What is there to be said about all of this, other than what I experienced not that long ago?
It hurts, and it feels like it takes forever. In a way, it does, as each second for me is longer thanks to my thought acceleration. But I need it to deal with everything that is happening to my body. In a way, it is like a game. I observe the processes and prepare measures to deal with them and to stop my feeble body from breaking apart. And though my mind races fast, I need to take into consideration that each countermeasure will be applied much slower.
Usually, before I deal with one problem, another part of me starts to deal with the next one.
Lily is near me as well, but she knows better than to try to heal me, no matter how much damage I take. Her healing would just ruin it. I need these changes to cause damage or alterations, and her mana would mess with that.
Though even if she did not tell me out loud, I have a feeling she would heal me if it seemed too dangerous, no matter how angry I could get at her because of that.
While the strengthening continues to apply, that incredibly pure Empyrean Ichor injected inside of my body does not even fight with mine, it almost fully ignores it. It is just that much denser. My ichor weakly tries to fight back, and if I were focusing on it instead of the Mana Vessel, I would probably make it become stronger. At some other time.
The wyvern blood, taken from a baby wyvern and further purified, interestingly clashes against that ichor, and both of them clash against my body in something reminiscent of three way combat.
I, of course, continue with mana Cycling, which at this point feels extremely natural to me. I almost do not have to think about it if I am not channeling exceedingly silly amounts of mana. But that is the case now, so I put more attention into that.
That cycling of mana through my extremely mana conductive body pushes back against the foreign liquids injected. Not a drop of my mana seeps out as I keep it all inside to fight back, and the ongoing strengthening reacts to the situation.
Honestly, I do not know what to expect. I do not even know how powerful of a trait Mana Vessel is. Even if I were to think it is average, I might as well be wrong, as after meeting so many powerful people, my view of this is likely skewed.
Even then, the solution is simple: to do my best. That is what I like about all of this. I do my best, and I get rewarded for it. No one will take it away from me, and no one will make these merits theirs. And that is what makes it so addicting to me.
The thought acceleration deepens as I observe my body and continue to reroute constructs, hold back my mana, and calm down both of my hearts that threaten to go wild. I push against the wyvern blood and Empyrean Ichor, and time begins to lose its meaning to me.
It continues for hours, perhaps days, but my mind is used to it. I can stay for this long in a state of absolute focus, I can channel that long without slipping or making a mistake, I would not be able to take care of.
And for that, I am rewarded.
Due to the latest enhancements to your body, additional adjustments have been applied to your status to reflect your current state more accurately.
Mana Vessel 2/3 > Mana Vessel 2/4
Your trait, Preeminence Eyes, has begun forcefully strengthening!
The strengthening is influenced by your Mana Vessel, the ongoing external factors, trait synchronization, and is done to more accurately reflect your capabilities and the state of your body.
Preeminence Eyes 2/5 > Preeminence Eyes 3/5
Your trait, Empyrean Ichor, has begun further purification. While the number of strengthenings does not change, nor does the name, the Ichor has become purer, a step closer towards the original.
The number of strengthenings has been reduced to 2/5 to more accurately reflect the change, while the ichor only becomes more powerful and does not lose any of its previous potency.
A new substatus for Empyrean Ichor has been unlocked, serving to show its concentration.
Current Empyrean Ichor purity: 26%
I feel exhausted, so I do not even know if I should feel happy or not. Expecting an evolution was probably too much, or that just means Mana Vessel is such a good trait.
The strengthening of my eyes is unexpected and bothersome in its own way, forcing me once again to filter out an overload of information. And here I thought my low pristine Cognitive Hyperprocessing Vector would last me for a while.
The problem is I can only buy up to low pristine from the system shop, though I wonder if it is really it and if I won't be able to open mid pristine through some reward or achievement. Until then, I can try to get my hands on a low pristine passive skill combination token, and getting some unique pristine passive could be even more powerful than mid pristine if selected well.
