Clever shared a few things. First, all that happened during their chase, especially involving how there were four Acciperes after them, made Dei’s heart skip for a moment, because that gave him an idea. The other relevant fact Clever told him was that Dei had slept for five straight days.
[Since the Fall: 10/27/809 - 6:23:39]
That was bad news because now they were far past the window for their time crunch, but he set that aside for a moment to tell them what he now knew.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve run into the Accipere.” Dei said, thinking back to when there was the corpse that an Accipere Echo was taking over in order to pull back into the main mass.
“I believe that they were all the same Accipere, but the four of them were Echoes of the original. That's important, because I can make Echoes too, which all of you have seen. What I know about Echoes, from my own experience, is that when one dies, the soul of the original organism takes hefty damage. The description on my Skill even says that if my Echo dies, my soul will be dealt ‘irreparable soul damage,’ leading to ‘potentially death.’
“And that’s for only one Echo. The Accipere lost four. I believe that this Accipere is in a horrible state right now- which is probably why it hides its main body, so it can rejuvenate if it gets a soul injury
“I’m not so optimistic that I think it’s dead, no. I believe it has Skills to help lessen the blows of Echo deaths, then other Skills to make the damage less permanent. Essentially, the Accipere is crippled right now. If we want to kill it, this might be our best chance. I don’t think it’ll send out four Echoes to chase us again when we’re stronger, for the obvious reason that we may kill them and finish it off. That being said, I am not advocating for walking straight into this things lair, merely presenting everything I know so that we can talk about whether we want to or not.”
Fang was, of course, adamantly opposed, and he thought Clever and Fendrascora would be as well.
Surprisingly though, Clever advocated for going to check it out. From the way he said it though, Dei sensed a bit of spite in Clevers suggestion.
‘Am I imagining things, or is Clever glaring at Fang?’ He wasn’t an expert in Korgonda body language, but he liked to think he knew his friend.
“I must agree with Clever on this,” Fendrascora said. “I don’t know why he wants to go, but if the Geometry Anchor has a spatially enlarged space…” she didn’t finish her sentence, but Dei felt the attention of her spirit form inside him shift to her peripheral body, and saw the large garden.
“True. I hadn’t considered that, but this may be how you can actually store the rest of your body.”
“There will be other chances.” Fang said “other, less deadly chances. We have no way to confirm if the Accipere is hurt or if it didn’t care much about those Echoes at all.”
“Not so fast!” Clever jumped in, then said one of the most coherent thing’s Dei had ever heard from him. “I have a new Skill that lets me send something to scout out other timelines. I can send one into the future, a future where we went to check the Accipere, in order to check it out. If it is safe, the main timeline can go as well.”
“I fail to understand your hostility. I was merely suggesting a safer course of action. If there is no risk involved in chasing the Accipere, then I have no qualms.”
Dei grimaced. Clever was definitely mad at Fang for something, and he’d have to check it out later.
He told Clever to go on with the scouting of timelines or whatever he did, then pulled him to the side.
“Hey buddy, what’s going on with you and Fang?” he asked using his [Meaningful] Skill. Clever still wasn’t quite able to understand vocal language.
Clever seemed exasperated. Not at Dei, but at what Fang did or- more accurately- what Fang potentially did.
Several timelines were doomed by Fang's selfishness because she would rather sacrifice Fendrascora, Clever, and Dei than to go into a risky situation. It posed a huge issue with him finding survival for the group. Even when Clever attempted to throw her away near the start, she would always switch up faster than him by sensing his intent, then controlling Fendrascora, with her absurdly weakened state, to doom them.
In the main timeline, that never happened, but only because Clever made it so.
“I see… and I understand your frustration, but I’ve kinda seen this coming for a while. Ever since I realized she couldn’t understand Kindness, I expected her to be a bit fleeting. But that doesn’t mean we can treat her badly. She isn’t evil, she just cannot get what's wrong with certain actions. I know you don't like her buddy, but please remain neutral to her.”
Dei felt his reluctance, but Clever still agreed. Aside from that though, Clever wanted to ask Dei something else, and described the experience he had when Dei had gifted him his [High Mind] Skill.
Apparently, Clever was able to see a lot of timelines, hundreds of them with his drastically boosted mind. In each of those timelines, he was able to manipulate and make them more real, but he also described how each one became conscious and hated that.
