25 20: Envious Reincarnation
Staring at the pinned Pikachu Kei, under a Dark Unicorn's hooves is quite the odd picture. You can see who the villain is, the one stepping on something not even a 50th of its weight. Of course, stats make strength irrelevant to body size, but the Unicorn is stronger.
In this labyrinth, there isn't necessarily a good or evil, same as anywhere else in a way. This creature is seen as evil since the majority of us view him as such. However, if he were to have some people at his side, he might be seen as just. It all depends on how one views the nature of another.
This doesn't change anything though, even if he is good or evil. He remains in my way and is an obstacle that needs to be overcome. Whether through incapacitation or death, he has to be subdued one way or the other.
As for why I'm calling it a he... You get the picture.
...
I can see the gender with Soulful Solomon of course.
...
With these past few seconds, we stood still, as did the environment around us. Kumoko fought the one remaining Fire Wyrm though, so it wasn't necessarily at rest. My health was running low, at a 5,000 and rising with healing magic I've had supplied the whole time. My Upper Limit is 3 times that at the moment, but I can't just gain health from taking stats from a dead thing. The limit, yes, but the actual points, no. They have to be alive for that. The same applies to magic and my SP stats.
My opponent has nearly the same amount of health at the moment, 6,000 out of 8,000 as the upper limit. All my other stats outclass it by a couple thousand for the closest and ten thousand for the farthest. Even with this far-apart status, the Unicorn still challenged me, meaning it believed it could win.
Well, this is a Kirin, a unicorn creature that specializes in Lightning Magic. It has a layer of blue scales along its body instead of a standard fur coat. Its face is a mixture of a lion, its hair standing on all ends due to the electricity that flows around it.
(Image Here)
If any creature with health below 100 so much as touched the creature, they may very well die from the shock. It has a horn center on its head, hence the unicorn similarity sharpened to a thin point. The most interesting thing of all though is that this creature is considered to be a dragon according to appraisal. I can see the Dragon title too, after all, clearly showing it is one.
That along with skills to watch out for is why it may be confident. It's strong both close and long range, but more so in close quarters. It's also able to think faster than me now, meaning we are just about matched. According to my assessment though, it won't stay this way for long, I am on the weaker side. I might have to resort to experimenting with something on the spot during this fight.
I peered at the side with Panoptic Vision, seeing Kumoko drop her 3rd poison ball into the fire wyrms mouth, it shriveling and just about dying from it. As I thought of this, assessing them, I focused my mind elsewhere. Moving my vision back to the large chamber of all the monkeys we killed, I instructed the Barragish to turn off all its skills, and while still alive, I moved its soul towards me, straining my mind to prevent it from slipping from my reach. I began weaving it into my own, showing no signs of movement, my eyes still staring at the seemingly unaware Kirin. The skills merged with my own, and all the full stats added to my own, moving at a slower pace than I'd like.
Off where Kumoko was, the wyrm did its last movement, and Kei, Kumoko and I all glowed, recovering from reaching level 16. However, I couldn't get my health full all the way. The n%l=w skill only recovers 5,000 points of HP, MP, and SP, but I remedied that with the snake pet, which I've kept just for this.
The Kirin in front of me stumbled back slightly, probably noticing my status rise through its appraisal skill. It still wasn't foolish enough to move the foot that blocked Kei in place, however, with Kei shedding her skin, she managed to roll away from its hooves. Without prompting her, Kumoko shot a web from away, aiming square at the torso of the Kirin, hoping to make it focus on the projectile instead of the Pikachu.
However, the Kirin ignored the web completely and stomped the floor, causing Kei who just stood up to tumble over due to the shockwave. The web was caught in it as well, decreasing velocity slightly, but as it hit near the skin of the Kirin, it completely disappeared, the lightning dispersing it. I hypothesize Kei and Kumoko won't be able to do anything against this opponent at all, Kei especially, as her main attack is lightning magic that is weaker than her opponents. Kumoko has a chance with Abyss Magic or Rot Attack only.
{Kei, Kumoko, go as far away as you can. Maintain your distance from here}
As I said this to them, I launched myself forward, erecting a wall of earth separating the Kirin and Kei and colliding with the creature, knocking it backward. The two of them are more burdens right now than anything else. Immediately springing off of the Kirin, it shot electricity around it, catching me in the process. Creating a wall of terrain between the two of us to completely diminish the effect of his magic, I boxed him in as his attack caused him to stay still. Kei and Kumoko were away a decent amount, as the Kirin, charged up more electricity, blowing open the enclosure I put it in.
!Kiyotaka, Ayanokoji...!
A voice spoke in my head, and I could feel the connection spreading to Kei and Kumoko as well.
!Masterpiece... Aren't you weaker than me? Please... Right now we are near equals, and I shall claim your title, by besting and killing you!
The Kirin screamed, a jarring roar coming out of its mouth and all at once, Its stats multiplied by 4 across the board. Its body glowed a shining light simultaneously, the offensive capabilities of him reaching another thousand higher. Continuing his scream, the bolts of lightning around him intensified and in one fluid motion, he burst through the wall dividing the two of us, head first. Assuming activation of Shock Super Enhancement, Bolt Enhancement, and Piercing Enhancement, I activated Shield Dome and Rock Hardening as fast as I could.
Even with this active thought, his horn burst through the shield and my hardened flesh, like a knife through butter, piercing my dead center in the chest. Not able to feel the pain anymore due to Pain Nullification from the Purple Cobra, I turned Adrenaline Rush off and saw the stat's of the Kirin go back to their normal values. Taking precautions, I turned off all my attack, enhancement, and magic skills to prevent him from making use of them as well.
Since his horn was still in my chest, I swung my arm back and slammed downwards with Cutting, Heavy, and Acid Super Enhancement alongside Rot, Deadly Poison, Ultra Paralysis, and Magic Power attack. Even with the hardened scales he has, I exhausted 2,000 magic points into the singular attack, cleaving his right foreleg clean off right at his shoulder. Turning off my skills again, I flapped my free wing, unimpaling myself from his horn, as he stumbled and fell to the floor due to his loss of balance.
