10 The Lord of Worms

I needed 37 more points till I gained enough for the determinator tree's completion. It'll probably just be more willpower and endurance, but that's always good anyway. Both are key skills for my build, and I'll be investing in some willpower perks after some strength ones.

With that in mind, I shadow boxed while we walked. At first, Stacy and David kept their distance and treated me like I was ridiculous. Once I told them about my trees, they changed their tune. Still, they didn't start training too. Just walking endlessly was wearing on their moral.

We weren't walking without a purpose. It turns out that Schema would automatically give you a map that records where you've been. I'd been walking in an absolutely enormous circle the whole time. The edges of the circle were wobbly, making it difficult to tell, plus its dark all the time. At least, before I met with Stacy and David.

Still, it was about an hour before we reached another pool, this one crimson. I told them to stay back once again, and this time the mana was thick as sand. Well, as thick as what sand used to feel like. Squeezing sand felt like squeezing little balls of plastic now, instead of quartz. Regardless, I would still suffocate in this mana.

From within came something morbid. Inside was a large, grotesque human. Giant warts, misshapen lumps, and deformed features covered its moist skin. A pair of intelligent, malicious eyes gleamed over sagging eyelids. A smile, missing teeth and gums appeared. A deep yet raspy voice said,

"Good. So you've come after taking my poor little experiments. I'll teach you to be a proper vessel for mana. If I even see you come...I hate the scratching of wood on metal. It is disgust to ears..."

This fucker sounds insane. Schema agreed.

Lord of Worms(lvl ???) - A corrupted wizard. After allowing too many pools of mana to co-inhabit his mind, he was overwhelmed. The shattered pieces of his mind remain, experimenting on hapless adventurers, using their souls to act as anchors for mana and golems. He is a summoner who can spawn a variety of enemies from his bountiful mana pool. He is extremely dangerous.

Oh fuck. I doubt this guy will be as understanding as Baldag-Ruhl, which is a weird thing to say considering. The more humane of the two is the hivemind of flesh eating insects. Heh.

Anyway, I cranked agony to full as Stacy and David shot arrows from afar. Their arrows caught in the mana, sticking six or so inches deep in it. Agony, on the other hand, caused the wizard to scream.

And scream he did. He summoned skeletons, zombies, mice, beetles, bats, and ghouls. They charged towards me as sweat poured from his face. The skeletons broke under my fists. The mice were torn asunder. I pulped the zombies to mush. The beetles collapsed along with the bats before reaching me, agony's aura engulfing them.

Each summoned enemy gave full experience. Notifications appeared, raining down as I killed the endless summons while the wizard's flesh melted off his face. As if by some miracle, he kept fighting even when his nails fell off and his cheeks corroded.

I couldn't even bear to look at him. His howls would no doubt haunt Stacy and Micheal for many nights to come. He used healing spell after healing spell. It didn't matter. His mana pool was no doubt enormous, but I was a specialist in long term combat. He was working with very high totals. I was working with very high regeneration. Over time, I would win out.

And win out I did. The fight stretched on for hours. If not for agony, I wouldn't be able to reach him in the mana. I couldn't breath in it, let alone fight in it. That's how thick it was. If not for agony, the fight would be impossible for me.

But I have agony, so it's just an experience fest. It's a good chance for Stacy and David too. I didn't trust them fully yet, but holding their hands so much annoyed me. They should be strong enough to handle bats by level 20ish or so.

The hours stretched until Stacy and David were dooms-daying at the back,

Stacy shouted, "It's immortal. We can't kill it!"

I rolled my eyes as I smashed a rat underfoot. I shouted, "Come on. It's only been a few hours. Calm down."

David shot an arrow through a skeleton, "I don't think I can make it."

A miasma of energy condensed within the mana beside the Lord of Worms. Bones materialized, then flesh, then skin. A goblin came screeching from within the mana along with several others. I said, "Of course you can. Quit being a bitch."

An arrow shot into an eye of a goblin as it stepped out of the mana. David sighed as I said, "See, you got this."

