NOVEL WEB 224 – Settlement: Grotesque Fairytales
[You have slain: Olflav Leader of Giants.]
[Your maximum energy has increased his 78 points.]
[You have received 642 realm coins.]
[You have obtained: Giant's Grip]
[Giant's Grip]
Rating: Legendary
Type: Gloves
Defense: 45
Requirements: 58 Str, 60 Con
Durability: 260/260
Effects:
- Iron Grip (Passive): Your grip is so strong that it takes an overwhelming force to break it. +4 strength judgment when grabbing.
- Giant's Constitution (Passive): +3 Str, +2 Con
- Titanic Empowerment (Active): +7 Str, -50 hp/second, -2 Dex for 10 minutes. After the effect ends, you will experience extreme fatigue and weakness for 3 days. Cooldown: 3 days.
Description: An overbearing pair of gloves condensed from the essence of a mature giant with a faint trace of Titan Bloodline. It grants immense power but with no regard for the body's capacity. If you're not careful, your body might collapse before you can use the provided power.
Note: Titanic Empowerment cannot be used with Berserk, as both push the body beyond its limit. However, the Iron Grip bonus stacks with Berserk’s stat boosts.
Note 2: The side effects of Titanic Empowerment are due to your low constitution. They will decrease in intensity as your stats grow, disappearing completely once you reach 80 Con.
These prompts flashed across Genji's sight as the giant corpse fell over. Genji jumped off and picked up [Giant's Grip] from the ground. Meanwhile, Bruce gathered the rivers of blood and concocted his bloody elixer. The refined blood sphere was so vibrant that one could mistake it for a giant red diamond.
However, Bruce didn't immediately consume this blood. There was so much energy within that it would immediately send him into slumber. He couldn't afford to sleep yet as there were still tasks to do. As Genji approached Cainance's body, Bruce used his tendrils to gather the miscellaneous loot from the dead realm members.
There wasn't much to scavenge since the giant had crushed most of the worn items, leaving only broken shards and plenty of glittering scarlet cards. Bruce piled the scarlet cards on one side and the promising scraps on another. Then he and Astros began rummaging through the heap, searching for any intact pieces of equipment.
While this was happening, Genji finished cremating Cainance's body. This was the least he could do after taking his possessions. There wasn't much left after the battle, but the giant slayer's Mythril sword remained relatively intact, testifying to its quality.
"I don't know why you insist on killing this giant, but I hope you're happy. Let me ensure your body won't be disturbed as a parting gift." Genji scattered the ash and examined the sword in his hand.
[Felsthane]
Rating: Legendary
Type: Spell Sword
Attack: 42
Requirements: 46 Str, 42 Dex, 50 Int
Durability: 121/300
Effects:
- Mana Resonance (Passive): Spells cast through this sword will be 25% more effective and cost 10% less resources. Remnant mana from previous spells will increase these values. (Cap of 75% and 40% respectively).
- Elemental Malleability (Passive): Casting spells of conflicting nature won't take a toll on the weapon's durability or interfere with each other's effectiveness.
- Perfect Parry (Active): Forcibly parry an incoming physical attack, regardless of reaction speed or technique. Cooldown of 6 hours.
Description: A powerful spell sword forged to make the most of a magic swordsman's abilities. It is a reliable partner in the right hands but wasted potential otherwise. Treat it well and it may regain its former glory.
Note: Perfect Parry puts a high stress on one's body. Be careful when blocking an overwhelmingly powerful attack.
Genji stored the sword away and collected the sorted loot. Thanks to his companion's efforts, he added 7 more items to his earnings, 5 of which were found by Astros. The ferret's luck still paid dividends despite his skepticism about it. Once they finished, they set off in a safe direction and waited for the remaining world time to end.
A few short hours later, Genji found himself in the void again. He immediately asked for his missing arm and eye to be healed. A strong itch washed over him as tissues regrew in incomprehensible ways.
After the fleshly outline formed, a cooling sensation swept through these parts and reconnected the severed nerves. In the end, botches of skin covered the exposed flesh and stretched taunt, preventing any strange air pockets from forming. The healing light faded and Genji shook his wrist with comfort.
'Finally regained my arm. Got to say, it's quite inconvenient to fight with only one.'