If I hadn't absorbed the purple cobra, my Status Condition stat wouldn't have been renewed and unsealed due to the change of it. The shock my opponent used would've temporarily rendered me immobile, unable to retaliate back, his initial plan I believe. Now, the Kirin was rotting at the bone, with acid and poison seeping through his body. He was immune to shock and paralysis in a similar fashion to me, my guess is he trialed lightning magic spells that correlated to those on himself in preparation. That would also explain his high pain nullification skill.
While he took a tumble forward due to his loss of balance, he seemed to have noticed the re-activated status condition nullification and attempted to take away such again. Unfortunately, my turning the skill off while it is being sealed is unviable, as I'm unable to interact with it at all.
Taking that into consideration, if status condition nullification were to be sealed right now, I would be unable to use it for certain. I can't pull the same trick as updating it since it's already max level.
He was still trying to piece his mind together, he let out a roar akin to a lion and I felt a sense of foreboding.
Finding Kei and Kumoko immediately with Panoptic Vision, I saw a blinking red on her back, with its pace quickening. Something like a bomb, and that's exactly what it was.
One of the Kirin's skills that stuck out to me was Implants. This allows him to instantaneously plant a small chip of sorts into the body of anything he comes in contact with.
However, this skill is only a timer or a set removal. He has to imbue it with attribute enhancement for it to have any real effect like a bomb. And the only deadly enhancement he has besides lightning, something Kei is immune to, is a deadly poison. This means once that detonates or he wills it to disappear, the poison would flow throughout Kei's body, killing her nearly instantly due to her low resistance.
He can activate it at any location it seems and I've seen such with a previous opponent I faced. The monkey reincarnation had a similar blinking thing in his shoulder, hence why I dug it out just before I dropped him. Otherwise, I would've been shocked and rendered immobile impaling myself on my spikes.
I've thought of this being a possibility before he even came in contact with Kei, but removal when I'm not there is nigh impossible. You can't use rot attack since it would hit her too, same with all other attacks, which would rupture the poison capsule. Teleportation of a small item with that much precision is impossible within the system limits as well. You're going to kill her trying that. The only method I thought possible was the use of high-level telekinesis, forcibly pulling the ball out while forming a mental barrier around it of sorts.
I don't have such a skill though. Meaning Kei's death is inevitable. I could attempt a quick teleportation and take out the implant, but that would leave the Kirin open and he'll likely kill something else really quick in that window I'm gone, causing all his stats to max out again. He'll have enough time to seal another of my skills too.
In other words, Kei's death is going to heal him if I do nothing about that implant, and if I do something about it, he'll still get healed through something else.
Leaving the soon-to-die Kei to the side for now, I launched a large quantity of Terrain Bullets in a half sphere around the kirin who just lifted himself. Since I set it up, using a vast majority of the minuscule amount of magic I obtained, I began my next step.
Still looking at Kei with Panoptic Vision, I used Petrification Demon Eye, something I got to level 10 just recently, turning her completely to stone.
From there forth, since she was running, her body shattered, killing her on the spot.
Using the rest of my magic, I poured it into Soulfull Solomon, absorbing her soul completely.
She's going to die anyway, might as well take the skills for myself right?
As the majority of her skills were flowing into me, I attempted and succeeded in classifying the absorption of Rend's and the Upper Wyrm's Soul in the same operation, absorbing them too.
A surge of memories flooded through me from the trio I just had consumed in a manner.
Japan, the blissful life as a baby you've most likely forgotten. In elementary school, the purity of everyone's actions. The bullied chambers of middle school gave way to a phobia that still lingers with you even now. Finally, the constant pressure in high school, especially since it was ANHS. While you definitely lived in fear of being alone and reliving your trauma, you certainly enjoyed yourself in high school, trying to make the most of it. I have yet to experience compulsory education in high school and now I understand a side of it.
Your feelings towards me for the past couple of months... Is clear to me now.
Love, something I haven't been able to comprehend completely before we got whisked away to this world... You've shown me it with flying colors, a textbook to love without me even attempting to initiate it in our past lives.
Your memory will reside with me.
Bye Karuizawa Kei.
Wish you luck in your next life...
Ah Mou.
It seems that the rat horde she was originally with was in the hundreds, a few of which were clearly reincarnations due to their differences. The snake they fought against too wasn't normal at all, as it seemingly vanished and emerged from nothing again. If the snake didn't kill the reincarnations, there's a chance some are teaming up in this labyrinth like how Kumoko and I are doing now, or that something else got to them.
Moving on though...
Since Rend and the Wyrm still had health and died through soul damage, it filled my status bars slightly, the same as I tested before with the cobra. I also got the experience and skill points from the three of them, making my level soar to 20, successfully healing me 5,000 times each level. In other words, my health filled 15,000 points, my magic as well from the levels alone. This took 20 seconds altogether, as the kirin was bombarded with spears, I sensed a motion myself as well.
Before fully assessing what it was, it exploded, a surge of lightning shocking my body, and the transfer of souls was just about complete but halted when I was two skills away from done.
One of which would've been great in a moral sense and the other was a Crude LV8.
Why did Kei have such a skill...? No, her memories make it quite clear...
Anyway, it seems the Implant skill was activated on me when he pierced my torso prior. It seems something else slipped from my grasp too. I imagine it would stay within the confines though, just contact would be delayed by a lot.
Still gaining more health than I have lost just now, along with about 4,000 MP, I was still in the clear to win this battle.
However, the roaring I heard must've been a sign. The Kirin came out near unscathed when my earth magic stopped. It had gained a level despite not killing anything and my first thought was another one of his skills.
Limit Break.
It allows him to change his status and even his skills freely. That is how he got Envy, a skill that was only able to seal 1 skill at a time, to seal five. Through using that skill, it appears he was able to change the amount of experience points he had, forcing a level up.
As with all powerful skills, it came with a cost.
It completely erodes the target's sanity, causing them to become stupider and to an extreme, brain-dead, unable to move. That is probably the reason why he hasn't used telepathy to me, despite having the skill itself. At the moment, instead of the clever reincarnation he was before, he was probably on the intelligence of a dragon now, with all his kinds combined. For fighting, it was at least better than Kei, but for trap setting and the like, not so much.
