12th Floor V
Over a year has passed since Orthis had his first taste of hope and only a few months were left before the Quest was about to end and with this his time at the academy.
He was very satisfied with what he learned and gained at the academy, though it would have been much more if over the past few months, the political world was at war like never before and as a supporter of the fourth prince, the cause of the sudden change, he was receiving a lot of fire.
It didn't go unnoticed that every time he entered a dungeon, he would return much stronger, so many people have been doing their best to keep him away from them. While they couldn't completely stop him, the team's dungeon raids have reduced a lot over time.
More concerning than that, the bounty on his and Urman's heads was no joke. Not only was it high enough for them to consider turning themselves in, but it was also scarily detailed. It updated the first time when they left their first dungeon.
At first, Orthis suspected his two other teammates but quickly scrapped these thoughts, there were details in the bounty that he hadn't even told Urman.
Due to this, his stats grow not nearly as much as they could have but still a very considerable amount.
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[Strength: 50 -> 72]
[Endurance: 54 -> 75]
[Agility: 49 -> 67]
[Mind: 152 -> 406]
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The stats however weren't Orthis' biggest gains- not by far.
A few months ago he got his first skill from his Talent Ability: Knowledge is Power.
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[Auxiliary Skill: Elemental Fusion]
[Proficiency: 17%]
[Description: The skill of perfectly fusing two or more elements into one stable one]
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It was a very great and important skill to have later on and now he had a head start to most others. He already had a similar spell but the Chaos Ball didn't fuse elements, its principle was to forcefully compress them into a singularity until he relinquished control and they went up in a catastrophic explosion.
The second, and most important skill he obtained, he obtained just a few days ago. It was so powerful that it could literally shift the balance of the Tower. He got it when reading a history book about the most powerful and influential beings in the Tower since its creation.
It was originally owned by Barlemat The Creator, a being who could mass-produce artifacts and is said to have built parts of the Tower itself. Not the Tower itself, of course, but certain floors and system functions the Spirit of the Tower acknowledged and decided to implement. That was the highest honor for any craftsman as the Tower didn't accept anything less than perfection.
The skill was said to have been lost since Barlemat's disappearance with not even a single clue on how to get it. And now, Orthis accidentally obtained the legacy of this legendary figure.
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[Exclusive Skill: Genesis Alchemy]
[Proficiency: 0,03%]
[Description: The peak of all craftsmanship. Matter and energy become clay to be shaped into your desired form with whatever power you want it to have.]
[Life Skill: Crafting and all its Sub-skills have been absorbed by Exclusive Skill: Genesis Alchemy]
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Just possessing the skill, even at this abysmal proficiency, had the effect of massively boosting his creativity. In an instant, he saw ways to create new artifacts, new materials, and new cooking recipes. Sadly, even with the knowledge, he knew that if he wanted to create decent artifacts, he would need a certain proficiency first.
For now, Orthis would just use this divine skill to make divine dishes and clothes to increase its proficiency. Based on Urman's reaction, this was the best way to do it. He already confirmed that whoever was watching him couldn't see his status window, so they could only assume he had advanced his crafting skill.
The last two skills weren't obtained through the Knowledge is Power ability but because his high stats pushed for them. He could have gotten since his Mind stats reached 100 if he tried but since he didn't, Orthis automatically got them when his Mind reached 250.
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[Auxiliary Skill: Regeneration, Sub-skill: Mind obtained]
[Auxiliary Skill: Regeneration, Sub-skill: Soul obtained]
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[Auxiliary skill: Regeneration]
[Body (Mid): 1%]
[Mind (Low): 42%]
[Soul (Low): 31%]
[Mana (Low): 100%]
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They were both actually incredibly useful, ever since he got them, he never once felt mentally tired and his speed of reading books has increased even more. The real hit however was soul regeneration, although it was just a fool's dream for it to actually put up a real fight against his corruption, it was constantly increasing its proficiency as it tried to.
Even then, it would probably never be strong enough to heal his soul as the corruption also grew stronger the longer it stayed on him and it grew even faster than his regeneration.
Aside from getting new skills, all his other ones had increased, either through reading, taking knowledge from killing, or practice. Well, almost all, the Mana Manipulation was still capped at 60% but Orthis had a feeling that if he tried for a few more months, he would overcome this barrier. This or killing someone and gaining their proficiency through Wisdom.
