Chapter 24: I Am Thou, Thou Art I

Ilmir scrambled backwards, cursing her own poor luck. Ever since the first time she had seen one, she had known she had never wanted to fight someone who is in the middle of a Descent. She had known Tess and Fortune were at least somewhat more involved than, say, her and War, but she hadn’t known they were this close.

But now wasn’t the time to think about that. Right now, she had to remember what Grandma and Uncle Even had told her about Descents. Checking her Stamina reserves, she had enough leeway to briefly use Godspeed so long as she only sped up her perception. So, she activated it and let the world slow down around her while she thought.

Right. The first piece of advice she had been given about Descents was to run –  fighting a god’s avatar was not a battle most were capable of winning. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really an option at this juncture, so she had to move on to the other methods of dealing with it.

What was most important was that Descents had a time limit, one that couldn’t be worked around without gravely injuring the avatar. How long varied depending on how long the avatar had been an Appointed, how accustomed they are to Descents, and their level, so Tess wouldn’t have very long, a minute at most.

And what made this winnable was that, to a certain extent, the god Descending was at least somewhat limited by their avatar’s capabilities. They couldn’t use most of their god powers unless their avatar had something similar, and they couldn’t use more Mana or Stamina than the avatar had available, nor would their stats be buffed unless that was part of that god’s Descent abilities.

Which led her to the biggest unknown. She had no clue what Fortune’s Descent did. She hadn’t had an Appointed before, so this was new territory for everyone. So, she concluded her best bet right now was to use her superior mobility to keep away from Tess/Fortune during the minute the Descent lasted.

She let Godspeed drop, backing up as it suddenly began to pour down rain.

And then she was thrown to the side, her body moving without her consent as a moment later a bolt of lightning struck where she had just been standing, causing her ears to ring.

Last Resolve has prevented a fatal blow!

Last Resolve has used all remaining uses of Resolve. Cooldown: 24:00:00

“My, how unlucky.” Fortune taunted, leisurely walking closer to Ilmir, “Well, look on the bright side; it’s incredibly unlikely for lightning to strike the same place twice. Now that that nasty little blessing of yours is out of the way, why don’t we have some real fun?”

Ilmir’s stomach dropped. This fight was already over, and she knew it. If Fortune was able to provoke Last Resolve like that within the five seconds she’d actively been attacking Ilmir, then she was able to end this fight any time she wanted; anything more was just toying with Ilmir.

Back on her feet now, Ilmir reached into her bag and pulled out a lightning resistance potion, hastily drinking it as Tess/Fortune…Fortune’s avatar watched disinterestedly. Once she finished, Fortune’s avatar threw Ilmir’s own sword back at her, forcing Ilmir to jump to the side and–

There was another earsplitting boom as lightning struck the flying sword and it exploded. Ignoring all reason, each individual shard of the sword was blown in such a way that they hit right where Ilmir had dodged, knocking her back and then skewering her to the ground, a large piece of sword lodged in each of her limbs. Each time she tried to struggle free something messed her up – a stray piece of rock, launched into the air by one of the lightning strikes, landed on her and neatly stopped one attempt. In another, the way she moved loosened up the sword…only for a large piece of hail to land directly on it, lodging it even deeper.

Fortune’s avatar smiled, walking over as Ilmir spent the last of her Stamina to activate Flesh Mender, keeping her from bleeding out then and there. If she could just hold on thirty more seconds, the Descent would be over, and she would be able to struggle free and make something happen.

Fortune’s avatar was standing over her, still smiling that infuriating smile. “Well, you know what they say.” She said, “There’s no kill quite like overkill.” She reached forward with a claw and scored a deep gash in Ilmir’s neck.

You have been dealt a critical 594 damage by Tess Los!

Tess Los has inflicted Heavy Bleeding! You will take 1,002 damage every second for 150 seconds or until the bleeding is stopped!

That was almost as bad as the nasty hit she had taken at the beginning of the fight, and without any more uses of Resolve she had no way of getting rid of it.