A coy grin popped on his face as he said, "You know what. I may have a bit more in me than I thought."

I crushed a goblin in my hand before saying, "Wooooah now. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Stacy laughed at him, snorting a bit. The Lord of Worms said in his gurgling voice, "I hate you. I will feast on your hatred and devour your soul, just like the others."

"Obviously not. Your just going to sit in that thick ass cloud till you die."

"You will not outlast my mana."

"Alright, sure. How about you keep thinking that as you slowly melt into a pile of black sludge."

His ear fell off as he said, "I don't understand how you can possibly contain...Aghhhh...The way I scrape against-"

"Back to the gibberish, aye?"

The Lord of worms thundered out, "You are an abomination."

"And you are about as appealing as a broken glass smoothie. How about we fight then, one monster with another?"

He ran towards me, like fire in his anger. The moment he reached out of the mana pit, I swung towards his face. I crushed him into the ground. I pounded his face into a red soup with bits of bone in it.

He wailed the whole time. Lord of Worms? More like Lord of tears.

A notification sounded,

Lord of Worms(lvl 112) slain. 112,000 exp*4.4*1.5 = 739,000 exp gained. 6 level ups!

Additional Reward: Corundum of Souls(Legendary Unique) - A mythical gem foretold to hold endless mana. The gem will gain life at 1,000,000, creating a living soul, trapped in the container.

677,340/1,000,000 Mana Charged

Aw yeah. The gem materialized in my pocket. I glanced at it, the fist sized gem being black with streaks of blue in it. I wouldn't tell Stacy or David about it. No need to.

Without even thinking about it, I siphoned the thick as sand mana into the gem along with the golems mana. I glanced at the gem,

Corundum of Souls(Legendary Unique) - 921,455/1,000,000 Mana Charged

A soul aye? I suppose having a full mana gem when I need it may be helpful. For the first time since entering Schema, I reach for my mana. Like a differnt blood in my body, I find a small pocket of mana pooled in my body. It flows through me like a liquid. I raise my hand, and from my fingers leaked an aura of blue.

Skill Gained! Mana Manipulation(lvl 1)f

No fuckin way. It was that easy the whole time. I put my other hand over the blue aura. It's cool, like an air conditioner. I doubted this would do much versus anything, at least in its current state.

Still, I stop the blue aura and deactivate agony as Stacy says, "You're a magician?"

"Apparently so, though I can just create a very small, cool breeze."

Before she replies, I begin siphoning my mana into the gem until its depleted. As I regenerate mana, I pull it into the gem. A mild, throbbing headache forms when I do so. My nose bleeds before regenerating. When I check my status screen, I have a debuff called mana depletion. It reduces my health by 10 a minute. Essentially nothing.

Without all my resistances and pain tolerance, it would no doubt be crippling. Mages have it hard too, I guess.

Stacy says, "I gained 4 levels from that one fight. That what I'm talkin about."

David says, "I'm pretty surprised to. I gained 3 levels. It's honestly pretty unbelievable."

Plebeians. I gained 12 in one fight when I started. I nodded before saying, "I'm assigning my skill points and perks. We'll leave after."

With that, we dug our faces into our menu screens like a group of teenagers digging their heads into their phones. I put all six attribute points into strength before checking out my tree menu. I should really put my points in there before putting points into perks. Best to fill out my options as much as possible.

I had gained quite a few points since last time. 72 to be precise. I'd gotten determinator up to 437/500. I put the 63 points needed in it, and a notification greeted me, as per usual.

Your will is your agent of change. You are the determinator, maker of the definite. Internal motivation doubled, mental fortitude doubled, and immunity to corruption. +10hp regen, +100 stamina regen, +10 mana regen.

Alright. No attributes, but there was some useful intangibles here. I could feel my focus sharpen along with my thoughts. Every part of myself came under my control. No amount of emotion could stop me anymore either.

