147 2.52 Achievement Hunt

(Head - Channeled:) <Toxic Beam>

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

Flames licked on Flora. The heat distorted the air, and steam clouded it.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

Most of the Healing Rain droplets evaporated before they hit the fire, much less Flora, who sat in it.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

Lightning arced from Mia's drone, right next to Flora.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

*boom boom boom boom* Deep drums banged out electronic rhythms.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

They originated from Cherrya's headphones. The girl did pirouettes on her roller skates right next to Flora. 'Look away, ignore her.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw laser beams converging on her. 'Nothing to see; concentrate on your spells. They are just healing me.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

…

Flora's focus narrowed down until only her breath, the training dummy, and three spells were left. Like a machine, she spat out a Thorn Cannon every two seconds while never stopping to channel Toxic Beam. The repetition etched the spell diagrams into Flora's mind. Before the training, she knew the charts like someone knew the painting on their dinner room wall. She could describe how much of what was where. However, now, she knew the diagrams as if she had painted them herself. As she loaded them with her magic, again and again, the process grew smoother. Before she filled in the channel system and watched it flow, now she could guide the flow through the channels.

"You have reached the one hour mark, Milady. Do you want to see the achievements?"

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

"Yes." Flora had no resources to ponder the question. She had sent the affirmation to Aidan out of a subconscious desire to know if the exertion was worth it. A thought swam into her consciousness of whether it was the wrong decision. Would she lose concentration because of her curiosity? She suppressed it.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

You gained an Achievement: Concentrated: Use 10k concentration in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Macro-Control

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

You gained an Achievement: Magically Tenacious: Survive 250k magical damage in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Defense

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

You gained an Achievement: Mana-Squandering: Use 50k mana in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Vigor

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

You gained an Achievement: Physically Tenacious: Survive 250k physical damage in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Physical Defense

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

You gained an Achievement: Skilled-Effect: Produce 250k damage, healing, or protection in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Power

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

You gained an Achievement: Skilled-Endurance: Channel a skill for more than one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Mana Reg

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

You gained an Achievement: Skilled-Quantity: Cast 3600 skills in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Macro-Control

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

"Very good," Flora said. "Give me an overview of how the group is doing."

"Mia has received the same achievements as you. Shari, Cherrya, Eddie, and Dice didn't try the Skilled-Endurance, only the Skilled-Quantity, and were successful. Additionally, Dice obtained the Stamina achievement. Gram is just channeling, and currently on his third and best attempt with 34 minutes."

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

"Very good." Flora sank back into a state where only her spells mattered.

In the subsequent phase, casting grew more difficult. 'If I never cast another Thorn Cannon in my life, it would be still too soon.' The monotony numbed Flora's spirit, and her creativity complained. She wanted to create! To enhance! To modify! However, she was too cautious. 'Don't risk the hours you have already accumulated. If you fail, you have to start from the beginning again.' She thought like a mantra between jugging out Thorn Cannons. 'Maybe just a tad sharper angle on the section 3 f: 2x + y^2 < 5000 component.'

When her channeled Toxic Beam started to waver, she decided to take the risk. She needed her mind inside herself to continue the challenge; being bored out of it could only lead to failure.

The small adjustment worked well, and Flora sank happily back into the meditative casting of the spells.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

…

A while later, her boredom flared up again. 'It would be only a tiny adjustment to the morph−I bet I could get a bit more oomph if I would move the link to the diagram from the tangent of the peak -3x^2 to the 2x^3 saddle.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

'Resist!' From the back, Flora heard Gram cursing again−just the reminder she needed to refocus.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

However, the thoughts come back after a while. 'Alright! I try it.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

The tiny barbs smashed into the dummy, and Flora was nearly sure that they grew a bit bigger. Thankfully, finding out whether the size had changed entertained her for several minutes.

The dread of the mindless activity grew again until it was unbearable for Flora.

"Aidan, report to me when I have reached the damage achievements. I have to change spells; I'm going bonkers!" Flora had cast only the wood bolts because the stacking poison debuffs provided the damage numbers she otherwise couldn't reach because of her low level.

With the end of her torment in sight, Flora's concentration improved.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

…

'Aidan will say something soon.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

'Any time now.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

"AAAAIIIIDDDDAAAN!"

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

"Milady?"

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

"How soon?"

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

"Approximately 5 minutes, Milady."

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

'I can do it.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

'No, I can't.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

'Yes, I can.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

…

Frogger appeared in her bedroom and stared wide-eyed at the hellish place Flora had set up for training.

Between Thorn Cannons, Flora waved him closer and shuffled to Cherrya to give him space to settle down.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

An army of frogs joined the hunt. One sat on Froggers lap and shot his tongue at the target, and hundreds of fist-sized amphibia crawled across Mia's, Frogger's, and Flora's dummies like divine punishment.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Thorn Cannon>

…

"You have reached the damage achievement, Milady. Do you want to see it?"

(Right hand and left hand:) <Bless and Condemn>

'Oh, the bliss.'

(Right hand and left hand:) <Lightning Bolt>

"No, thanks, dear." Desperately, Flora wanted to ask how much longer until the four hours were up, but she didn't trust herself not to despair. She switched over to casting Smite because she was very familiar with elemental spells, whereas the divine branch's diagrams held more secrets.

