[Psychokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 78 (Patreon)

Level 62 - Void Centipede

The long, too many legged monsters fell into her pit. They simply couldn’t make out that the illusion wasn’t real.

Unlike the voidling insects, their feet were more accustomed to piercing into the floor and gaining purchase. They quickly began climbing out of the hole, but Astrid wouldn’t allow that to happen. With a blast of Psychokinetic energy, they were pushed back into the pit.

Unlike the others, they didn’t seem too interested in attacking each other. She guessed that they were somehow eating the metal within the mountain to relieve their hunger. Or maybe that was just its normal food, but judging by their desperation to consume her flesh, it wanted something more than hardened metal.

Their pincers opened and snapped closed repeatedly, filling the pit with crunching scissor sounds. Astrid had no doubt that they would be able to chop through her bones like brittle little twigs.

I should give them something to eat. Astrid thought and willed her imagination into the pit.

She created the images of herself, and although they only lasted a second, their enormous pincers smashed into each other. Once one attacked, the others quickly joined in.

Limbs and scattered, darkened green blood splashed all up the walls. She was even surprised that some little legs were shot all the way up and out of the deep pit. They landed next to her, still wriggling from their postmortem.

Astrid scrunched up her nose and flicked them back in. It was unsettling having something move that was clearly dead. It reminded her of the skeletons during the subjugation of the Underbelly. Anything that was dead and still moving gave her goosebumps. It’s not that she was scared, but who liked living things moving without a heartbeat?

It wasn’t long before they had all died and Astrid reaped the benefits of their self inflicted mutilation.

You have defeated a Void Centipede - level 64
You have defeated a Void Centipede - level 58

…

You have levelled up!

Psychokinetic level 72 -> Psychokinetic level 73

Illusionist level 72 -> Illusionist level 73

Gained 10 stat points.


You now have 440 intelligence.


Skill level up!

[ Stage 2 ] Major Image level 4 -> Major Image level 7

[ Stage 2 ] Mind domination level 1 -> Mind Domination level 3

[ Stage 2 ] Mental Redirection level 1 -> Mental Redirection level 3

[ Stage 2 ] Weightless Levitation level 1 -> Weightless Levitation level 3

[ Stage 2 ] Illusionary Armour level 9 -> Illusionary Armour level 10

[ Stage 2 ] Mind Barrier level 11 -> Mind Barrier level 12

Experience gained!

Astrid was about to hover over the pit, when a sparkle shone from down below. It was sparkling from the fire’s illumination that was slowly dwindling.

Her mind connected to the object and brought it toward her. She wiped the blood and whatever else stuck to it like glue with a blast of Psychokinesis and admired the iridescent beauty. It was a polished, round stone. With no light it was exactly like the Voidbent metal, but with a small amount of illumination, it awakened a myriad of colours underneath.

Red, orange, green, blue, purple, were just a few of the colours that were shimmering within. Even shades that she had never seen before. With a thought, her Identify skill activated.

Rare Jewelcrafting material - Level 60 - Void Jewel: Created from digested Voidbent metal. The older the Centipede and the longer it is compacted within its strong stomach, the higher quality of the Jewel. The Void Jewel is capable of creating Void enchantments.

Void Enchantments? Astrid had never heard of it before. Not even in the history books that she was forced to consume.

The effects of Enchantments were directly tied to the element of the enchantment.

Fire was destructive in nature, so a fire jewel was capable of increasing the ferocity of attacks. Increasing strength and momentum.

Water was gentle and often held bonuses to healing and increases to buff Skills.

Earth was the most common for front line warriors. They used the jewels to empower their defensive Skills and capabilities.

Air held mana attributes. After all, mana was within the air. The Air Jewel empowered magic Skills and was usually the go to for Archers as it also increased their Skills powers.

The best Jewelcrafters were even capable of combining jewels together and granting additional effects. Like Hashim and his different classes. Obviously he wouldn’t just want a fire Jewel, as he also had magic. However, there were only two on the entirety of HMS Rebirth that were capable of such a feat.

Duke Sullivan. An overly buff man that would be easily mistaken as an experienced blacksmith. Astrid remembered she had gone over to his workshop one day to have a gift made for another noble family. Of course the Sinwen’s had no use for such gaudy jewellery, but to keep pretenses, high quality gifts were a must. It was a competition after all.

Eli Sinwen was in charge of those affairs, and Astrid was pulled along on that day. She vividly remembered the strict face of Duke as his enormous hands dexterously and gently placed jewels within tiny necklaces, bracelets, and rings.

Astrid had said that it looked too easy, and then Duke’s temper was ignited like explosive gunpowder. His lid was blown off and ended up flinging expensive jewellery around the room as Astrid had not only distracted him, but disrespected his proud profession. Astrid didn’t see the big deal.

It was only when she was older did she realise the importance and difficulty of crafting high quality jewellery.

Then the other master Jewelcrafter was named Esa Waters. They were both nobles, but Esa was truly the vision of nobility. Tall and slender. Young and full of life. beautiful and filled with unbound gracefulness.

Unlike Duke that wore his emotions on his sleeve, Esa hid her true nature deep down. Astrid only knew of it because there were rumours that some of the servants were going missing. There was never an answer given, but Astrid remembered her father flying into a fit of rage and threatened to uphold justice. Then the family elders acted and his temper was quickly quelled.

No one knows, even to this day whether Esa had in fact killed the servants, or shipped them away to some abandoned island. But Astrid knew her father wouldn’t act in that way if nothing happened.

