Limitless
Page 3
For the whole next week, I make myself delicious food once a day, enjoying every bite. My maxed-out perception turned out to be the key factor as I progressed my cooking, and it even lets me savor everything I eat.
I’m collecting salt, which controls how long the potions last and how strong their effect is. I’m now able to use up to ten ingredients and the same number of salts at the same time. That’s one plank in the platform I’m going to use to defeat opponents several times stronger than me in levels.
Despite the problems I’ve had brewing potions with permanent effects, I give them another try.
Quintessential intellect potion
The master who brewed this potion was a genius, as it gives your intellect a permanent 30-point boost.
Effect: Intellect +30
Duration: Permanent
After that, I make four potions for other attributes. It’s possible that the admins will strip me of their effects after the trial, but they’re still a big advantage in the here and now. I found the mysterious grains of salt that make temporary potions permanent in the roots of a plant fertilized by the copious bloody flows coming from my experiments. Of course, the “grains” weigh twenty-two kilograms.
I finally get what it needs to grow: an enormous quantity of blood. After being processed by the plants, it settles in the soil as salt deposits. Project Chrysalis does nothing if not surprise.
After making a few temporary solutions for intellect and mana, I can’t wait to do more. I need more advantages!
This whole time, I’ve been diligently growing the tree, and I’m not even really sure how tall it is at this point. I’m actually scared to climb it. If I fall and kill myself, I’ll lose my account, after all. Even my seven-figure health wouldn’t save me. Plus, there’s still the possibility of taking a deadly hit that chops off my head or does triple damage to my heart.
It’s time to make myself some armor and other equipment. There’s hardly any metal around, and what little I had went toward making the cauldron that I’m not planning on smelting back down. Bones! Bone armor and jewelry become the core of my outfit. Father gave me plenty of lessons, and I learned everything, which means that now I can leverage every little bit he taught me to give myself the best chance of survival. There aren’t any animals in my forest larger than bobcats, so their bones are the ones I use. Father showed me how to soften and mold them. I figure out on my own how to reinforce them—it’s blood magic to the rescue yet again.
Using the same method I once used to reinforce wood and metals, I’m able to make comfortable armor. Find me a necromancer who wouldn’t be green with envy if he could see me! I end up with evil wood spirit armor.
Evil wood spirit greaves
In Crazyman’s Forest, there lived a strange forester who collected the bones of the animals he killed. Years went by, and he decided to commemorate their memory by creating unique armor out of their bones. But the forester died the second he put his armor on. The souls of the deceased animals tore into his mental body, assimilating his soul into the armor.
Effect:
Stamina +494
Intellect +494
Survivability +494
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructable, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
The helmet, breastplate, belt, and gauntlets finish off the kit. In all, it’s five items that all offer identical effects, though they don’t give me a set effect. Judging by the kit, what I’ve done has been written in letters of blood through the annals of this world.
I remember Fem telling me that making items like this was dangerous, but I’m prepared to risk everything for a shot at emerging victorious. I use the bodies of Ownie, Grunt, and the two hirelings to make the scalable equipment. That’s also a good chance to double-check that their respawn time is determined by the rage I’m feeling.
The jewelry is much simpler.
Bobcat lord ring
According to legend, the king of all the world’s bobcats lived in Crazyman’s Forest. Just catching a glimpse of a human was enough for him to creep up on his prey, turn into a bobcat, and pounce.
Effect:
Stamina +494
Survivability +494
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructable, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
The rings are mostly useless. My survivability is already as high as it will go, though they do all boost my overall strength and mana.
Wild hunt necklace
Once a year, in Crazyman’s Forest, the bobcats gather for hunting and mating games. The female belonging to the strongest male receives a unique gift and a new title: the Wild Hunt.
Effect:
Agility +494
Survivability +494
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructable, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
It’s undoubtedly the most useless item I’ve ever made. What do I care about agility? Or Survivability? I don’t have anything else, however, so I have to settle for it.
Left engagement bracelet
Wild shapeshifters use matching bracelets to cement their unusual marriages. Congratulations—you’re the lucky winner!
Effect:
Stamina +494
Survivability +494
Requirement: Scalable item
Durability: Indestructable, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health
Any guesses as to who has the right bracelet? I have to congratulate myself. I’m marrying me at me, the only altar in the woods and a demigod. By way of vows, I promise to love myself forever and live happily until the end of my days. The solitude is getting to me.
“Attribute window.”
