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An Expedition into the Forgotten Lands Part 2
🕑 Added 2023-09-23 02:09:36 +0000 UTC.
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/SPLIT!/
/CRACK!/
'The earth shook and split as something pushed from within, rising to the skies amidst a rain of dirt and dust!'
/Screeech!/
"!"
'An ear-piercing cry full of chattering and grinding, an unnatural noise that sends confusion and pain down all those that heard it.'
'A long and thick body protected by a thick undulating carapace full of 'small' thorns, together with a distorted head full of small sharp appendages, some sharp like the legs of a Mantis.'
'Some of those appendages held small glowing orbs at its end, like small lanterns glowing faintly in the dark…'
'It was a massive underground worm!'
(Image?)
[Decritide Colossy
Level 91
]
'Philip raised his head as he blocked the sunlight with his palm, trying to get a better look at it.'
"... What an ugly son of a…"
/BAM!/
'But before he could finish, from the dust, the creature rapidly identified its target, the sole Human in its vicinity, lunging down at high speeds with the intention of devouring him whole!'
"..."
'Despite its immense size, Philip wasn't intimidated by the creature as he quickly jumped to the side, evading its lunge.'
/SLAM!/
/CRACK!/
'The worm crashed against the ground and it immediately started to dig, so fast that within a few seconds, its massive body had once again vanished underground, leaving only a 10M wide hole behind.'
That took a while...
This damn thing… It should be over a hundred meters long, no?...
Disgusting underground creatures… How did the Dwarves create a flourishing society in the past down there?
/Trebling…/
'With the faint vibrations under him, he knew it was still there, and it was making its way back up!'
"You like eating stone? Then eat this..." He said as he raised his foot
"Show it who's boss!" Carnatita said as she cheered him on
"Hupp!"
/SLAM!/
'Without saying anything, Philip slammed his foot against the ground, creating a powerful shockwave that flattened his surroundings, as if a meteorite had just fallen.'
'A wide crater larger then the entire worm's hole was created, pushing the ground underneath him.'
'And when it did so, Philip remained still, floating quietly in the air.'
/CRACK!/
/SCREECH!/
'But as expected, such a simple "attack" would not take such a beast down, at most it was now greatly annoyed as it rose through the ground a few meters away from him.'
'Even if a ton of earth was compressed onto it, to the worm, it was just like being buried in a faint layer of sand, nothing to bother about.'
"It's quite sturdy. Very well." Philip said with a light smile as he cracked his fingers
Ever since I fought that Spirit back in that weird Dimension, I've been wanting to have another good fight.
This will do for an appetizer, I'll warm up on the way to the Ocean.
/Clench…/
Philip clenched his fists, ready to finish it all with a single well-put blow… When…
/FIUM!!/
"WH…"
/PIERCE!/
/BOOOOM!/
'From the horizon, a flash of green light momentarily overtook the sun, piercing through space faster than the eye could perceive!'
'Even for Philip, he only registered the beam of green energy a moment before it collided with the worm, and even then, it wasn't through his eyes.'
'His senses warned him of something in the distance, causing him to jump back… And with good reason.'
/SPLAT!/
'In one shot, the beam of light left behind a gaping hole in the worm, and from within, pieces of flesh and gore slowly fell, splattering onto the ground as blackish blood oozed from within the beast.'
'The smell of burnt flesh soon reached his nose as black smoke rose to the air, like a smoke signal in a forest.'
"..."
I thought I was far away enough, but even here…
'Philip wasn't happy, he had his foe stolen from him before he even managed to do anything.'
'Absolutely deplorable behavior.'
…
/Meanwhile.../
'From afar atop the wall, all of the Heroes and Nobles saw through a large floating screen the body of the worm slowly fall and crash onto the ground.'
'A colossal beast of incredible power, slain before it could even react.'
'This was the power of their Artillery, meant to protect Humanity against the calamities on the other side of the wall.'
'It made one wonder just what kinds of apocalyptic scenes the Wall had to go through to even be painted red.'
"Hit confirmed, target down sir!" One of the soldiers replied with a salute, he had many medals and other distinctive decorations on his body, greatly distinguishing him from the others around him
'He also had a small conch on his left shoulder, or at least it looked as such.'