(Right hand and left hand:) <Smite>

…

Finally, Aidan said the magical words: "You have received all the achievements on the list, Milady."

"I thank my family, my cast and crew, and all the toasters in the world! I couldn't have done it without you!" Flora released all her spells and just sat there, in the towering flames. Slowly, the tension faded with every breath she took. Closing her eyes, she just basked in the moment.

After some time, she started feeling the magic around her. Frogger's was fresh like spring and at the same time more stable and confident than she'd had given the green-haired teen credit for. Mia's felt precise and cold, not the same way as Dice's, who used ice spells, but in the way, metal cooled your touch. Eddie emanated waves; sometimes they playfully splashed, and sometimes, Flora could sense the deepness of the ocean beneath them.

As Flora perceived her surroundings, the mana in her body started to rotate. She had set Mana Cultivation on auto-mode for the body in Deriga's Workshop. Apparently, the system had interpreted her musings as an impetus to start the cultivation of this body, as well.

"I'll cultivate mana here, Aidan. Get my body in Deriga's workshop climbing again."

In addition to the external impressions, Flora felt the mana inside her rotate and move through her body. Her mana depot under her navel was in a strange state. It was full, then a tiny bit of mana vanished, and more wanted to flood the core. It took a while until Flora had pieced together what was happening. Her body in the box cast Righteous Strike and needed 10 mana for it, but the strike produced mana, so it went right back in her core−even more than the area could hold. The rest of the energy rebounded and diffused.

'Little magic core, are you happy to be full for once?' Flora thought whimsically. She couldn't even remember the last time when her core had been this full. Maybe when she had done the Damage Over Time-Test, she usually used every drop of mana even in her sleep.

Flora concentrated on the area. First, she tried to visualize it growing and forcing it into reality. Her stomach bulged; otherwise, it had no effect. She went back to listening carefully for the sensations that the returning magic provoked. Only when she had identified the pressure on her core, she emulated it again and pressed as well.

While Flora was occupied with manipulating her core, the mana that had circulated through her magical channels had returned to it. Now, it tried to rejoin the mana in her center, but the place was full to the brink. Still, the mana entered, and the feeling of pressure increased for a moment before the core adjusted.

Flora grinned. So the cultivated mana was accepted by her picky core but not the excess mana from Righteous Strike? Let's cultivate the surplus! When the next round of energy started, Flora mentally picked up all the rejected mana outside her core and sent it after the auto-mode. Half of it diffused on the spot, the other half when she rejoiced about her success and lost concentration over it.

'Again!'

During the next hours, Flora toyed with her magic and honed her magic perception. While there was no need for her to continue sitting on the hotplate, she enjoyed feeling the energies around her. Just playing around was precisely the right occupation after the prolonged phase of focusing.

Flora also looked over her new achievements. Today she received Physical Vigor +2, Physical Defense +2, Magical Power +2, Magical Macro-Control +4, Magical Micro-Control +2, Magical Vigor +2, Magical Regeneration +4, Magical Defense +2. At least, she would have received those bonuses if she hadn't maxed out her Magical MaC and Mana-Reg. Instead, she had obtained three of those strange marbles, which she couldn't use until she would unlock the BaPa.

"Are we sure that I can't use the marbles until level 100?" Flora asked her AIs.

*beep beep*

"There are rumors that something might happen if you collect more than 100 + OV achievements before reaching level 100. There are screenshots of unlocking another + 5 bonus row and screenshots where it didn't happen. Maybe you need some special achievements?"

"Oh, well. We will max out the + 5 for everything, and then we'll see how it goes."

Flora looked at the MOD column of her character sheet. Currently, she had only 39 points and 3 marbles, so there was a long way to go. When her eyes glanced over the first column, she grinned. Her attribute levels were looking great!

"Aidan! Aidan! Everything but the Perceptions is over 100! And even those rose like crazy! How did that happen?" Flora rambled.

"Since you last checked, you spent nearly 100 hours in your bedroom, Milady, and additional 40 hours outside. That's around 140 hours of attribute training. The Perceptions leveled because of the projection rune-schemes. They trained you sensing the shadow attackers."

When Flora inspected the affinities, she discovered enormous growth. Psychokinesis and Faith had broken through level 100. Next, she went over the spells. Of course, they rose ridiculously, but she wondered where the gains in Refining and Magical Rain came from. She couldn't remember using them during the time, and Aidan had the orders to stop leveling damage skills above level 50.

"It seems you get skill-experience from the golems, Milady, albeit at a reduced rate."

Flora gaped. "That is an Administrator visit waiting to happen!"

"I just researched it and highly doubt it. Those changes were implemented because the Animators complained. They argued that they were disadvantaged compared to other pet classes. So, every time you dispel a golem, you will get a part of their gained experience. The exact factor is under dispute, but it seems to be for skills around 1/3, for affinities and abilities 1/5, but unfortunately, no attribute experience."

"That's awesome enough. Nonetheless, we have wasted 150 hours!" Flora instructed the two golems, who took turns raining on the achievement hunters, to punch the target dummies. "Try to convince your dummies on the outside to cast the spells we want to get to level 200. Oh, and level Defend AI to 200."

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