Ch4: Nightmare

I handed my Witch a Nightmare blade and gained a level in leadership skill. From that point forward, I used illusions, hit-and-run tactics, and my omnidirectional sight to systematically clear buildings. Moving and killing Three buildings later, my level increased to 14. It was unfortunate, but I didn't see any gains in the physical department. Strength and dexterity needed actual training to raise. I took a few hits from training my gentle fists on her.

Her skin was so tough it hurt my fingers until I gained a point.

Level Up

Charisma has reached 50 random perk gained.

Silver Tongue: Once a day, double your charisma score for a save.

Charisma has reached the first threshold; choose a perk tree.

Seargent: 20% of the user's physical stats are added to summons and loyal party members.

Leader: 20% of summons or loyal party member's xp is added to the user.

Teacher: Impart skills onto summons and learn skills from them.

The damn Agency was making it hard on me. Seargent might be tossed out of hand, but in the future, it could really transform into something to empower my summons. A sergeant will clearly have the strongest summons stat-wise. Once I grew really powerful, even my low-level summons could become incredible.

Leader was a selfish beast that clearly fit for the asshole that wanted to become physically strong. Who cares if it makes summons weak when I could become much stronger faster? Summons would quickly become an early game feature.

Teacher would benefit us equally. It would put me in contact with skills I normally would never get to touch. Powers and abilities locked to specific races or breeds of monsters would open to me. It would become extremely valuable later.

Witch's Witch Skill, for instance, boosted her regeneration, toughness, and speed at the low cost of her sanity. The deficit from it decreased as she increased it. An automatic -50INT would be devastating to me. Fortunately, I chose what I learned that was the point of any of this.

Atom Hyuga lvl14

Class

Illusionist lvl14

Perks

Gamer's Mind

Gamer's Body

401k

Silver Tongue

Teacher

Stats

HP 1680

MP 5460

STR 31

DEX 28

CON 12

INT 39

WIS 42

CHA 52

LUK 18

New Spell

Fazing

Cost: 100MP/s

Description: Half enter a parallel realm closest to your current plane. While in this state, the distance and damage are halved. 50.1% of the user's body must remain in their current realm.

I wanted to get out of here. This dark city filled with undead and a dreary, hopeless city was terrible for morale. Even my gamer's mind had its limits. Unfortunately, the lesson hasn't been learned. I had to figure out how I was going to suddenly gain 11 levels before two weeks were up.

The idea came to me when I dropped undead down elevator shafts and tossed them off rooftops. What if I threw heavy objects off a building? Even better, what if I toppled a building and tossed it on the undead? The answer to that was gains, so many gains from almost no effort on my part.

It will only cost you hours of hard work with the danger of being caught in the falling building. Go ahead and try it; what could go wrong?

Something told me Agency didn't want me to drop a building. That was fine; it wasn't like I had any tools to get the job done. I could make a bladed weapon with Nightmare Blade, but that was about it for my offensive capabilities. Getting every skill above 10 before leaving was more important than just xp.

I moved down just two floors above the ground floor, where the wights prowled just outside the building. After thinking about it responsibly, I gave Witch a spear instead of the standard bastard sword. With her enhanced reach, this should be easy.

A few footsteps caught a wight's attention while I used Deaf on the rest. Once it was close, Witch stabbed through the glass doors and stabbed the white in the face.

The monster reached out, and Witch used her spear's leverage and flung him through the doors and behind her. I used a second set of footsteps and distracted the Wight for a moment. A second stab from Witch cost the mob a massive chunk of its health. It was my psychic damage she wielded, dealing 3649 damage with every stab. Every stab to the skull doubled the damage. Minor illusions allowed me to give her orders, which were followed through Necromancy.

While the Wight was tough as nails and had HP to spare, Witch had me. Minor illusions made copies of Witch, complete with sound, smell, and sight. They moved with repeated casting, draining my MP rapidly, but it was worth it every time the Wight hit air.

I cast fog obscuring the fight from the deaf wights.

Witch dealt a killing blow, granting us each a level.

Atom lvl15

HP:1800

MP:6000

Witch lvl17

HP: 27000

MP: 4500

I felt incredibly weak compared to the real monsters in the world. Having a boss monster in my party helped. She was quite the beat stick.

We took out time killing, finding that it only took 10 to raise my level again. I started entering the room and throwing Nightmare Blade Kunai and Shuriken. They still had their psionic damage rating.

Atom lvl16

New Spell

Illusion

Cost: 200MP/s

Description: Create Sound, Image, Animation, Scent, and touch with great effect.

Range: 100ft.

By searching for new possibilities, you have grown strong enough to see this mission to close to 9 more levels, and this lesson will end. Find the other two unique mobs to catch and the final hidden task. And you can go home to receive positive reinforcement.

CHA +2

CHA 60

New Skills

Assassination lvl1: Kill silently to guarantee a perfect kill. Catharsis increases damage.

Nightmare Arsenal lvl1: More than a simple spell, this user has learned to harness Nightmare blades in many forms.

I gained my first skill that made me feel like I could start making a build. Stealth summoner illusionist assassin was a mouthful but spoke well of my build. Maybe I could make it work. Instead of my normal kunai or shuriken, I went with needles and changed my grip but couldn't manage to find a way to throw them. There was a limit to my current schooling.