"Understood, stand by." The General replied as he looked at the screen
'The image on the screen slowly changed, focusing on Philip who now had a frown on his face as he looked directly at them.'
/Shake.../
'He raised his hand and shook it around like an old man complaining about kids in his ward before turning around and walking away, this time, much, much further away.'
""...""
'It left many speechless but it was to be expected from his personality.'
'Dae and Petter found it particularly hilarious, to see him so defeated over something so meaningless…'
'Even the General seemed somewhat amused, albeit not for his actions…'
"..."
I kind of wanted to show him a bit of our strength, but that was unnecessary.
The only one who should be embarrassed here is me.
I feel like a clown.
'He eventually crossed his arms, telling the soldiers to close the image feed as he resumed his previous words, after all, he stopped momentarily to annoy Philip, but at the same time, this was the perfect opportunity to warn everyone once more about their responsibilities and the dangers they would encounter.'
'Wasn't that one of his reasons for interjecting like that?'
…
/FWOOSH!/
/CRASH!/
"Humph!"
'Sliding across the ground as he landed, Philip snickered as he snapped his fingers, creating a potent blast of air that cleared his surroundings of all plants in a 20-meter radius.'
This should be far enough now.
If those cannons can hit a target a few dozen Km away then I'll give it to them.
'Shaking his coat with one hand, Philip cracked his neck as he looked around.'
Anyway, that worm creature. It was definitely pretty strong.
Fast enough, strong enough, its carapace was also rather sturdy, more so than I expected.
Technically speaking, monsters that breach past Level 80 or even 90 should technically be deemed natural disasters, the kind that cannot be encountered in nature often, and even then, they would reside deep within dangerous regions where Humans wouldn't venture into.
They would stand at the depths of their own habitats where they can rule over the food chain and fatten up until the day they either die naturally or something kills them, rarely will they leave.
In some cases, they'll approach a Dungeon Core and stand as a guard so the Core can grow and in turn, help it grow as well.
This worm for example, a single swipe of its body could raze hundreds of meters of area, and although it didn't have much time to shine, it looked like the kind of monster that was stronger than its level suggested.
Though this is based on the little knowledge I have on these high-level creatures, with the few I fought so far being Latur's Undead and his Modified Constructs.
Of course, I don't think it would've been hard for me to defeat it, but that doesn't mean I should grow complacent, defeating one or two Level 90 enemies is not enough to draw an average.
Same goes for Overlimit combatants, those with combat ability beyond Level 100.
I may have Stats and Skills, but I lack the intrinsic essence of a Transcendent, I believe I'm still a tad far from it.
Though technically speaking, I have already jumped into the stage of Transcendents…
That being Named Skills and Titles, I even got Achievements for acquiring them.
When someone leaves behind a tale so great that the System records it as Unique, that's when these types of strange abilities manifest.
And it's usually done by people that breach past the wall.
These Named abilities could technically serve as Codexes on their own, the central thing surrounding Transcendence… If I ever figure out what that actually signifies.
How can I put this... Since I understand little and most of my Skills are not on par with others around my strength level, I feel like I'm overachieving... That I'm a pushover.
Normally, through training, I would 'String' my Skills and Abilities together and form something else, the Core of my being, and then Transcend, that is how things are done around here from what I understood.
It's not the sole way to reach those heights but one of them, after all, am I not reaching those heights through my own method? Maybe it's unnecessary to even think about it...
But were I to follow this path... Then I already got something that can act as the center of a Codex already, quite the jump.
They may not be strong enough to function as one, but that is not entirely necessary either.
Latur for example, when he was defeated had his Codexes shater, causing them to seek a new Vessel, me.
However, my Title effect, Golden Body, averted them from hooking onto me, and without anything to attach to, they manifested in reality.
However, the fact I did not die immediately due to that must be thanks to Lavinda's interference.
Because when a Codex does not find an Achor to attach itself to, it will return to nature, releasing its powers outside.
Like an Oil spill in the ocean, if Latur's Necrotic Sun were to degrade in front of me, I might've been turned into some sort of abomination instantly, or at least in theory.