Name: Sagie (Almark)
Level: 2462
Experience: 22560/25 313 620 (28192060 left until the next level)
Race: Human (demigod [unavailable])
Class: Mage
Basic attributes
Strength: 1575
Agility: 1575
Stamina: 10114
Intellect: 20938
Available attribute points: 0
Additional attributes
Speed: 500
Survivability: 1095
Derivative attributes
Physical damage: 787.5 (strength/2, but no less than 1)
Carrying capacity: 3937 kg (strength*10/4)
Overall strength: 116390 (stamina*10+15250 from tattoos)
Mana: 87293 (overall strength*0.75)
Health: 29098 (overall strength*0.25)
Health and mana restoration: 10950/minute (mana*1)
Running speed: 184 km/h (1+speed/10)
Spells that cost 100000 mana are now on the table. I’m not going to use health borrowed from the tree to cast panacea anymore, as I get the feeling my soul is slowly being pulled out of me.
It’s time to work on my other key skills.
I begin with necromancy thanks to the sheer amount of material I have to work with. The ritual dagger with runes is made out of the bones of a hapless bobcat, though I’m unable to control more than eleven things, just like with the summoned creatures. Even locations like the Gray Lands have their upsides and downsides when it comes to progressing your skills. To avoid tarnishing the woods with emanations of death, I head out into the ashen fields to do my experiments. More than two thousand bodies are churned across my sacrificial altar every day to make zombies. Even for me, with my well-prepared psyche, it’s still difficult. The hardest part is the monotony—kill; stick the body on the altar; raise the zombie, skeleton, or ghost; and kill it with magic. That way, I’m able to work on my necromancy and ritual magic as well as my Fire and Mind elements.
It’s during the second week of the nightmare that I give up and move on to chimerology. Emanations surge from the altar to the tune of an aura of death doing a million and a half damage. I have to go out farther looking for my victims, otherwis
e they won’t show up.
Making chimeras is much more fun, giving my brain something to do while I’m at it. The ritual magic process involves drawing runes on the part of the body that will be the base and armor. As a rule, it’s a bone base, a body made out of muscles, and the rest made out of armor. But that’s only for weaker chimeras. My dog in the Stygian swamps was much trickier, and it also helped me boost my skill much faster. With that in mind, I use ritual magic to create bone snakes and rhinoceroses. They all have reinforced skeletons and powerful musculature, and I make insects the same way.
In two months, I’m able to max out my chimerology skill. Reaching a goal I set cheers me up, as does the fact that my brain is starting to lose the craziness and think clearly again. I was sleeping with one eye open even in real life, afraid of seeing the bone-and-flesh monsters I’ve been making. But as I push myself to the line separating lunatics from normal people, I finally do hit that limit.
Chimerology +1
Your chimerology skill has reached the maximum value
New ability: Creator of soul and body
Once a day, you can create the soul of a unique chimeric pet that will serve you faithfully. If it dies, you can possess a suitable body with its spirit. Doing so does not cost experience or skills, though it does cost you 50 levels.
Any pet owner in Project Chrysalis would happily give their right arm for an ability like that. Something tells me that the pet can’t be taken or sold, and so it can only be used by the chimerologist. Also, 50 levels is too much to pay for a pet that’s definitely going to be Level 1, meaning that it’s a fairly useless ability for me.
Working on my necromancy, I toe the line of insanity for the second time.
Necromancy +1
Your necromancy skill has reached the maximum value
New gift: Necrification [0/10]
Some exceptional necromancers spend their lives building the foundation for immortality. The necrification gift lets you replace your bones, musculature, and ligaments with powerful necrotic tissue, slowing the ageing process and tripling your strength and agility. Each stage of necrification replaces 10% of the body part you choose to give you a 20% boost.
Finally, I know the secret that was hidden by Tiberius Sen, the former archmage. I could’ve gotten his title and rank, but it would have involved lots of responsibility at the Academy of Magic: meetings with the academy’s highest officials, bowing to kings and emperors… No, I’m not looking for fame, position, or money. My path lies in the shadows, where nobody can see me, and the title of archmage is counterproductive where that’s concerned.
∞ ∞ ∞
Femida was standing quietly by the stairs in the reception area for the Academy of Magic’s Kkhor branch. Sagie’s supervisor was sending another student off to go take Fire Magic courses, and he did a fun little dance when he was finally done with work. The sick, tubby old man Sagie had healed was on the girl’s mind, but it was as a well-trimmed, middle-aged man that he enjoyed life as much as he could, without quitting his job at the academy. Ekron’s soft laugh from next to her drew the mage’s attention.
“Oh! I have guests, and I didn’t even know.” The mage looked closer at Femida when she took off her helmet. “Wait a minute…you’re my dear student’s friend. Where is he?”
“Hi, Anri. He’s currently not in contact with anyone from this world.”
“Could you give him a gift of appreciation from me?” The mage pulled a ring out of his pocket, the glowing green color a dead giveaway for powerful Life Magic.
Femida smiled.
“I’m afraid I can’t take it. Neither I nor the recipient is sure if he’ll be returning to this world, though he did ask me to give something to you in the hope that you’ll pass it on to the rightful owner.”
The girl opened her trade panel and sent the mage the archmage’s staff Sagie had gotten with the loot from Tiberius Sen. Anri’s eyes opened wide, and then he burst out laughing so hard that he had to wipe away tears.