Settlement: Grotesque Fairytales
Achievements:
- Survived the dangerous start against a Sky Dwelling Giant (3)
- Survived the encounter with Bambi, Prince of the Forest (2)
- Defeated the strange Bearman and his trapped cabin in the woods
- Defeated Santa, Christmas Ruin
- Stopped Demon Puppet, Pinocchio (2)
- Slain Cinderella, Princess of Burning Ash, and her helper, Scratching Hollow, the Insane (4)
- Survived the encounter with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (2)
- Survived and traversed several mutated zones, including the frog's bewitching songs (8)
- Slain Rapunzel, Princess of the Isolated Tower (2)
- Survived the play of Little Red Riding Hood (2)
- Saw through the ruse behind Hansel and Gretel (3)
- Killed the 3 Little Pigs
- Survived the trap of Ring around the Rosie (3)
- Outsmarted and counter-killed the Mad Hatter and March Hare at the tea party (4)
- Defeated the black queen in a chess battle (3)
- Destroyed the order of the King's Court
- Escaped Wonderland (2)
- Saw through the trap of the Three Billy Goats Gruff
- Bargained with the candle seller
- Defeated the Priest of the Feast in an eating competition (3)
- Slain Sleeping Beauty, Aurora (4)
- Witnessed the Story of Snow White and the Mad Queen (2)
- Survived Goldilocks' trap and counter-killed her (2)
- Slain the Leader of Giants (4, overall achievements are reduced due to your low contributions)
- Final optional mission bonus (2 for initial completion + 1 for every story afterward = 8)
- Completed the Trial of Exploration II
- Completed the Trial of Self-awareness
Total Achievements: 71
Remark: Due to the power difference, achievements from killing mini-bosses past a certain threshold will retain their original values.
Total World Time: 20 days
Rating: Between Champion and Nightmare
Note: Although your performance is not as shocking as your past worlds, it is still remarkable given that this was your first 3rd step world. EverRealm looks forward to your growth.
Coins Rewarded: 2,567 realm coins (After deducting healing costs).
Stat Points: 22
Two things stood out to Genji about this settlement report. The first was the remark about killing mini-bosses. Normally, each sequential kill would provide diminishing returns after a certain point, until they were all grouped under one achievement. This was understandable as it implied a massacre throughout the world session.
A massacre, by definition, meant either weapons of mass destruction or an overwhelming power level such that mini-bosses could hardly resist. It didn’t make sense to give people high achievements for this. Otherwise, everyone would reach the 100 achievement mark, and special equipment forging would lose its value.
But in Genji’s case, every mini-boss he killed was stronger than him, calculated based on the highest stat. It was an uphill battle every time, either requiring fast critical thinking or the support of a competent team. As such, Genji didn’t fall into the previous two categories and obtained a boosted final score.
The second notable point was the missing note after the stat points about reaching the world's limit. Not much needed to be said about this. Genji expected it since he hadn’t participated in any large-scale wars nor personally challenged a nearly unbeatable foe.
[You have experienced a high variety of stories in this world.]
[For this feat, you have been rewarded with 2 kilograms of Unrefined Fabletasium.]
[Unrefined Fabletasium]
Rating: Legendary (Degraded once)
Type: Crafting Material
Effect: Items forged from this metal gain 20% magic affinity.
Description: A rare metal from the world of Grotesque Fairytales. It’s not as potent as Mythril, but it holds a place among the magic community. Its main specialty lies in supporting the wildest of imaginations, provided the crafter is skilled enough to bring such a reality to life.
After so long, Genji finally obtained a designated reward for clearing worlds again. However, this addition was less impactful than the first few times he'd received a bonus. His combat style had already surpassed the point where a random reward could significantly influence his abilities. Regardless, this was a welcome supplement, as it opened up more avenues for the future.
Genji put the fist-sized chunk away and waited for his Legacies to finish upgrading. Half an hour later, the three items floated down into his hands, revealing a glossier sheen.
[Lethal Opportunity]
Rating: High Legendary
Damage: 48 (+1)
Durability: 515/515 (+5)
Effects:
- Growth (passive): This pair of daggers will grow with you after every world.
- Occam's Razor (passive): +70 sharpness (+3)
- Nigh Unbreakable (passive): +265 durability (+5)
- Spiritual Attunement (active/passive): You can transform these daggers into a phantom form and store them inside your mind space.
Legacy Liberation: Deadly Severance
- +35 Sharpness for 90 seconds. Wounds inflicted during this duration can't be healed for 25 seconds. Cooldown of 1 month. (+5 Sharpness)
Description: The changes might be minor, but these daggers are approaching a noticeable limit. It is unknown what lies beyond it, but it can only be beneficial.