But they remained contained, allowing me to store them and eventually give them to Dae since I had no use for them.
He said he would put them to good use and that it would benefit me, well, I can only believe in him for now.
Better that than to carry around a bomb in my pockets, and it's not like I could've sold it either, much less used them as materials, if that is even possible.
To use a Codex as a material... It's like using a bundle of knowledge to build something, I have no idea how that would even be possible... But I'm straying from the subject.
Maybe I could've sold them to the Crown but I don't find that particularly appealing.
In the end, its a matter of trust, between all of my sources I could transfer those to, Dae is just the most trustworthy one.
On this same subject of Skills and Abilities, following my conversation with Dae, we may have figured out whom my Title, The Great Desire of ***** refers to.
This taken from how he planned to have me get Evolver and how that eventually became Apex Evolver wasn't entirely outside of his expectations.
However, there were dozens of paths I could've taken from there to develop the Title, this was just one of the infinite possibilities the world has to offer…
But it's not like we can't give it some thought and guess.
There are only so many Legends and Mythological existences that could be attached to everything I have done so far, and although Dae isn't aware of it all, as even the Gods shouldn't, he can still give me some solid suggestions.
Even then, I still don't know what those suggestions are due to the existence of "Authority".
In short terms, from what he could tell me, Authority is a formless variable calculated and distributed to all individuals by 'something'.
And it's not the Judicator, that merely observes and acts in response to another existence, which I also don't know.
This invisible value impedes me from learning about some things and worldly secrets while it also prevents me from sharing similar subjects with others.
From Dae's words, it's mostly beneficial to the world that such a veil exists over existence since greatly prevents corruption and diminishes the influence of "Things that do not belong to this world".
However, given how I'm constantly trying to punch over my weight class, it stops being a safety belt and becomes a strap, preventing me from reaching higher.
Regardless, it brings me chills thinking about it… I don't exactly have good memories with such out-of-reach concepts.
'As he thought of that, Philip raised his head to look at the stars above, they shone strongly even in the day, or maybe it was because it was still rather early in the morning.'
'Or maybe...'
"...?"
'As he thought deeply about things, Carnatita placed a small white flower on his hair, smiling as she did so.'
"Where did you find this?" He asked with a frown as he looked at the strangely suspicious white flower
How come such a pure-looking flower... It's moving? Nah, forget about it, this is a damn monster.
'Seeing the "flower" slowly twitch in his hand caused Philip's eyelids to twitch, but since Carnatita seemed so happy, he just carefully placed the flower on the ground, using some lame excuse as "We can't bring such a beautiful flower with us on our journey" just so he could get rid of it.'
... Anyway, until I gather enough Authority or become strong enough that I'm given access to these stories naturally, then I'll have to live with the censorship.
Not that it's a bother, but the way these sorts of things have become more frequent, not only from my Status but with the strange forces I have started to get in touch with, I have to find some sort of solution and soon.
Otherwise will be constantly blue-balled by the Status Screen.
And if all of this has taught me anything is that I can make up for the difference in power between me and a Transcendence with a mix of everything I currently own, but that just goes to prove that, once again, I shouldn't grow too confident.
Because in a vast world with infinite possibilities, all it takes is another Philip to end one.
Even a child can slay a Transcendent if everything aligns: The Will of the Gods, Powerful Artifacts, Ancient seals, and much more.
I slew Latur, but he was half-crazed already, and the short burst of power he displayed as his sanity returned was enough of a wake-up call… Even if I never fell into my own delusions, to begin with.
"There was a Hero with the ability to call upon a Meteor to strike the earth... But she had to chant for several days did she not?" Philip mumbled out loud as he touched his chin
/Nod!/
'Carnatita nodded, thinking about the girl as she floated in the air.'
"If she calls it... The only way out would be running away." He said with an awkward smile as he shook his head
There are too many weird abilities out there... I can only try my best to not be surprised.
Still, I can't grow too paranoid though.
My safety line is Level 70, I believe that is high enough for someone to have the physical acumen to sustain powerful enough Skills that could potentially endanger my life, with that risk increasing as they get closer to Level 100.
