Metacreativity

Dungeon – Prescott (Arizona)

Now that Aldrich had leveled up to the limit, the first thing he did after dealing with the Elite Crawler was to earn as much as ExPs as he could. So he spent most of the remaining time hunting Common Axehandle Hounds and Common Agropelters. It seemed only these types of Crawlers had spawned this time in Dungeon. And it was common knowledge that Dungeons during the 'Bright Day' spawned weaker monsters compared to Random-Dungeons. After that, it was time to look at the Class-specific Skill.

He had already got an Item that was accompanied by a proficiency Skill. So, now he could experiment with different aspects of his Class-specific Skill. He had an idea about what would be an ideal Item for him. Yes, he had decided to create an Item. He had realized though Skills are more valuable, there were just too many restrictions on them. And in the starting phase, it would be better to have an Item with its specific Skill rather than having an exclusive Skill.

Though the Item he had got (Ripper Claws), didn't have a skill of its own, it had been widely known that some Items had their Item-specific Skills. And there was a tremendous benefit from such Items. These Item-specific Skills could have been called Active Skills without the Cooldown. And that's why such Items were not only pricey but also extremely rare.

"Assign Skill Points."

[…

Unassigned Skill Points: 12

Available Skills:

1. Metacreativity Lvl 1 (0/3 Skill Points to next level)

How many Skill Points do you want to assign?

…]

Only one Skill, that Aldrich had, could be leveled up. Aldrich had known that every Skill had three more levels and the requirement of Skill Points grew with each additional Level. To level up Skill in Common Rank, a Dreamer needed 3 Skill Points at the start. And the next two level-ups required 4 and 5 Skill Points respectively, i.e. 12 Skill Points from Lvl 1 to Lvl max.

And these few facts had described the most disgusting truth about the system. After leveling up a Class-specific Skill to Max, it could have only be upgraded once Dreamers would have reached the next Rank, i.e. Level 11. But reaching the next Rank wasn't so simple. One couldn't have just reached Level 11 by simply gaining ExPs.

One of the most stringent requirements of reaching the Rare Rank was to first max out their Class-specific Skill. But with only 9 Skill Points available from Level 1 to Level 10, there was only one other way a Dreamer had to get more Skill Points -The Quests. That's why there were tons of Dreamers who, even after crossing the ExPs requirement level, weren't able to achieve the Rare Rank.

The interdependency of these two had become a bane for some Dreamers. The prospects of betting their life for Skill Points, just to achieve Rare Rank, had been eating the Common Dreamers.

"Assign all of them."

[…

Skill: Metacreativity

Nature: Active

Lvl: Max (0/1 Skill Points to Upgrade)

Cooldown: 132:00:00 hrs

Description: Dreamer can create Items and Skills of Common Class by sacrificing Experience Points.

Warning: Items must be equipped upon creation. Unequipped items would be destroyed.

Warning: Only 'Active Skills' can be created. The Skills created can't be upgraded using Skill Points.

Warning: Dreamer would permanently lose the ExPs once used. There is a high chance of dropping to the previous Level.

Warning: The number of ExPs would be calculated based on the description provided by the Dreamer

…]

'Hmm, even after reaching Level 11, I would need 1 more Skill Point to upgrade the Skill. This 'Record' seems to be just too demanding,' Aldrich thought and willed to see his Stats.

[…

Record of Aldrich

Time Left: 01:30:00 hrs

Status: Healthy

Level: 10 (8900/9000 ExPs to next level)

HP: 313/313

SP: 480/480

MP: 895/895

Rank: Common

Class: Generalist

Title: NA (1)

Attributes -->

Strength: 24

Defence: 15

Agility: 24

Vitality: 16

Perception: 100

Correspondence: 15

Unassigned Attribute Points: 0

Active Skills -->

1. Metacreativity: Lvl Max

2. Target Lock

Skill Points: 0

Passive Skills -->

1. Shared Vision

2. Intimidation

3. Beginner's Dagger Proficiency

Inventory --> (4/10)

…]

Aldrich saw the Title Stat and, along with a quick look at his Inventory, he checked on its progress too.

