11 Precipice

It was almost an instinctual desire for all the peoples of Lumen to want to live as close to the Tower as possible. Though there were some outliers, such as a nomadic tribe that had been determined to reach the edge of the planar world, traveling for nearly a thousand generations, the vast majority of Lumen's inhabitants lived around the Tower's base.

As a result, the population density gradually increased as you moved closer to the Tower and, after millennia of fighting, only the truly strong were able to make a home for themselves at the Heart of the planar world. This same principle applied both inside the megacity and in the slums that seemed to stretch out far beyond the horizon.

In one of the slum's inner districts, separated from the megacity by a single massive wall, a gruff and aged man was currently seated on a stone chair as he listened to the report of his subordinate. His predatory eyes blazed like suns in the low light of the room, set in a squarish and muscular face that was adorned with scars that attested to a lifetime of conflict.

With a full beard and swept-back hair, giving him the appearance of a fiery red mane, the people in the slums had come to call him Bran, the 'Red Lion'. Though not the most powerful, Bran was one of the top ten influential kingpins between the 171st and 223rd districts.

His gang, known as the Lion's Pride, had an ongoing alliance with another kingpin within the same sphere of influence, a venomous woman named Natasha Nell, known as the Mistress of Snakes. She controlled most of the brothels within the region while his crew controlled the flow of goods within the markets. Together, they had dominated their territories for nearly forty years, digging their roots so deep that even their rivals had long-since migrated to other districts.

Despite all of this, Bran was currently listening as a one-armed man, his face set in a visage of fear, stammered, "T-T-The G-G-Golden-Eyed D-Demon wanted me t-t-to d-deliver a m-m-" Before the man could finish his words, Bran threw the metal goblet in his hand with enough force to embed it into the stammering fool's head. This caused his already low health to immediately grey out as Bran pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice a low rumble as he asked, "Can anyone tell me how a group of brats are able to make my entire fucking gang look like a bunch of piss-stained whelps?"

As could be expected, none of the men or women present in the room made any attempt to answer such a question, fearing their fate would be the same as the messenger. This caused Bran to sigh, a tired looked in his eyes as he grumbled, "I'm getting too old for this shit..."

It had already been years since the last time his group was engaged in active conflict, at least on the scale of a turf war. Though there were still a few people in his inner circle that could be relied on, a few of his old Cadres had moved on to lay roots in their own territories. Now, Bran realized why even powerful gangs always fell in the end as, without an enemy to sharpen their fangs and claws against, it was only a matter of time before complacency, stagnation, and age claimed them.

Though he was only 83 years old, which was considered young for someone at Level 30, the highest level that could be obtained without entering the Tower, Bran suddenly felt a dull ache in his bones. He, like many others, had once aspired to climb the Tower. As he grew older, this desire only became even stronger as he grew closer to the peak.

In the past, Bran had believed that, if he continued working hard to get stronger, defeating every foe that crossed his path, the Tower would eventually recognize his efforts. Now that he had been at the same level for nearly two decades, however, this hope had faded away with his ambitions. To make matters even worse, some of his subordinates had been selected over the years, including one of his sons, a boy that he could have swatted like a fly...

Feeling that fate was already mocking his efforts, Bran was incensed that a pair of brats, mouths still wet from milk, believed themselves capable of moving freely in his territory. He would teach them both a harsh lesson, starting with the so-called Golden-Eyed Demon. Since he was paired with a girl, it was obvious there was something going on between them. After he captured them, he intended to ravish the girl in front of her young lover until the light completely faded from their eyes. Only when they were in a state of absolute despair, just like him, would he allow them the reprieve of death.

Picking up a mace that was more than two meters long, weighing nearly 300kg, Bran shouldered the heavy lump of metal as he said, "I want that brat and his bitch alive. Cripple them if you have to but the final blow goes to me." Though he wouldn't get any experience at all from killing the two, Bran had a habit of denying experience to others. He knew it was petty of him to do so but, with how life had treated him, he didn't really care about elevating others, only controlling them...

---

From within a pipe that usually fed waste into a large purification system before ultimately feeding back into the waterways, a young man with pale-blue hair and glimmering golden eyes sat with his back against the algae-covered wall. Leaning against his chest, a pink-haired girl with two ivory white horns poking from her scalp was breathing heavily through her nose with a pained expression on her face.

This duo was Linneaus, now aged fifteen, and Saht, having recently turned thirteen. The latter had a large wound on her lower back, the entry point for a sword that had pierced through her body. She would eventually recover but, due to the filth and other grime on the blade, Saht was dealing with a very high fever as her body fought against the 'Infection' status.

Though retreating to a sewer pipe didn't seem like the best option, as it was extremely dirty, moist, and foul-smelling, Linneaus had been able to create a small 'room' for them using his [Barrier] magic. This allowed them to stay mostly dry while he applied pressure to her wound and periodically used fresh water from his canteen to clean it. At the same time, he lightly stroked Saht's hair to keep her calm while doing his best to ignore the soft sensation of her body against his.