[Shroud of Terror]
Rating: High Legendary
Defense: 48 (+2)
Durability: 320/320 (+20)
Effects:
- Growth (Passive): This cloak will grow with you after every world.
- Undetectable (Passive): Your stealth has medium priority.
- Untraceable Movement (Active): Multiplies speed by 3x for 70 seconds. Cooldown of 26 seconds. This effect has medium priority. Canceling this will subtract excess time from the cooldown. (Duration: +5 seconds, Cooldown: -2 seconds)
- Like a Feather (Active): Reduces the effects of gravity by 95% for 1 minute. Cooldown of 4 minutes 10 seconds. (Cooldown: -20 seconds)
- Essence of Terror (Passive): Gain maximum energy stats from kills.
- Terror Reinforced (Passive): Recover a small amount of shadow energy from kills. Limited to 6 meters and targets you killed. (Range +1 meter)
Legacy Liberation: Terror Unleashed (no change)
- +75% energy intensity for 5 minutes. Cooldown of 1 month.
Description: The changes are gradual but present. Will it break through before its dagger friends or keep pace with them? Your next settlement will determine everything.
The next moment, Genji found himself back in his room. Bruce manifested beside him and Genji passed back the refined blood. Bruce removed the lid from the barrel and happily chugged. Seconds later, he morphed back into sheath form, fell on Genji's bed, and entered a slumber. Seeing this, Genji gave Astros some allowance to play with and left for the strengthening hall.
[Enigma]
Health: 32,240/32,240 (Con x 250 x 1.2 + 14,240. Increase of 2,100.)
Energy: 5,600/5,600 (Int x 50 + 2700 from cloak. Increase of 947.)
Con: 52 → 56 + (1 + 3) = 60
Str: 52 → 57 + (1 + 2) = 60
Dex: 52 → 56 + (1) = 57
Int: 54 → 58
Spc: 55 → 60
After equipping the [Kraken's Grasp] and [Giant's Grip], Genji met the bare minimum requirements for using his new gear. His hands felt a bit numb due to his actual stats being lower than the recommended values, but it should be manageable as long as he avoided using the active skills.
The passive stat boosts alone made it worthwhile to endure the discomfort. Plus, this should only be an issue for one world. After the next, he should have enough stat points to patch this issue. Genji flexed his fingers a few more times before unequipping the items and pulling up Astros's stats.
[Astros]
Health: 10,800/10,800 (Con x 100 + 7,000, increase of 1,100)
Ethereal Mana: 1,560/1,560 (Int x 20 x 2 (racial bonus), increase of 360)
Con: 27 → 38
Str: 28 → 39
Dex: 38 → 46
Int: 30 → 39
Spc: 41 → 49
New Skills:
- Gluttonous Recovery (Passive): +500% recovery rate when eating.
- Faded Shadows (Active): Cost 120 Ethereal Mana to activate. While active, +35% stealth effectiveness and -10 Ethereal Mana/minute.
- Exotic Hunter (Passive): Temporarily increase your growth rate after you consume a unique/rare specimen. The increase is proportional to the specimen's rarity, strength, and quantity.
Skill Changes:
- Blessed by Fate (Passive): +10 luck (+3).
- Mutual Assistance (Passive): Your partner will also gain some of your stats. Shared stats: +2,000 health and +3 luck (+1 luck).
- Free Flow (Active): Cost 100 Ethereal Mana to activate. While active, consume 7 Ethereal mana/minute to boost your speed by 45% (Initial cost: +20, Maintenance cost: +2, Speed Boost: +15%).
A lot had changed after two worlds, but Astros still hadn't developed any offensive abilities. Genji guessed this was due to the ferret's lack of combat experience, though this wasn’t entirely bad.
People can only develop so many abilities, and it's always better to specialize in a small number of fields rather than dabble in everything. That way, they can fully reap the benefits of each path. This was especially evident after Genji experienced the advantages of Astros's strong luck.
Next up were his masteries.
- Swift Steps (Grandmaster 0% → 2%)
- Parrying (Grandmaster 0% → 3%)
- Firearms (Grandmaster 24.2% → 26.8%)
- Total Weapon Mastery (Grandmaster 27% → 29.4%)
- Stealth (Grandmaster 53.9% → 56%)
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Supreme 0% → 7%)
- Dodging (Supreme 5.8% → 12.3%)
- Dagger Mastery (Supreme 41% → 43%)
The increase this time was relatively small compared to before due to the shorter world duration and lack of desperate fights. The only exceptions were Hand-to-Hand Combat and Dodging, the two masteries that revolved around his instincts.