The monsters in the academy's dungeon were artificially created, so only a selected few had traits and every single one of them was near useless, not to mention so rare that he only got three of them, which is understandable considering that there wasn't a high probability of absorbing a trait in the first place.
And that's how he only got Keen Nose, Born Leader, and Pheromones as traits in over a year of clearing the dungeons.
Keen Nose took a while to get used to. Going from 5 million olfactory receptors to 200 million was a big sensory shock. That was two-thirds of what a dog had and he had to smell things he never intended to smell in his life. What those things were are up to your imagination.
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[Keen Nose: A Strong sense of smell thanks to an additional 200 Million olfactory receptors]
[Born Leader: Enhances charisma, empathy, and decision-making in hard situations]
[Pheromones: Your body constantly produces pleasant-smelling pheromones. Say goodbye to bad body odor and hello to being swarmed by all kinds of animals with a good sense of smell. Might attract unwanted attention like predators or women]
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Orthis was once again on his way to the library, as he always was at the same time every day since he quit his Divination class, when he suddenly ran into a true mountain of a man. Orthis had already gotten used to being the tallest person in his age group, so seeing the sudden appearance of someone just over three meters stunned him a bit.
That wasn't the only thing, the face on top of the three-meter giant of pure muscles was awfully familiar, except maybe the growing beard.
"HAHAHA. There you are, I've been looking all over for you." The fourth prince, Ellt di Kersihm, laughed while simply grabbing Orthis and dragging him away.
It wasn't that he didn't want to resist, his grip was simply too strong to do it without actually hurting either of them.
"Your Highness, if there is something you need from me, just say so. Please don't just drag me away, I can walk on my own." He just complained as he had already given up after seeing the information his Insight gave him.
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[Name: Ellt di Kersihm]
[Talent: Unstoppable (SSS)]
[Race: Darkstone Mountain Dwarf/ Kersihm Giant]
[Class: Juggernaut]
[Health: 100%]
[Mana: 1000 (Fixed)]
[Strength: 87]
[Endurance: 90]
[Agility: 79]
[Mind: 36]
[Skills: Irresistible Force, Brawling, Instinct, Intimidation, Focus]
[Trait: Dense Mana Disorder, Muscle Fanatic, True Fighter, Training Maniac]
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[Talent: Unstoppable]
]Rank: SSS]
[Description: Makes the user an unstoppable force. Gives unlimited stamina and a body, and mind. And soul that will not die no matter how injured or destroyed. Can still age, sealed, brainwashed, petrified,…, etc.]
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[Ellt is eternally grateful to you for saving his life and giving him a chance to train harder than ever before. He hopes to one day train and fight alongside you. Currently, he is dragging you off for a spar.]
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Ellt's physical stats were even higher than his, a result of his Muscle Fanatic, Training Maniac, and most importantly, Dense Mana Disorder trait.
Ellt suddenly stopped and looked at Orthis with a menacing glare "If you call me 'Your Highness' one more time, I will introduce your face to the might of my fists." Orthis couldn't tell if he was being serious "Just call me Ellt, I owe you at least this much."
"Oh, okay." He hesitated for a moment "Should I call Urman as well?"
"Yes, that's a great idea. The more the merrier." Ellt lightened up.
Not long after, the two finally stopped at a familiar training ground, similar to where he usually fought with Urman. Urman hasn't arrived yet but that didn't stop the two from starting already.
Orthis didn't hold back since he saw the stat difference and summoned World-Eater.
After laying some ground rules, Ellt couldn't wait any longer and kicked the ground strong enough for him to appear in front of Orthis in an instant and drive his fist into his face.
The barrier Orthis always had around him didn't stand a chance and shattered as Orthis reappeared not far away. In the time it took Ellt to turn around and the shockwave of his fast movement to catch up to them, Orthis already created a new and stronger barrier.
"Don't just hide behind your fancy-looking magic shields, fight me like a man!" Ellt shouted as he kicked one of the fragments of the floor he destroyed at him.
Orthis divided the projectile with a simple swing of his spear before meeting Ellt's charge head-on as he used Body Enhancement. To his surprise, even when using Mana to enhance his spear, it only managed to draw a few drops of blood when the Juggernaut simply raised his arm to block his attack.
He didn't have time to complain about the lack of effectiveness his spear had as he began to exchange brutal strikes with Ellt, just barely closing the gap in physical power by using Mana while his opponent hadn't resorted to the same means yet.
