5 Foundation Paths
*You've killed a Golden Level Creature - Queen Itchy Bug.
*You've gained 6379 experience points.
As he came to the destruction site, all the trees and grasses were obliterated, leaving a wide expanse of broken earth.
The small twig-sized legs of the Silver Level Itchy Bugs were scattered around. Their bodies had already blasted out, except the Queen bug.
Its red body looked like a ruby, giving out scintillating lights. Its girth, the fusion of two adult heads. As Drake touched it, he exclaimed, "This sure gives me plenty of money."
"Receive"
It went to his inventory.
"Onwards to the next journey. My first quest to myself, kill all the beasts in my way to the next destination. To the Clear Lake!" Drake had already planned for his adventure.
The Clear Lake, famous for bronze level fishes. Since he was a kid, he dreaded Iron Level Creatures that caused a havoc in Earth during the Beast War. He never thought, he could even kill silver level creatures like chickens.
Arriving on the Clear Lake, the time was already dawn. Now that the sun started to rise, the Progressors would start to energetically hunt, because the nighttime was considered as "Nightmare".
All of the powerful creatures would roam at night. The best example were the Itchy Bugs, a group of Silver Level Creatures and even a Golden Level queen bug. Drake instead, treated it as a "pasttime".
He was cleansing the dried blood that stuck on his skin. He mentally said, "System, where can I see my magic damage output?"
"Host only need to focus on the Intelligence or particularly each corresponding stat, which is found at character menu." The system replied.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Drake shook his head. "Character Menu"
[Level 11]
[Strength: 50]
[Agility: 50]
[Intelligence: 143]
[Endurance: 47]
[Attribute points: 0]
"Okay, then I need to focus each of the four stats" Drake focused on the Endurance.
A tab appeared and showed:
[Attack Damage: 150 - 175]
[Magic Damage: 429 - 500.50]
[Defense: 94]
[HP Recovery: 11.75 (117.5)]
[MP Recovery: 35.75 (357.5)]
[Critical Attack Damage: 75]
[Critical Magic Damage: 214.5]
[Attack Speed: 0.3s]
[Reaction Speed: 0.1s]
[Movement Speed: 10m/1s]
"I'm really that strong huh... I understand in "battle mode", I'm regenerating 11.75 HP per second and 117.50 if "not". But what is Critical Attack Damage or Critical Magic Damage?" Drake asked, baffled.
"Critical Attack Damage (CAD) is directly proportional to your STR stat. The more your STR, the more your CAD is. Everytime your attack gets a critical damage, the CAD will be added. Its core use was to deal "pure damage", no matter how high the target's defense or resistance. The same protocol goes for Critical Magic Damage." The system replied in his mind.
"Okay, I'll test it." Drake approached a boulder. He wanted to confirm it.
A non-living thing was unable to portray an HP bar unless Drake focused on it. As he casted his eyes on the boulder lying in the middle of this 125 meter wide lake, for a while, a green HP bar came out.
[Boulder]
[500/500 HP]
Drake stood weirdly on the spot. He stared at its HP, truly at 500. He then looked at his own, also at 500/500 HP.
"I have the same health points as a boulder. But it doesn't imply that I've got higher defense than a stone. So if I punched it alright, it would never broke." Drake nodded confidently.
He punched it.
"Swoosh" His fist made a swift sound, describing its speed.
A red number came out from the boulder: (73)
The boulder was dented, cracked in the area of his attack. The boulder's HP became 427/500.
"It never broke." Drake nodded again. His confidence in his wisdom rose.
"My damage is around between 150 to 175. To get a 74 damage, it meant that my damage was greatly reduced by the boulder's sturdy defense." Drake thought out loud. "So if I hit a critical point?"
Drake eyed the middle of the boulder. 'That would be the critical point'
He ushered his fist towards it, creating a bellow of wind.
"Bang"
The stone cracked apart and blew up some of its shattered parts. The river's water greatly fluctuated from the stong impact.
A bloodred number came out: {237}
[Boulder]
[190/500 HP]
Its HP bar turned color red, indicating it was near at its Fatal HP.
"For a critical damage, my attack damage is multiplied by two. If it is lessened by the boulder's defense, the whole damage should be about 162." Drake spoke wisely.
"CAD will not be decreased by any defenses because it deals "pure damage."
"My CAD is 75... After adding it to the critical damage, which is 162, it will result at the current damage, which is 237."
Drake was enlightened. "CAD is very deadly because it gives pure damage. The only disadvantage is that it can only come out during critical hits."