It was also on that day that she realised she despised politics, and why she had a negative view of her cousin for so long. Her overpowering father had to bury his emotions and even extinguish his own thoughts. It wasn’t something she wanted to see, or be put through.

Maybe it was childish, or wrong. But she felt like if she had the power, then she should be able to enact her own justice if she had witnessed wrongdoing. No politics, no judge or jury. Nobles acted as if they were above the law, and the reason for that was their powerful bloodlines.

If her father had enacted justice and displayed the might of the Sinwen’s, would those masked people dare attack? Maybe her mother was right, they may be attacking because of the atrocities caused by nobles.

Astrid gazed back at the Void Jewel. I must be getting lonely, dwelling on the past. Her playful grin was gone. Hashim was still weighing down on her mind.

Your Sadness has reached 73/100

Fuck off, black blob. Come out and talk! It wouldn’t be the first time! Astrid screamed within her mind. Maybe from the fact her psychic mana was getting much stronger, but she caught herself talking within her own mind more and more.

Ẏ̸̛̩̈́͑̂̇̀o̵̰̬͙̦̹̩̗͔̅́̈́͌̀̂͘͜u̷̢̹̗̺̻͚̠͛͊͆̃͌̒͜͝r̶̨͈͓͊̍͑ ̷͕̣͕͎͋̑̀̐͂̅̌̕S̴̢̨̺͕͎͇͇͎͛́͋̔͜a̵̞̩̖͍̞̹͍͖̯̭̋̄̓̅̚̚d̵̙̝̥̲̣̼̟̎́͆̔̾̿ͅn̵̹̣̗̖͋͛̈́̽̚é̵͎̥̥̣͇͎̎͂ş̵̨̮̱͎͈̥̣͗̏̋͒̌́̋̆̕ͅș̵̨̱̘͓̱̜͒͊̌̌̑͆ ̵̱͚̈́̿̂͗̓͒́ḣ̸̺̬͇̗̠̩͎͔̪̼͆̈́̆̊͝a̴̢̮̜͉̲̐̈́͆̾̌̄̿̾̚͘ş̷͕̳̐͛́̾͊͘͠ ̷̻̃͆ŗ̵̨̺͝e̶̮͚̫͉͚͖͈̩͗͒́̃̈́̀̆̎̕͜a̷̼̓̀̒̾̓̌ç̵̜̻̓ḩ̷͍͎̭̝̗̻̝͕͍́͐̀̍͛́̍̌̆̚e̵̘̼̞͉͖͗̇̃̓̐̌̏͝ḍ̶̡̛̞̝̩͔͉̗̩̇̽̈́́̄̌ ̶͓̰̽͐̃̓̓7̴̝͛4̴̞̥̲͇͕̝͍̀/̸̜̿̿͑̆͛̐̚1̴̠̦͚̗̌̑̏̒̅0̴̛͇͓̤͇̲̲͆̑̿̃͂0̸͎̫͂̈́̽̽͛͛̾̊̋͜͝

Astrid clenched at her head. A sharp pain stabbed her mind.

Astrid, don't worry about being lonely. You are getting so close! Not long now–

The childlike giggling voice was immediately cut off as the pain vanished along with the voice.

I’m going mad. Astrid stomped on the ground as she shouted within her mind for the black blob to reappear, but it didn’t. It was as if she was shouting into the void.

Close to what? Astrid thought back to the words. It sounded like a threat, but with the excitable voice, it was more like it couldn’t wait for something.

Close to its origin? A thought sparked within her mind. Astrid moved into the cave. Whatever the black blob wanted her to approach, she doubted it was going to be a stroll in the park.

When it came to the black blob, only one thing was guaranteed. Fight.

***

You have defeated a Void-roid Centipede - level 67
You have defeated a Void Centipede - level 60

…

Skill level up!

[ Stage 2 ] Major Image level 7 -> Major Image level 8

[ Stage 2 ] Mind domination level 3 -> Mind Domination level 6

[ Stage 2 ] Mental Redirection level 3 -> Mental Redirection level 6

[ Stage 2 ] Weightless Levitation level 3 -> Weightless Levitation level 6

[ Stage 2 ] Illusionary Armour level 10 -> Illusionary Armour level 12

[ Stage 2 ] Mind Barrier level 12 -> Mind Barrier level 14

Experience gained!

Deep within the cave, Astrid took in strained breaths. Beadlets of sweat dripped from her forehead. She uncorked the bottle made of hardened crystal and swallowed the contents within the mana potion all at once.

A cooling sensation whirled around her mana container, then moved all the way up and into her mind. Power was once more restored as she looked down at the massive centipede at her feet, along with the other smaller ones.

There was no smoke here, it mustn't have reached down into the depths. It wasn’t long before they were all killing each other. But something more surprising was that the largest managed to figure out her Major Illusions. But the others didn’t, and so it was ripped apart and it revealed another Void Jewel.

This one was brighter, and the colours more vivid than the last. Just like the other, she placed it within her pocket for safe keeping. She would take it back and let the science classes figure out what the enchantments were capable of.

After scouring the corpses for loot and discovering there weren't any other jewels. She walked round the large cavern, trying to find any hidden doors or entrances, but there was nothing.

When will I discover a secret passage? Astrid sighed. It was on her bucket list of things to do as a Wayfarer. She had heard of great explorers finding hidden passageways from long before the end of the world.

She wanted to find her own. Something that no one else had.

Well, I guess the dungeon gateway counts. But even this void place was still discovered first by Hashim. I want to be the first. With the disappointment tugging at her shoulders, she set back home.

After who knows how long, she was finally tired.

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