Fortune’s avatar did something and the bleeding ceased, leaving Ilmir to watch in puzzlement, and then, mounting horror, as Fortune’s avatar stepped back, blew Ellie a kiss, and began to chant a spell.

By all rights, she shouldn’t have the Mana necessary to cast a spell like this. Ilmir didn’t know exactly what Fortune’s avatar was casting but judging from the several enormous magic circles expanding out around her, it was an incredibly high-level combination spell.

The wind was picking up speed around her, the temperature plummeting and the rain beginning to fall even harder as thunder roared above.

Ilmir struggled against the metal pinning her to the ground, but she was once again met with improbable events preventing her from making any headway. It had been over a minute and a half since the Descent had begun, so why was it still going?! It should have ended quite a while ago, but Fortune’s avatar didn’t show even a hint of the damage she was supposed to have.

The clouds above rumbled ominously, Ilmir’s hair standing up as she felt the lightning approach once again. Fortune’s avatar reached the last stanza of the chant too, but Ilmir’s attention was torn away by a massive cracking sound. The Gauntlet of Challenge, which had been floating patiently above, waiting for a killing blow to be struck, shattered.

Fortune’s avatar’s expression went from one of smug satisfaction to horror – she couldn’t stop a spell like this, not without backlash. And given the power of the spell and Tess’s frailty, that backlash would likely kill her outright. So, she kept going. “Fimbulvet–”

And then, Uncle Evan was there, magic circles running up and down the air around him as he worked a spell.

“No.” Fate boomed, pointing Uncle Evan’s finger downward. The magic circles immediately disappeared, the energy within dissipating harmlessly as Fate’s avatar dispelled the spell with no apparent effort.

That left the lightning. It likely wouldn’t strike Ilmir directly, but it would still hit the area, and a bolt imbued with divine energy would do some damage, even through the wards on the guild’s headquarters.

But her grandma had calmly moved into the center of the area, raising a clawed hand. The lightning struck it, but instead of damaging her grandma like it should, it danced about her palm, at least until she closed her fist, crushing the light. “Got it.” Dominion puffed. “We should be in the clear now.”

At this point The Rumors had moved over to Ilmir and were extracting the metal from her body, Ker healing her up as the gods conversed.

“Fortune, stop your Descent now.” Fate instructed, “You’re going to hurt Tess.”

“I…I can’t!” Fortune said, panic in her voice, “Every time I try, I get sucked back into her!”

Fate’s avatar nodded at Dominion’s. “Dominion, can you do anything about this?”

Dominion’s avatar stepped up to Fortune’s avatar and placed a hand on her forehead. There was a pulse of divine energy and then…

“Still here!” Fortune replied, “I…I think it’s the Class!” She said.

Dominion’s avatar nodded. “She’s right.” She agreed, giving Fate’s avatar a meaningful look. “The divine energy in the Class is too strong, and it’s keeping me from doing anything. Thankfully, it also seems to be preventing any of the normal side-effects to a Descent, so Tess should be fine. We’ll have to take her to the Class’s creator, though, get her to deal with this.”

Fate’s avatar grimaced. “Alright.” He waved a hand, and then him, Dominion’s avatar, Fortune’s avatar, and, oddly enough, Ellie, were gone.

Tess blinked, accustoming herself to her new surroundings. They were in a sterile-looking area, all sleek white walls and tile.

This is the god’s workplace. Fortune told her. They were still in Descent, of course. It was an odd sensation, where they both had control over the body, their intents and thoughts merged in such a way that their every action seemed like it was a mutual decision made with no conscious deliberation.

It looked like Gramps and Eyfura’s Descents had both, ended, though. Instead, a figure was standing next to each of them, ones who Tess instinctively knew were Fate and Dominion.

Fate was a tall orc wearing a rather sharp suit, his bald head sparkling. He gave the group a nod, then pulled a phone out of his pocket . “I’ll get the boss.” He said, opening a door near him and stepping out of the room, already putting his phone to his ear.

Dominion was a halfling, and she was small even by their standards. She was dressed casually and had brown hair and eyes, overall just looking… average. Tess wouldn’t have given her a second glance if she passed her in the street.