Witch got a full kunai and shuriken set at the low cost of most of my MP. I was running low after making the set and couldn't catch my breath. Witch gripped my arm, and I felt her transfer 1000MP to me on the spot. It was another feature I wasn't aware of.

The more I learned, the more I discovered I knew nothing.

…

Spells, for the most part, boiled down to manipulating light, shadows, senses, or psychic energy in some way. I was getting the feeling that my spells would all be relegated to skills eventually. After gaining Nightmare Arsenal, I hadn't seen a reason to use Nightmare Blade. It was an odd feeling knowing I had a tool but preferring to just shape the energy myself. Maybe spells were training wheels to teach users how to use their powers.

I found my way to building 8, where a massive, unique creature resided. The building shook with pounding hooves, and I couldn't wait to get a mount for the aesthetic alone. Whole sections of the building shook as I moved in close, stretching my byakugan to get a good look at the mob.

Black fur covered its body, standing out almost at its ends as a beast of a horse charged around the floor of a skyscraper, trampling undead.

"You are a beauty, aren't you," I said.

The horse looked around and sent it a reflection. Despite how simple the spell was, it was so much easier to just show such an image. I watched it kick a zombie sneaking up on it out the window.

"Someone needs a brushing," I said.

The massive horse shook its mane and whinnied at me. I would need a saddle and lots of ninja wire for lassoing shinobi, or maybe I could use Nightmare Arsenal for that.

I was getting a good feeling for how much MP I needed to make something. I felt the price was cheaper than making psychic constructs with Nightmare Blade.

"Does someone want some sweet Oats?" I asked.

"Must be blood, must be fresh." The horse said, and I froze.

For a moment, I questioned my sanity. Perhaps I had been here too long. My level had hit 19, and I only needed 6 levels to get out. This was going to be my next mob. It would bring my summons up to two and really help me out in the real world.

"Can you say that again?" I asked.

"Sweet blood, fresh tender meat, and marrow from cracked bone is what I need. Give me that, and I will give you a pact." The horse said.

I gave Witch a look. Then checked Necromancy.

Necromancy lvl9

I had used it to communicate orders to Witch so often that it had slowly leveled without me noticing. The undead communication skill must have finally started bridging the gap.

To be safe, I hid a window with an illusion.

"I'm going to become a shinobi. I can get you flesh and blood from bandits." I said.

"Your offer is acceptable. Show yourself." The horse said.

I walked down the stairs with loud footsteps to make sure it knew where I was. The second it saw me, it rushed mouth outstretched wider than any horse had a right to. Its head extended like that of a snake, and its teeth became a practical blender.

Nightmare lvl20

HP 50,000

MP 120,000

Perks:

Black Harvester: Take 1% of a fallen enemy's highest stat points.

Dream Eater: Every dream consumed adds 1% MP

Nightmare: Add psychic damage to physical attacks. It can cause hypnosis.

Work Horse: Increase CON gains by 2.

Twilight: Increase INT gains by 3

It crashed through the window it had thought was my body. Witch grabbed its back legs and placed her feet on the warped metal frame of the window.

There was never a world where we were defeating this thing in a fair fight.

"How about you become my monster, or Witch can drop you," I said.

"Unfair, you tricked me; your meat smells sweat. I want it. When I strike, you're gone." The monster said.

Why would I ever be where my enemy expected me to be? It seemed entirely illogical, especially with my low HP.

If teacher could eventually work with perks, then I could grab her workhorse and twilight perks.

"Fair or not, I won. So will you become mine or die?"

"I will become your meat." Nightmare said.

…

Atom lvl23

There wasn't much to gain anymore in this world. A second witch was in my 10th tower, completing my summon task. Nightmare had absolutely no fear of bridges and rode like a dream. My chakra control hit another level, and so did my tree climbing, just holding onto her bareback. At 10 towers, there was no more reason to hold back, so I headed into the street.

You've decided to face the hordes of undead.

Generated Lesson 2

Reach Illusionist lvl25

Connect Buildings 10/10

5 Skills Reach lvl10: 5/5

Capture 3 Monsters 3/3

Defeat Raid Boss 0/1

Reward: New Skill

Hidden Reward 1: +1 stat point per building connected.

Hidden Reward 2: +1 training manual for each skill above lvl10.

Hidden Reward 3: + 1 Monster Slot per 10 CHA

Hidden Reward 4: 1 Legendary Coin: Once flipped, all enemies will drop their highest possible drops for the next 30 minutes.

Failure: Trapped Until age 12.

From the bowels of the undead city, manholes burst open. Long tentacles made from corpses stretched and flexed before a crack ran down the street. Bodies filled the hold as yellow eyes glowed from within the darkness. Yellow fog poured from the hole as massive spiders escaped to the street before tentacles smashed them and dragged them back down below. The sounds of crunching blotted out the sound of the street cracking and buildings creaking around us. Something absolutely monstrous was about to drag itself from the depths of the city.

All the while, my witches and I were slaughtering all the undead around us as quickly as possible. I used my new perk to its fullest to gain any kind of advantage before the big fight.