It is something I will deal with when the time comes, but for now, I stop Lily from healing me. After days of sitting there, I stand up, realizing some of group 4 stayed up the entire time. I stretch my body and shake out the stiffness, only to find clothes lying on the ground next to me, black sweatpants and a light brown earth shirt entirely covered in cute yellow geckos.
I do not hesitate at all and put them on. The shirt feels a bit baggier than usual, though it is my size, and as my hand slides into the short sleeve and out, I stop to look at the fragment of the Nameless Tree on the back of my hand.
The fragment is still a translucent light green with swirls of soft yellow, blue, and deeper green within, but it might be me, or there is more blue than usual.
When I bring it closer to my face and observe the lights inside, it even seems to react to me, and that blue deepens further, pulling closer as if to reach towards me. But this is not my intention, so as I did previously, I cut it off from my mana entirely, as much as I am capable of with my skill at level 86.
It does not even take long for that blue light to weaken slightly and pull back. Then, instead of mana, I feed it a continuous stream of kinetic energy that I continue to do nonstop, with the exception of the most dangerous situations, when I will need all my brain power to keep myself alive.
I give a thankful nod to my friends around me, for which I get a nonchalant wave-off, with them saying that it was nothing. I do not know what to say to that, so I do not say anything.
Though it is sometimes nice to say things out loud, I still think that actions speak the most, and I always make sure to pay people back.
I start peeling down some remains of the inscriptions drawn on me that did not evaporate, dissolve, or absorb into me, and while doing it, I go over more notifications.
[Redistribution - lvl 81 > Redistribution - lvl 82]
[Focus - lvl 83 > Focus - lvl 84]
[Selective Adaptation - lvl 27 > Selective Adaptation - lvl 28]
[Selective Adaptation - lvl 28 > Selective Adaptation - lvl 29]
[Empyrean Lance - lvl 64 > Empyrean Lance - lvl 65]
[Empyrean Lance - lvl 65 > Empyrean Lance - lvl 66]
[Empyrean Lance - lvl 66 > Empyrean Lance - lvl 67]
[Weave - lvl 36 > Weave - lvl 37]
[Weave - lvl 37 > Weave - lvl 38]
[Weave - lvl 38 > Weave - lvl 39]
[Manifestation - lvl 54 > Manifestation - lvl 55]
I think just a tiny poke is required. Wait for my body to settle down, lower my constitution by 50% or so, get a bit more spicy syringes, and I can push my Mana Vessel to evolve. But I cannot help but feel disappointed. Maybe with the Lycan’s knuckle they keep for me, maybe with my possible reward from entering the 12th floor of Beyond, I could evolve it today.
I then observe my Mana Heart, which I damaged slightly during the strengthening in my attempt to more directly connect it to my body. It is my theory that it should be possible to bridge that gap or entirely remove it and instead turn my entire body into one huge mana heart.
It is probably too early, even I realize that. I think even with Lily’s help, it would not work. But in time, when I let my [Mana Manipulation] affect me more, when I weaken my constitution, and at that point… maybe. Until then, I will have to deal with the uneven heartbeat of my Mana Heart that is damaged because of that attempt. If it had worked, I would have declared this floor’s Nathaniel to be better than third floor Nathaniel, but I guess it was not meant to be.
As I allow myself to slide and sit down into the chair, I close my eyes and allow myself to get used to the damage and reroute some of the pathways, as well as make on the fly changes to my Mana Circulation.
Then I force my way into my mental space and find myself opening the door inside my old room on Earth, looking for that silly child.
Of course, he is nowhere to be seen, but the door is pressed into a narrow V-shaped wedge between the back of the open door and the wall. I can tell because I can see those socks with holes peeking through the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.
And I can hear him breathing.
With a finger, I poke the door, and it disappears, dissolving like a mist, and there Sneakythaniel stands in his typical old, washed up clothes and that holey, bleached long ago red blanket over his shoulders.