[…

Title Quest (optional): Kill 100 Common Ranked Crawlers (48/100)

Title Reward: Enemy of Crawlers

…

Inventory Status: 4/10

Items:

1. Mana-Shockwave Grenades 30

2. Stamina Potions 7

3. Health Potions 8

4. Ripper Claws

…]

"Tch! I have scoured the whole area around the hill but couldn't find a single Common Bigfoot or Elite," Aldrich muttered to himself. He had been sitting by the campfire on a hillock 100 meters away from an invisible film of Mana, which had covered the hill from all around.

The backpack had been lost while playing with the Crawler, so he had stored the food and other things in a makeshift bag using leaves and vines. He took a few bites of the home-cooked meal and prepared himself for the upcoming experiments he had decided for the Item-Creation. If it weren't for the lightning's bombardment, and the dark shadow of the dense black clouds, this scene could be described as a beautiful picnic.

Aldrich took a mental picture of the scene and stood up.

"Well, let's do it then. METACREATIVITY."

[…

Skill Metacreativity is now active

Specify your creation: Item or Skill?

…]

"Item."

[…

Skill Metacreativity is now active

Fill up the template for Item

Item Name:

Item Type:

Item Rank:

Item Description:

Item-Specific Skill:

Item-Specific Skill's Details:

Warning: The above data would be optimized according to the maximum available ExPs

Warning: Item-Specific Skill would not be upgradable

Warning: Item's Rank can be upgraded using ExPs

…]

'Hmm! Hmm? Hmm. This should work,' Aldrich filled up all the Data one by one and spent most of his time on the Item-specific Skill. It wouldn't be upgradable, so it was crucial to create a Skill that would be usable even despite that.

[…

Item Name: Soul Splitter Vial

…

…

Do you want to submit this data?

…]

Aldrich nodded.

[…

Submitting request to create Item….

Optimizing Item…

Item 'Soul Splitter Vial' is beyond your reckoning

Do you want to create another Item?

…]

'Damn!' But there were more ideas in his mind than even the total number of Items on Earth.

[…

…

Optimizing Item…

Item '100 Blood Revival' is beyond your reckoning

…

Optimizing Item…

Item 'Oldest Change' is created

ExPs consumed: 8850

Warning: The consumed ExPs are permanently lost

Warning: You have fallen back to Level 2

…]

"Finally," Aldrich exclaimed. His happiness laid not only in the created Item but also in the unchanged Attributes and other Stats.

It had taken him a whole 30 minutes to get a result. And the outcome was a mask. The material of which sometimes felt like a stone and sometimes like a coarse wood. The eye sockets and the gaping mouth with teeth had endowed the mask with an amalgam of dumbfounded and menacing looks.

Aldrich put on the mask, and he felt like the mask had replaced his face. Any other person watching couldn't have even been able to tell if there was a face behind this mask or this mask was the face itself. One could vividly see the two dark eyes through the eye sockets. But the most frightening was the gaping mouth, which was like a twisted smiling expression that couldn't be distinguished from crying.

[…

Time Left: 01:00:00 hrs

..]

Aldrich looked towards the hill and took a deep breath. He recalled the information on the Boss Crawler. None had known much of its Skills, as nobody had lasted or needed to last over 10 minutes in its presence.

The Dungeon was a monument. A monument of William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill, a captain in Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War. With his odd theories like 'an officer should never take cover', many tales of his valor had reigned the ears of the mass ever since. He wasn't just a captain, but also a sheriff, an editor, a miner, a politician, a gambler, and a lawyer.

Buckey O'Neil was a legend.

And someone had turned these legends into a nightmare. The RECORD had given the old tales a life and vicious strength. They weren't the same as when they were alive. One could even say that by some unknown sorcery a projection of their past, with strange abilities, had been taken out of the memories of the people.

Aldrich had never wanted to give a thought to the third Quest. But things had changed since then. Not only the Daggers, but now the mask had given him a tremendous boost in power. And the one thing he had found out which was pivotal in dealing with these contorted legends was patience.

'Of patience, I have only this notion;

One by one I can even count the drops in the ocean.'

Aldrich remembered a forgotten verse and took a step into the Mana film that had covered the hill.

[…

The Boss Crawler has detected your presence

…]