Before she could head out Pandora needed to check the gains she’d made.
“I’ve got those numbers here,” Thor said as a list of creatures she’d killed populated her vision.
Demon Lord 9
Demon Imps 12
Goblins 1,125
Kobolds 1,101
Gnolls 456
Orcs 230
Humans 215
Half-Orcs 86
Giants 24
Half-Ogre 16
Total XP 3,193,134
Copper 38,761
Silver 16,692
Gold 7,290
“Also, you’ve leveled from Level 86 up through Level 97,” Thor said.
“It almost feels like I’m cheating?” Pandora said.
“It’s not,” Caspa said, “It’s just the way things are. You are just one lucky woman.”
“I guess,” Pandora said as she opened her Status Screen. She quickly allocated her attributes and looked over the skills she’d earned. She expected to see a whole bunch of weapon skills and instead only found 1 skill, Melee Weapons. Pandora opened her log and watched how each weapon she’d summoned had been paid for individually and then given the skill point back upon reaching Common, Level 2. When she’d earned 100 skills they’d automatically been grouped and the average of all skill levels had been taken. During the day Pandora had leveled that single skill up to Skill Level Rare Level 1.
A lot of her other skills had also leveled but only the ones she’d been actively using. The skill associated with her Triumvirate title had increased to Master Level 1 and now allowed her to have her clones range out to 40 miles. Her skill with her Exotic Orbs had also improved as had her Regenerate skill. Currently at Rare Level 2, she was regenerating 22 hit points per second or 220 per combat turn.
As she looked over the various skill levels she realized that while the Skill levels were ranked and then levels 1 – 10; Common, Scarce, Rare, Advanced, Master, Epic, Mythical, and Legendary. The levels at least through rare seemed to correspond to a linear progression. Scarce Level 1 would simply be level 11. Rare level 1 would be level 21 and so on. As she looked over the various benefits the skill levels were giving here she wondered why the SYSTEM couldn’t have just given linear skill levels. There was no reason to make it this confusing. Unless those skill rank categories had a purpose, which for the life of her she couldn’t fathom.
With Chaos Conversion at skill level Rare Level 1, Pandora could convert Hit points, Mana, Stamina, and Psychic Energy to Chaos at a 1 for 3 conversion either way. Pandora went through her settings and set up all resource pools to refill her Chaos Pool when full. She had spent a little bit of Chaos getting the base ready.
“Yeah, don’t bother,” Thor said as Pandora started to figure out how long it would take to refill the Chaos she’d used. If you needed to regenerate 1.00E+43 of your 3.11E+43 Chaos it would still take 1.56E+33 Years to recover all of the Chaos you’d spent.”
“That long?” Pandora asked.
“Well you didn’t spend even 20% of that much so it will take 3.12E+32 years,” Thor confirmed.
“Fine,” Pandora said as she put that out of her mind. It would be years before it was refilled unless she found another way to do so. She looked up to make sure the courtyard was clear, I guess it’s time for us to go check on that portal at Stonehenge.”
Pandora jumped into the air and shifted into her Dragon Form as she flew west. For this part, she left the ship behind to guard the courtyard. Once she crossed over the outer wall of the city which was 7 miles from the 25-mile limit range for those that were kicked out of the Safe Zone she flew higher and sped up.
As she reached the wall she noted that the ground was still packed with demi-humans that were making their way forward, while those that had been kicked out of the Safe Zone for 24 hours moved aside to let them pass. Pandora ignored them and continued west. The area was packed. To stop the flow of invaders she needs to close the portal. Pandora activated her communication suite in her nanites with Nanite Communication and opened a channel back to Scarborough.
“Amanda, you there?” Pandora said.
“I’m here Pandora, what’s up?”
“I need to close the portal, any ideas?”
“Not really. Wait, does that mean you have an idea and you’re asking if we have a better idea because your idea is really dangerous?” Amanda asked.
“Not completely dangerous, but there could be some issues,” Pandora stated.
“What kind of issues?”
“Well, I might have to pass through the portal and close it from the other side?”
“Any idea where it goes?” Amanda asked.
“Not at all.”
“Well, you have Thor’s memories right, if you get stuck I’m sure he’ll be able to get you back to us…eventually.