Genji had practically relied on his intuition to survive this world, so it was no surprise that their corresponding masteries also experienced rapid growth. His instincts will only grow sharper in the future, though it is unlikely they will catch up to Dagger Mastery because of its head start.
Next, he visited the training hall to adjust to his new stats. Once that was done, he regulated his breathing and entered his mind space. It was time to meet his legacy spirits again. The cold air was as crisp as he remembered, filling his lungs with refreshing coolness.
Genji trudged lightly across the snowy plains, relaxing his mind as he waited for the spirits to reveal themselves. It didn’t take long, as the signature forest soon came into view. The silhouette with glowing white eyes peeked out from behind a large tree, while the twins with vortex eyes stood in the open, awaiting his approach.
To this day, Genji still couldn’t tell what genders they had, if any at all. He stopped across from them and quietly observed their changes. Their presence felt more vibrant and lively, like a carp in water. Whatever bottleneck they had been at, their progress was evident in their physical manifestations.
"Hello again. I’m here to ask for some help."
The twins held their gaze for a few moments before lightly nodding, as if they already knew what Genji wanted. The twin on the left waved their hand, and the coldness of the mind space enveloped him. The next moment, he found himself back in the training hall, devoid of all distracting thoughts.
Without wasting time, Genji chugged the potion of enlightenment he had brought from the Tooth Fairy. Sparks flew in his mind as ideas clashed in unimaginable ways. These collisions generated new concepts and supported his innovative efforts. Genji directed all of this toward a specific vortex technique, infusing it with concepts of decay and assimilation.
Puzzle pieces chipped, and the edges wore down as he tried to piece together the four parasite inheritances. He failed repeatedly, but he made more progress with each attempt. Eventually, he succeeded, and the four concepts formed an internal cycle within the vortex. Infection fed into Mutation, Mutation fed into Assimilation, Assimilation fed into Decay, and Decay fed into Infection.
Together, they pushed the lethality of Shadow Devour to new levels, becoming the embodiment of death itself. The budding sense of threat grew with each passing moment, evoking goosebumps in Genji. The hairs on his arms stood up like a frightened cat, and sweat broke out across his back. Genji opened his eyes and dispersed the vortex before contemplating the last few seconds.
'It feels like I touched upon some greater concept, but my skills aren’t high enough to control it. I almost lost control.'
Genji recondensed the vortex and carefully examined its circulation. Everything was stable up to the third concept, but the moment he added the fourth, the vortex spiraled into an uncontrollable shredder. The edges would accelerate and gradually grow in size, demanding a sacrifice to quell its rage. Once used, either the opponent would perish, or the technique would devour its user. It was a powerful double-edged sword.
[Shadow Devour]
Effect: Consume at least 1,000 points of energy to construct a vortex that shreds anything it touches.
Damage Breakdown:
- Deals (30 x Energy) as damage (damage coefficient: +10)
- If this hits a weak point, multiply the damage by 4x and inflict 1.5% of total damage on the soul (Damage multiplier: +1x, Soul Damage: +0.5%)
- If this hits a fatal spot, execute the target directly and destroy their soul
Conditional Effect: When infusing all four concepts, increase the total damage coefficient by 10% every second.
The biggest point is that the conditional effect is 10% of the current value, not the initial one. This means the growth is exponential, not linear. At a rate of 10% every second, it would only take about 7 seconds to double the power. After another 7 seconds, the value would double again, reaching 4 times the initial value!
The only limit is Genji's control, which dictates how long he can charge the technique before he loses control. But even then, this is only a soft limit, as it can be improved with time. In a way, he had truly created a technique that scales with his stats.
The scariest part is that this isn't the technique's full potential. More concepts can be infused in the future to further improve these values. They just need to be compatible with the current set and require Genji to figure out how to integrate them into the cycle.
*Hissss* 'What did I create this time?' he thought, taken aback by the sudden jump in power.
Meanwhile, Astros, in his boredom, had started up the hologram machine and occupied himself with the built-in programs. As he did so, his prominent fluffy tail waved back and forth in a familiar manner, reminiscent of the previous incident...