The actual problem, though, came later. Through the entire experience, Clever hadn’t formed a Skill. Only after being safely tucked away for several minutes did he actually get it, but it was way different to what he felt before.
During his time with Dei’s [High Mind], Clever could see and interact with hundreds of conscious timelines. Now, though, he could only maintain constant connection to a single one- and luckily, it wasn’t conscious of its state.
Clever was mad about that afterwards, as he felt like the System was limiting him, but the System had actually sent a specific explanation to Clever.
[You have taken advantage of a niche loophole in the deal between The System and Time. The System is not able to interfere with a creature's formation of a Time Skill, but can limit them after the fact.
By utilizing the unique Skill: [How About a Demonstration], you dramatically boosted your mental abilities without leaving System parameters, meaning the System was still bound by the contract with Time during the formation of your Skill.
While possible to leave System Boundaries and regain your previous capabilities, it is not recommended. The contract between The System and Time grants you many protections, such as:
- Emotion Lock Protection.
- Latent Will Filtering.
- Parasitic Entity Repellant.]
When Clever interacted with the three clauses, they provided explanations.
[Emotion Lock Protection: Systemless Skills attach themselves to the soul in a manner which prevents mental growth past that point, causing the personality to stagnate in certain ways depending on the Skill.]
[Latent Will Filtering: the Will of an affinity will superimpose itself over the mind of its constituent unless steps are taken to prevent this.]
[Parasitic Entity Repellant: Certain affinities are infested with Conceptual Entities, which exhibit adverse effects on any who come into contact with them. System Bounds repel such entities, so those protected may explore their affinities without risk.]
After sending him the notifications, Clever looked at Dei for something.
“So? What can I do about this?” Dei asked.
“I don’t know! Fix it?” Clever whined.
“Clever What can I even fix? The System says pretty clearly why it's not giving you that power back, and why you shouldn’t try to do that again. I don't think it’ll protect you if you just do the exact same thing, but we might actually be able to take advantage of this in the future if we need to, by combining our abilities and forming a new Skill, one which is far stronger than it should be for just a little bit.”
Clever grumbled more, but he didn’t have a better idea either.
“Also Clever?” He got the Korgonda’s attention once more. “Why are you so… well spoken?”
“Oh! Oh! After I did all that stuff with the Accipere, I got new titles and even two Achievements! And then, and then The Mother gave me a name! She offered to turn me into a Sapient Race, but I rejected. I like being a Korgonda!” Then, without Dei asking, he shared the two Achievements he’d gotten.
[Gotcha!
Using a clever mind, you have lead a foe of overwhelming power into a situation that caused its demise
- Mind affinity is 40% easier to learn and advance
- Boost mental stat effects by 15%
- Enemies are more likely to underestimate you]
[Jackpot
Despite mathematically overwhelming odds against you, you have won a gamble that guaranteed death should you have failed.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
- Luck affinity is 100% more likely to connect with you and advance.]
Dei nodded, impressed. He felt like it was fair for the System to reward what Clever- ‘err wait, didn’t he say he has an actual name now? I should ask him-’ did for Dei. When it came to the [Jackpot] Achievement and “mathematically overwhelming odds,” it was probably referencing how there were almost no timelines where Clevers plan succeeded Though it wasn’t quite random chance, it was close to it when he considered that Clever almost ran out of time to find it. What were the chances that he found one of the right timelines?
It also only provided one boon, a powerful Luck affinity percentage boost. It didn’t say “easier to learn and advance” though, it said “more likely to connect with you and advance,” which seemed to imply that the Luck affinity was literally only gained randomly, and advanced randomly as well.
‘If that's true, it's legitimately hilarious.’
“Those are great Achievements!” he said, petting the Korgonda in front of him on the head, who puffed up in pride. “And you said you have a name now? What did The Mother name you?”
“I told her I liked the name Clever, like you always say, and wanted to be named that.”
“...”
“...”
“... And what did she say?”
“She said ok!”
Dei couldn’t help but laugh at how enthusiastic he was about finally having a name, only for it to be literally the exact same thing they’d been calling him. When he calmed down a bit, he asked “So wait, what’s different?”
“Dunno, my Interface says ‘Name’ now, rather than ‘Nickname’ though.”
Dei nodded, and continued to listen as Clever proudly touted his activities of the last few days. He finally evolved, getting something that was described as an “Epic” Race, and Dei finally Identified him.
