Masenia: Chapter 19 Hiding Accomplishments is an Accomplishment in and of Itself (Patreon)

Chapter 19

Hiding Accomplishments is an Accomplishment in and of Itself

“Oh, looky here, if it isn’t our very own problem child, right at the center of everything, can we at least get rid of the glitch?” The first voice asked.

There was a pause, a long-drawn-out pause, as Maria felt an unbearable weight of power gaze upon her and judge her. Then Maria could feel the moment the second monster, the one that was in charge, took in a deep breath and then came to a conclusion. A conclusion that spoke of trying to eliminate potential issues, the begrudging sigh of a lazy person who had been offered two paths and was choosing the one that seemed easiest to deal with for the given time. In her mind she saw this moment draw out into an eternity. For the moment she could see things from the watcher’s point of view. This was to be an easy job, just to help facilitate the quick and easy start to the world, but there was always one person who seemed to get in the way.

Sigh.

“Probably for the best at this point. The world is now integrated, the restrictions on deaths are easier to accept and squash away with sheer numbers. We will just ramp up the number of monsters for this area. Oh wait, that is odd…” The second voice said, turning his back to Maria as he began looking at his precious data pad.

“What is?” The first voice asked, also turning his back to Maria as he too turned to face the screen that was revealing something.

Badump, badump, badump.

Time seemed to slow down around Maria, as she felt the future of the universe unraveling around her. For a moment, she saw it, her moment to strike back, to end this right here and now.

Focusing her mind, she gathered a lot of spiritual energy into her hands. She didn’t know if her standard shot that she had been using before would be enough, something told her that if she was going to do anything it had to both be big and be deadly. The attack had to come so quickly that the two lackies had no time to react, and most importantly no time to go through with their plans to erase her. Focusing her mind, time seemed to slow down as she pumped so much mana into her two palms that she could almost swear that her meridians would burst from having to hold and control so much energy. Still, she focused through the pain, as she cycled the mana, memories of her past came back to her, times when she had lost limbs, only to then be forced to dust them off before letting her natural regeneration hook the appendage back to her body. Realizing that this, what she felt right now was but a blip in the amount of pain she would endure. At that she thought that if this was too much pain, then she might as well let the two erase her now before things got real. In these memories, she remembered an even more dangerous action she could perform, one that would ensure she would both succeed in this current process, but it would come at a great cost, as it would likely mean she would be unable to cast magic for the foreseeable future. Still, given everything, she felt that losing the ability to cast magic for a time was a minor inconvenience, especially if death was the alternative.

***

In her mind, the memories of her past life came up and overlapped with her current body. She was muscular, far more muscular than her teenage body was currently. In the future, even as a back of the line support character she had been ripped.

“Now I am only going to show you this now. Since you are all new to magic, it is important that we show you the importance of <Hazy Memory>. This is not to be your first line of defense, in fact, assume that when you are here at this point it is either one last desperate gambit, or your death. Odds are that even doing this will lead to your death, any mage only will die without the ability to cast. The time it takes to regenerate the damage is roughly one week per Tier over you decide to cast.” A drill instructor said, his words echoing in the hidden away training hall where Maria was but one of a hundred people left who had never taken on classes. They were a weak group, mostly people who had fallen in as supply clerks and chefs, but as the war wound down, everyone needed to step up and be trained. Leadership didn’t want to say anything, but it was clear from the amount of attention Maria and the others were suddenly getting that things on the front lines were looking dire.

Scoff.

A few of the other cadets scoffed at the idea, but Maria was far too frightened to even say or do anything that would draw the attention of others her way, especially not the scarry drill instructor who was so much more powerful than she was, even with only one good leg.

“I know, that doesn’t seem like much, especially for a true warrior, which is what we are training you lot to be. We are teaching you this, so that when you do use <Hazy Memory, something dealing with -casting>, you will be able to live and exist long enough to be able to cast again, hopefully. Also, there is a slight benefit as this technique forcefully opens your meridians, meaning that once you are healed, assuming you survive that long, your spells will be able to cast spells of that level once you are done. That is why we are forcing you all to do this now. You will use <Blank – casting> to open up your little virgin meridians so that you can begin to find out what it means to be a true mage. Now line up.”

And like that Maria lined up, and when it was her time, she began channeling the magical energy through her body in the way she was now. That’s when the Vision of her past ended, and she was once again here in the present, ready to take what she had learned from her memory of the past.