Drake was brimming with confidence. Not only to his strength but to his wisdom. It was not his fault to be in a bliss for just a minor thing. It was just that recently, he was a total dumb person. He could not complete simple mathematics problems without hard thinking.
He was amazed at his new self. He uncontrollably said, "Is this still me?"
Proud, he left the river and didn't continue mashing up the boulder. As he surfaced, he sat on the ground, humming cheerfully.
"Its was a wonderful thing to be a player. I have infinite inventory." After speaking the word inventory, the inventory tab appeared on his vision.
He scrolled it and found hundreds of Iron Level various insects, five Iron Level Strawberry Rabbits, and twenty Iron Level Mucus Frogs.
For bronze level creatures, there were Mushroom Snake which was already half-eaten, five Swamp Boars, and a Long-Tail deer.
For silver level creatures, a Craved Panther and a Bane Cow. For golden level creatures, it was only the Queen Itchy Bug.
There were only so, for silver and golden creatures. For him to encounter such creatures in a single night, it was either good luck or bad luck.
He classified them into iron, bronze, silver, gold, and another for miscellaneous. In that way, it was arranged in a proper order. In miscellaneous, he focused on sleeveless shirt, short jeans, and blue rubber shoes.
Just like a game, a tab appeared.
[Equip]
[Destroy]
[Send]
He "equipped" those clothes and the particular three items in the inventory were replaced by the changed clothes. In equipping, it was instant change and will not provide a moment of scenery such as portraying a nude person.
The items in his inventory were described, "Wet Shirt, Wet Short, Wet Socks, Wet Shoes"
'Time is frozen in the inventory?' Drake thought. As that speculation must be true, he changed his focus on the golden Itchy Bug.
He "sent" it out and Drake intentionally sent it to the ground. And to his prediction, its legs pierced the hard ground.
"Boom" The ground let out a quake from the weight of the bug.
"Such small size and you weigh that much?" Drake uttered out.
"Anyway, Fire ball." He scorched it and made a burnt meat of it.
Finally, the aroma of a delicious meat in comparison to the whiffs from the food created by famous chefs, entered through his nostrils.
After a very short while, he was now having a breakfast of bug food.
"This skin is hard like metal but it tastes like a lolipop. Okay then, I'll shaped it into a circle and have a bug lolipop."
"What is this black thing? Intestines? My first time seeing an insect innards. In earth, insects are too small, I can't have a look."
"Smells like fish mixed with chicken sauce. It felt weird but it was extremely delicious. Golden creatures are the best."
His voices trailed off in the wind as he accustomed himself in gorging a bug delicacy. After eating more than half of it, the system's voice spoke in his mind.
*Golden Level Creature - 1 point gained
His muscles surged with strength, his wisdom widened, his senses heightened, his constitution became stronger.
In a reflex, he spoke, "Character Menu"
[Level 11]
[Strength: 66]
[Agility: 66]
[Intelligence: 159]
[Endurance: 63]
[Attribute points: 0]
"What?! An increment of 16 points for each stat?!" He uncontrollably exclaimed.
"Yes. By gene's system protocol in stats conversion, you gain 16 increments each for STR, AGI, INT, END equally for a Golden Level Creature." The system answered Drake's unintentional question.
Drake remembered he got 2 points each for his stat devouring the flesh of a Bronze Level Creature, the Mushroom Snake. He couldn't help but ask, "Then why I only got 2 points for the Mushroom Snake?"
"The amount of increments to be gained, depends on the quality of the creatures. It starts at the following:" The system showed a tab in Drake's vision.
[Iron Level Creature = 1]
[Bronze Level Creature = 2]
[Silver Level Creature = 4]
[Golden Level Creature = 16]
[Platinum Level Creature = 256]
[Diamond Level Creature = 65336]
[Adamantium Level Creature = 4268792896]
After seeing the unreasonable numbers at the last level, Drake blurted out, "What stupid numbers are those?"
"Adamantium Level Creatures were the guardians of this world, totaling for 6 mythical creatures: Heavenly Dragon of the Heavens, Earthly Tiger of the Hell, Turtle Serpent of the Ocean, Crimson Phoenix of the Land, Golden Crow of the Sky, and Wooden Treant of the Nature. As pets of the higher beings, the numbers are natural." The system replied.
"Huh? Pets?" Drake was dazed. "Even their pets are unreasonably powerful. How can I hold a candle to them, much more, to avenge?"
"Yes. Host couldn't take a candle and cannot avenge with your current strength." By Drake's question, the system replied in its usual robotic's tone.
