[MA] 83. Bloodshed (Patreon)

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Almost one hundred horned rabbits filled the island's edges and kept leaping on Shen at high speed at the slightest opening they found in between the stone golems surrounding him.

Projectiles kept coming, going through the Shadows' bodies as if they weren't there. Shen was constantly bending his body to avoid getting hit. The elasticity granted by the Fate Origin realm wasn't much, but it pushed him beyond the limits of the mortal body, and it helped.

His body was arching backward, both feet and head touching the ground. He got on his hands and pushed with them to get to the air, an awkward jump with the arms. Once out of the ground, he twisted, and his back became a perfect arc again. Fireballs and light beams, stones and ice, water and throwing knives missed him by millimeters as his moving body anticipated their paths—that was the only way to avoid them all.

A stone golem, a monstrosity three meters tall made of solid stone, slammed its thick arm down. Shen twisted his body enough to hear and feel his knees crack as he avoided a horned rabbit and two fireballs, and grabbed the golem's arm. He then used the Shadow's arm for extra impulse and got to the air again.

This final boss' enemies had slowly become challenging for any agility-focused person to kill. There was only one way to kill these golems with F- strength and no mana or qi: their eyes.

Shen spearhead pierced the monster's empty eye socket. The blade broke the thin layer of rock protecting its "brain," a crystal that contained instructions on how it should behave.

The crystal shattered, and the golem turned into light.

| Stone Golem (E) | 125,882 → 125,982 AP

An unexpected advantage of resisting for longer was the extra AP one could receive. Shen had been at it for a very long time already.

Dozens of horned rabbits used the opening left by the dead golem to leap against him. Shen killed eight with his spear as he got to the ground and prepared—

Suddenly, all enemies and incoming projectiles turned into light, and no new attacks materialized.

=

Tutorial - 8th Stage

You have passed.

Please wait while rewards are distributed.

=

| Stage clear reward: +10,000 AP

| Middle boss bonus: +1,000 AP

| Total AP: 137,062 AP

=

Tutorial - 8th Stage

The last to die in each age group will receive 16,000 AP.

As the last man standing, you'll receive an extra 16,000 AP.

=

| Elite reward: +16,000 AP

| Peak participant reward: +16,000 AP

| Total AP: 169,062 AP

Shen checked the Stat Store and wasn't surprised to see he could now buy E+ agility for exactly 32,000 AP.

He had required E-tier agility to win that stage, and the reward was precisely the cost for an E+ upgrade. Shen would even be willing to bet that the prize for first place in the previous stage had been similar, perhaps even the same.

Well, there was one agility stage remaining, and he had the funds, so he saw no reason to delay the upgrade.

"Purchase agility upgrade," he said.

| Purchased: Agility Up (E+) | -32,000 AP

| Total AP: 137,062 AP

Mana healed his bones and improved his body. Once again, he fell to the ground as all his muscles fluxed between contracting and relaxing. Cells were compressed, made more efficient, and the excesses was removed.

Shen was sure now that he was on the borders of what was physically possible on old Earth. Just like life being turned into health points could only be explained with magic, his new muscles and bones could be nothing else but mystical.

The transformation was completed in a few minutes. It was so easy to stand up that Shen felt almost weightless. He had indeed reached the peak agility of the E-rank, though he still had to learn how to squeeze as much efficiency from it as possible.

Light surrounded him and everyone on the surrounding islands and took them away.

= - = - =

Alicia was having a lot of trouble understanding what she was reading.

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Tutorial - 8th Stage

The most creative in each age group will receive 16,000 AP.

As the most creative of all groups, you'll receive an extra 16,000 AP.

=

She had been the most creative?! She? Alicia Winter?

How? She was just... her. The only good thing she could say about herself was...

Was...

...

...

Alicia teared up.

She was creative.

The system's recognition warmed her heart even as she told herself that she had only been the one to show most creativity. Someone out there was much better than her but hadn't displayed as much creativity with magic.

Either way, she was good, and it was good to know.

| Reward: +32,000 AP

| Total AP: 39,627 AP

Alicia had been worried. There was still one magic stage remaining, and it was about magic knowledge. She felt utterly unprepared for it.

The slaughter of the sixth stage and the 10,000 AP from passing the seventh had allowed her to upgrade her magic to E-. She had sadly still been nine thousand AP away from the E upgrade.

Fortunately, she could buy it now.

"Upgrade magic to E," she said.

| Purchased: Magic Up (E) | -16,000 AP

| Remaining AP: 23,627

Knowledge flooded her mind.

The magic stat was actually someone's willpower or knowledge, whichever was higher, even if the system didn't display their individual values. When a mage upgraded their magic stat, the system didn't touch their willpower. Instead, it added knowledge straight to their mind until it reached the new tier.

It wasn't just random knowledge. It added to whatever topics she knew the most. It was like an instant Ph.D.

After studying her fireballs and connecting to something grander, the thing Alicia knew the most about was Fire. More specifically, she had learned a lot about the Concept of Destruction belonging to Fire.

The system had said there was no way to upgrade one's Concept on the Stat Store, and it was true.

However, it didn't mean the system didn't touch on a Concept at all.

The system flooded her brain with information about how fire worked and how to destroy things. Often, it was about how to destroy things with fire.

A lot of it was beyond Earth's science, which made her feel a little better about herself. Maybe the system was right when it said she was creative. Perhaps she had some value, after all. It was even possible she hadn't deserved all those things that had happened to her. She had been angry at the world, but deep down, she had never stopped wondering.