Maria focused her mind and attempted to use Overcast, no not just one version of it, she was going to fire both meridian channels off at once, accumulating the maximum amount of condensed and overpowered spirit mana she could in both of her meridians. Then once even containing the condensed mana began to burn, she released the flood of mana right at the two would be attackers. Attackers who seemed to have been stuck in time, that or maybe Maria was just able to access that special zone for attackers.

Whoosh!

As the two overpowered spells left the palms of her hands, she felt it, the moment her spells went so fast that they broke through the reality barrier. Spirit magic was clearly the form of magic that was the most capable of performing such a feat, and this attack here and now proved that this was the case as her two spells fired off and burst into and then ripped their way through the protective barrier that thinly protected her planet from the layer of increased energy that was continually being pumped into her planet, to help it ripen up as a cultivation zone before it was truly ready. Maria knew that had the two watchers been in their regular zone, protected by yet a second barrier, her attack wouldn’t have been able to do anything. As it was, she felt the way the fabric of reality grabbed her two overclocked attack spells and nearly drained them to a complete stop, but there was just enough energy left that they managed to tear through the protective barrier and crash into the two distracted technicians who were all but rooting for her planet to fail, all so rich cultivators could get richer, and they could be hired on as independent observers by those very same rich cultivators looking to take over her planet. It wasn’t fair, hell life wasn’t fair, but right here and now she finally had the power to do something about it.

Maria watched as the two blasts tore through the fabric of reality, almost looking like they would fizzle out, but then once they interacted with the higher mana pressure area of the realm in between something amazing happened, she felt the advanced energy that was being pumped into the planet suddenly stop, and get added to her own attack. Within seconds, her spell not only grew in size, but also sped up, as it was apparently acted upon by a reverse reaction of mana, one that stated that an object in motion tended to stay in motion until propelled by entering an accelerant of mana. The result was as beautiful as one might expect.

BOOOOMMMM!

The burst of mana was so bright that it temporarily blinded Maria, but she could already feel a few things happening. First, her arms and hands felt like they were on fire, but she still had a moment, one last second, to cast again. This was the absolute last-ditch effort as any more damage would result in permanent damage, and would likely never be able to heal, still given the option of being erased from existence, or only being able to use psychic and cultivation methods, she chose the latter.

Focusing her mind on one more attack, one that would happen before her meridians scarred up in pain, she focused her will. Then she paused and waited.

She stood there, eyes blinking away blinding white lights, as she desperately scanned the area, trying to see if she needed to do one last spell, one that would forever end her brief but exciting journey as a mage. Fortunately, no such sacrifice was needed, a sentiment that was further enforced by the system message that popped up next.

World First Notice:  Lesser God Slayer

Title: Lesser God Slayer (Neutral): You managed to kill a Neutral God. Warning, the die has been cast and events have been set in motion. Rewards: +10 All Attributes, Choice of Perk.

What came up next were a long list of items that Maria could choose from, thanks to her new status as a Lesser God Slayer.

Seeing the message she brought up the inventory seeing that there were a few dozen good options that would help in making such an act easier to conduct in the future.

Lesser God Slaying Perks Available: Warning: Limited number of Perks available.

Innate Channeling: Grants the wielder the ability to cast magic directly from their source.

Increased Magical Affinity (One for each school of magic): Grants the wielder a +20% bonus to damage, speed, learning time, range, and capacity for a singular school of magic. Can be learned multiple times.

Increased Psychic Focus (Only one for each area of Psychic Phenomena) Grants the wilder a +20% bonus to damage, speed, learning time, range, and capacity for a singular area of focus for Psychic Phenomena.

…

On and on the list went, showing thousands of items that were linked to the killing of Lesser Gods, there was just one problem, with so many items related to this caveat available it meant that the number of Lesser Gods that would eventually be released on the world be astronomical. Fortunately, Maria knew that she had been lucky with the fact that these two Watchershad inadvertently cast themselves as being listed as Lesser Gods due to the fact that they were in this maintenance realm that sat in between the realm where the beings known as Gods actually resided, and her home planet. This was good to know, as it meant the next time system maintainers came about to check up on her, she would be able to do the same. She also felt that she would be able to defend herself if she got the first reward that came up, the one offering Innate Channeling, but she couldn’t guarantee that such a thing would work. Also, she felt that right now, her best course of action would be to avoid being detected and singled out by the next set of workers. Realizing that if she wanted to survive, she would have to keep her accomplishments a secret, she began looking for Perks that would help her maintain her anonymity.

