Username: Password: Remember
background color:font color:font:[12PX15PX16PX20PX28PX]
Chapter 224: Consequences
writer:Monsoon117      update:2022-07-21 16:42
  I set Torix down after he healed, the aura spurring his meager natural regeneration. Torix tilted his head at me,

  “The Rise of Eden? It sounds like an advanced origin skill.”


  I raised a hand with two fingers nearly pinching,

  “Close. It’s an aura I got from my last armor evolution. Apparently, I’m a multiverse now. The way it works is that each mana type changes my current state of being. This is the one for my new mana type, quintessence.”


  Torix cupped his chin, “Quintessence?”


  “Yeah.” I pointed at my other hand, showing the ball of white mana, “This is what it looks like. It’s origin and augmentation mana. It’s pretty solid overall. It’s about the same power level as ascendant mana, just in a different way.”


  “Ah, so that’s why your runic markings are glowing white then. They’re charged by an energy different in nature.”


  I clasped the ball of mana, dismissing it, “Yup.” I opened my status, giving it a glance. I gained a few levels, so I invested them into constitution and selected finalize. Right after the little power boost, I swiveled it to Torix,

  “You see those numbers beside the attributes? That’s the bonuses it gives. It works multiplicatively, making it kind of absurd.”


  Torix froze up for a while. I waved my hand in front of his face, “Hey, you still there?”


  He spread out his hands, “What kind of ludicrous status is that?”


  I shrugged, “It’s a bunch of multipliers working together.”


  Torix lifted his hands up, “Your lowest stat…is higher than your current level…That is utterly incomprehensible. It’s… it’s…I don’t have the words to describe it.”


  I pointed at the numbers, “Alright, let me explain. So, you remember how attributes feed into each other, right?”


  Torix leaned over to my status, “Yes. The first cardinal chain was…Endurance, willpower, intelligence, luck then charisma. The second cardinal chain was…ah yes, constitution, strength, dexterity, perception, then charisma.”


  I pointed at Torix, “Right.” I looked back on my status, “A general stat buff like The Rise of Eden makes every stat higher. Well, the stats closest to the top of that chain get the least. Why? They don’t have any other beefed up stats feeding into them. The lower the stat on those chains though, they end up getting a multiplicative bump.”


  I closed my status, “Therefore, I’m more of a generalist with this aura. You are as well. Go ahead, check out your own status. You’ll have received the same kind of benefit.”


  Torix let his hands flop onto his sides, “What happened to your flesh-eating aura then? Did it up and disappear?”


  I shook my head, my armor’s runic work turning a bloody red. It grinned, the teeth jagged, “Want to feel a bit of it?”


  Torix took a step back, “Ahem, should I?”


  I shrugged, “Eh, probably not.”


  Torix rubbed his hands together before standing up straight, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Do keep the health draining component out, however. My constitution is lacking as of late. If you can’t do that, then we’ll cancel this little experiment.”


  “I can and of course.”


  I molded Event Horizon over him, keeping only the mana drain and suppressive effects on. As it waved over him, he withstood it for a few seconds before falling down, his body shivering. He gasped, “Ah…I…I”


  I retracted Event Horizon moment he fell down. As I did, Torix gasped without needing to breathe. I didn’t need to either, so I got why he kept doing it. Old habits die hard, after all.

  I placed a hand on his back, “Are you ok?”


  Torix shook his head, “Yes, I am. It simply caught me by surprise.” Torix leaned back against the wall behind him, “That’s a potent tool. I’d recommend you use it sparingly.”


  I shifted Rise of Eden over him, “This will be my base mode now anyways. Gotta charge my runes and all that.”


  Torix let out another sigh of relief. I sat down with him, leaning my head back on the wall too. We sat staggered, my frame taking up all the space in front of me. Torix shook his head,

  “You never cease to surprise me.”


  I raised a hand, “We’ll see. Killing Lehesion will still be difficult.”


  Torix scoffed, “Perhaps. You’ll be far more of an adversary in your current state. You’ve yet to even tap into your true potential.”