This means that a complex way to seal my skills while going on a teleport spree and the attempt to use Kei as an exp wouldn't sprout up again. Both of us being near back at square one with our stats and all his possible plans foiled now besides fighting combinations, stared at each other, possibly viewing each other's status. Not wanting to wait for him to turn off yet another one of my skills, I finished my preparations, from the ground, magic-hardened roots wrapped around his legs and closed down, attempting to push him to the floor. Seeing it wouldn't work that quickly, I activated heavy magic along with wind pushing him down to keep him in place.
Of course, though, I lost control of the latter two, his divine scales canceling and disrupting the magic but I achieved restraining him long enough. I wrapped vines around myself, creating an armor of sorts that would lessen any damage, specifically lightning damage significantly. Knowing Flame magic might be canceled, I opened up my Item Box and dropped a large content of lava over him. Since he doesn't have heat nullification, this should cook him to extreme levels instantly. The plant roots seemed to catch on fire but he himself wasn't burning up.
Perhaps he changed to my heat nullification last second with wannabe, meaning the most logical thing would be for me to turn it off temporarily. The lava, now singing his body and eroding his scales, he panicked, kicked off the floor, and, landed crookedly on a different platform. Flying there as fast as I could, I used a skill I just got from Kei called quick attack. Raising my speed 5 fold for a second, around 97,000, I slammed into his side with Rock Hardening and Impact Super Enhancement active on myself, completely mutilating his body.
For Quick Attack, I have to wait for two attacks from my opponent and then a minute to use it again. Not in a rush, to kill the Kirin I watched its level pass into the next, it healing subsequently. I could sense unrest in his mannerisms, aware he can't win for certain now.
...
{What made you so insistent on fighting me?}
The kirin shook even more rapidly, threatening to near phase through the ground. Not attacking, but scared as if he was seeing the dead. Despite them not having to lift his body at all, he refused to speak back to me telepathically. His brain wasn't so eroded that he forgot Japanese from what I know.
{Answer me. Was it the experience you could gain? The skill you might acquire if you use your Wannabe title enough? Or, was it sheer Envy that led you to do this? Quite the effect right? It's warping your mind without you even suspecting a thing.}
Ruler skills have quite the effect on your mental state if you don't have a Heresy Nullification or a high-level Super Heresy Resistance skill. He likely was...
{However, I'd like to think you were rather acquainted with the feeling of envy beforehand, must've been cheap for you to purchase such an outstanding skill? You must've known me in the past life yet I was just the average student you could find in any school. No one in the school went by your name, and the system revealed our previous names. This might be a stretch seeing as it's unknown whether you are faculty or even a new teacher but I'm quite certain you're a first-year.}
Turning on my intimidation skill I just acquired from Rend, I activated poison and shadow magic, forming a cloud and increasing the darkness in the area. What is the extent this fear can develop?
"Conditions met. Title, 『Fearbringer』 acquired"
"By the effects of the title 『Fearbringer』, skills 『Intimidation LV1』and『Heretic Attack LV1』 were acquired"
"『Intimidation LV1』 has unified into 『Intimidation LV2』"
Oh, looks like Intimidation raised a level-
"『Intimidation LV2』 has leveled into 『Intimidation LV10』"
...
Higher than before, that's for certain.
...
As I kept my intimidation skill on, Yagami's fear resistance continued to rise at a fast pace, nearing LV 8 of the first tier. Sighing in my head to refrain from dropping the act in the slightest, I began talking to him once again telepathically. I made sure to keep an active eye on his skills though...
{The year had just started when I became a second year and I've been in a bit more of a remote place in my earlier years. The only chance way you know of me is if you attended the same place I did prior. The White Room. Isn't that right Yagami Takuya? Would explain the term, "Masterpiece" you used before.}
Since getting Soulfull Solomon but at Appraisal LV10 as well, a few things in status changed. Mainly, it shows the previous name of who we were before reincarnation. Kei's name popped up next to her Status, mine as well. It still says nameless as we don't really have a name in this life just yet, but it should pop up for all reincarnations. It shows Yagami's name in his status as well.
The only one out of the reincarnations I know/knew, was Kumoko, Hiiro Wakaba did not pop up as our names did. She either has something blocking that information or, possibly isn't her at all. That could explain a lot of what happened in the past.
Putting that to the side though, Yagami was one of the white room students who were enrolled to expel me from ANHS. His actions screamed as if he was specifically targeting me and his hatred has shown on multiple occasions. It's been over a week since he started quite blatantly stalking me. The reincarnated monkey he sent to attack us was quite obviously under heretic magic.
He possibly even got me to kill it so he could use it more freely against me, without having to keep the other reincarnation alive in such a place. Anyway, he's definitely plotting something at the moment, as his fear has calmed down a bit from the resistance it seems.
Nothing has changed in his status besides the skill Wannabe, which coincidentally raised a level just now. Checking its description, I saw two key details that were changed.
"『Wannabe LV5』: Allows the User to mimic 3 skills of choice from another's repertoire, adding the skills at the corresponding level of this skill temporarily. Users can choose creature skills from any being in sight."
Instead of one skill now, he can copy 2 more, but more alarmingly, from any creature in sight. This normally would be fine since all have fled from this battle zone, yet Yagami has Panoptic Vision, a similar level to mine at that. Nonetheless, I still outclass him thrice over in that stat department. I could've killed him on the spot but proficiencies of skills flourish when in a near-death scenario. Conquest hasn't been activated since the other party hasn't lost all hope and given up yet either.
Seeing as he used Limit Break once again, he's probably dumb as Ike since it was quite the push of the skill this time around. I'm still not going to drop my guard though as the most logical thing to do is...
He tilted his head in my direction, a purple glow emanating from the charged magic in his mouth. Firing it in one shot, created a beam that instantly shot out. Dodging towards the side of the attack, it hit a wall far behind me, causing a tunnel to form for about a hundred meters.
Isn't that dangerous to use in a cave?
As expected, he still had enough intelligence to copy the strongest creature we've seen so far, the queen taractect. He took the skill Divine Dragon Power LV5, meaning I should be prepared for webbing to happen too. As I leaped to the side, he pre-planned a web attack, shooting exactly where I would be and I set a wall of flame in front of me, burning it completely. Even if he has less magic than the Queen Taratect, the web is still highly dangerous. A Dragon Beam while webbed would spell death even with our current stats.
