07 Fighting Shadow Part 3

Ding!

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Congratulations!

You have successfully neutralised the <Dungeon Boss> Level 7 Umbral Hunter.

You have obtained <XP> +12.6.

You have obtained <Umbral Core Shard> × 1.

You have obtained <Fractalite Quartz Sand> × 3.

Do you wish to receive <Umbral Core Shard> × 1 and <Fractalite Quartz Sand> × 3 now?

- Y / N -

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An amazing achievement!

You have neutralised a <Dungeon Boss> with a higher level than you.

You have already achieved a similar feat previously.

The [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength ] would instead be upgraded to the [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength II ] instead.

You are the first to earn this title.

You have received the <Uncommon Reward Item : Bronze Loot Ticket> × 1.

Do you wish to receive <Uncommon Reward Item : Bronze Loot Ticket> × 1 now?

- Y / N -

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A shocking achievement!

You have single-handedly neutralised a <Dungeon Boss>.

You have already achieved a similar feat previously.

The [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength II ] would be promoted to the [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength III ] instead.

You are the first to earn this title.

You have received the <Rare Reward Item : Silver Loot Ticket> × 1.

Do you wish to receive <Rare Reward Item : Silver Loot Ticket> × 1 now?

- Y / N -

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[ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength ] >> [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength II ] >> [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength III ]

-----Your unyielding spirit in the face of death, your persistent heavy blows against foes stronger than you, you are truly born of the Giant's strength!-----

Grade : Unique

Requirement (s) :

• [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength I >> II ] obtained.

• No [ Reputation ] requirement.

Effect(s) :

• [ Base Attribute : STR ] +2.

• [ Base Attribute : VIT ] +2.

• [ Base Attribute : Unknown ] +2.

• <Title Buff : Giant's Strength>

- Can only be toggled during combat.

- [ Max.HP ] +2.25% >> +2.5%/s until a maximum of +40% >> +45%.

- [ Melee.DMG ] +1% >> +1.5%/s until a maximum of 25% >> +30%.

- [ Crit.Proc Chance ] +25% >> +27.5% >> +30% to your next attack for every 5 seconds.

- [ Immunity ] +10% >> +12.5% >> +15% for 5 seconds after receiving damage.

- Stamina Cost : 2/s

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Nuel kneaded his throbbing temple with both of his hands as he browsed the many prompts from his [ Character Status ] screen.

He wiped the leftover blood trails on his face already shorn with an empty expression.

The bluish holographic notifications in front of him hung silently for a few seconds before fading away.

He looked at his surroundings for the stun baton he dropped in his haste earlier, it was not with him, so it must be somewhere around.

Then he grinned.

And he shook his head.

And he laughed.

I f**king did it! I really f**king did!

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<Ability : Delusory Shroud (Basic)> : By diffusing psions interaction with the user and/or selected targets, it is possible to obscure their brainwave activities in reality and their mental footprints in the Eidos from other Espers as well as other psionic-capable entities within a certain range. Not only that, since their presence information within the Eidos are already tampered with, their physical presence are also affected, making it harder for others to perceive them in reality.

• Quiescence, (Composure × Range) : 1 × COMP × 5.

• Stealth : +5%.

• Psions Cost : 0.5 /s /targets.

• Stamina Cost : 0.5 /s /targets.

_____

Yes, Nuel basically activated his newly obtained <Ability : Delusory Shroud (Basic)> and extinguished his entire presence, no, existence from the Hunter's perception.

As most Umbral lifeform had zero optical sense, they depended solely on psionic means to 'see'; a massive amount of turbulent psionic waves would be released into their surroundings and anything that reflected coherent mental footprint would be identified as living creatures.

Thus, by masking his own mental presence, Nuel was virtually invisible to the Shadow.

And that was how he managed to slip under the four-meter tall creature in the room and grabbed it by its Umbral Core through the crevices of its carapace and began hacking it away into pieces with just his bare-hands!

He wiped his face again with the back of his hand as his nose was still leaking warm blood.

F**ker. Oh, right the mission objective...

The holographic screen which appeared once more before his eyes was then dismissed as he walked towards the cryogenic pods by the wall, which somehow survived the Shadow's rampage earlier.

Despite the headache, he typed in a string of keystrokes into the small keyboard by the pods' side.

"Cryogenic freezing serial number 2097CI-099, selected. Retrograde resuscitation protocol, selected. Subject-099, selected. Protocol is now starting. In 3, 2, 1..."

.....

Ding!

Ding!

_____

[ Act 0 - Main Story Mission : Survive until Rescue ] Completed : The facility is under attack by hostile unknown entities! However, the facility managed to send a distress signal to a nearby allied forces, so rescue is underway. You have managed to survive for 30 minutes and had been rescued by the allied force.

Duration left : ( 0m:0s ).

.....

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[ Dungeon Mission : Rescue the Civilians ] Completed : A distress signal coming from a previously unknown medical facility had alerted <Thacon< strong> City Administration>.{REDACTED}""You and a team of elite soldiers are immediately assembled and dispatched to the facility.""{REDACTED} Secure the objectives and clear the facility of any hostiles within the time limit.

