NOVEL WEB Book Two - Chapter Ninety Five - Consolidation III
The second I was finished deleting portions of another man’s soul, I sought solitude and rest. Naea had apparently distinguished herself as some kind of defender in the time we had been in the dungeon, so she received a level of deference which then extended to me. The closest liveable building to the Elite dungeon was cleared out for me specifically. Unable to bring myself to worry about anything else, I finally collapsed.
The next forty eight hours or so were a haze of sleep, where I woke only to remove something edible from my inventory, wolf it down and then pass out once more. As I slept, pieces of my disjointed psyche continued to fall into the right places, the rough edges of the torture I underwent shorn away by time. The mind had powerful coping mechanisms to help one forget intense bouts of pain, which I was grateful for.
My entire soul felt shaky, so I wasn’t too quick to mess with it any more than I already had. Even placing the waiting attribute points wasn’t something I rushed into. Just as I had noticed Mortesax was still alive because I hadn’t gained any levels, by the time I awoke after winning, the strength was just waiting at my fingertips to be applied. Nothing pressing was happening, and Naea demanded that I relax completely, so I tried my best to do as she said.
My unmade decision on whether to add Londimin to the growing fold of The Ascent along with Ascentown and Newtown meant that for now, the repairs of Londimin were not my problem. It was boredom which sent me into motion on the second or third day. I didn’t immediately deal with the town problem, focusing inwards first. Physically I was okay even upon completing the dungeon, with the following days bringing me to peak strength quickly. My spirit and core felt like barbed wire wrapped around fibreglass, and while meditation and time had done a little to alleviate the pain, it was time to be more hands-on.
Name - Grant Kaeron Race - Stormborn (Grade 1) Level - 65
Title - Dragon Slayer
Fortitude - 200 Speed - 200 Mental - 783 Will - 500
Free attribute points: 175
35 Per Level
Feeling like I was about to take an important step, I began to plan attributes into Mental. Each point placed soothed the fire in my brain just a little, throwing a small bucket of water onto my still molten core. Perhaps due to my recent intensive study of how all the pieces of my soul connected, but I could feel something building within. I had placed over one hundred of my free points into Mental, but I didn’t stop. The pressure built all the way up until I had reached nine hundred and twenty five. The next point after was where the floodgates opened.
My body ignited with pins and needles, a sensation of both pain and pleasure which I recognised as a large increase in capacity. All of my attributes jumped at once as the System prompt I had been expecting appeared before me. Expecting because I knew it was coming, not because I knew how valuable it was. My mouth fell slack for a few seconds as I read the message, the open gape shifting into a frown as I pondered.
Achievement Unlocked - Specialisation
In a world of myriad paths, you continue firmly in the chosen direction. Achieved for reaching 2500 effective attribute points in a single attribute before gaining a Class or Race Evolution, within the confines of Grade One. Marker achievement.
Effect: Attributes +20%
There were more than enough ominous words in that achievement to give me pause but after inspecting it for a minute I decided there was nothing to worry about. I wouldn’t stop myself from getting stronger just because the System seemed to take notice. That might even be a good thing. It might be unavoidable, based on the Guardian Qualification I had received upon defeating the Elite dungeon.
It just wasn’t something I could do something about. I did my best to put it on the backburner in my mind and focus on recovery. Luckily, though attributes weren’t as singularly effective at increasing recovery, dropping the remaining thirty two points directly into Fortitude felt like having a workout followed by a healthy meal and a great night’s sleep all at once.
My attributes page had been bothering me for a while now. With each Mental attribute point, my connection to the System had increased. It was a tangential effect, brought on mostly by my control over every aspect of my body. The crash course I had just received in my own connection to the System was helpful as I fiddled with the page. I opened it, closed it and repeated the process a few hundred times as I pinned down the exact strand of connection that was plucked to open the menu. Once I did, I took a deep breath, and forcibly tangled it with the four, thicker strings.
My vision fuzzed and I felt sick for a split second, but then it was as though a breath of fresh air pushed through my pores and lungs. It was wonderful. I knew immediately that my intentions had worked. I did have to lament a little, because the page would never be clean again, but at least it was correct now.
Name - Grant Kaeron Race - Stormborn (Grade 1) Level - 65
Title - Dragon Slayer
Fortitude (235%) - 232 (603)
Speed (230%) - 200 (510)
Mental (265%) - 926 (2685)
Will (275%) - 500 (1500)
Free attribute points: 0
35 Per Level
There they were, in full glorious description. Maybe I could do something and tidy it up at some point, but I felt that I was solving an issue by doing this. It felt more important than the action, somehow. With that complete, I finally decided to pull myself from bed. Before, there was a more-than-zero percent chance that Naea would have actually knocked me out and sent me back to bed rest. With my surge of power-
“Grant!” She accused, bursting into the room. “I told you not to mess with anything!” Tears were already brimming in her eyes so I just hugged her instead of arguing or answering back.