“True. Okay,” Pandora said as she opened up her city tabs for Scarborough and London and designated Amanda as her City Administrator for both locations. “You have administrative rights for Scarborough and London. Look at purchasing a skill called SYSTEM Node Access. It’ll allow you to control the City Node for London. Right now I’ve dismissed it. With that skill, you can either control the city without it or bring the node back. Feel free to use the funds from either city to get that skill for yourself.”
“I’ll do that, you be careful”, Amanda said.
I will and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Sounds good. Abi has control of the Nanites you left up here and we can start ranging out from here and expanding. We can also connect to London with a portal whenever we need to. You go take care of that Portal and we’ll see you in a bit. I’ll let everyone else know what’s going on when we talk again,” Amanda said.
Pandora cut the connection and flew in over Stonehenge where she saw demi-humans streaming out of the portal. With a thought, she shifted to the Shadow Plane and moved toward the portal. As she neared the portal she shifted to her Human Form before she landed where the portal would be if it extended into the Shadow Plane and stepped out of the shadow of a very large Ogre and passed through the portal. Pandora activated Shadow Step again and stepped into the Shadow Plane. There was no way for her to know if she was still in the same material plane or if she changed dimensions and then stepped into the alternate Material Plane’s Shadow Plane. It didn’t matter, Pandora jumped back into the air and transformed into her Dragon Form so she could take a look around the area.
As she launched into the air, Pandora was surprised when she was frozen in place and a sultry feminine voice reached out to her in the Shadow Plane, “Excuse me dear, what are you doing?”
Pandora craned her dragon neck around looking for the source of the voice when the shadows coalesced in front of her and a figure of umbral light solidified into a raven-haired elf with pearlescent skin and sparkling grey eyes with a hint of sapphire deep within.
“Closing the portal of course,” Pandora replied honestly as she reverted to her Human Form to stand before the woman. With a thought, Pandora activated Magic Absorption and was flooded with Divine energy as she absorbed the spell that was holding her. She quickly converted the energy to Chaos because whatever magical effect she’d just absorbed refilled her mana pool and would have caused her some extreme problems if she’d continued to put that energy into her already full mana pool. If she couldn’t convert her mana into chaos, things would have gone very poorly.
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“What? How? Have you dispelled my spell within my domain?”
Pandora smiled, “I didn’t dispel it, I merely absorbed it. And what do you mean by your domain?” Pandora asked.
“This realm, the Shadow Plane, is my domain, I am Umbrati, Mistress of Shadows, Goddess of the Shadow Plane.
“Goddess?” Pandora asked.
“Yes, and you are?”
“I am Pandora, Daughter of Adaline and Adamantadine.”
“Greetings Pandora. Now, why do you wish to close the portal?” Umbrati asked.
“The individuals passing through are invading a world I have decided to protect.”
“That is not a good enough reason. My acolytes have already passed through and are even now seizing the various Safe Zones there to add that world to my Domain.”
“You might want to check again,” Pandora said.
“What do you…” Umbrati started to say as her eyes glazed a bit before they sharpened and looked at Pandora with a piercing gaze. “What have you done!?”
“I believe I killed the leaders of your invasion and I’m about to close the portal here,” Pandora said matter-of-factly. “I do not want to encroach on your domain so if you’d be so kind as to…
“Silence!”
For a moment Pandora was forced to remain silent and then Thor and Caspa joined her as Triumvirate activated and a regalness and power solidified around Pandora as her human form shifted to more resemble the coloring she had in her Umbral Dragon form. Ironically she appeared much as Umbrati did except that there was an aura of chaos swirling around her form that shifted through various colors.
With the full power of her Aura and Chaos, which was powered by attributes that far surpassed those of even the legendary classes, Pandora spoke with a confidence that was unshakable and born of knowledge from her father through Thor, “ I am Pandora, I am a daughter of Chaos and Shadow. Your invasion of my world stops now!
Umbrati laughed, She laughed long and hard and then she coalesced the shadows into her hand and launched them at Pandora as a spear. As the Shadows came into contact with Pandora they wrapped around her and the Umbral sheen to her aura brightened slightly as a false negative effect appeared around her. Attacking an Umbral Dragon with Shadow, even divine-level shadows hadn’t affected her. A memory of Thors came to the surface and she remembered something her father learned in a different Universe under a different SYSTEM, but it could still be true couldn’t it?
“I am not your subject Umbrati, I do not submit to your will, and as yet, I am Mortal.”