It had started troubling her even more ever since she met Mark on the third stage. She had betrayed him. She couldn't stop telling herself that she had deserved what Ken had done to her because she had brought that upon herself.

That was part of why she had started doing her best to improve, to make herself less of a terrible person. Less useless, at least. Someone who might just deserve some happiness.

For the first time in a long time, Alicia felt hope for a brighter future.

After the upgrade was completed, the system teleported her away.

= - = - =

Shen materialized on the familiar vast grassland. Thousands of others formed a line to both his sides, with a few dozen yards between each other.

There was a white statue in front of each person. It was also a few dozen yards away from them and had human limbs but no genitals, hair, or facial features.

=

Tutorial - Bloodshed

The most controversial mental modification enacted by the Multiverse Alliance on all Guardians is dampening their aversion to bloodshed.

Many of you have noticed how you didn't hold as much aversion to carnage as you feel you should, and indeed, on average, Guardians fell only 10% the emotional impact of hurting or killing others.

The Multiverse Alliance is at perpetual existential war. Guardians are warriors. Hesitation at the wrong moment could spell the doom of the entire Multiverse.

The value of countless lives is much greater than the moral comforts of our Guardians.

That causes obvious issues. Foremost among them is that Guardians are 50% more likely to recur to violence outside of battle than before they became Guardians.

The Guardian System constantly monitors and logs all Guardians' actions. Tampering with the Guardian System's monitoring is a grave crime.

Guardian sentences for aggression, assault, homicide, and similar illegal acts are tripled if they commit such crimes outside of a war zone.

We have tested making this modification togglable before, but it caused more issues than solved.

It's illegal to remove this modification until you reach the B-rank.

Once you reach the B-rank, you are required to remove the modification, for the Alliance cannot deal with overly aggressive beings of such power.

=

Shen had never felt so invaded before.

All the changes to his body and mind that he had been informed about until now had been acceptable. Even higher fertility wasn't such a huge issue considering that he could still use contraceptives and there was always a chance of conception when you partook in the pleasures of the flesh, to begin with. The time perception dilation changed his perception of time, but not his self-perception. He was still himself.

The emotional dampening was something else altogether.

It explained why people had been so quick to kill, and it even explained some of his stupidity in rushing toward danger.

He could see the advantages to that, but the disadvantages didn't make up for such a profound change.

Shen wasn't shocked by the prospect of his very self changing. Cultivating toward immortality naturally detached one from the worries of mortals. The Eternal Empire had to train the rulers of regions to deal with matters such as food mass production, mass waste disposal, and mass transport that affected mortals much more and more seriously than cultivators.

Yet, making powerful people fifty percent extra aggressive was terrifying, insulting, and repulsive.

The powerful had the duty to protect the weak. In the Eternal Empire, hardened warriors that couldn't reinsert into society after battles or wars were kept separated from mortals while put under rehabilitation care. That was best for everyone.

The Alliance just made the penalties for their wrongdoings a little worse.

Shen felt deeply offended at being changed, but he felt outraged at the lack of care for the ordinary people. He had wondered before how far Titled beings could go in the Alliance. Now, he considered his past self as too naive. It wasn't just the Titled who had the potential to cause great harm.

Of course, good Guardians would limit abuses if they saw it. The Guardian System would record everything, and someone—or maybe the system itself—would generate Bounties after the fact.

But by then, how many would suffer?

A mortal with a sword could kill perhaps a few dozen people before they were stopped.

A power cultivator with a sword could make entire cities disappear in a heartbeat.

Many Guardians would one day wield similar power to the mightiest cultivators, lack their care for honor, and be extra aggressive because of the system. Shen couldn't stop linking that with the cultivator's era of chaos before the Immortal Emperor founded the Eternal Empire.

Evelyn's plans might be more important than he had thought. He still didn't plan on joining her, but as he had told Alicia, helping her might be vital for Earth.

=

Tutorial - 9th Stage

This stage is about motor coordination.

You'll have endless stamina. You won't be able to use any other energy. All stats other than agility will be set to F-.

There are one hundred levels. On each level, you must repeat the set of movements made by the dummy in front of you. Motions must be at least 95% similar to the last toe to count as a pass.

The dummy will keep repeating the movements for you. It will alternate between slow motion and real-time. A five-second pause between each demonstration will demarcate the beginning and end of the set.

The movements will grow more complex at each level.

You can stay still for as long as you want. Once you start moving, you must do precisely as the dummy before you showed, from beginning to end. If the similarity of your movements falls below 95% at any point, you'll be immediately teleported back to the level's starting position.

You and your dummy will be teleported ten yards ahead whenever you advance a level.

Your current level will be displayed at the top right corner of your vision.

Only the first 10% of each age group will continue. They will also receive 10,000 AP.

You have 2 minutes to purchase stat upgrades if you want and have the AP required.

=

That was the fairest agility stage yet because it was the only one they had time to prepare. It was strange to consider anything the system or the Alliance did fair after what he had just been told.

Shen heard many people purchase upgrades using the AP they had amassed on the previous levels.

After two minutes, the dummies turned their backs to all participants and started showing them what they had to do.

[A/N: I think this is important enough to call attention upon:

It's never the victim's fault.

Alicia is traumatized after a long life of emotional abuse, and it's only coming to the surface now because she's feeling somewhat confident and safe for the first time in a while.]

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