Perk Found: Search Criteria: “System” and “Obfuscation”

Honestly Maria was somewhat happy to find the fact that the system allowed her to sort through the list of thousands of results possible by focusing on key words. Here there were still a few thousand skills available, but only the first five or so that had both dealt with the “System” and “Obfuscation.”

Name, Race, Class, and Tier Obfuscation: You can hide all details related to your name, race, class, and tier ratings related to Cultivation, Psychic, or Magic ability. These will be hidden from anyone, including but not limited to system maintainers, Gods, and other participants.

Attribute Obfuscation: You can hide your Attributes from anyone, including but not limited to the system maintainers, Gods, and other participants.

Skill Obfuscation: You can hide your Skills from anyone, including but not limited to system maintainers, Gods, and other participants.

Title Obfuscation: You can hide your titles and accomplishments from anyone, including but not limited to system maintainers, Gods, and other participants.

Blessing Obfuscation: You can hide your blessings from anyone, including but not limited to system maintainers, Gods, and other participants.

Seeing the five perks Maria felt a cold panic wash over her, as she knew she needed all of them. In the back of her mind, she was relatively certain that once she claimed one, she would be able to claim a second one for the second Neutral Lesser God she killed, but she could not bank on that. As such, she focused, and just went with the one that would make sure she could hide her success in the future.

You have Chosen the Perk: Title Obfuscation.

Note: Perks are always hidden from everyone, except for the owner of the perk.

As that came up, she could feel the message coming up, all but showing that her Titles had been grayed out, they were still visible to her, but for now they had been made see through, which Maria took to mean that they were hidden from everyone. If she focused, she could toggle them all on, or just one Title on individually, but for now she flicked them all on once, then immediately turned them off.

World First Notice:  Lesser God Slayer (X2)

Title: Lesser God Slayer (Neutral X2): You managed to kill a Neutral God. Warning, the die has been cast and events have been set in motion. Rewards: +10 All Attributes, Choice of Perk (X2).

Just as she almost expected, there was a second Perk awarded for killing the second Lesser Neutral God, but the bonus to her Attribute pool meant that she would only gain the initial ten attributes, and not twenty for getting the same title twice. It was sort of a letdown, but then again, the Perks were the part that made this worthwhile.

For a moment she thought about adding another one of the perks that would hide either her Attributes, her Skills, or even the Blessings from others. The only problem was, right now she only had one Perk and the way she figured any one of those would out her. If she blocked the Name, Class, Race, and Tier then clearly the fact that her Attributes were so high, along with her Blessings would show that there was likely a reason to dig deeper into just how powerful she was. Same with any other one she might try to get rid of. In fact, if not for the fact that she was no longer outed as a Lesser God Slayer, something that every future God would likely hunt for at the very beginning of their venture, she would have avoided that one as well. Still, she had done her part, she was no longer blatantly showing any signs that she was exceptional enough to kill a god. The fact that she was so powerful without any Titles to her name was an anomaly but would soon blend in as more and more people caught up in power and abilities.

No, if she wanted to do it right, then she would need all four of the remaining perks to do so. The only problem was that she was currently unable to give a repeat performance, because her meridians to both hands were burnt out beyond recognition. The of course there was only one true recourse for her to take.

You have chosen the Perk: Innate Channeling.

With that perk now activated, Maria once again felt that she could push and wield the magical essence that was being harnessed and processed by her body. Before rather than having roads and clearly defined paths that provided guidance systems, now she felt more like the paths were muddy and wild, still wide open ready to be explored and processed. In a way this perk might actually be the most underrated of the perks available, well of the ones that were available, with Maria having claimed these, they were now grayed out while in the shop. Also, Maria’s access to the Perk Shop ended the moment she spent her second and final perk.

Realizing that she now had a way to take out maintainers, or as the system denoted them, gods, even lesser ones, Maria made it a point to keep an eye out for any other would-be maintainers.

She was so lost in her own musings, that she missed the moment the world that had been paused around her suddenly came to life. In fact, if not for the unmistakable beeeeeeepppp of her heart monitor that was no longer attached to her going off, she would have likely kept in her own mental landscape. Instead, she awoke to find herself still at the foot of her bed, still wearing the same breezy patient gown, surrounded by her parents and loved ones that all came to life with the same exact look of shock and awe on their faces, before they turned to find her standing at the foot of the bed that she had to their eyes at least been resting in a moment ago.

“Hey guys.” Maria said, as she awkwardly waved her hand, drawing everyone’s attention to her.