[Molten Korgonda Calibrator - Level 107]
He said that the “Calibrator” adjective would help his thinking speed and potential Luck affinity, so he chose it in favor of the others because it took both his Achievements into account.
And, of course, it gave the most stat points at two every odd level, three every even level, which was more than Dei’s own Class. Less than his Profession though.
Talking to Clever about his gains made Dei want to check his own, but he knew they’d be complicated and needed to sit for a while, so he wanted to wait until after everything with the group in general was finished. Now that everything was sorted out and their next step was planned, he left Clever to continue scouting for a timeline that was further along than they were in order to check whether the Accipere was genuinely crippled.
Before sitting down to sift through his gains though, he made his way over to Fang so he could ask her something.
“Hey Fang, what are the different tiers of affinities, Classes, Professions, and Races? Like, I know there’s Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic, but I don't know past that”
“You missed one. The tiers, in order, are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Treasured, Epic, Grand, Historic, Fabled, Legendary, and Mythical”
“Oh…” he said, realizing he could have asked this a lot sooner.
It wasn’t important until now though, because when was he going to pick his Class again? Now that he was either close to evolving his Class or about to do so, he wanted to know more.
And he had the perfect source of knowledge in front of him.
“What is the difference between tiers for Classes?” He knew that affinities let him access more mana easily, but he wasn’t sure about the Classes or Races
“The swarm I was part of once devoured a man and absorbed some of his knowledge, so I know it is the same for Classes and Races per tier. Common gives fifty points per hundred levels, Uncommon gives a hundred points per hundred levels, Rare give a hundred and fifty per hundred levels, and so on. Each tier gives another fifty points per hundred levels.”
Dei wasn’t surprised to find she’d eaten a man before. He knew she didn’t have the same emotions as him, and didn’t raise it as an issue. “Do you know if I ever get to change my Class or upgrade it? I think it’ll evolve at level one hundred, like all the Skills and monster Races, but I want to make sure.”
“Again from his knowledge, I know that it will evolve at level one hundred. You cannot change purposes though, you may only evolve into things similar to your original class, like building upon it.”
“So if I had, say, a Class dedicated to finding enemies, it would have to stay as a Class dedicated to finding enemies?”
“I am unsure. The swarm was not interested in digging deeper into Classes.”
Dei nodded and moved away from her, ready to sit down and start looking through things. He was surprised Fendrascora hadn’t called his attention for something, but he looked over to her peripheral body and saw she was playing with Clever as the Korgonda slid around across her surface.
‘They’re having fun, I won't bother her’ he said to himself as he chose a spot semi-close to them, sitting down, and opening his notifications which he hadn’t checked since finding Lani.
[Skill Leveled Up: Meaningful (42) -> (44)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Growing Pains (142) -> (168)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Homeostasis (96) -> (100)]
[Skill: Homeostasis (100) has reached an evolution threshold]
[Skill Leveled Up: Identify of the Stout Protector (63) -> (64)]
[Skill Leveled Up: Vigilance (91) -> (100)]
[Skill: Vigilance (100) has reached an evolution threshold]
[Skill Leveled Up: In Tune (36) -> (40)]
[Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (89) -> (100)]
[Skill: High Mind (100) has reached an evolution threshold]
Three Skills at the threshold. The immense danger of the situation seemed to boost any and all experience gained for Skills used during his run from the Accipere. The gains would have been even better, if he hadn’t needed to deactivate all his passives to stop stressing his soul. Which reminded him that he had to turn those back on.
[Good Samaritan], [Meditation], [Solidity], and [Vigilance] all turned back on. [High Mind] was already on, and he’d never even bothered to turn off [Growing Pains].
Immediately, he received one more surprise notification.
[Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (74) -> (93)]
Either from the visions, or his new Skill, his Mind and Body were drawn together once more in a large jump, even slightly past the progress he’d had before. Dei wondered for a moment if the Skill was slightly broken like his four previous-life Skills, and would level up quicker to its former level, but it was too late to check now. If it was broken before and had accelerated growth, it would be repaired now. The notification helped him relax slightly, knowing that the terrible feeling of disconnect would soon be gone.
After seeing the new Skill level for Solidity, Dei quickly finished setting up his passive suite by dedicating three minds to Meditation, which only took up around fifteen percent of his mental energy.