The extra regens were always useful, though not all that necessary at this point, besides the mana regen. That was some good stuff considering this soul gem was gobbling up my mana. The other stuff may prove useful later, I don't really know.

Regardless, the 40% bonuses to endurance and willpower were worth investing in the tree. I check out my other trees,

| [ II Vicious(Beat an enemy 40 levels higher than you in combat lasting over an hour, Death's Dance, Scorn, and Desperation over level 25)(0/50)], III Fighter(Kill an enemy 40 levels over you), Obliterator(Kill a boss over 50 levels above you, both before level 100, while alone, and without previous assistance)[0/1000],|

Heh. Looks like Schema only shares the merit of a kill when you actually damage or affect an enemy. The AI doesn't hand out participation trophies.

It was one fat tree, needing 1000 skill points in total. Over the course of these past months, I'd only gained 844. Getting that many would take a very, very long time.

So might as well get started, eh? The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and all that. I put my 9 remaining points into the tree. With that handled, I checked out my perks. They didn't disappoint.

[Willful(Willpower of at least 10) - Your willpower is good. Doubles mana regeneration.]

[Disciplined(Willpower of at least 20) - Your willpower is excellent. Willpower adds an extra 2% mana regen for every 1% missing max mana. Your mana can form a shield around you, blocking 2 damage for every 1 point in mana.]

[Uncompromising(Willpower of at least 25) - Your willpower is incredible. Doubles mental resistance from willpower. Half of mental resistance from willpower added to elemental, plasma, and radiation resistances. 1/10th of willpower is added to intelligence.]

[Strong(Strength of 10 or more) - You are strong. Doubles bonus physical damage bonus.]

[Powerful(Strength of 15 or more) - Your strength is admirable. Doubles carrying weight.]

[Devastating(Strength of 20 or more) - Your strength is excellent. Double's your body's ability to withstand self-created physical forces. Doubles precision of strength. Adds 1/10th of strength to dexterity.]

[Overwhelming(Strength of 25 or more) - Your strength is incredible. Increases physical damage bonus by a flat 30%, adds another 1/10th of strength to dexterity, and physical attacks have a chance to maim targets.]

[Fledgling(Reach level 5) - You've just started learning. +10% to experience.]

[Beginner(Reach level 10) - Now you know a little. You can step out of the tutorial zone now.]

I was hoping I could take the disciplined perk and use the Corundum of Souls as a free two million point shield. Unfortunately, the perk requires the mana to be my own. Shit. Honestly though, my guess is the mana shield was actually those thick mana clouds. They covered you sure, but agony's damage affected everything in its aura. Covering didn't stop it from affecting you.

Lord of Tears could back up my observations.

Since that wasn't an option, I analyzed my attributes. I had 27.8 strength, which meant about 3 dexterity for both Overwhelming and Devastating. 6 dexterity should go a long way for fixing my stiffness problem, along with all the strength.

Not to mention, with a few more points into strength, I'd be able to unlock a dexterity perk. My mind made up, I picked Devastating and Overwhelming. The flood of power in my fists exploded, as if unlocking my potential. My strength suited the body I was in now, instead of being coarse and awkward.

The rush of dexterity felt different then I expected. I was hoping it would make my body easier to move. In a way, it did. My reaction speed had increased, as if something had rewired my brain. The electric signals shot out faster and more efficiently than before. I went to grab my toes, and my palms hit the floor with only a slight resistance.

If I focused, I could move my eyes towards different directions. One could face up and the other down. The effect disoriented me, but that was the difference. I'm sure the reflex difference would show itself with time as well.

When I banged my hands together, they bounced back from each other like banging blocks of granite. I cracked my neck and punched myself in the face. It didn't hurt. All the constitution and strength had given my body all that it needed to be a devastating weapon.

I checked out my Attributes and character screen, awed at the glory of it all.

