Chapter 250 - Surrounded (Patreon)

Two days pass, each similar to the other. I wake up, I train, I spend some time with others, I join Cael and the Craft Guild, I meet with Myrra, I rest on my own for a while and experiment with the items I got from the auction.

A few weird mana stones with delicate inscriptions and a bracelet that reacted to my energies.

For the bracelet, I already found out that it's the metal that reacts to them so nicely and weirdly, and even after asking around, no one was able to identify it, and I got a few offers from curious blacksmiths.

So for now, I decide to keep it and continue to examine it. The mana stones are more interesting. The inscriptions are not something super powerful; I just like how delicate and intricate they are and already have plenty of ideas on how to improve my inscriptions.

What's interesting is that if I'm right, the stones were made to be put under the skin of some animal and synchronize with the animal's pathways, giving some effects that are impossible to decipher because of broken parts.

But I'm not even annoyed; the inscribed parts are enough to give me a few ideas for improvements to my constructs. Yup, I did not forget about them, and after getting my trait, I plan to go for a huge one and improve on my kinetic mana heart, probably the riskiest and the most powerful of my constructs.

As I said before and will continue to repeat, the second-floor Nathaniel was impressive as heck. Knowing what I know now, I would probably have noped out and not even attempt to do something like that. Yet that cute little douche did, and succeeded, even though he almost died. Quite impressive.

So yup, I would like to get a few more levels and get my trait after level 200 from the quest, but in the past few days, I barely left the tower and always only for a bit while keeping an anchor inside it.

I also continue to send a trickle of mana toward the anchor I left near the black orb. I do this so the orb takes that mana instead of trying to mess with my anchor. As time passes, the pull on the mana I send through the anchor weakens. This is either due to the black orb weakening and crumbling after days, or the ants dealing with it.

The Colony is confirmed to be sneaking all around the city, and the only reason we do not attack is the protections that are especially set against them over long years by the matriarch. Eris had her lynthari and inscribers create massive circuits connected to dozens of power sources all over the city and then used her skill to make everyone forget.

After she died, Myrra and some other lynthari learned about them from messages left by the matriarch and immediately reactivated them and checked if they were working properly.

In the end, it was judged that with how many there are and how many surprises the matriarch left, it's best to just wait for the ants to attack and use it rather than go on a suicidal mission against the First One powered by the Colony.

From what we have learned, the weaker ants stayed in the Colony, and that number is a high percentage, but they are not being useless there.

Nope, the Colony created a set of relays from their territory and right towards the city. Each step of that relay is a big group of ants that through [Hive Mind] and on the order of the First One receives vitality, mana, and strength from the weaker members that stayed in the Colony and sends it further, towards Virelia, where their leader can use it when they decide to attack.

I'm sure there are massive losses, yet the sheer amount of energy they are sending is immense enough.

Of course, it doesn't mean no ants are surrounding Virelia; nope, there are tens of thousands of them, each of them one of the stronger variants, and they are still really far away so most of the people can't use ranged attacks. Only once in a while do I see Tess, Min-Jae, Obelia, and some other humans on lynthari trying to get in some kills, but the ants are protected most of the time.

Surprisingly, Tess still gets some kills as she can see much further than anyone else, and her [Psychokinesis] is an extremely good combination with her Primordial lightning when it comes to ranged attacks. Especially when she borrows the epic bow we got from the Champion's disciple down in the mines.

Not wanting to be left behind, I try to shoot some attacks as well, but I don't see as well as Tess and decide to rather use my mana to feed the bomb I'm preparing.

The ants also return fire to force defenders to spend mana on a barrier that encompasses the city. This barrier is powered by the mana of their bodies and mana stored in batteries all around the city.

I'm quite fascinated by it as it is created from multiple parts and is not active all the time. The barrier is split into hundreds of segments, and then there is something similar to Sophie's web that reaches far beyond the city.

When the protections are activated, the detection web senses the attack aimed at the city, and through mana stones left behind by either old humans or lynthari, it does calculations as to where the attack is aiming and then activates only the required segment of the barrier.