“You are no more mortal than I am, “Umbrati said. Besides you entered my personal domain, here I can treat even mortals as I wish!”
“Good to know. Will you call off the attack on my world?”
“No!” Umbrati declared as another spell was launched at Pandora. This time it looked like a magic missile or a stream of missiles that unerringly flew toward her. Pandora activated Magic Absorption. Again, the spell was absorbed and she converted the mana into Chaos. Her memories said she was nowhere near as powerful as her father had been and tangling with a goddess probably wasn’t in her best interest but she didn’t have to remain in the Plane of Shadow to deal with the Portal in the Material Plane.
Pandora Shadow Stepped into the Material Plane. She felt Umbrati try to lock her down but the Goddess was not able to as the shadows Pandora used were her own. As she stepped onto the Material Plane Pandora exploded into action before the crowd of demi-humans could react. Her body split into 10 Clones as various Orbs exploded from each of her bodies and took up defensive positioning. As the forces near the portal reacted Pandora turned into a tornado of action.
***
Umbrati watched the girl’s demeanor change and was surprised as Pandora was able to step out of her personal domain and back onto the Prime Material Plane. The woman separated into 10 clones and then turned the area around the portal into a blender of blood and guts as weapons appeared in her hands and orbs of various colors exploded from her. The orbs themselves weren’t all that impressive. If there had only been one or two her subjects could have destroyed them easily. Then she noted, they were destroying them and every time they did a new orb appeared.
Spells that were cast were absorbed by the orbs or one of Pandora’s bodies. It didn’t seem to matter. Every combat round Pandora’s ten clones performed 20 attacks each while the orbs that were flying around each absorbed any spells that were cast at the clones. Umbrati also noted that anyone she killed was quickly deconstructed by very small technological devices. Something she’d seen before which the SYSTEM usually didn’t allow but seemed to be ignored in this case.
After 10 seconds, Pandora had cleared out a 50-foot radius around herself. After a minute the radius had increased out to 200 feet. Once Pandora cleared the area around the portal nine of her clones split into 10 more clones each. It appeared that each splitting reduced a clone's individual strength but the 90 clones were still more powerful than any of the demi-humans in her army. She also noted that no matter what weapon a clone was using, Pandora was skilled with all of them.
As Umbrati watched she noted that the number of attacks each clone was making was less than what she’d been doing when she only had 10 clones. It appeared that their number of attacks reduced to only 10 per combat round but that was still more than before. With 10 clones she’d been making 200 attacks every turn. With 91 clones she made 920 attacks every turn. Pandora couldn’t hold 91 clones of herself and control them indefinitely, could she?
After 25 minutes, Umbrati determined that yes, yes she could. Pandora’s 90 clone bodies had spread out and away from the clone she’d left near the portal and continued to kill any of the demi-humans that attacked her. Those that turned and fled she left alone but the others that thought themselves her equal soon learned that she was faster, more proficient, and extremely good at killing. There was no wasted motion. Each of Pandora’s clones was analytical and clinical in their use of deadly force. Umbrati had been watching Pandora closely and that was what disturbed her most of all, the woman showed no emotion as she’d slaughtered over 100,000 of her subjects in the last half hour.
Case and point, the one clone of Pandora that had not split again remained by the portal and destroyed any creatures that tried to come back through the portal and help those on this side of the portal. Her subjects could not win against this woman. Spells were absorbed and even the one or two clones of hers that had been killed had been quickly recovered and then recreated. It was uncanny what this Child of Chaos could do.
Umbrati considered sending in some of her trump cards but decided against it. Pandora was an unknown. Better not to completely alienate a potential threat. Besides, with the power this woman was showing at only level 97 of her first tier, she would make a much better ally than an enemy. Umbrati would need to seek out her peers and let them know that there was a new player on the field but first, she needed to stop this senseless carnage. Umbrati stepped out of the shadows next to the Clone of Pandora by the portal and activated her aura which forced everyone in her army to cease attacking and back away. Pandora looked over her shoulder at Umbrati.
“Enough!,” Umbrati said.
“Withdraw the people from my world and close the portal?” Pandora asked.
“It is not good to make an enemy of a Goddess?” Umbrati stated flatly.