“Did you get bigger, little one?” I murmured quietly as we swayed slowly in the bedroom. I could feel Naea’s changes, too. They weren’t damaging like mine had been, so I waited until I could talk properly to bring it up. To my magical senses - the connection which bound us - Naea simply felt more. Larger, higher quality of mana, deeper mana pool. I knew she had evolved beyond herself. I had felt it at the time but was distracted with the whole “not dying” portion of the plan.
Naea nodded, her face still buried into my shirt. She sniffled, rubbing her snotty nose into my clothes. “I’m a Dungeon Master fairy now,” she said shakily. I refrained from making a joke about her getting nerdier after spending time with me. Instead I asked her what that meant for her. She shrugged. “Just stronger for now. I can move things around inside a dungeon, too.”
I didn’t quite know what extent she meant but we would have to figure it out together at some point. The only thing I needed from Naea was for her to be happy, so I took a walk with her so she could see that I was fine. The house which had been cleared for me was nice, I thought as we walked through it. Quaint and System-touched, but quite nice.
The room I slept in was small, basically filled with a double bed and nothing else. Naea had been sleeping in a makeshift hammock outside my room like a guard. Her snores were surprisingly loud for her size, but then again so was she. The building reminded me of my grandmother’s home, but without any of the life. The System had taken all of the ornaments and decorations, turning them into raw resources to then be sold back to the planet at cost. Someone, somewhere, was making a fortune off this, I was sure.
“After we see my family and hopefully get them back to Ascentown, we should find out who monopolises the System store market.” Though it might seem random, Naea and I were able to share thoughts. She followed my logic easily because I pushed it right into her head. Although she was clearly trying not to, Naea smirked and began to giggle at me.
There were two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and I felt guilty about taking what could probably be a family home. The ground floor was a modern, open plan mess but it worked, I supposed. “A bank heist?” Naea asked, and I could feel her rummaging around in the old pile of memories which contained scenes from some classic movies. It was an interesting type of conversation, with most of the words shared not actually said aloud. “That could be fun, but do we have to bring other people?”
We left the building into a cloudy afternoon. I was grateful the sun was hiding, as the headache behind my eyes was still potent. “A heist only works if you put as many moving parts into it as possible,” I said, nodding my head in a faux wise manner. Naea didn’t argue, though I could feel her playful derision all the same. “I mean, take our very simple job of trying to get to Ireland for example. That somehow ended up requiring completing a whole Elite dungeon.”
“You could have just taken the plane by force, couldn’t you?” Before I could reply, Naea held up a hand. “No, no, I don’t want you to become the kind of person who just takes. I’m glad you’re the type of idiot who gets themselves thrown into jail and needs me to save them.”
“You know, I never once got into trouble with the law before I met you. Maybe you’re a bad influence?” I winked at the fairy as she gasped with affronted disgust. She began to chase me and for a while, we both forgot where we were. Well, it was more like we didn’t care about making a scene. The area around the Elite dungeon was busy, only a few hundred yards away, and everyone around turned to stare at the pair of us as we played.
Londimin was still reeling from the trial wave, and I had left them to it. Their problems were not mine to fix. At least, not yet. The choice to take Londimin under the wing of The Ascent was still burning a hole in my pocket. As Naea and I burned through the air, herself with Sparkstep, myself mostly Air Manipulation and strength, I got a look at the state of affairs.
The buildings near my resting place had been cleared of residents. The morbid truth was that these outskirt buildings were in less demand now that the population of Londimin had been decimated. As we moved, keeping just out of Naea’s reach, I faced the cost of my actions. For her part, the fairy matched any dour feelings I had with positivity. People in the streets and thoroughfares below stared as we flew by, the man being chased by the lightning bolt.
The metaphor of being so far above the masses was not lost on me, but I didn’t shy away from it either. “You wanna really push it, little fairy? Just how strong did that evolution make you?” My taunt worked, not least because Naea could feel the true intentions behind it. Naea stopped, and in the dull grey afternoon, she seemed resplendent. I took a gaze at her new attribute page, and gulped. Her confidence was a little worrying.
Name - “Naea” Race - Dungeon Master Fairy Level - 71
Grade - E
Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm, Dungeon Manipulation
Dao: Fairy Dragon (River)
Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 65)
“Alright, stupid attribute monster. If you think you can keep up.”