Even then, the chances of that would be minimal.
And as time passes and I acquire experience and training, people around those High levels won't be able to suppress me with what I currently lack.
There will be a time when my Stats will Surpass that of even the strongest of Level 100 beings while my Techniques and Combat Experiences will be on par if not higher than theirs.
Only then will I truly be able to name myself an Overlimit Fighter, someone who can kill a Transcendent with ease. No, perhaps even then it will be a hurdle.
But at that time, instead of just being a prominent youth, I'll be a monster even other Transcendents will have to look out for.
People like the Great General, The King, Those High Nobles I saw at the party...
Though it's most an assumption from me since I didn't snoop around their Statuses, I only did so to those young Masters since I wasn't afraid of them being able to counter Great Scholar.
I was right as none did.
... And even those 10th Circle Archmages.
Albeit this logic is a bit flawed since most 9th Circle Archmages are already Transcendents, because attaining such High Circles is such a hurdle that to advance further, they need to increase their own Status...
For my calculations, I take Dae's busted Skill as the basis of power, given how he gains 10 Stat points for every Stat aside from Mystic every time he Levels.
Not to say his Artifact that also levels up on its own…
The power of the Hero I guess…
There should be no professional in the world that could surpass his rate of growth even amidst the Legends of the past, maybe in one particular Stat but not by much.
After all, Legends usually start low, like a farmer collecting crops or a fisherman in a lake...
Dae is already at the pinnacle of his growth from the very start, there is no way anything could even compare.
As such, if I can stand atop that growth curve…
"..."
/Sigh.../
'Philip exhaled loudly as he kicked a small rock far away...'
I'm thinking too far ahead, I just need to look at the present.
Right now, if my specialty is speedy tactics to assassinate someone, then there may come a time when I'll face something I cannot breach or something that can match my own speed.
Latur could cast spells just as fast as I could swing my sword, if I keep going on like this I'll end in the gutter.
Yes, I was able to prevent Latur from casting complex spells, but that phrase alone puts me on edge.
If a mage on the same level as Latur waits for me to approach them before casting a Spell they prepared beforehand, one that took hours to make... What will happen?
"Maybe I'll be dead before I realize it..."
I'm slowly building a body that can resist most forms of influence and foreign powers, but there's a limit to that as well.
The Golden body can resist the influence of Transcendental beings, but my mind shook at the presence of something Divine.
I had what it took to wake up, but that was but a mere side effect of Lavinda's powers, what if a God actually wished to mess with me by force?
/Pout.../
'As he thought of that, Carnatita seemed to grow a bit upset, after all, he was kind of cursing Lavinda, her mother.'
/Poke! Pull!/
"What?! Stop that!" Philip exclaimed as Carnatita pulled his hair and poked his cheeks
'He obviously wouldn't throw her away with force, not only because he didn't consider himself a jerk since he knew where the light between being a jerk and an advocate of gender equality stood, but also because he didn't wish to anger a God.'
/Fwoosh!/
'So he merely vanished, causing Carnatita to float in the air with her arms crossed.'
"I didn't mean it like that, calm down a little..." He said as he pulled out some sweets from his inventory, giving it to Carnatita so she would get distracted
/Snatch!/
'And just like he planned, she grabbed the back and floated away without a care in the world.'
"..."
... Regardless… I can understand why Dae said this was just the beginning.
'Thinking about these useless things, Philip turned to the red fields around him.'
"It's really odd and grand… But beneath all this grass lies untold tales of destruction."
'Because the grass grew in a somewhat even way, it was hard to notice the shape of the ground underneath it.'
'Craters, ravines, holes, and much more stood hidden on this red ocean.'
'Tales of grandiose fights now forgotten to time, likely only remembered as numbers and statistics in some old dusty book.'
"Well, I'm not someone to grow overly melancholic…" Philip said as he took a step forward
Though I do consider myself romantic.
/Step.../
/BITE!/
'Barely did he take a step into the grass, suddenly, beneath the ground, something rose to the surface, biting his boots with terrific force!'
"..."
What's this?
'But due to Philip's boot, it did close to nothing, even the force of its bite wasn't enough to crush his bones or injure his skin, so it just stood dangling in the air as he raised his foot.'