  Torix stared away from me, a bit of shame leaking into his voice. I gave his shoulder a tap, “Neither have you.”


  Torix waved his hands, “I, I rather lack in my battling capabilities at the moment. Perhaps I can muster up a measure of assistance through my other skills, but actual fighting will leave me decimated by a stiff breeze, let alone the attack of a titan.”


  It hurt hearing Torix say that. In fact, his overall confidence and demeanor paled when compared to the last time I saw him. Despite some of the bullshit in the compendium, I remembered my promise to help Torix out. That’s why I shook my head,

  “You’ll be fine. I’ll make you a new body. It will be better than anything money can buy. That much, I can guarantee.”


  Torix shook his head, “Souls may only be stored in organic tissue. Otherwise, the soul dissipates over time, resulting in the loss of sentience. This is why golems are such pains to maintain. Any soul you place in them slowly but surely falls to madness.”


  I banged the side of my head, “This is organic…I think.”


  Torix waved a hand, “It doesn’t matter in the end. Even if we attempted a transition, and for the sake of this thought exercise, let’s assume your right. It carries my soul without a hitch. What of the rather volatile influence of your mana? It will slowly erode my mind, making me into a bloodthirsty thrall.”


  I channeled dominion mana, infesting my mind with the desire to dominate and control. My runic markings glowed a hollow black, sapping the light around me. I pointed at myself, “This will work, won’t it? In fact, it’ll probably just make your mana even stronger.”


  Torix leaned towards me, “Fascinating. What is that?”


  I pointed at my title above my head, “I’m channeling dominion mana right now, so I’m all dominion-ey.”


  Torix placed his hands onto his temples, “Dominion-ey you say? Hmmm, I suppose it could work.” A hunger came over his features,

  “Ah, to hell with it. I’ll attempt this, er, transition.” Torix waved his hand in disgust, “Better than living my undead life as a used napkin waiting to be burned.”


  I frowned, his words burning a bit. Torix was someone I deeply respected, and to see him driven so low walloped me. Torix picked up a chunk of his broken ribs, staring at it as his blue, fiery eyes glowing red,

  “I’d rather take my chance at living on as someone worth respecting than this pitiable state.”


  I put a hand on Torix’s shoulder,

  “You got us through Yawm. You taught me magic and runes. You’re the reason I’m here. Trust me, if there’s anyone worthy of respect, it’s you.” I raised a fist,

  “So quit talking like that. I have to defend my master’s reputation when it’s being besmirched after all.” I gave his shoulder a gentle nudge as I let it go, “Even if my master’s the one besmirching it.”


  Torix glanced down, covering his mouth with his hand. He waved it a second later, “You’re right. I represent more than just Torix Worm. I am the master of the Harbinger of Cataclysm, and one of his four followers. I have a responsibility to uphold myself.”


  I raised my hands, “Let’s call it something else, like generals or something.”


  “Why?”


  “I don’t know. It’s just eerily reminiscent of Yawm.”


  Torix stood up, “Catchy alliteration aside, you’re quite right.” He brushed off his robe as he stood up, “Let’s be off then.”


  I stood with one leg, doing a pistol squat, “Of course.”


  We stepped out of the confined hallway, everything looking smaller than before. I grew about two feet in the compendium. Ah that was right, I turned to Torix,

  “Hey, how long was I in the compendium?”


  “About three weeks.”


  My eyes widened, “Ahhhhh fuck. We have to hurry. Where is everybody?”


  Torix waved a hand, “Back on Giess. They’ve all been busy with the comings and goings involved with planetary safety. We’ve made some measure of progress to be sure, though your absence has been quite…difficult.”


  A wave of guilt passed over me as I tapped my forehead with my door knocking knuckles. I molded my helmet back onto my face, “Alright, can you give me a report on what’s happened?”


  Torix’s chest puffed as he gave me a curt nod, “But of course. I’m the Harbinger’s Erudition after all.”


  Erudition, what a word. I looked it up real quick using my status,

  Eh, it was precisely what Torix was: a mass of wisdom. While having my status open, I checked out Torix’s,

  “Looks like you got experience from that Version 2.0 dying.”