"I didn't ask you for that! You've got a terrible habit to answer any question even when its unintentional. How can I ask someone this time?" Hearing the system salty words, he was angered.
"Trigger a topic and speak a sentence with a rising intonation." The system replied.
"You-- " Drake wanted to point at his system in annoyance. But it was in his mind. He cancelled that distracting thought.
"I'm just starting my path, I don't believe I'm that powerless. I am confident that with my game system, I'll evolve to become a god." Drake's eyes flickered determinedly.
He concentrated his thoughts on the creatures' power rankings in this world.
In his research on the internet, people only encountered creatures at Iron level until Platinum level. There was nothing on Diamond Level and much more importantly, the unbelievable Adamantium Level. Perhaps, he couldn't trust any information aside from his system's archives.
"System, state my current realm in the gene's system protocol." Drake ordered.
The system didn't state its words but presented a tab instead.
[Mortal Realm]
[Iron Level Creature = 0/10 (0/550)]
[Bronze Level Creature = 1/10 (0/550)]
[Silver Level Creature = 0/10 (0/550)]
[Golden Level Creature = 1/10 (0/550)]
[Platinum Level Creature = 0/10 (0/550)]
[Diamond Level Creature = 0/10 (0/550)]
[Adamantium Level Creature = 0/10 (0/550)]
There are ten stages before ascending to the next realm. Drake was still at the first stage. In order to attain the 2nd path, he must evolve.
To evolve, a person must require 10 points of a specific level. This meant that a person who evolved with 10 points of Iron level creature, he would have the same strength as the Iron Level Creature, and be in the 2nd stage.
Likewise, if a person evolved with 10 points of Iron Level and Bronze Level Creatures, he would have the strength of one Iron and one Silver Creature, and be in the 2nd stage.
If Drake must raise himself supreme, he must set a perfect foundation. But that would be likely impossible. A perfect foundation required killing an Adamantium Level Creature.
'That would be suicide!' Drake mentally shouted. 'I can only set my dreams on having full Diamond Level Creature points.'
Looking at the numbers with columns such as (0/550), Drake asked, "What's that?"
If the system had visual connection with him, it must understood him. And as expected, it answered.
"That is the perfect foundation to ascend into the next realm immediately without impurities." The system said.
"Ascend into the next realm immediately? What impurities?" Drake asked in consternation.
"For the first evolution, there was no impurities. But continuous evolution will accumulate the impurities gained by the absorption of creatures' genes. To enter to the next realm in perfect foundation, one must ascend during the first evolution." The system said.
"I see. Evolution means transmutation from the absorption of creature's genes. And it is unavoidable to absorb without impurities." Drake spoke his thoughts. "However, if one evolves from first stage to 2nd stage, the body is still a clean slate. It must be because it is the first transmutation and transformed the essence of the body."
"So when the essence finished its transformation, it will now be stable and compact. Hence, when absorbing genes, it will not be fully absorbed and will leave some impurities. Thus, when one evolves from the 2nd stage until the last stage, the impurities will accumulate." Drake had an epiphany.
However, his expression swiftly turned to a frown. He spoke his thoughts, "The reason why there are ten stages of the mortal realm is that a person is like a vessel. When absorbing the creature's genes, it can only sustain a limit of 10 for each level of the creature."
"It is like a storage with classifications. For example, there is a container that holds three cans. One can is for copper coins, the other is for silver coins, and the last is for gold coins. Each can, can only sustain about a hundred coins. If it will extend more than the limit, it will overflow and spread to the container."
"Each coin had its weight and if it falls to the container, it will produce a sound because of the strong impact. If the container is a human, he will experience extreme pain and die in self-implosion. System, how can one achieve perfect foundation?" Drake asked in bafflement.
"It required a strong vessel. In host's deduction, only mortals were part of your equation. Host neglected an existence higher than mortal beings." The system replied.
"Oh." A realization struck Drake. He immediately asked, "Analyze my chances to attain perfect foundation and the other imperfect foundations."
"Analyzing... 0.0001% for perfect foundation. 99.99% for semi-perfect foundation and imperfect foundations." The system answered.
First, Drake's mood was dampened when suddenly he heard the last and became exuberant.
"What is the other 0.01% chance from the 99.99%?" Drake asked merrily.
"Death" The system answered pretty concisely.
Drake was bolted from the system's sudden answer as if it was cursing him. However, in a beat, he regained his mental faculties. He gripped his fists and his eyes flickered.
"I'll become powerful!"