Each fist that hit him felt like a truck and his regeneration was having trouble healing the damage while his opponent was seemingly unbothered by the accumulating wounds on his body. For whatever reason, Ellt didn't have the Regeneration skill yet, so he was starting to look like he took a bath in thorns with blood dripping over the floor with no stopping.
"HAHAHA, yes, that's it! FIGHT!" He began to laugh like a maniac, not caring about anything other than the fight. This left Orthis quite troubled, it wasn't that he couldn't deal with Ellt but it would end great for him either.
He couldn't imagine himself staying alive for long after he cut off a member of the royal family's head, even if Ellt could now be considered immortal. This was something about respect and royalty valued their honor and image too much to let this go by unpunished.
Just as he was thinking of a way to get a bit of space to cast a slightly more complicated spell, a shadow in his peripheral vision caught his eye. Before he could say something, Urman fell from the sky, and with one cut nearly took off Ellt's entire arm.
Seeing his sword stuck 2/3 inside the thick arm and getting no reaction from its owner over it, Urman couldn't help but feel confused.
Sure, he didn't use his talent to cut his opponent in two but his sword was still the sharpest object he had come across by far and he often trained with the Royal Knight Captain over the last year, who had an artifact for a sword himself.
Even ignoring all that, how come there isn't even a change in expression over almost losing an arm? Pain aside, even with regeneration, magic, and advanced potions, growing a limb pack isn't easy and very uncomfortable.
What Urman didn't know was that just cutting through Ellt's bone was an achievement as he not only had much higher endurance than him but also the strange Dense Mana Disease that made him even more durable.
Ellt just grinned at him and began laughing even louder.
"HAHAHA, yes, more!"
With that, he finally began using Mana Enhancement too, though, with his unique Mana, it looked a bit different. Due to its unique nature of not being able to leave his body, there was no loss in Mana and he could keep this up virtually forever, something that was normally only possible after reaching 100% in Mana Manipulation.
He picked up another stone and threw back his arm. At that moment, Orthis' instincts began to scream at him to get his head away from wherever it was. He didn't even see how Ellt threw the stone nor how it flew.
The only thing he noticed was something flying past his head and exploding on the barrier in the far distance with a loud bang. If there was no barrier around the academy grounds, who knows how many houses would be destroyed and how many lives would be lost? All because the fourth prince got into their spar a bit too much.
Seeing that their opponent forgot that this was just a friendly fight, the duo decided to take this a bit more seriously as well. While Urman took the full brunt of the Juggernaut's fists, Orthis stayed in the back and began casting spells that brought Ellt into a state that would normally have killed any other man.
Whenever Ellt got too close to Orthis, he would switch to using his spear while Urman would send space cuts at him from a distance, though they had shockingly little effect, indicating that his Mana was possibly so dense that it began to affect space.
Two hours later, the three lay on the ground, not moving. Ellt was completely covered in wounds and blood, missing an arm and having every bone in his body broken, yet despite that he wasn't exhausted or bothered in the least.
The other two only had minor injuries but Urman was utterly exhausted and couldn't feel anything up to his shoulders from hitting what was essentially an iron block and blocking and parrying said person's relentless attacks. Orthis was the least injured and exhausted out of the two, at least physically. Mentally he felt like he could sleep for a few days.
His real problem was his depleted Mana, which was a first for him as he never once depleted his massive Mana pool since he unlocked his Mana. Despite having no Mana left and having just fought a big battle, he felt fulfilled.
"Maybe this is what battle junkies feel. Can't say I can blame them, this is nice. I still prefer to read books in peace though."
Suddenly he noticed a movement in the shadows near him. This wasn't unusual as it happened all the time since he got infected with whatever abomination decided to give him this infection on his soul but this felt different. Unlike the other times where he knew they were just a figment of his slowly breaking mind, he was certain he just felt the tiniest amount of mana from that shadow.
When in doubt, ask the omniscient Insight.
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[Name: Shadow]
[Description: It's a shadow, created by your body blocking the light. HOWEVER… an unknown entity has connected itself with your shadow, watching you through it. Whoever it is, has an immense affinity and control over darkness to reach this level of stealth.]
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Seeing this, Orthis immediately lost all his mental fatigue and jumped up as he telepathically connected his mind to Urman. A quick check told him that Urman's shadow was also not just his anymore.