Level 65 Attribute Totals

Strength - Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power 27.8

Constitution - Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body 36.3

Endurance - Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals 48

Dexterity - Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes 9.6

Willpower - Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res 26.4

Intelligence - Increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool 4

Charisma - Increases likeability, persuasion, and decreases prices at shops 4

Luck - Increases money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare events 3

Perception - Increases comprehension, the five senses, and awareness 4

Daniel Hillside Totals Regen Buffs/Debuffs

Health 1152/1152 151.2/min Agony - 35.6 Hp/sec lost

Stamina 970/970 25.2/sec Elemental Res - 45.5%

Mana 100/100 25.3/min Plasma Res - 45.5%

Phys Dam Reduction - [36.3]*2.15+13 = 91.05% Rad Res - 45.5%

Phys Dam Bonus - [1.15*57.8] = 66.5% Damage Increase - 5% | CC reduction 75%

What the literal fuck is that agony damage. It's 2135 health a minute. That's 5 times higher than last time I checked. I took a second glance at agony's formula.

[Agony - Drains all nearby units health, including the caster. The more health the caster drains from themselves a second, the larger the effective range of the aura. Damage reduced by constitution and willpower. Current conversion of hp into damage: 1.264(Willpower bonus)/.0895(Constitution bonus) = 14.12]

Fourteen?! Goddamn. Here I thought the strength was why I was killing things faster. It's literally all my constitution and health regen. Of course, I still needed the strength so that I could move with all this constitution, but damn. That really surprised me.

My mana regen was about 5 times higher now too. With two points into strength, I'd get 30 along with 10 in dexterity, giving me two perks with two attribute points. I could put the next three into willpower and unlock the level 30 willpower perk as well. Hell, even my stamina had gotten so high that my character screen told me it's regen in seconds instead of minutes. Things are looking good.

Elated, I started laughing before Stacy said, "What's so funny?"

I smiled and said, "You know that aura skill I have? The one that causes pain?"

"Yeah."

"It does 36 health a second now."

Her and David's jaws dropped. Like being punched in the gut, David fell to the floor and said, "Please, don't use it on us. For the love of god-"

I said, "What? Fuck no. Why would I do that? Besides, what's so scary about that?"

Stacy shivered as she said, "I've got 60 health. david has 80."

I frowned before saying, "And? Stay wayyyyyyyyy the fuck back when we fight. No problem."

Stacy gulped and said, "It's just weird, yah know? Having someone who can kill you in less than two seconds with a thought. It's scary."

I rolled my eyes and said, "There's people who carry around guns who can do the same thing. Someone with an AK-47 can kill dozens of people in seconds too, from way farther away than my aura. Besides, I could have just killed you both by beating you to death too. The aura doesn't change that, and it doesn't change the fact that I'm not going to kill you guys."

I shrugged and continued, "What about people in cars? I'm sure you've walked right beside one. They could kill you with just the twitch of their wrist. Jesus. I'm not some crazed murderer."

Stacy pursed her lips and said, "The way you fight gives a pretty damn effective case for the opposite."

"That's out of necessity."

"I don't think so. You get this crazed look in your eye. I swear sometimes I see you grin."

"What the hell? Fuck no I don't."

"It's scary as shit."

"Your face is scary as shit. You don't see me complaining."

David busted out into laughter, and even Stacy cracked a smile. I continued, "See? It doesn't matter. Come on, finish your perks and let's go teach good ol Baldag-Ruhl a lesson in manners. With manners meaning death."

They eased up as they nodded. With agony being so catastrophic, I'd be able to chew right through his little bullshit insect minions. Beating him shouldn't be very difficult afterwards.

We headed towards him, following the circle of caves. My minimap led the way as we traveled for about two more days like that. I killed a couple more golems and bears, hundreds of bats, and even slept some. I gained a level during the process, and put a point into strength. We were half a day from Baldag-Ruhl's pool when we set up camp early.

I wasn't sleeping that night, instead opting for skill gaining a ways off from camp. They'd leveled quite a bit during the process of the journey. A stray bat wouldn't kill them any longer.

When I was out there, a pile of bugs said from the cavern's ceiling,

"Shut off your aura, little one. I have an offer for you before you try slaying me."

Oh shit.