[Jyr Bug
Level 35
]
'A creature that resemble a water bug but the size of his entire forearm could be seen lodged on his foot, it was quite the horrifying creature for someone with a fear of cockroaches.'
'It was entirely red, likely to camouflage with the environment, it stood so still and its breathing was so weak that Philip did not notice it.'
"Even this little fucker is Level 35?" He asked as he shook his boot around but to no avail
It's circulation… It's completely still, that was why I didn't notice it.
What kind of creature can stop its own blood from flowing to ambush pray? Why would it even evolve to do so?
I'm curious…
"... Wait."
'The moment he was about to step on the creature and end it for good, Philip remembered something.'
It's a waste to kill it like this.
/Fire…/
'A strong flame lit up above his palms as whisps of reddish embers floated around his fingers…'
/CRACKLE!/
/Screech!/
'He threw the flame towards the bug, causing it to squirm on the ground as it let go of his foot.'
/Sizzle…/
'And finally, after a minute, the overly resilient creature finally stopped moving as its legs curled in its now charred body.'
[Destruction 27 -> 28]
"!"
'As the creature died horribly, a notification played by his ears as his Class notification popped up, immediately flooding his head with information relating to the School of Destruction.'
'Multiple formulas and small bits of enlightenment and understanding filled his brain.'
"Urg..."
'Philip grunted lightly as he touched his head, causing Carnatita to float next to him with great concern, feeling down because she couldn't help him.'
"I'm… Okay!... Huff." Philip said as he turned to Carnatita, still clutching onto his head
"I just need some time to process this." He said as he shook his head
/Exhale.../
After all these months of neglect, it's finally my time to raise Destruction.
Unlike the other Schools, I barely touched it, so every increase of this Skill floods my head with the basics of the School of Magic.
A lot of it is merely a repetition of what I already know since all Schools of Magic are interconnected, but it's a bit different in its application and the way the content is presented.
That's how it usually is, Magic all comes from similar sources but if you twist something even a little bit then it creates something entirely new.
Regardless, if I want to one day gain another Class opportunity, I must maximize this one first.
And for that to be possible, I'll have to fill all Skills at the same time, no matter how long that may take... At least that is my theory, I can't really know until I'm done with it.
I've advanced quite a bit already anyway, still, I can't say I'm halfway there yet.
'Without much delay, Philip opened his Secondary Status:'
[Name: Philip Vinten
Race: Human/Dragonborn
Level: …
Magicka Talent -> …
Abilities:
War Call Lv5
Tyranny of Wealth Lv3
Berserk Rush LvMax(10)
Focus LvMax(10)
Magicka Lagoon LvMax(20)
Skills:
Resist Elements LvMax(15)
Mediation of two sides Lv3
Conjure Daedra Merchant LvMax(10)
Iron Stomach LvMax(15)
Devilish tongue LvMax(10)
Study LvMax(10)
…
Traits:
Dragon Blood
]
'As he finished reading over his Status Sheet, Philip yawned as he thought about what to do next.'
"Hum…"
There is little to develop in this regard.
Everything of value there was to increase has already been maxed, the only things left are the commerce-related Skills that help me when talking and negotiating with someone and my War Call Skill that can stun enemies.
But even that isn't too potent.
If they are needed for me to Max this Class then I'll likely be done with them soon, either way, I know where to go and what to do to Level them up.
As for my Level… It's irrelevant now.
Every time I Level Up my Talent point is immediately deposited into the Magicka Talent Stat, increasing it by one every time.
It makes my body more able to handle Magicka, while its other effects are too technical to be evaluated per individual Level up.
The most important Skill, however, Magicka Lagoon stopped evolving after I reached a certain Level, which is a bit of a letdown, but I don't mind.
I already have much more Magicka than I'll ever need. And unless I try to perform some sort of large-scale super ritual I'll never run out of it, especially if I wear the Magic items I made.
In fact, I should wear them for what I'm about to do.