As he sees me seeing him, he closes his eyes quickly, as if that accomplishes something. As if I can not see him if he can not see me.
Reaching out, I pinch his nose and shake him, “You know why I am here.”
“I h-have n-no eye-dee-uh!”
I let go of him, “What?”
“I said I have no idea!” he says, opening his eyes that are the same as mine, though possessing no trait.
“Sure you don’t,” I say as I grab and pull his ear, “Now, tell me why the hell I have not been able to get a 10th skill for so long, no matter how much I tried.”
“Hehe, there you go again! That’s four times already,” he giggles and then twitches his face, “Ouch, that stings!” as I pull on his ear.
“So?” I let go with a sigh.
“You told me to hide it from you, so I am doing it. Blame yourself! And now go, you have a visitor!” he pushes me, and the space around me blurs as I get pulled back to the desert and see Aant and Zant coming closer.
Before they reach me, I quickly open my status and check my active skills.
Active skills (10/10):
Focus - Lvl 84
Perception - Lvl 79
Redistribution - Lvl 82
Eclipse (Pride) - Lvl 76
Empyrean Lance - Lvl 67
Manifestation - Lvl 55
??? - Lvl ??
Weave - Lvl 39
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 86
Selective Adaptation - Lvl 29
Haaa, what am I even doing?
I do realize that this isn't system censorship. It is just Sneaky and Redacthaniel hiding it from me. Well, and me, hiding it from me. And the longer I stare at it, the more blurry it becomes until the skill disappears from its spot, and the number of active skills changes back.
Then there is a feeling I have forgotten something, I don't even know what.
What was I doing, again?
“Sir Gwyn?” A young voice gets my attention, and I look at Zant standing next to his brother.
“Yes?”
“Please, come with us.”
And looking at his scary, serious brother, I follow them.
Ten minutes later, through teleportation and passing through many defenses and setting up defensive shields around me, I find myself standing on the cold side of Xyphos.
It is dark and much, much colder here, though thanks to the field they set around me, I feel comfortable as I stand in the middle of a huge glass-like surface reflecting the dark sky. Everywhere around there is sand, but just this mile or so wide circle is perfectly smooth.
On it stands a building sized, one winged pale gray wyvern with its scales having that faint, purple shine visible even here, and across from it, there is a similarly sized black ant whose carapace seems to be made of the darkest material possible.
Even then, I do not think Diligence is here in person. He is too shrewd, too careful, for that. And I also do not think this is all he can show, no, I bet he can get much bigger, the same as the wyvern opposite him. It is like they are holding back their forms to not destroy lesser realms.
Diligence does not skip a beat and turns to me. “The one winged wyvern says one of its requirements in our negotiations is for you to be able to check on your bond.”
“Huh,” I mutter, and look at the wyvern.
“Yes, it is indeed unexpected,” Diligence says. “Usually, I would just agree and try to organize a beyond quest for you to that place. But the problem is that your bond is in the care of that clan… which could become very troublesome.” He pauses and emphasizes, “Very, very troublesome.”
“I see,” I answer shortly, in order to make him talk and to not show my cards.
Diligence, of course, realizes it, and one of his antennae twitches in a motion that seems annoyed. “The one winged wyvern said it is capable of visiting there and is willing to take you there and then back. Safely even, not through a system vow, but by giving their word in one of the old ways, so I am confident in that.”
“In exchange for helping with negotiations, I want three disciple communication tokens.”
“How utterly shameless. We both know you would go there for nothing. In fact, I suspect you would crawl back to me, begging, and gladly forfeit that knuckle you are owed, along with a great many other things, just for the opportunity.”
“Yes, that is why I didn't ask for anything too shameless. It is just communication tokens, Dili,” I say and return his gaze, and he stares me down.
In the end, he gives up and says, “Deal, then.”