“Hey, why’d the Gauntlet break?” Fortune asked, “I thought you had made sure those things could handle high-tier spells.”

“I did.” Dominion sighed, “But I didn’t test what a Descent would do to them. I didn’t think anyone would Descend in a fight with such low stakes.”

There was silence for a moment, and then Ellie spoke up. “Um…can…someone explain what’s going on? Where are we? Why can’t Fortune stop the Descent? Who’s this “boss” of yours?”

Dominion sighed again. “Right, sorry about all of this.” She said. “This is all stuff that normally only Appointed get to know about, but I suppose Fate’s decided you’re fine to know. No, I don’t know why, no one really knows what he’s thinking.”

She frowned. “You haven’t sworn an Oath, to keep anything secret, which is less than ideal. If you mention so much as a hint of this to anyone not in the know, then you’re going to have a few grumpy gods on your case, and I don’t think you want that, right?”

Ellie nodded furiously. “Yeah. Um, might want to have me swear an Oath, though, don’t want to let anything out accidentally.”

“Already laid the groundwork for it, and you just accepted by saying that.” Fate said, stepping back into the room, “You were going to find out sooner or later, so this is just moving things up for you, really. Anyway, the boss is on her way.”

“Correction, already here.” A woman’s voice said. Tess and Fortune turned around, and, to Tess’s surprise, the boss was a slime person. She was tall and made entirely of green slime, a small smile on her face as she looked at Tess and Ellie’s surprised expressions.

“Hey there, my name’s Amy.” She said, giving a small wave. “I’m in the Administrator in these parts. You can think of Administrators as kind of the creator god, the ones who make everything. No, as far as I can tell, there isn’t anything above that, but Administrators came from somewhere, so I can’t say for sure. Yes, there are others, but I’m the Administrator for this universe, and you probably won’t have to deal with ones from outside this universe so don’t worry about them.

“Anyway, Fortune, I’ve heard you’re a little…stuck.”

Tess and Fortune nodded. “Yeah, every time I try to leave, Monster Breeder just pulls me right back in.” Fortune said.

Amy stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Well, that’s…actually, yeah, I wasn’t thinking about that when I made Monster Breeder. Give me a few minutes to look over this to see what I can do.” She said, walking over and placing a slimy hand on Tess’s forehead, “Fortune, if people have questions, answer them for me, will you? Dominion and Fate, you can go back to what you were doing.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Fate said, giving a small bow and leaving with Dominion.

“So, how does a Class trap a god?” Eyfura asked.

“Um, I’m not exactly sure.” Fortune replied. “Here’s what I understand, Amy, correct me if I’m wrong.”

Amy nodded distractedly, and Fortune continued. “So, um, Monster Breeder was a test by us gods. In order to give out Phantasmal Skills, we have to spend something called Worship and then pick someone to give it to. Me and a couple of the other gods were thinking of ways to get around that, and we came up with the idea to put them into a Class.

“So, we asked Amy and it turns out that doing something like that was possible, but we weren’t sure how it would work with Rewards Crystals. Amy made the Class because none of us were good enough at that sort of thing to do what we were thinking of, and we put it in a Rewards Crystal with nothing else inside to see what would happen.

“As it turns out, it just makes the chance of getting the Class so abysmally low that even with the bonus from being the only possible reward, it’s effectively impossible to get. We put the crystal in a beginner dungeon in hopes that, eventually, someone would get the Class and we could see how it worked, but once people found out the crystal didn’t give anything people stopped coming.

“So, eventually we decided that, when I eventually decided on someone I wanted to give my blessing and make my Appointed, I would lead them to that crystal and see if they got the Class. Obviously, Tess did, but we weren’t thinking about how the Worship would conflict when I Descended.

“And I don’t know if it’s something to do with how Amy made the Class, but it doesn’t seem to want to let any being that goes inside the user’s soul out, and normally that would be Cores, but… apparently it works for Descents too. And since I don’t show up as a Core or anything, Tess can’t exactly eject me like she would a Core.”