Duration left : ( 0m:0s ).

.....

_____

Do you wish to receive your <Mission Rewards> now?

- Y / N -

_____

Nuel leaned back against the pod behind him - the pod was already had its thick, glass cover opened, revealing the surviving patient he had sensed when he first came into the room.

He was still suffering from the aftereffects of the battle - his [ Sanity ] had dropped to less than 5 points when he strangled the monster's crystalline core earlier - the creature's psyche-corrosion ability was too lethal to face off directly, and even more so at close-range.

Feeling his mind dizzied and fragmented at the moment, Nuel could only wait until his [ Sanity ] would recover to at least 10.5 points before his [ CE ] would return to normal.

Slightly delirious, he began musing on a couple of keypoints he managed to gather from what had transpired to him in the past thirty minutes:-

• First, he was asleep in his apartment bed.

• Second, he woke up inside a cryostasis pod.

• Third, he became the civilian NPC from the last night's rescue mission in the online game, ex Umbrae Online.

• Fourth, the pain experienced inside the game was too real to be a dream, so it would be safe to assume that he was, in fact, awake and alive, and not dreaming.

• Fifth, he was unable to logout because he had to be physically by his PC to press the ESC button on the keyboard, which was impossible for him since he was 'inside' the game.

• Sixth, ex Umbrae Online was a simple FPS keyboard-and-mouse game and not a VR - duh, the game came out in 2016 - so he could not also, like, access the Main Menu from within the game world itself.

• Seventh, he had a [ Character Status ] holographic screen similar to how it was in the game, meaning that he had stats and that he could put points into his attributes and skills.

• Eighth, there were real experienceable effects for every changes to his stats, attributes or skills, as shown when he used his <Ability : Precognition>. This was different to how it was in the game as seeing into the future was not a game-feature.

• Ninth, similar to how it was in the game, he could be issued with missions, and complete them. Even the rewards mechanics were similar.

• Tenth, assuming that this was the game's world and it shared the same game story, it would be safe to say that survival would be his top priority - the game was 'Hardcore' after all and there was no 'respawn mechanics'.

• Eleventh, similarly, it would be possible to prepare for the game's main story progression, events and "patch updates" - the only information he would need would be the date and year today.

So, the conclusion is; I got isekai-ed into the game...?

...or more accurately, into a world the game was based on...?

...or, is this 'me' have my actual soul transmigrated and now my original body is dead and cold in the apartment...?

...or this 'me' is just a copy of the real 'me' who may be still alive and lying asleep in bed right now?

*Sigh*

...having a higher INT relative to one's level can really make one overthink stuffs. For now, let's think of a survival plan-

.

.

.

====================

Author's Post-Script:

Nuel's latest [ Character Status ] screen

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[ CHARACTER PROFILE ]

Name : - unassigned - (function-locked)

Title(s) : [ Born of Giant's Strength III ] || [ Subject-023 ] [ Disciple of Archimedes ]

Class : [ Esper ( Level 1 ) ]

Subclass : - n/a -

Race : [ Human : Protopsionic - Phenotype ]

Age : 18 y/o (200 yrs cryostasis sleep)

Reputation : 0

Affiliation : - n/a -

_____

[ STATS ]

DMG : 20.0 | Crit.DMG : 40.0

RES : 15.0 | COMP : 1.25

HP : 150.0 /150 | HP.Recovery : +4.5 | Crit.HP : 30.0

STA : 60.0 /60 | STA.Recovery : +1.8

Sanity : 52.5 /52.5 | Sanity.Recovery : +1.71 | Crit.Sanity : 10.5

Energy :

• Psions : 22.00 /22 | Psion.Recovery : +1.32 | Rank 1 (0 /10)

Accuracy : 68.75% | Evasion : 13.75%

Immunity : 2.8% | 0.3s

Mind Sense : +5 | 11m

Quiescence : 0 (+6.25) | 0 (5m)

Initiative : CE +3.3 | 13.75% | 2.75s

CE : 1.10

XP : 20.76 /10 | XP Multiplier : ×1.08

Carry Weight : 0.83 /40.0kg

Unallocated Attribute Points : 0

Unallocated Skill Points : 1 (Psionic)

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[ EQUIPMENT ]

[ Weapons ] - n/a -

[ Armors ]

• Body : <Polyester Hospital Gown (White)>

[ Tools ]

• <Rusted Combination Pliers>

[ Ordnance ] - n/a -

[ Inventory ] - select to open -

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[ MAIN ATTRIBUTES ]

STR : 4

INT : 4 | INT.GP : +0.5 /Lvl

DEX : 1

VIT : 3

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[ SUPPORT ATTRIBUTES (locked) ]

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[ ABILITIES & SKILLS ]

• <Lv 1 Ability : Precognition (Basic)> : Initiative : +1 | Initiative Chance : +25% | Precognition Time : Initiative Duration × 1.1 | Psions Cost : 2/s.