He doesn't even have to agree to that, and both of us know it. Yet, I sense something akin to understanding and gentleness. Maybe it is because he lost one of his vessels not long ago, maybe there is some other reason for it, but he seems to get my longing.
So I say, “I think you should be careful about Lissandra, even if the wyvern removes its domain and you try to trap her.”
“Has she told you about her plans while you were in the thought accelerated space?” he asks, and of course, he knows that happened. All rulers are nosy like that.
“She is not the type to talk about that sort of thing often, and neither would I care. I mean, I would be curious, and that is why I thought of it, and that is all.”
Diligence does not wave me off and instead watches me curiously. “So what did you think of?”
“There are three of her in the Labyrinth, correct?”
If he could, I bet the Ruler would squint his eyes, and even the wyvern and Aant watch me curiously.
“How would you know that?” Diligence asks.
“It just makes the most sense,” I shrug. “She wants the heart from an avatar of her original, but at the same time, I think she is just too different from her original, so a copy of her would be placed there as well. That is how the labyrinth works, correct?”
“Correct.”
“She must know that will happen too, and if I were her…” I pause, “I would probably take the heads of my avatars. I would use them as some external hardware, prepare some fucked up array or something, and let some calculations pass through the heads of my avatars to greatly increase the potency. Knowing her, she will do something even more fucked up.”
“And you don't mind betraying her like that?” Diligence lowers himself, moving his face closer to me. He even sounds a bit surprised, and in a way, shocked by the possibility I have revealed.
That accusation makes me chuckle. “I don't think she would care at all, and I don't think you knowing that will change anything. Even if she fails now, she will continue trying. You can't stop her. But if I am correct and this information helps you, well, remember that you might owe me.”
Once I return back to the usual space, I tell Group 4 I need some rest, and they seem to understand as I move a bit further and sit down, resting against one of the extremely heated stones. Yet it feels nice, even as I allow some heat to pass into my body.
Plus, it is not that far away from one of many entrances into the Labyrinth of Xyphos that are currently blocked.
I look towards the entrance, and think of many things before muttering in my mind.
As per our deal.
***
Author Note:
As it was prophesied, my vacation is here. I thought about posting one more chapter, but I will be traveling tomorrow. If something goes wrong or changes, having to deal with the chapter would just add useless stress to the trip. Yup, I never schedule Patreon chapters, I always edit them one last time just a few minutes before publishing.
Chapters will return on July 14th I think (don't forget that I work with the CEST timezone).
As promised, this break means I will not be taking a break when Book 11 concludes. If you got screwed up by the timing, just send me a message and I can issue a refund. I will check all the messages I have already received today or tomorrow, so don't worry. You were ignored, but not forgotten.
As for other refund requests, I likely will not check them during my vacation, but I will get to them once it is over.
Hmmm, what else?
As always, thanks for your support. It is greatly appreciated. Subscribe to Patreon only if you can afford it - I can survive even without it.
Please do not tease people who might want a refund. Even if you think it is "only" ten bucks, that amount can be worth much more in some countries, and you never know what people are going through.
You can join the Discord server too: https://discord.gg/KXRB8C44SX
There is a lot of yapping and theorizing going on, or you can silently suffer through the chapter drought together.
In case you are bored, I recommend a animated TV series called Pantheon. I liked it a lot. You might also check out anime like Evangelion or Code Geass. They are great, and Code Geass has one of my favorite endings.
As for reading, you could check out SSS-Class Suicide Hunter, Kidnapped Dragons, Trash of the Count's Family, The Second Coming of Gluttony, or The Tutorial Is Too Hard. They were all great inspirations to me, along with many others. For more popcorn-y webnovels, try Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society or Everyone Else is Returnee.
If you are more into games, check out Hades, Slay the Spire, Baldur's Gate 3, or Expedition 33. The Witcher 3 is great, and Metro Exodus has amazing atmosphere and immersion.
Well, enough rambling. Drink a lot of water, beware of the heat, stay safe, and see you soon!