Next, he started getting into the juicy bits of his notifications.
[Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 94) -> (Level 100)]
[Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 100) has reached an evolution threshold]
[Total Stats Gained: +3 Mental, +3 Magical]
[Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 8) -> (Level 11)]
[Total Stats Gained: +15 Spiritual]
‘WOAH MOMMA!’ he thought, seeing three levels in his Profession ‘What the hell is that about?! Was I thinking harder while unconscious or something? Or… is there a nuance to this Profession, a way to level it up, which I’ve literally not been doing, which is why it’s so slow?!? How did I never consider that?’
This was the perfect time to figure that out. He’d just done something which was clearly vital to the Profession, but what?
He was in immense danger, and had nothing to do but think. That couldn’t be all there was to it though, because during every battle or dangerous situation before he was thinking, quickly too. Probably faster than he was in this last battle, because then, he didn’t have [High Mind] activated.
‘Does it matter… what I think about? Do I gain more experience for literally pondering on greater mysteries of the universe? That’s gotta be it! I gained a massive boost, because I studied the exact interaction between the System and my Stamina. I figured out a step into spell creation, which would normally not be possible for many to see. I could only see it because I have a full view of my soul through my Soulspeak Achievement, and my Stamina originates inside my body, part of my soul. If it happened to an affinity, I would not have gotten the full image, because it would be outside of my scope.
‘So basically… I need to think about and figure out grand mysteries while in immense danger? Or perhaps the danger simply amplifies the experience gains?
‘Yea, no wonder I’ve been leveling so slowly. I haven’t been doing anything like that at all.’
Relieved for a way to level up his Profession now, he moved on to the next notification.
[Skill Gained: Disconnect]
[Disconnect - Level 1 - Stamina affinity
The overwhelming world pulls at more than just the mind. The heart, too, feels the crushing weight of responsibilities. The soul suffers under draining responsibilities, and the body collapses when pushed too far. When at the absolute limit, when everything fails, what else is there to do but nothing?
Creates a disconnect between the soul and body while boosting the regeneration of both, allowing for rapid repair of Soul Strain, Soul Damage, and long-term physical maladies. Soul and Physical body enter a locked trance state, becoming incapable of moving or activating other Skills.
Requires several hours for Soul and Body to realign with one another once Skill is deactivated.
Locked trance state may result in divine or conceptual communication]
[Skill Leveled Up: Disconnect (1) -> (59)]
‘Finally! A soul healing Skill!’ He almost wanted to drop right back into that same state and stay there until the cracks were gone, but he had other responsibilities. He also believed that this was what helped his Solidity Skill, as it might have considered the gap between them soul damage.
He noted a few things about the Skill as well. First was that it said he couldn’t activate Skills, but Dei remembered Growing Pains continuing to heal him, which seemed to imply that Passive Skills would keep running, he just couldn’t control them.
Second, Dei suspected that the clause on “divine or conceptual communication” was something added after the creation of the Skill itself, when he’d talked to Kindness and that… other creature. The vision he’d gotten from his Connection Skill implied that Soul hadn’t just given him a Skill, it had literally connected him to a specific member of a specific race. It wasn’t random, but chosen.
Now, the System was telling him that this creature was divine in nature, meaning he was connected to a specific God as well. Based on the vision, Dei thought it might be an aquatic beast God, but had no way to actually tell.
Dei was almost afraid to even think about it any more. Whoever or whatever he connected with could clearly still find him, based on how his refuge in Aloran’s garden froze over as he stared at the screen for [Connection] last time he’d opened it. Not wanting to push his luck any more, he moved on to his affinity gains
[Affinity Strengthened:
[Fortitude: High Uncommon: 99% has strengthened into Fortitude: Low-Rare: 1%]
That one had been fairly high in the first place, but it was nice to see it finally reach over into Rare. The others actually hadn’t moved up all that much, probably because he didn’t have time to be Kind to anyone or Wrathful towards anything before he’d been completely dropped.
At long last, he reached the end of his notifications, surprise plain on his face as he read exactly what it was.
[Achievement Gained! Dammit
You have found and utilized a bug in The System
- Won’t be disintegrated for utilizing the bug further.
- The knowledge that it cannot be fixed in your lifetime due to the nature of the bug, an oversight in the pacts between The System and various affinities.
- A good feeling for helping the System patch this loophole during further iterations of the pacts.]