“Yeah, it looks like when I made this, I co-opted the Descent mechanism into something for absorbing and holding cores.” Amy confirmed. “It’s not a good way to go about things, but I was a lot more inexperienced then and it was probably the easiest way.”

She straightened up. “Alright, I’ve got a workaround for the moment.” Amy put her hand out and a core dropped into it. She handed the core to Tess. “Absorb this then eject it.” She instructed. “It’s an empty core I’ve made some quick modifications to, it’s going to see Fortune just sort of floating around in your soul and latch onto her. When you eject it Fortune will pop out with it, which should solve the issue until I get my other workaround up and running. Don’t worry about making room for her or anything, when the core dissolves that smoke will head back to her real body and she’ll “wake up” there.”

Tess took the core, giving it a small glance before absorbing it. It was around the same size as the largest core she had ejected, which was the core for the spirit she was currently using as a pet, Isabella. The process had been uncomfortable and somewhat painful, yes, but it was something she could deal with, so she went ahead and absorbed the core.

You have absorbed a $z5y^ core!

$5#k4

*9D%#

“Ignore that.” Amy said. “It’s just the system freaking out because that was a very non-standard core you absorbed. Just go ahead and eject it, it’ll be fine.”

Tess nodded, blushing a little. “Um, do you mind if we use the bathroom for this? It’s a little messy.”

Amy laughed. “Go ahead.”

Fortune helped guide Tess to the nearest bathroom, where she began the ejection process. It took much longer than other cores she had ejected, totaling a few minutes of rather uncomfortable pushing but, eventually, the core was out, and Tess was once again alone in her mind.

She took a moment to catch her breath, looking around the bathroom as she did. It was…normal, like it had been lifted straight from a school or business or something, albeit a fair bit cleaner than most public bathrooms she’d seen.

Once she was done catching her breath, she cleaned up the other mess that inevitably came with pushing as hard as she had been and left the bathroom.

She was immediately accosted by Fortune, who caught her in a hug. “Sorry, if I had known what would happen, I would have talked to Amy before all of this. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble for you.”

Tess returned the hug. “I know, it’s fine.” And she did know, she had felt Fortune’s panic during the Descent. And, furthermore, she felt like she knew Fortune well enough to know that Fortune didn’t mean for any of this.

After a few moments, Fortune pulled away. “Right, we should get back. The others are probably worried.”

Tess nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

The two made their way back into the room, where it looked like Amy was trying to have a conversation with…only partial success. Eyfura and Gramps were talking just fine, but Ellie was just standing there looking awkward, like she wasn’t quite sure she belonged.

“Oh, Tess, how are you feeling?” Ellie asked, rushing over and giving Tess a hug, “I was starting to get really worried.”

“Um, fine now, I guess. How have things been going here?”

“We’ve mostly just been talking about what happened to you. Um…” She glanced at Fortune, “Do you mind if I ask what exactly your Descent does? I’m really curious after seeing you two like that.”

Fortune gave her a smile. “Normally I’d say no, but because it’s you I’ll let you in on it, so long as you don’t tell anyone else. Deal?” Ellie nodded, so Fortune continued. “It’s honestly really simple. My Descent makes Tess’s Luck stat apply to everything, instead of just chance based things. It even extends to her enemies; they have to make checks against her Luck in order to do anything to her.”

Ellie stared. “So…she’s basically invincible.”

Fortune smirked. “Something like that. If her opponent has some blessings, Phantasmal Skills, or something else from a god, that’s somewhat exempt from it, but other than that she just gets to do what she wants, and no one can stop her.”

“That’s par for the course with Descents, though.” Gramps said, walking up to the group. “But I must admit that, from what I saw, Fortune’s was stronger than most. Anyway, Fortune, Amy needs you to go work with her so she can get your Descent working properly, and I need to take everyone back.”

“Got it. And, uh, thanks, Evan. You and Fate really saved my bacon there.”

“Don’t mention it. Just keep taking care of Tess for me.”

Fortune smiled. “You don’t even have to ask.”