Of course, the dragon breath has to charge, and the webbing has its way to be destroyed or teleported out of. What I didn't have time to analyze was what he could use next. Turning off my thought acceleration, even if I thought at a similar pace near the beginning is slightly dirty. Though acceleration makes everything seem slower around you, and now with it off as I always had it on before, the difference was immense. It's like turning on a light in a room that has been dark for over an hour. Your body isn't used to the abrupt change. It moves instantly now without delay, making everything fast-paced.
A magic-powered black blade cut through my fire magic, and as I attempted to evade it, it sliced halfway into my wing before dispersing. Black Magic is one of the quickest to activate and deadliest forms of magic and is the third tier of Shadow magic. It also has the shock attribute involved which stunned me slightly, leaving me unable to move for a second.
The five status condition elements are poison, paralysis, certification, and exhaustion. When I received it, it merged all my previous resistances from that category, successfully making me immune to petrification. It's a bad match-up against the kirin, however, given that the spider it's copying has quite an extensive set of poison attacks. If he were to deactivate it, I could be put in quite a tough spot.
Fortunately, he doesn't have the mental capacity to form and rapid-fire black magic. I do have a small resistance to shock, but none to black magic, getting hit more by it couldn't hurt to gain resistance. Black Blade, the magic cannot be used constantly meaning the next thing he would switch to is black bullet.
Using Quick Attack again, I enabled Impact Super Enhancement, Heavy Enhancement along Destruction and Shock. Sprinting into his side before, he took the blow as my beak pierced into his ribcage and the force sent him toppling to the side, his health near empty again. I'm assuming he copied the Impact Nullification last millisecond from the queen as the last attack was with intent to kill him in a blow.
He would be unable to move and die either way if he didn't force a level on himself right now. While rushing in and killing him was an option, a new skill came up in his status once again.
"『Falling Together』: The opponent who does the most damage to the holder of this skill within a certain period of time is set to die along with the holder. Both souls are targetted and destroyed in this process."
That's bad news... If a skill like this popped up, doesn't that mean Wish Upon A Star is at its final use? Matter of fact, said skill disappeared, signaling it is gone. The last wish uses the last of the user's life span, killing them for certain in the next 5 minutes. This means he essentially is bringing me down with him and resigns himself to lose in this battle. While it would normally make sense for him to stop fighting, he probably wanted the skill to slip through my attention to kill me on the spot. If our soul is targeted, that means reincarnation again is a no-go.
Keeping in mind that I should limit how much damage I do to him. Unsure if he would turn off his resistance skills to escalate his demise, I leaped backward, leaving his mangled body lying there. Even using conquest wouldn't prevent him from dying. As mentioned before, the system is already going to consume his soul due to overusing his last wish.
Forming a shield dome around myself, and fortifying it with extra magic, I erected a wall of terrain encircling me and prepared my trump card in the time he was still motionless from the shock enhancement I activated on him. I cast healing magic from the distance to at the very least, stabilize his health.
Luckily enough for me, he seems to have finally gone brain-dead from overuse of skills with bad side effects. Meaning the wall and shield I erected have little to no use. However, the sealing wasn't lifted, indicating as long as he lived, those skills would be unusable. I attempted conquest but nothing happened.
I have to kill him without dying myself, something that seemed simple prior has turned challenging.
Opening up Item Box, I grabbed 10 of the compressed earth spheres that were filled to the brim with power. Each had akin to 10,000 points, meaning I had a collective total of 100,000 points if you don't count the other four in storage. Unfortunately, I cannot raise my total stats, only fill them upon losing all my magic each time. Soulful Solomon is necessary for these steps after all.
Setting these earth capsules on the floor, I used humanification for the first time. My body shrunk, and my previous four-legged body converted into the typical bipedal form.
Except I was on my knees and palms similar to a dog right now.
From what I can tell, this is exactly like my previous body before reincarnation, except I can tell the muscular definition was comparable and better than when I stayed in the white room. I did slack on training for a year at ANHS after all. I situated myself into a sitting position and lifted my arm, looking at the back of my hand and then flipping it over to my palm. As I clenched my hand shut and opened it again, I was renewed with the dexterity of the human body.
The downside is that my field of view shrunk and I didn't have wings to-
Ah, as I thought about wings, a set sprouted right out of the middle of my back. I moved them and it was the same feeling as when I was a griffin, like I had 6 limbs. Retracting the wings back, they disappeared, shrinking under my skin without a trace.
My hair seemed the same as I ran my hand through it. It was even still styled in my standard curtain cut. While I couldn't see my face, I activated pan optic vision and it was exactly the same, maybe except for my eye color. They feel more of a platinum shade, although that may be a byproduct of having Panoptic Vision on.
The only striking detail was my feet. They were bird talons and there were feathers up to my knee. Improved scratching skills as well as. grasping ability, so I don't necessarily mind. If I want to hide them though, it would be rather bothersome. Upon looking at my legs, I also noticed my member since I was stark naked. As a chicken, even when I was a male, I didn't have my package. Chickens evolved to have an internal one after all, but the confirmation that I was a male was nice. Clothes aren't a necessity though but I should still have a minute to spare with the process I have in mind.
I'll check up on Kumoko after all of this, she might be panicking that Kei crumbled out of nowhere when running away with her...
Making a pile of the capsule right in front of me, I slammed my hand down with heavy enhancement and impact enhancement, causing all to crumble, releasing the energy. That is what I would do if it wasn't strong enough to blow up a city block. Instead, I had to activate Soulfull Solomon and forcibly draw and control the power from one ball at a time.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the sensation of energy different from that of magic and forced it inside my body, more accurately my soul. Fortunately, I'm allowed to alter my soul even with Heresy Nullification due to my ruler skill. Forcing the energy and compressing it smaller once again, I zoomed in on the arrangement of the skill I was searching for, parallel mind. Same as before, skills are like the atomic arrangements of elements, with a core in the center, with rings on the outside. These rings each hold ten "atoms" however, instead of the standard 2 then 8.
These represented each tier of the skill and levels that went with it. Parallel thinking progresses into Parallel Minds, which also has ten levels. As tricky as it may seem, I have to force-create another ring. While removing a level might be more simple, there's a chance it could reset all the parallel minds and I need more assistance here due to the deactivated thought acceleration.