At this point, his and Saht's relationship had become more than a little intimate, especially after they began fighting and killing together, but they tried to avoid having sex. Though she did force him to take her virginity in the past, so as to avoid having it robbed by one of their enemies, they now only did the deed after an especially fierce battle. It turned out that experiencing a life and death battle, where you nearly lost your life several times, had a certain influence on the reproductive instincts.

Now, feeling how soft her body was, Linneaus could only distract himself by reading through his Status and thinking about their next course of action. He wouldn't attack her in her best state so, with her injured like this, there was no way he would do anything to complicate matters. They had also promised to never birth a child in the slums, the main reason for their pseudo-abstinence, so Linneaus found it more productive to think about how they might enter the megacity...

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[Status]

Name: Linnaeus Finnian

Title: Golden-Eyed Demon(+3 Dex, +1 Int, +2 Wis per Level.)

Race: Hume(50%), Manalyte(50%)

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Level: 21(42/3300)

Health: 1000/1000

Soul Power: 1991/1991

Strength: 18~49

Constitution: 25~49+1

Agility: 27~49

Dexterity: 30~49+1

Intelligence: 22~49+8.4

Wisdom: 29~49+9.7

Spirit: 18~38+5.7

Charisma: 15~25

Luck: 6~10+1

Free Attributes: 91

Skills: [Kinu Comprehension:(-)], [Knife Mastery: LV8~LV21], [Throwing: LV6~LV14],[Sense Danger: LV21~LV29], [Presence Concealment: LV16~LV30], [Acrobatics: LV17~LV30], [Pain Tolerance: LV4~LV18], [Barrier Master:LV23~LV49], [Assassination: LV14~LV33], [Charm: LV7]

Abilities: [Steal: LV21~LV27], [Stealth: LV12~LV28], [Night Vision: LV17]

Magic: [Enhance: LV16~LV26], [Barrier: LV18~LV49], [Barrier Aura: LV20~LV49]

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Over the last four years, Linneaus has learned a lot about how the Status worked, including the limits that were built into the system.

Originally, Linneaus didn't understand why others were so weak as he continued to grow stronger but, after interrogating a few Enforcers, he learned that they rarely had more than a few Skills. Even then, their Skill Levels were abysmally low as, rather than refine themselves through hard effort, most slum dwellers just ended up joining one of the local gangs to avoid trouble.

While this may seem smart at first, as it was a means of self-preservation, it ended up making them a lot weaker as their Level increased. This was due to the fact that, after reaching Level 20, Skills would actually increase your attributes every Level. Though it was only a few points here and there, this had allowed Linneaus to essentially gain fourteen additional Free Attributes per Level, without any extra effort on his part.

On average, a person would gain around 8~10 attributes per Level, not counting the 4~8 Free Attributes points they would receive as a bonus. With his Skills and Title, Linneaus had earned an average of 24 attributes per Level, allowing him to learn yet another important truth about the world.

Though it was common knowledge that the limit of a person's growth was restricted to Level 30, at least outside of the Tower, Linneaus now knew there were similar limits to attributes, Skills, Abilities, and Magic.

Since he had been using his Free Attribute points to further increase his attributes, it didn't take long for him to discover that it was impossible to increase his base value by more than 49 points. This was also true for his Blessing and related Magic as well.

After reaching Level 49, much to Linneaus' chagrin, his experience had been stuck at 14999/15000. Now, no matter what he tried, it was impossible to earn that final experience point, meaning he had no way of strengthening his Blessing further. Fortunately, this didn't prevent him from increasing his proficiency and, after a lot of practice, Linneaus could now form his barriers into nearly every basic geometric shape, including cubes, cylinders, spheres, and cones.

Now, Linneaus felt that he could even fight against people who had reached Level 30 as, with his own attributes reaching a bottleneck, he imagined others were in the same situation. This meant the only difference between him and his opponents would be their Blessings and the combination of Skills, Abilities, and Magic they had obtained.

It was this knowledge that propelled Linneaus to begin his journey towards the megacity as, despite his lackluster potential, his strength should allow him to at least become a bodyguard or mercenary. He might have to lower his head to some profligate Merchant but, if it meant he could reunite with his sister, Linneaus was willing to tolerate shame.

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Though he didn't really know what to do after seeing his sister again, the fact that Saht had followed him this far gave him options. Since she was also nearing the limits of many attributes, they could be a powerful duo, even in the megacity. After saving up enough money, they could even start a family together, leaving the life of a slum dweller behind as they lived within the ivory walls of the megacity for the rest of their days...

While thinking of what the future held for them, Linneaus looked into the sleeping face of Saht with a small smile decorating his own. She no longer had a pained expression on her face so, despite the fact she would likely bite him if he was caught, Linneaus kissed the top of her head before holding her body close as he tried to get some sleep of his own. Her body made a good blanket, as she was very warm, even if her horns would periodically poke him in the chest...