It's much more difficult, and I'm not allowed to get close to the heart of this all, and no one else is. Hell, most of the lynthari and humans don't even know where it is, and there are dozens of fake stations all over the city.

Yet, no matter how good the protections are, most people are nervous and constantly shudder when the segment is activated and the attacks crash against it. People scream and complain, and the mood between lytnari and humans becomes worse by the day, as rumors spread around.

Running away is impossible as the Colony seems to be ever-present and surrounds the entire city, and even try to dig under it, where they find extremely strong layers of stone and traps left behind by the matriarch.

The Colony is highly capable, and its amazing cooperation is something that is hard to imagine for a single group to deal with, confirming my theory that there are always multiple ways to clear this floor.

Maybe you can face the Fallen Hero on your own as it's a single enemy. For the Colony, you can use Virelia, lynthari, and humans to deal with it. The tree is a single massive target, so maybe it can be dealt with from a distance, maybe it can be poisoned, or maybe even using another Calamity against it.

It's still difficult, but there are more options that seem to be testing different sets of skills and slowly introducing us to the worlds where the system exists, to Champion disciples, Champions, Absolutes, to the Pairing, and all that stuff.

It does what the name suggests, even though it is in quite a messed-up way, and that makes me wonder what world we will be introduced to after finishing the tutorial. There were plenty of warnings about what could happen to the worlds with people with powers similar to ours, and it could happen to Earth too.

So, what level will we be when we get out? I already noticed my leveling slowing down for both my skills and level, and I'm not even level 200, with an estimation of a champion being close or over 500. Maybe around that level for the ones capable of reaching it? Or more probably, Champion candidates, and becoming a Champion will be something that happens outside of the tutorial. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

So far, every floor we visited was rumored to have only a handful of Champions and a single Absolute, with the second floor being an exception, having two before Lissandra killed the second one and the Champions who tried to fight her too.

As for Earth, it could mean the same: just a handful of Champions, each being someone from Hell difficulty, with those who got into Beyond being the most probable candidates.

Getting back to reality, I first look at my already restored left arm. It's as pale as before, the same pale our silly healer's restored left arm is.

Then I look up at Lily, who is currently sparring with Maya.

Sparring and getting her ass kicked.

Once again, Lily falls on her bottom and sighs, "I want to use my skill."

"Nope, no disintegrating Maya," I say.

"Maybe she could try to use it a bit, Nat, I bet I could avoid it." The armor around Maya disappears, and she moves her hair from her sweaty forehead.

"We will get there, but first Lily needs to fight while saving mana and her body parts. She has a very bad habit of losing her limbs."

"I know someone similar," I hear Lily mutter.

I decide to gracefully ignore it. "She can't yet sacrifice her items, she doesn't have that much mana, and both of her main skills are very mana-hungry. Do you disagree?"

Maya shrugs her shoulders, "I guess you are right. After sparring with her for a day or two, I can see that. Nothing personal, Lily, but I thought you would be stronger." She smiles and offers Lily her hand to stand up.

That's typical of Maya, always underestimating herself. Does she think I helped her improve [Focus] and [Armament] for nothing, plus her amazing [Boost]? Out of our group, Maya is one of the stronger members. Well, maybe not when it comes to skills and stats or mana. No, she is calm and calculating and has learned to mix her skills, and her fighting style is versatile.

"Lily, the 1st trial takes one hour, the second one takes 7 days, and both of them will be testing your weaknesses. You know what they are, right?"

“Yes, I know. I mean, I won't complain about that, Nat, but wouldn't it be better if I could train [Disintegration] too?”

Maya giggles a bit, understanding right away.

Lily seems confused, so I answer, “See, and that's your problem. Until you are more efficient or capable of using it for longer, it should be your trump card. You created thin threads using it, so we will start with something like that instead of disintegrating an entire monster or wasting huge amounts of your mana on a ranged attack.”

At least she is listening, seeing how her eyes are glued to me. “We will also teach you to use smaller ranged attacks. Something like orbs instead of arrows. But Lily, that’s for later.”