Forcing the energy to lap around the second ring in a loop, I tried maintaining it's shape and luckily, help came.
|Be honored by my presence again, let me grab the energy of another capsule!|
It's the narcissist...
Nonetheless, as I kept the ring in shape, he brought more energy which completed a level in said ring, allowing it to stabilize more. I still had to monitor it though and another one of my previous parallel minds came back it seems.
/I'll help too then./
You make it sound like our lives aren't on the line.
They brought over another two spheres of compressed energy and placed it on the ring again, forming 3 levels.
{Finally, being sealed off was rather annoying. I want to make this cavern collapse...}
<Deal with it in a nice way. No need to throw tantrum. Vent by helping.>
{Tch, I was already planning to anyway.}
Angry Koji is acting more delinquent-like...
They all brought back 4 more capsules and by adding to the ring, we achieved seven levels
[Whoops, was this about letting that fire spell burn off our feathers while we trained?]
;It's probably the amount of work we are doing without a break. Maybe all of us took a nap;
~Ohayo...~
:Why are you two following along with Troll Koji? Let's hurry this up, I want to go show Kumoko our asset.:
|/{[~<What. >~]}/|
;...kys...;
Hey now...
<Don't Do That>
:Don't worry, none of us are that dumb:
/That's a flag, isn't it?/
Finally, they brought the last three and placed it in the ring. From there, all helping me keep it steady as it suddenly began to shake, the cells flattened and created a solid floor for the ring, in a similar fashion to Nullification skills.
"New Skill,『Parallel Domain』was created"
"『Parallel Minds LV10』 has evolved into 『Parallel Domain』"
"Conditions met. Title, 『Skill Creator』 acquired"
Oh?
"By the effects of the title 『Skill Creator』, skills 『Skill Elimination』and『Defiance』 were acquired"
A skill that removes all of my skills and a skill that deflects 20% of the damage I take. The second is definitely more useful.
"『Parallel Domain』: At the expense of 25,000 magic points, you can create another parallel mind. Anything you want to do in a mental space is possible in a manner similar to a lucid dream. The base amount of extra minds is 12."
Meaning I can experiment in that space while being safe? Also, 2 new minds mean-
# HEY EVERYONE, I'M NEW HERE! YOU CAN CALL ME-#
Shut the hell up and get to work.
# H-hey! That isn't my na-#
Work. Now.
#...#
It seems like a weird hybrid Genki personality formed. The mind that took a lot of stress to create, the one that reactivated and evolved my skill, seems to be vastly different than the rest. It's like a baby that was spun around in the womb a bit too much. And the voice of it was female too...?
But I felt an odd sense that they were definitely male still.
Well, I should get decent minds now that the hard process is completed.
The other new one should be better too correct? As the other took the brunt of being dropped on it's head.
They appear to be working on the assignment already. Able to see them all at once now due to the empty space Parallel Domain created, I was slightly baffled. The second new one was smarter than the former, but it was a girl.
The former is indeed a male, just has a feminine voice and frame...
It isn't going to be a lottery when I make a new mind right...?
Getting to work myself instead of assessing the new workers, I began to look at the progress they made. The shield dome barrier was lifted and we had 2 minutes left before our souls were destroyed. We stood directly over the kirn, although with our human size, even when it laid down it was 3/4 of our height. Our hand was placed on the near corpse and extremely focused on it's skill list.
Falling Together was a recently constructed skill, meaning Babel does not have the arrangement on it. Given it's features though, it seems my mind already found the supposed skill. At the moment, they were all thinking with their entire consciousness, shifting the skill safely out of the kirin into us. In that case, the kirin wouldn't be seen as a holder anymore, meaning we would be exempt from soul destruction. Focusing my own conscious, I safely held back anything else from flowing out and refilled the gap with the other skills, that way they didn't rubberband, possibly destroying his soul early.
Finishing my step early along with NerdKoji and Sloth Koji, the others moved the skill away from Yagami's soul and focused on incorporating it into our own.
Once settled into our own, we had 30 seconds left before his soul was consumed. Unfortunately, taking away Wish Upon a Star isn't viable as it already disappeared and is probably the catalyst causing his soul to deconstruct. Because of that, it wouldn't be wise to fully absorb a soul that is about to implode into your own soul, as it may do the same.
This means just killing Yagami would have to suffice.
We will still get all of the skills, just won't acquire 80% of the stats and any of the skill points. Since the core of his soul is left behind, that still will be inevitably the target.
With next to none mana left, a physical blow would have to do. Reactivating all my skills besides the sealed ones that I couldn't, I grabbed one of his legs, my grip unrelenting, and threw his body in the air. Then jumping up quickly, I kicked him with Impact Enhancement, sending him flying, dead before he hit the ground on a different platform.
;We should find out how it tastes later. The flavor might shock us.;
...
# AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA-#
...
^... Is there a way to make a prison?^
The female mind spoke what a lot of us had in mind. With thought acceleration back and the fight over, we definitely have time to spare.
Looking into the parallel domain, I imagined an impenetrable room and went up to Clown Koji and the other annoying new one, dragging them by the collars of their shirts, then threw them into the pitch-black room.
Stay there for a bit.
Since I have complete control over my multiple minds, they had to oblige, meaning they can't escape even if all of us have free will over this place.
{Can I add an annoying sound to the room?}
/I'll add a camera./
^What about making it spin?^
All my other minds thought of different things and it was added to the room. The building spun at a revolution per second and was filled with a fork scraping against a plate noise. There was a screen above, showing the faces of its occupants. Clownkoji looked mildly confused and the other was on the verge of a mental breakdown, vomiting while holding their ears.
# All I- BLREHFHH- did was... BLAFEUF... Laugh...#
...
I looked to my side at the blood-covered man and sighed, feeling some remorse for the girly boy.
...
Take them out in an hour.
[Hai.]
...
Focusing myself back on my body, swapping out with Horny Koji who temporarily controlled it, the skills kept flowing through, Voice-san mentioning it all. At the end of all the skills taken through Soulfull Solomon, Greed took the Resistance stat.
