Shaper had spent decades gaining his cultivation technique, which allowed him to climb up to the Grand spiritual stage. It was the very peak he could achieve, he knew that another stage required resources beyond his current reach. But if everything stuck to the plan, he would get there. He was going to level up, even if it took him another thousand years.
‘If’ was important here. Magnalius had warned Shaper that the timing of the fourth outbreak was off by several hours. It could be nothing but Shaper decided to send his spies to check on the location of the rift he’d given to Keynes Kid in Geneva.
Shaper checked his watch and frowned. Something wasn’t right.
Where are they? He asked Magnalius via the bond.
They are not here. They will not be coming, Shaper. I told you. That brat messed up, Magnalius replied.
According to the last vision of the future, Vivena Sael was meant to meet here with her uncle Marakus Sael to mend the schism in the family. The Sael family had lost much of its influence and wealth after Syberius’s death, so naturally, Marakus hoped to take advantage of the newly found fame of Vivena’s dominion by joining forces.
Shaper was here to ensure the deal’s success. Not out of love of Marakus or Vivena or their family, but the necessity of rebuilding the House of Sael. Vivena’s dominion was a wild card that was difficult to control. He wished he could just kill her like Windsor Freeman but their existence was necessary to the success of the vision…
Shaper froze as he saw the breaking news on his phone’s screen.
Untainted Paradise’s headquarters was attacked. That shouldn’t happen.
He put the fork aside, his appetite gone. Magnalius was right. Somehow, Keynes Kid had managed to step off the last path to the future where humankind survived.
Shaper closed his eyes and when he looked into the future he saw nothing but the unknown.
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