'While he took his items from his inventory, Philip inspected his Skills:'
{Mage -> Illusion: 5-18; Conjuration: 8-02; Destruction: 28; Restoration: 9-57; Alteration: 6-80
In-Between: Enchanting: 7-92
Warrior -> Smithing: 10-06; Heavy Armor: 26; Block: 23; Two-Handed: 1-01; One-Handed: 1-01
In-Between: Archery: 20
Thief -> Light Armor: 21; Sneak: 68; Lockpicking: 2-05; Pickpocket: 61; Speech: 6-17
In-Between: Alchemy: 8-40}
'Looking at his Skills, Philip cringed.'
"Urg… This is hopeless, I'll never get there for damn sake." He said as he massaged his temples
Since all of my Classes have been relatively trustworthy to their original game world I'll use what I remember to calculate things here.
As you raise the Level of a Skill you gain Experience points, the higher its level, the more you gain, up to a fixed value from Level 1 to 100 before it resets.
That is the only way to Level Up.
So, in the original game, if I dig through my memories, I would need to raise a Skill over 140 times from 1 to max Level and then reset it again in order to fill all Perks in all Skill Trees.
But my current Skill Trees are much bigger than the ones in the game… And it already took me months to gather this...
I barely reset them a total of 60 times.
Oh yeah… I also have the other Secret Skill Trees…
Like in the original game, there were some secret Skill Trees that could be unlocked by progressing through Quests, but they were mainly the Vampire Lord and the Warewolf ones.
But through study and exploration, mainly through trading with the Daedra Merchants, I unlocked other Skills such as Shadow Magic and Blood Magic.
They also contribute to the Leveling process, but hopefully, they don't add to the end goal of maxing all Perks, otherwise, I really shot myself in the foot.
Even if Shadow Magic can control Fate and alter causality, I can't even fathom how much I would have to grind to even get there.
Besides, the enlightenment I receive when I Level Up is quite helpful, but it doesn't give me Spells out of the bat, I would have to invent them and study Magic to create them.
That is the reason why despite me having such mastery over these Schools, it doesn't mean I'm a match for any of those Ancient Elven Magicians... Maybe I could barely be qualified to be their student?
And that's raising my value quite a bit...
I can buy Spell Books and other theory books from the Daedra Merchant, but what he can get his hands on is mostly random, and even then I would have to decipher the book's contents while the enlightenment is direct and efficient.
Which once again ends up with the matter I'm most concerned with, time.
If I look at all the Skills available, if I am to use these Skill Trees as the base… I'll likely be here for a few years.
It'll take me forever to max these out…
They may give me access to the endless trove of knowledge and the secrets behind Magicka, but at this rate, I may be unable to switch Classes before the end of this expedition.
I have six months for that, but it feels short…
"Considering fighting is easier and faster than working in a laboratory or next to an anvil, my Leveling should be more efficient than before."
And if the System takes the original Skill Trees and not the new ones, then I should be able to do with and with a lot of space to accomplish it.
But between this and my current Trees… Yeah.
'Philip turned to the side, looking at Carnatita who was now gazing at his Status sheet.'
"What do you think, which one of the two is it?" He asked as he looked at Carnatita
'Since Philip can hardly keep secrets from Carnatita, he just decided to embrace her existence and from time to time, ask for her opinion on whatever problems he's facing.'
'She may be rather naive and sometimes childish, but she was still the Oracle of a God, her intuition and abilities were far beyond a normal person's comprehension.'
"... The later." She replied after she put in some thought
"So you think It's the easy path? I hope you're right." Philip said with a chuckle
Carnatita has a 100% success rate with predicting small, close-by events such as the toss of a coin and what I'll use during Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Okay, maybe it's just her extreme senses and the fact she can read my mind for the last one, but if she can predict what face a coin will fall before I even toss it then that either means she can also read my muscles' thoughts and calculate the trajectory of the coin… Or that she has some degree of prophetic powers.
I find the first to be cooler but I need the latter much more.
"Anyway, shall we continue?" He asked as he raised his hand to Carnatita
"..."
/Nod/
'She gave him a silent nod, holding onto his hand.'
/Fwoosh!/
'And like the faint breeze in the woods, they vanished, leaving behind only their footprints in the grass.'
…
.
.
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Notes