"Conditions met. Title, 『Ruler Of Envy』 acquired"
"By the effects of the title 『Ruler Of Envy』, skills 『Root Of Evil』and『Divine Scales LV 10』 were acquired"
Envy was also acquired and, as expected...
"Individial, Griffin LV19, has leveled up to, Griffin LV20"
"Individial, Griffin LV20, can now evolve."
Evolution, but before I do so, I should meet up with Kumoko again. Of course, I have enough morals to go back there clothed. The issue is the Magical Clothes skill Kei had was one of the two that didn't carry over to me. This means I would have to buy it myself. Pulling up the list of skills I could buy, a lot have vanished seeing as I have them already.
The ruler skills were 100,000 + with the exception of Sloth now at 50,000. I had around 70,000 so while I could purchase it and still have a healthy amount, I don't see it necessary for me in particular to acquire it. Passing through, I found Magical Clothes, a small amount of 300 points and I proceeded to initiate the buying process.
"Number of skill points currently in possession: 69,420. Number of skill points required to acquire skill 『Magical Clothes』: 300. Acquire skill?"
Yes.
"Error."
...
Looking at Magical Clothes again, the previous 300 had 3 zeros added to the back of it.
300,000...
An administrator is messing with me.
Well, I need to regain a bit of my magic anyway so I'll wait to have enough to teleport and switch back to my other form. Opening my wings from my back, I began to fly in the direction I shot the Kirin's body and landed right next to it. Red SP doesn't gain through level-ups, meaning I am quite hungry at the moment.
It's better to eat food fresh than later right? I normally might delay it a bit so the body decomposes slightly in this world, but there's no need for that anymore. I already have nullification for both corrosion and poison, making that unnecessary. Cupping my hand, I activated cutting enhancement, peeling all the blue scales of the kirin's body. Now that I think about it, wouldn't dragon scales be pretty important?
Storing all the scales in the item box, I cut off the horn and mane of hair as well, storing it similarly. Digging into the flesh with my hand, I pull out a bite-sized clump and put it in my mouth, chewing it with the teeth I haven't had in a while. The taste is more vivid with a human mouth, or perhaps that's how gamey this meat is...
Kicking the body into lava, I dived right in after it and threw it out after a minute had elapsed. Take two, is this better when cooked? I dug my hand into the charred outer skin but tender insides of the food and popped it into my mouth, chewing it.
This is terrible.
I do have around 130 bodies lying around, 40 of which are catfish. Picking all those up should be the priority, I can feed the kirin to the eggs that are about to hatch. Putting the Kirin corpse away, I flew to the place where the initial battle took place and began rounding up all the bodies, swimming through lava to get some that sunk. Having all of them now, I teleported, picking up the large cobra body. While there, I opened up my nest on the cliff ledge and threw Yagami's Corpse in there. Sealing it again, I teleported to where Rend and the Wyrm's bodies were.
Finally, once all was set, I converted back into my Griffin form. My body expanded, a light emanating from me, and my eye level was raised higher. Now in a form that raises fewer questions, I teleported to Kumoko whom I saw on the map. A rogue Upper Fire Wyrm had attacked her after Kei died and Kumoko became triumphant like she did the others.
She jumped slightly, probably sensing the distortion in space from my teleport, and relaxed slightly when she saw me. She did look a tad bit distraught though, possibly due to Kei's death she witnessed. However, she's less affected by it than I would've imagined as an indication of sadness is not even popping up in her status. Instead, calm, was all that was there. Moving on from that though, she was shivering in fear slightly. The new title seems to be affecting even on an ally.
Good for her though, she'll raise her fear and faint resistance from it.
{Kumoko, would you like to evolve first? I'll keep wat-}
As I proposed an offer, my danger sense stood on all ends as a spatial distortion happened right behind me. However, the danger slowly dissipated, as I felt no hostile intent from whoever was coming. The magic is extremely complicated indicating the individual is one of high intelligence and capability. All that is here is the two of us, meaning they most likely need us for something.
The crack in space opens and a lone dark man appears, donned in armor that almost appears to be skin given how tight it is to his body. The only skin he showed was a portion of his face, the rest of it covered in a helmet. His eyes were a glowing red his skin tone a charcoal tan, his gaze looking between Kumoko and me.
I could tell I wouldn't be able to beat him and even with appraisal, I got a simple Cannot be Appraised result. This is an administrator. Taboo mentioned them but only briefly, not in detail at all. This man was described in a way. As said before though, despite his overwhelming strength, I don't feel in danger at all. Whether he can mask his killing intent perfectly or he's here not to harm us, I couldn't tell.
"Were you two the ones who killed Rend and the new Lightning Dragon?"
With the sudden question, I'm left dumbfounded if he came here just for that. Logically thinking, they both had Champion in their titles, and that can only be gained by having an administrator nominate you. Were they his champions? I looked back at Kumoko, who had her head tilted as if she were looking at a three-headed fish.
She can't understand this world's human language yet I suppose.
Perhaps due to our long pause of not answering, he asked in another language, demon to be precise.
"Were you two the ones who killed Rend and the new Lightning Dragon?"
{Rend and a Lightning Dragon?}
"Yes, so you can understand this language. Good. What about the spider? Are they not fluent?"
{They are not, hence their extreme confusion. We did encounter and defeat those two as well.}
"I see, it's been a while since a dragon has died, and the two of you have 3 ruler skills each and a strange skill at that... Was this D's doing?"
At the mention of D, a smartphone dropped out of nowhere from the sky. The teleportation spell was so fast I could hardly even process it happened.
"Yes Güliedistodiez, they are reincarnated from another world. The past Demon Lord and Hero foolishly attempted to attack me, causing a building full of people to die."
An extremely soothing yet unnerving voice came through the phone, that which belonged to a woman. She spoke in a tone, unable for me to glean any emotions, similar to my own in a way. As I stood there, listening to her words, I could only guess that she was in that building, ANHS, if it was hit because of her.
"Ms. Spider, please wait a moment. You as well Mr. Chicken."
D, spoke in Japanese for Kumoko to understand. However... Mr. Chicken...?
...
An extremely small barrier was erected between the two administrators as they talked, nothing leaking out to us. Kumoko and I watched their conversation, the expression changes of the man for the most part. After a minute had passed, Güliedistodiez heaved a sigh and walked away, teleporting to wherever he came from. The smartphone is still here with us, the barrier dropped and I can almost sense her changing her focus on us.