Gramps nodded. “Right. It’s been a long day, let’s let the two of you get some rest, eh?”

Fighterman481

Five dungeons were raided, totaling out to 45 Rewards Crystal Rewards and 5 Challenge Rewards for 50 Skills, with an additional Skill being gained from Monster Breeder reaching level 25. Ten Skills were spent maxing out All Magic, another ten to finish out all the remaining status afflictions (or, enough to just get the system to give a blanket “Resistance to everything”).

Five were spent rounding the remaining fist damage types, with an extra used to tie them all into one Skill and bring the Stamina cost to an even 15 for all damage types (Instead of the 10-25 it would cost otherwise). An additional was spent for Igniting Strike, and 5 each were spent buffing bleed/poison/burning. The remaining three are used for You are Already Dead, Consecutive Normal Punches, and The Fifth Gate.

Tess leveled up to 31, and Monster Breeder to 25. Cores absorbed, Attributes discovered, and Attributes put into slots are listed below. Below that are descriptions of new status effects seen here.

From regular Rewards Crystals:

All Magic (Base & Combined):

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Passive

Description:

Grants the ability to use all magic, including combination magic. Does not include specialized forms of magic.

Jack of all magics, master of…all of them?!

Fist of the Rainbow:

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Active (Unarmed)

Description:

Spend 15 Stamina to cause your next unarmed strike to deal damage of any type you choose. Can be used in tandem with other Unarmed Skills, but only one damage type changer can be used at a time.

Feel the rainbow.

Status Resistance (All):

Rarity: Legendary

Description:

10% increased resistance to all forms of status effects.

It’s too much prevention. You’re running the cure companies out of business!

Igniting Strike (Mythical)

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Active (Unarmed)

Description:

Spend 50 Stamina to strengthen your next unarmed attack, causing it to deal 50% more damage and inflict Burning at the rate of 100%. The burning lasts for five seconds and deals 50% of the damage of the main attack as fire damage every second. Additionally adds a 1% chance for your regular unarmed strikes to inflict Burning. This burning lasts for 2.5 seconds and deals 25% of the damage of the main attack every second. You may choose to turn off the burning chance for your regular attacks.

He’s on fire!

Status Duration Boost (Epic)

Rarity: Epic

Type: Passive

Description:

Increases the duration of status effects you apply by 50%. Only applies to status effects you have the Skill for.

Applicable status effects: Bleeding, Burning, Poison

Now with extra-long lasting power!

Status Application Boost (Epic)

Rarity: Epic

Type: Passive

Description:

Increases your chance to apply status effects by 10%. Only applies to status effects you have the Skill for.

Applicable status effects: Bleeding, Burning, Poison

50% of the time it works every time.

Status Damage Boost (Epic)

Rarity: Epic

Type: Passive

Description:

Increases the damage of your status effects by 50%. Only applies to status effects you have the Skill for.

Applicable status effects: Bleeding, Burning, Poison

More damage, less work!

Is That Supposed to Be Able to Bleed?

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Passive

Description:

Allows you to apply bleed effects to otherwise immune targets such as automatons. These bleed effects deal 25% of the damage they would deal to non-immune targets.

N-no, it’s not supposed to be able to bleed. How is it bleeding!?

Rivers Running Red

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Passive

Description:

If you have five or more active bleed effects on a target, their damage is increased by 25% and their durations decrease by .75 seconds instead of a second for every second that passes.

A plague of your own making.

Botulin

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Passive

Description:

When applying a poison effect, Shock the target for .25 seconds

No, you can’t use this for cosmetic enhancement. Stop asking.

Poisoned Blood

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Passive

When applying a bleed effect to an enemy with an active poison effect, the poison effect’s damage is applied twice as often for as long as the enemy has an active bleed effect.

It’s in their bloodstream now.

Burning Blood

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Passive

When applying a bleed effect to an enemy with an active burning effect, the damage of the burning effect is increased by 50% for as long as the enemy has an active bleed effect.

Does not increase the enemy’s fighting capabilities or make them more motivated.