• <Lv 1 Ability : Delusory Shroud (Basic)> : Quiescence : 1 × COMP × 5 | Stealth : +5% | Psions Cost : 0.5 /s /targets | Stamina Cost : 0.5 /s /targets.

.

• <Title Ability : Archimedes' Eyes> : Obtain <Partial Blueprints>, Machinery- / Electronic- | Range : 3m | Success Chance ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare ) : ( 30% \ 20% \ 10% ) | Channeling Duration ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare ) : ( 10s \ 20s \ 30s ) | Cooldown : 24 hours | Stamina Cost ( Common \ Uncommon \ Rare ) : ( 1 \ 3 \ 6 ).

• <Title Buff : Archimedes' Eureka> : Can only be toggled during crafting | Blueprint Success Chance : +15% to all Grade, ( Machinery- / Electronic- ) | Without-Blueprint Success Chance : +5% to all Grade ( Machinery- / Electronic- ) | Better-Quality Success Chance : +5%, [ Quality ] +1.

• <Title Buff : Giant's Strength III> : Can only be toggled during combat | [ Max.HP ] +2.5% /s, +45% | [ Melee.DMG ] +1.5% /s, 30% | [ Crit.Proc Chance ] +30%, every 5s | <Abnormal Status Immunity> +15%, 5s after receiving damage | Stamina Cost : 2/s.

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[ TALENT TREES ]

• <Lv 2 Talent : Sense (Basic)> : Range : 11 meters | Mind Sense : +5.

- <Active : Tranquil Aura (Basic)> : Range : 5.5 meters | Self: Composure +3 × (1 + 0.06INT) | Allies : Composure +1 × (1 + 0.02INT) | Psions Cost : 0.2 /s /target | Stamina Cost : 0.2 /s /target.

• <Rank 1 Deviance : Psionic Esoterics> : [ Psions ] max +1 for every 2 INT | [ Psion.Recovery ] : 5% +0.5% for every 2 INT | [ Psions ] +10.

- <Active : Psionised Esoteric Training (Basic)> : Rank 1 : Maintain 50% (Psions & Stamina) || 10 hours || (0 /10).

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[ MISSIONS ]

[ Act 0 - Main Story Mission : Survive till Rescue Arrives ] Completed : The facility is under attack by hostile unknown entities! However, the facility managed to send a distress signal to a nearby allied forces, so rescue is underway. Survive for 30 minutes!

Duration left : (0m:0s)

Rewards : (Pending Received)

• <XP> +10.

• <Random Common Light-class Armor> ×1.

.

[ Dungeon Mission : Rescue the Civilians ] Completed : A distress signal coming from a previously unknown medical facility had alerted <Thacon City Administration>. {REDACTED}""You and a team of elite soldiers are immediately assembled and dispatched to the facility.""{REDACTED} Secure the objectives and clear the facility of any hostiles within the time limit.

Duration left : (0m:0s)

Requirement :

• Secured Objectives : (3 /3)

• Hostile Level : (0 /100)---(Contribution: 12)

Reward : (Pending Received)

• {REDACTED}""Loyalty Points : <Affiliation Points: Thacon City Administration> +100.""{REDACTED}

• <XP> +( 2.5 × <Secured Objectives> × [ Class Level ] ).

• <Random Common Item> ×1 for every <Hostile Level> -10 points contributed per player.

.

[ Hidden Mission : Truth of Existence II ] :

Although you managed to discover the purpose of the experiment conducted on you and many others, you are still confused about how your circumstances came to be. Not only that, you are also curious about the unknown radiation which you were exposed to during the experiment.

Find more information clues regarding the reason of your circumstances.

Requirement :

• [ Hidden Mission : Truth of Existence ] completed.

Progress :

• <Clue Point> : ( 0 / ??? ).

Rewards :

• Reward is undefined currently and will be calculated later.

_____

[ ADDITIONAL ]

• [ Rare Title : Subject-023 ] : No [ Reputation ] requirement | [ Base Attribute : INT ] +1 | First <Mission Reward> : <Psionic Talent : Random> × 1 and <Psionic Ability : Random> × 1.

• [ Unique Title : Disciple of Archimedes ] : Require equipping <Crafting Tool> × 1 | No [ Reputation ] requirement | Grants <Title Buff : Archimedes' Eureka> during crafting | Grants <Title Ability : Archimedes' Eyes>.

• [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength III ] : Require former [ Unique Title : Born of Giant's Strength II ] | No [ Reputation ] requirement | [ Base Attribute : STR ] +2 | [ Base Attribute : VIT ] +2 | [ Base Attribute : Unknown ] +2 | Grants <Title Buff : Giant's Strength III>.

• [ Class : Esper ] : [ Sanity ] max +20 | [ Energy : Psions ] max +10 | [ Base Attribute : INT ] +2 | [ Base Attribute : Unknown ] +2.

• [ Race : Human : Protopsionic - Phenotype ] : [ INT.GP ] +0.5 /Lvl.