"Thank you for waiting. I've had a word with my friend there, so he shouldn't be bothering you two anymore."
Understood.
[Oh, I see.]
Is that Kumoko speaking?
[Huh, why are you speaking to me now Mc. Chicken? Wait, smartphone person, who are you anyway?]
...
"I am D."
[Oh okay... Wait, what?! Did you just read my mind?!]
"Yes. I did. 'Mc. Chicken', over there can hear you too."
[Wha? That's an invasion of privacy!]
...
[I didn't mean the name but why can't I hear his thoughts right now either?!]
"I wouldn't normally read your thoughts and I can't give his thoughts. He's thinking too many things at once right now for you to even make sense of it. It accelerated when you called him Mc. Chicken too, thinks I'm picking up some murderous intent in there."
[I'm sorry! It was just a joke! Also, normally means you have been monitoring us right?!}
Kumoko really is animated in her head and yes, D has been. I'm surprised Kumoko hasn't realized it already.
"It's more like spectating in a way."
Same thing, still a stalker.
"I suppose. I simply never get tired of watching you two."
[D... Now I remember. I heard that name when I got the Wisdom skill.]
Kumoko received a gift as well?
"Yes. That was a reward for how hard you've worked. I'm pleased you seem to be making such effective use of it."
[So what's your goal here?]
"Amusement, that's all."
[Huh? That's it?]
"Simple amusement, nothing more. I have no deeper motives or purpose than that."
[Seriously?]
"Yes. After all, I am this world's most evil god."
[Everything about this sounds absurd, but for some reason, it doesn't seem like you're lying. It's like I really am hearing the thoughts of an evil god who thinks of me as a plaything or something but bears me no ill will. Given how much my body is shaking of its own accord, I guess I might believe that the person speaking is an evil god.]
Kumoko is quite skilled at investigating, or maybe D was waiting for this moment, and is easy for us to explore more about this world.
"Of course I am. As an evil god, nothing pleases me more than watching people struggle and suffer."
[Then was this whole world made for your entertainment?]
"I'm afraid not. From this world's point of view, I am an outsider."
Speaking to someone you know can kill you in a second like that is rather risky, but I suppose there wouldn't be much of a point for us to die as we are her entertainment.
[What's that supposed to mean?]
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you anymore. If you knew everything, it would be quite boring... Please continue to entertain me by struggling with everything you have. Perhaps you'll find the answers you're looking for. I'll talk to Mc. Chicken here now."
Seemingly making the call directed at me only, cutting Kumoko out of the loop, Administrator D began speaking to me.
"Now Kiyotaka, I'm going to continue obstructing extreme things you may do, being too strong wouldn't make things too fun. Of course, I'll make an opponent for you here and there; much like the envious reincarnation that was hell-bent on killing you."
So he was your champion instead? The skills did feel a bit like another reincarnation's skills but he doesn't have anything to absorb them.
"Well, I gave him the unique skill from such reincarnations he killed. That was the only way he could've matched you, without directly altering his stats of course. The battle gave me a lot of satisfaction though, you even altered and created a new skill, congratulations. Had you failed, the middle stratum might have collapsed as a whole, so well done on that. Two of my favorite players would've died. I didn't expect you to cancel out the skill like that, thought you would either kill him and fight against the system or just destroy the skill and take the energy from it."
Well, anyone with appraisal is going to think before killing me now. If it targets the soul, the body used doesn't matter if they are within the system. Also, why did you provide me with Diverge and Exhaustion Nullification if you wanted me to suffer a lot?
"I half expected you to die, and I had to compress your soul somewhere else, otherwise you would've bought the entire skill shop right off the bat with the 200,000 skill points."
Fair point. I take it you reincarnated me as a chicken so I could struggle?
"You could say that. Anyway, hope you face a lot more challenges. I'm not letting you get magical clothes, so try dressing yourself up before Ms. Spider thinks you're even crazier."
Why would she think I'm-
"The moment you sat in boiling water and jumped into lava is the moment she lost faith in your sanity."
...
"Oh, I'm going to leave you able to view her thoughts whenever you try talking to her telepathically since she is on the shy side. Let this be a gift for the fun fight you showed me. Bye-bye then."
Then, the phone disappeared faster than I could notice it was gone as if it was never here in the first place.
{Kumoko, want to evolve now? I'll stand guard.}
[Why is this guy acting so nonchalantly like nothing happened now? I was shaking, my fear level rose one... I'm really questioning why he was reincarnated as a chicken when he has the nerves of a lion.]
{I'll take that as a compliment then.}
[Huh?! Why can you still read my mind? If I was a cute girl right now I swear I'd scream, 'Kiyotaka no ecchi!']
{I find it hard to imagine someone who doesn't even speak to scream. Also, D left it to me as a parting gift, I don't have control over it when I talk to you. Either way, this is preferable that way I don't have to worry about you being completely silent.}
[It's embarrassing though you know? Does privacy not exist in this world?!]
{I don't think there is particularly a law for it, it's more of a moral and comfort thing in this world.}
[Then stop reading my mind!]
{Complain to D about it.}
[Dear Administrator D, please heed my wish and get this psychopath out of my head.]
{I can still hear you, you know?}
[She's probably laughing at me right now! That evil god!]
{I don't think she's capable of laughing though?}
[Who knows? She's probably like you though, monotone as a robot.]
{People who don't express emotions have the upper hand in a lot of things in any society. I was like this since birth too, not as if I can become super emotional all of a sudden. Matter of fact, are you one to talk? Whenever you were at school, you were completely quiet and the 3 times you did speak, you showed no emotion either.}
[Wha-?! Were you stalking me or something, are all apathetic people weird creatures or something?]
{Well, you did catch my interest, or rather the whole school's. Stop calling yourself out too.}
[Is that why a lot of people were trying to bother me? That I was bullied by a few people?]
{:You were only bullied because they were jealous of your godly looks and your gyat to squeeze assets:}
[You perverted piece of sh-]
{My apologies, one of my parallel minds spoke out of turn. You have some too right? You should know. No need to get aggressive.}
Kiyone, throw HornyKoji in prison, please.