“Did I not come and ask politely first? You assumed I was not powerful enough to stop your Army. Now that you’ve seen that I have the will and resolve to finish what I started you are asking me to stop. Very well, If you are asking me to stop, I am asking for you to withdraw everyone that has already passed through, I’ll even help them get back to the portal so they may return quickly.”
Umbrati did not like to be given terms by a mortal but the more of her subjects that returned, the better their chance to conquer a new target and expand her domain. She considered the request for only a moment and then said, “Very well.” Umbrati sent out a recall to all of her priests spread throughout the army. As one, her people on Pandora’s world turned and started making their way back toward the large portal while those on her side of the portal backed away and set up a defensive perimeter. Some members of her Army were quite far away so this was going to take a while, at least she’d thought it would.
Umbrati watched as Pandora’s bodies returned to the clone she was talking with by the portal and were reabsorbed. As were all but 21 of the orbs that had been orbiting her. Those looked a lot like Wizard Orbs but they had no physical structure, they were pure magic formed from chaos. Pandora stepped through the portal back into her world and split into a total of five clones, one of which remained near the portal while the other four flashed through and moved away from the portal.
The clone of Pandora near the portal cleared an area and a technological portal appeared. A moment later members of her army streamed through the smaller portal and then through the large portal back into the heart of her domain. Pandora cleared three more areas on the other side of the portal in her world and three more smaller portals appeared as more of her people began streaming back through both portals into her domain.
Umbrati watched as the four smaller portals were moved all over the countryside of the planet she’d been invading and the members of her army were allowed to pass through back to the larger portal where they reentered her domain. Still, it took the better part of two days to recover every member of Umbrati’s Army that headed back toward the portal. Some did not and made their way out into the world. Umbrati wished them luck, they were going to need it.
When she was done all of Pandora’s clones returned and recombined into one body. Pandora walked over to the portal barrier and looked through to Umbrati who looked back at her. Pandora appeared to be waiting patiently so Umbrati started, “Those that will return, have returned. Those who chose not to heed my call deserve the fate your world offers them,” Umbrati said.
“Perhaps the next time we meet, we will do so under better circumstances,” Pandora offered.
“Perhaps,” Umbrati mused, “Perhaps not. Goodbye, Pandora,” Umbrati said as she willed the portal closed.
***
Pandora turned back from the portal and found a few different places nearby to put spy cameras to keep an eye on the place to make sure she’d know immediately if a portal was opened here again.
Then she looked at her notification. There were so many notifications. She was still In her Triumvirate mental configuration so Pandora utilized Thor's ability to absorb and calculate information. In a moment she realized that she had earned 21,459,001 XP, 649,360 Copper, replaced 1% of the Chaos she’d utilized as she broke down the bodies of the creatures she’d killed and the spells she’d absorbed. She’d earned enough XP to reach Tier 2 Level 63. She merely needed to go through her choices and pick a new class, as well as distribute her attributes.
Pandora had one of the portals open at her location and stepped into her room back in Scarborough. After two days of fighting, she needed to rest. She allowed two clones to emerge from her, one for Caspa and one for Thor as she deactivated Triumvirate.
“You two feel free to take the bodies and help out around the base, I’m going to rest for a bit, While my body isn’t tired, I feel mentally fatigued,” Pandora said.
Both nodded and left the room. Pandora noticed that each modified the bodies to look slightly different. Caspa morphed to look more like her mother, while Thor morphed to look more like her Dad, but not quite. She knew she needed sleep and she had a lot to do, not the least of which was to figure out why when Triumvirate was active she seemed to lose herself. She would need to figure out what was happening and get the effects under control because once she’d decided to kill, everything had died that attacked her.
She’d moved her clones through the battlefield making sure that her stamina regeneration could handle every attack she made while making clinical and critical strikes that, with her strength and dexterity, slipped passed every attack and through every defense. It was too easy to kill the thousands of kobolds, goblins, orcs, and other creatures she had. She had become death incarnate.
It had been instinct to kill and then absorb everything she killed and she had felt so emotionless about it. She had a feeling that part of her actions had come from Caspa. If this was letting the power go to your head, she did not like it. She didn’t like it one bit. There was nothing fun in destroying a helpless foe. And they’d all seemed quite helpless towards her. Anyone could become lost in the sensation…
Before she could consider her insights anymore, her vision blurred as she laid her head back on the pillow. As soon as she was comfortable, her eyes closed and she was asleep in moments.