I jump to my feet and stretch. “We will test how much mana you will get from sacrificing your hair. We can start with a single hair and continue to add more until there is a noticeable effect. Then we will see if you can sacrifice your teeth instead of fingers. It's better to not be able to talk than lose a finger. For a stronger boost, you can sacrifice one kidney instead of an arm or leg.”

Maya starts looking a bit uncomfortable and even mutters something, but Lily doesn’t seem to mind.

I continue, “We will try to sacrifice stuff like sense of smell, taste. Maybe you will eat a lot of food and then sacrifice it? Maybe we can have you gain some weight and you will sacrifice your body fat?”

My gears are spinning, and I could swear I'm smiling. There are so many options.

“You can change your body, Lily. So why do you need items? You can maybe grow another finger for each hand. Maybe you can grow some small fake organs inside you and sacrifice them. You can use my left arm, as we found out. So what if I cut it off, we store it, you restore my arm, I cut it off again and you leave for Beyond or another fight with multiple arms to use to power your skills."

“Ew,” Maya says.

“Amazing,” Lily’s eyes are almost glowing.

“So leave it up to me, we will make a badass out of you.”

“Yes!” Lily shouts.

***

A few days later all of us together stand around the chest we got from the Champion’s house.

Yes, the time has come. It took months of curiosity, impatience, and frustration. We did have people try to open it, we used skills, we used items. I even risked it and created a tiny orb of black mana, yet nothing helped.

Not even Biscuit was capable of opening it after I told him there was meat better than the one we had from the Archdeer we bought at the auction.

I look around the room and catch the eyes of Izzy, who smiles at me brightly. Lately, I have become her second most favorite human and the 4th most favorite member of group 4 after Sophie, Noodle, and Biscuit. The ten-year, no, eleven-year-old girl hugs me every time she sees me and rarely leaves Sophie's side.

The twins are here as well, all four legs back and smiling. It's not the same smile they used to have before, but it's close to it. Thanks to Sophie, the memory became more distant. Not gone, and the feeling is still there, but they use it as fuel, and in the past few days, I saw them train extremely hard, even coming for advice from Sophie and other people.

Min-Jae continues to explain his process, and I listen to him with one ear while looking around the room. Everyone from group 4 is still here, safe and healthy. I can also say it's partially thanks to me, and it's getting harder and harder to lie to myself.

It's a weird feeling, as it's been years since I had someone I could even consider a friend or someone I kept seeing day after day and created a bond with.

It's almost like… camaraderie, like Tess talked about.

I look to the left and catch Tess's eyes, and her expression clearly shows that she has an idea of what I'm thinking about. She smiles brightly, her steel gray eyes returning my gaze without wavering.

“I have a few pieces of Archdeer jerky saved, call Tess an asshole,” I lift Biscuit and whisper into his ear.

(Asshole!) he shouts before I even finish the sentence.

That only makes Tess smile even more.

“So, as I said, I think this crest is something like a magnet that is activated by a gravity-type skill, and I noticed pathways through the chest, so if I do this,” Min-Jae, excitedly moves to the chest after using his skills to activate the crest.

Then he puts the crest on the chest, and even though none of us can feel anything, he moves it across the chest multiple times in specific ways. A clacking noise sounds one after another, and finally, he lifts the crest, sending more mana into it and putting it on another point, and takes a step back.

Ready for anything, we step back, and I get ready to activate my skills.

“I think it won't open on its own,” I say and create mana arms that reach from me and try to open the chest.

Feeling how heavy the lid is, I create a few more and then slowly open it.

Curious, everyone takes a step closer and looks at the single item inside that is in a transparent glass tube filled with water-like liquid. The tube is floating exactly in the middle of the chest, and inside that tube is a single thing.

An human eye with a yellowish iris.

There is no text from the system over it. No name, no rarity. This is not something that could be considered an item; it's just an eye.

An eye of someone who used to be extremely powerful, from what I can sense.

***

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