“You know, young lady, I had a feeling he’d do exactly that. When I heard about the archmage’s death and who defeated him, I was sure the victor would turn down the title.”
Femida smiled, though she still didn’t understand how Sagie could give an artifact like that up. Deliberately refusing a unique position and the enormous power that came with the highest rank of mage seemed crazy.
“Why did he do it? It’s ridiculous!”
“Not from his point of view. It’s been a bit more than a year since he first walked in the building looking to pick up the mage class, and everything about him was surprising. Take the high level he attained without a class. How was he able to get his hands on magic skills without being a mage? How was he able to progress so incredibly far? Why did he hide his abilities? Why didn’t he care about money? Half a year went by—just half a year—and he was able to do something I hadn’t managed to do my entire life: lift my curse. Your friend isn’t looking for attention or fame, that’s why he turned down the title of archmage.”
Ekron walked over from the stairs.
“I’m sorry for butting in, but we need to talk about more important matters.”
Anri looked at the uninvited guest coldly.
“What could be more important to the academy than finding a new archmage?”
“The only demonologist instructor in the world, and the only person who can stop the demon invasion. I assume you’re aware of the prophecy.”
∞ ∞ ∞
It’s been almost six months since I got to the Gray Lands. I’ve been working on my blood magic and ritual magic, creating blood golems and practicing new spells from that arsenal. Blood hive explodes the body of your opponent into hundreds of little red bees. Then, there’s glutton’s mouth, amida flesh, brotherly blood armor, blood blade, and bitter mercy spear. My enemies die in the worst possible manner, and then they end up on my altar for blood rituals. Happily, my blood magic is already up to 900 thanks to my culinary experiments, so it takes just a couple weeks to max it out.
Blood magic +1
Your blood magic skill has reached the maximum value
New ability: Brotherly blood
Spilled blood will reach toward you of its own accord in an effort to heal your wounds. The ability gives you complete immunity to damage from poison and bleeding.
Complete control over how I bleed! On the other hand, there are paralysis poisons that marauders and assassins love, not to mention stunning, hallucinations, and soporifics. Basically, all poisons that work on the level of consciousness are just as dangerous as ever.
Things go much faster with ritual magic. After sticking five hundred sacrifices in an enormous magic seal, I use them as a source of strength to intensify my spells. They’re enough for ten spells with ten-fold amplification. I take a normal fireball, expand it by a factor of eight, and then pour almost nine times the supply of mana in to strengthen it as far as blood magic will go.
I’ve ended up learning quite a bit. For example, ash can be turned into boiling magma, and the simplest of basic spells can do 50 million damage across a wide area. Every fireball like that boosts my Fire Magic skill by 1 point. Ritual magic jumps the same amount for every five hundred victims. I wonder how many people in the world have maxed it out.
Fire Magic goes first.
Fire Magic +1
Your Fire Magic skill reached the maximum value
New spell: Dead star
The sun god gave his adepts a great gift. Every second, a star dies somewhere in the universe, and now you can see a tiny example of what those catastrophes look like.
Effect: Creates a ball of fire that sucks in all matter within ten meters for two seconds using a powerful gravitational wave before exploding, doing 50 million damage for three seconds to everything within the damage radius.
Cost: 100000 mana
Recharge time: 24 hours
Needless to say, I decide to see what kind of power the spell has. I let go of the reins, gi
ve rage the upper hand, wait for Grunt to show up, and send the thing in his direction. He’s coming in my direction at full tilt, and the spell very nearly kills me, too. Just as it activates, I grab hold of the altar. I’m sucked in along with it a second later, however. Right at the end, I take 20 million fire damage, the altar is destroyed, and I’m thrown back thirty meters. The conclusion is simple: don’t use the spell without a clear plan. Too dangerous!
The altar getting taken out is actually good news, as the death magic emanating from it has been doing 30 million damage. If only I could stick it in my inventory. Sadly, it weighs two tons and belongs to the category of items you aren’t allowed to carry around with you. There are two more buried at the bottom of my well.
I put together a new altar, draw the runes, and get back to working on my ritual magic. At the same time, I’m developing my Mind and Dark Magic. The rituals I’m performing enable me to summon almost any kind of spirit out of the astral, while I can also leverage my astral skill to head over into the second layer. The creatures there are all between Level 2000 and Level 3000.
The rituals are strong enough to do more than summon spirits; they can materialize them, too. The first time I summon a Level-2700 spirit from the astral, it comes at me immediately. Like the dean of the Mind Magic department said, the summoner is attacked when their level is lower. And I was clever enough to summon a raid boss.
The experience turns out to be incredibly interesting and even mysterious. I do get experience for killing local and raid bosses; I don’t get experience for killing regular creatures. There isn’t any loot either, though I don’t really need it. I’m here to level-up.