  Torix waved off my comment, “Ah yes, and you outlevel my cap before you’ve even gained a class. What of it?”


  I glanced forward, the hallway smaller in my vision then I remembered it. I pretended to be Torix,

  “To compare oneself to others is to forever live in a shadow. Find the light that you emit, and that shall be your guide through dark days.”


  Torix opened his status, “Very humorous. Now, here’s what’s occurred. After Lehesion demolished Rivaria, the Adair Family has been rather quiet as of late. There have been a few events on distant planets. I hypothesize they’re using Lehesion to assault other worlds, start rebellions, something of that sort. As for our members, Chrona and Krog spent their days gaining gialgathens into your guild. I took the liberty of assisting them with the process while waiting by your side. I assure you, my screening process was thorough.”


  “I believe you.”


  “As for Althea, she returned to Earth with the help of Helios. Once there, some of my trained mages constructed the teleportation ritual to get her back onto Giess. While my students toiled, Althea gathered Hod and many of the Eltari. She’s taken them to Giess and put them through a boot camp of sorts.”


  I raised an eyebrow, “What’s she doing?”


  “She’s creating a group of assassins. After her being trapped by Thisbey, she’s taking a numbers approach to the elimination of inscrutables. Instead of relying on only plan A as it were, she’ll have many backup plots within her arsenal. It suits Hod as well considering his specialty with shadows.”


  “Alright, that’s very good. I can give her the follower status then. That should help.”


  I sent her the promotion as Torix said,

  “I’d recommend it. She’s been showing a measure of ambition as of late. It’s an excellent characteristic for someone born into such talent. Perhaps ‘made’ into talent is a better term. I digress.”


  I weighed my hand back and forth while wincing a bit at his wording,

  “Uh, yeah, let’s go with earned her talent.”


  “Ah, yes. Of course. As for Kessiah, she’s been assisting Krog and Chrona with their recruitment. She heals the non-system gialgathens that lose limbs during the initiation procedure.”


  Torix rolled a hand, “It takes the edge off the transition you see. Otherwise, it’s a rather risky undertaking.”


  Torix finished speaking, and we stepped outside. I shifted modes, lifting the both of us with Force of Nature. As I did, I maintained my size using Mass Manipulation. It would be annoying to shrink and grow each time I switched mana types after all.

  With that fluid control, I generated a plethora of gravity and antigravity wells linked up into an airtight chain. It prevented ‘gravity pollution’ as I called it. Otherwise, the wells would disrupt traffic or worse. We headed towards Helios’s office, the location set in my mind.

  As we traveled, Torix turned to me,

  “I sensed some guilt from you earlier. I understand the sentiment, but know this – your spike in potential and power will not go unnoticed. This, ahem, Rise of Eden was it? That’s quite the powerful ability to gain. In my eyes, the mythical compendium was more than worth the investment in time.”


  I raised a hand, “That wouldn’t have been enough. I gained a mythical skill too.”


  “Ah, that’s the impetus behind entering it. What was it called?”


  I checked my notifications to check on the name again. My jaw dropped as I read through the message.

  We got a few unusual stares, but zero fucks were given by either of us at this point. As I reached the last bit of sand, a couple coconut crabs crawled out of the portal. They darted around in the water, and I leaned back from it, remembering the plague of crabs. I shivered a bit before Torix tapped my shoulder. I turned to him,

  “What’s up?”


  “Was that…a living creature?”


  I nodded, “Yeah. Crabs…They came from my first few experiments with origin mana. I must have missed them when I cleared the area with Event Horizon.”


  Torix pointed at my storage portal, “Normal storages can’t hold life forms. They are killed within the pocket dimension Schema uses for his storage rings. On the other hand, your personal storage related to your dimensional nature, it can store organisms. It could theoretically hold people as well, couldn’t it?”


  My eyes widened as what Torix was saying dawned on me. I rubbed my hands together,

  “You’re a genius Torix. I think you just found our way back to Giess.”