^With pleasure. Mind if I throw NarcKoji in? He was confronting me about selfcest just now.^
...
Please do.
...
[You should all share the same thought patterns though, meaning you thought something similar right?]
{There was a reason you were designated as the most beautiful girl in school, and no, my minds all have different traits to them.}
[I wasn't beautiful, and the minds are fragments of the original. If they are vastly different, something's wrong.]
{I wouldn't be surprised if D messed with them now that we're on that subject}
[How many do you have anyway, I don't see the skill.]
{12, excluding mine.}
[... Isn't the limit supposed to be 10?]
{Keep on improving it, it should be possible to raise to a new tier after parallel minds now.}
[Oh, parallel domain? Eh, what's with all these new cheat skills?! Why are your stats so high? Oi, what are you, hacking?]
{No, I simply took the skills off of whoever I kill, same with the portion of the stats.}
[Well isn't that a cheat skill, this isn't balanced at all!]
{Well, to be fair, I reincarnated as a normal chicken in this cave. My health was a 12th of your initial health, same with all my other stats.}
[...How did you survive then, aren't just-born spiders supposed to be the weakest in the cave?]
{No sleep, training, and dropping a rock off a cliff on your sibling's face.}
[Give me your skills then, surely you have some to spare? You can already take out Mother, Sharing is caring after all... Oh... Kei ended up dying and you killed her I'm guessing...? I see her skills in your status...]
I could feel Kumoko tensing up a bit as she noticed something amiss.
{My opponent planted an explosive on her with the Implants skill I now have and was about to kill her to gain a level for himself to heal. My best bet was to kill Kei since I wasn't able to save her, otherwise I may have died along with her. Trust me though, she's in a better place now.}
[I see... I'm going to miss her. Kei-chan was real fun, unlike a certain someone...]
{Hey.}
[You practically made us travel tens of miles around this labyrinth with little break and then told us to constantly practice... We gotta take breaks you know?!]
{If we took a break, we would've died to the Kirin we saw earlier, I myself barely scraped by in the beginning. It sealed my important attack skill, a processing skill of mine, and then also a resistance skill it was efficient in.}
[Sealing skills is possible, what the heck is with that?! If they sealed my web, I'd be powerless...]
{They also acquired a skill last minute via administrator request, and their soul was on a countdown to destruction from overusing another skill. Appraise Falling Together.}
[Hm... The holder dies, the attacker dies too... isn't that really cheap? If anyone kills you, they die with you no matter what. How'd you escape?]
{I pulled the skill from their body after they became brain-dead.}
[...You skipped too many steps there. What do you mean brain dead and took skill, I thought you only do that when you kill them?!]
{I controlled the skill to come out of its body and into my own. It's a rather complex process though and rather rough to do other things while doing so. Anyway, I suggest eating first before evolution now, your SP is low enough.}
[I'm starvinnnnnng. Hey, let's go back and get some catfish, I saw a lot back there!]
In response to her request, I placed 4 catfish out of my inventory to which she just stared at, beginning to drool.
[Say you already gathered them earlier! Catfish are the best! A perfect balance of all the five flavors! Oh, did you get the lightning deer look-]
{I'd rather not talk about it... the taste was comparable to an Elroe Gastruch.}
[Huh, what's that?]
{You haven't seen one yet? You should try it sometime, it helps raise corrosion resistance.}
[The fact that food and a resistance like that are paired together in the first place is mortifying, what the hell did you eat?!]
{An Elroe Gastruch.}
[I know that but why?!}
{To raise resistance. I only list half my health while doing so, it's fine.}
[Losing health from eating shouldn't be classified as fine... anywho, I'm going to start eating!]
{Got it. I'll begin as well.}
As we began to eat in silence, I still heard Kumoko's thoughts which simply put, was continuous praising of the food.
I didn't bother to comment on it until she finished off with, [That was Yummy, I want to try pork, beef, and chicken again though. Maybe Mc. Chicken would cut off a leg for me to eat?]
{No.}
[Gah! Don't speak so suddenly, why can you still hear my thoughts too?! I thought you said it was only when you used telepathy?]
{I left it on, catfish enthusiast. You have quite an extensive vocabulary when it comes to food, glutton.}
[Are you calling me fat?! Hmph, I don't gain weight, unlike someone who overeates and became the size of a truck. I still remember that centipede incident!]
{I'd be surprised if you didn't, it was only two weeks ago. You should train your memory skills more along with your perception skills. The higher they are, the faster you learn and can raise proficiency for other skills.}
[I felt like you were insulting me but then you gave good advice, conflicting me... you may have won the battle but you haven't won the war!]
{... What are you talking about...?}
Heaving a sigh, I placed down the 5th completely eaten body of a wyrm and turned to Kumoko.
{I'm going to evolve now, you should eat a bit more while I do so.}
[Haiiiiii. First you call me fat then you tell me to eat more, what do you even want?!]
{Here, another catfish.}
[Yay! Don't mind if I do!]
As Kumoko immediately began chowing down on the wyrm, I stepped a slight distance away and began my evolution.
"There are multiple choices of evolution. Please choose from the following.
High Griffin
Chimera
Cockatrice"
This time around, I only had three options.
A high Griffin, basically a superior Griffin. A chimera, a fire-breathing monster that has a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Finally, I had the option of a cockatrice, a dragon of sorts. It has a chicken head, dragon wings, and a scaled body with a pointy snake tail.
Knowing my choice of the three already, I initiated the evolution.
"Individual, Griffin, is now evolving into Cockatrice"
...
: A pointy tail for penetra-:
Go back to prison.
...
The usually calm stone interior where we evolved was now a magma landscape with bubbling lava and an obnoxiously loud eater chewing away.
Yet for some reason, I felt calm for the first time in a while. My mind kept lingering back to Queen Taratect's status though...
Who is she seeking help from?
Status of the Dead Two:
Status of Kiyo and Kumoko
Let me know if I missed something, especially on the latter 2!
~Author's Note~
Hello all, hope you enjoyed this chappie a ton! 10.3k words with a hella long fight scene~!
A bit faster upload time than the last, eh?
hehehehe.
As per usual...
Join the discord server for updates and suggestions you may have!
https://discord.gg/pCxtEJtzC2
Anywho, with that said, bai bai!