"Urman, cut the shadows!"
This sudden request puzzled the swordsman but he didn't question it and instantly activated his Talent. In an instant, the world lost its color and form and was replaced by lines, curves, and points, and then he saw it too.
Shadows were still too far and mysterious for him to cut them off from their source but even now he could see the line that connected it with something far away. The line was so thin and dim that he wouldn't have noticed it if Orthis hadn't told him to.
With a quick slash of surgical precision, both their shadows were cut free from their unwelcome passenger.
"What was that?" He asked as he sat back down in exhaustion. The sudden concentration didn't do his fatigue any favor.
"That, my dear Urman, was how the shadow organization without a name collects its intel. No wonder no one knew how they did it until now, even if someone did, they wouldn't have been able to sever the connection. They must have connected themselves with us when you took me out to cheer me up."
"Hm, so that's how they did it. Do you think we will get rewarded if we inform the royal family of their methods?"
"Definitely, this organization has spied on too many of their secrets. Why don't you just ask that madman over there?" Orthis pointed at the no longer so refined-looking mountain of muscles who was just looking into the cloudy sky with a smile.
"Hm? Did you say something?" Ellt suddenly came out of his trance when he felt someone talking about him.
"Never mind that, we can talk about it later. Are you sure you're alright, you're pretty badly injured and you don't seem to be healing, don't you have regeneration?" Orthis played ignorant to not expose that he could see others' status.
"Nah, I never had the time before, and for some reason, I couldn't get it no matter how hard I trained for the last year."
Orthis took a look into the issue with Insight as it was strange for someone with such high endurance to not have this skill. Turns out it was just a lot more difficult for people with DMD and even if they got it, it wouldn't be as fast or potent as normal people's.
With a groan, he stood up and walked to the prince's severed arm at the edge of the field and picked it up. After wiping some dirt from it, Urman noticed that the wound was completely clean, fresh, and not bleeding.
"Did you..?" Urman asked but didn't finish, this was not the state a severed arm should be in, especially after being exposed to the aftermath of their battle for two hours. He too went a little overboard and forgot that it was just a spar but even then, he didn't use his talent and only sharpened his blade with Mana.
"Of course I did. Did you really think I was going to let him lose his arm permanently, or at least until the headmaster grew it back?" One of the reasons why Orthis was so passive in their fight was because he was making sure they could survive after the fight was over.
With heavy steps, he walked to the battle junky that just seemed to realize that he was short of a limb. Thanks to several spells Orthis cast on the arm and the stump, he could easily reconnect the two body parts.
After twenty minutes of slowly regaining his Mana and reconnecting the bone, muscles, and nerves, Ellt's arm was as good as new. While he was at it, he also healed most of the other wounds.
"Haha, thanks man, I didn't know what I would do with one fist less. I wouldn't be able to train or fight to my fullest for quite a while. And don't worry about the consequences of cutting it off, this was my fault to begin with, so no one should trouble you because of that." Back in one piece, he immediately began to think about training and fighting again but he didn't forget his position as a prince. "And if anyone does, send them to me. I will show them how good my fist is working again." He grinned.
After this, the three went for a big feast that made the chefs work overtime. Orthis told Ellt about their findings and he promised to pass it on to his father as soon as he was done with his twelfth plate of monster steak.
While they were feasting, Ellt invited them to train with him but only Urman accepted after some thoughts. Their training just differed too greatly, while Orthis mostly read books and killed monsters to get stronger, Urman trained his skills first and foremost and only after that did he train his body, and Ellt focused only on breaking his body with spartan training that most men would consider torture, his infinite stamina, pain tolerance, endurance, and fast growth just made this method the most suitable for him.
After returning, Orthis meditated for a while before going to bed to sleep and recover from his mental fatigue. As he just lay there, looking up to the dark ceiling, ignoring the whispers and the nightmarish creature standing in the corner of his room that always watched him sleep since recently, he looked over his status once again.
The intense battle today brought him many gifts but the biggest one was this.
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[Sub-skill: Mana Regeneration (Low) 100% evolved into Sub-skill: Mana Regeneration (Mid)]
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In the end, emptying his large Mana pool under stressful circumstances proved very beneficial. Not to mention he got himself another strange but special and trustworthy friend, a real one, not like the dwarf and dragonoid who were just temporary teammates. With three monsters in the team, it was just a question of time when they would become a liability.