This Is Fine

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Passive

If you have three or more active burning effects on a target, their damage is increased by 50% and their durations decrease by half a second instead of a second for every second that passes.

*Sips drink*.

You Are Already Dead

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Active (Unarmed)

Description:

Spend 100 Stamina to triple the damage of an unarmed attack but delay dealing the damage and any other effects the attack would have (such as status infliction) for five seconds after the attack lands.

WHAT?!

Consecutive Normal Punches

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Active (Unarmed)

Description:

Spend 100 Stamina to unleash a barrage of 10 blows in the time it would normally take you to throw one. Each attack is treated as a “normal” unarmed attack for the purposes of other Skills.

And you’re not even being serious.

The Fifth Gate

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Active (Unarmed)

Description:

By activating The Fifth Gate, the user’s stats are increased by 50% at the expense of taking 1% of their max HP as damage every second.

Does not turn your body red.

From Challenge Rewards:

Flashstep

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Active (Unarmed)

Description:

Spend 50 mana to move to a point you can see within 100 meters. Only works while unarmed. Has a cooldown of 1 second.

There one moment, gone the next.

Blood Infusion

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Active

Description:

Dispel an active bleed effect that you inflicted to apply that bleed effect to you as a regeneration effect.

Don’t worry about the blood type.

Sympathetic Binding

Rarity: Mythical

Type Active

Description:

Dispel an active bleed effect that you inflicted to link the bleed effect’s target to you. For an amount of time equal to the remaining duration of the dispelled bleed effect, whenever you take damage the enemy will take an equivalent amount of psychic damage.

Sharing is caring!

Fast-Acting Poison:

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Passive

Description:

Poison effects you inflict deal damage twice as often.

So simple, yet so deadly.

Wildfire

Rarity: Mythical

Type: Passive

Description:

When you apply a burning effect to an enemy, there is a 10% chance to duplicate the effect on a neighboring body part. This effect can trigger on burning applied by this effect.

Only you can set fires this effectively!

From Monster Breeder:

Cores:

Goblin Rider Core:

Level: 7

Estimated Power: 16

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 32

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Goblinoid Language Proficiency

Humanoid (Fundamental)

Light Armor User (Clumsy)

Sword User (Clumsy)

Riding Proficiency (Clumsy)

Monstrous Wolf (Juvenile) Core:

Level 8

Estimated Power: 20

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 38

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Fur (Fundamental)

Keen Nose (Inferior)

Kemonomimi (Wolf) (Fundamental)

Part of the Pack (Inferior)

Riding Mount (Clumsy)

Sharp Claws

Sharp Fangs

Quadrupedal Adaption (Fundamental)

Goblin Foot Soldier Core:

Same as the one from Rogue’s Den, but higher level.

The Skeleton and Zombie cores have levels from 4 to 8, some have armor attributes, some have weapon attributes, others don’t.

Skeleton Core:

Level: 4

Estimated Power: 6

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 12

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Humanoid

Undead (Fundamental)

Zombie Core:

Level: 5

Estimated Power: 10

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 20

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Humanoid

Undead (Fundamental)

Light Armor User (Clumsy)

Club User (Clumsy)

Shallow One Conscript Core:

Level: 8

Estimated Power: 8

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 40

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Humanoid

Amphibious (Fundamental)

Slimy Skin

Syndactyly

Spear User (Novice)

Shallow One Flinger Core:

Level: 8

Estimated Power: 8

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 40

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Deep Speech Proficiency

Humanoid

Amphibious (Fundamental)

Slimy Skin

Syndactyly

Sling User (Novice)

Shallow One Flinger Core:

Level: 8

Estimated Power: 8

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 40

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Deep Speech Proficiency

Humanoid

Amphibious (Fundamental)

Slimy Skin

Syndactyly

Sling User (Novice)

Shallow One Shaman Core:

Level: 10

Estimated Power: 10

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 50

Current Skills:

Shallow Spells

Current Attributes:

Deep Speech Proficiency

Humanoid

Amphibious (Fundamental)

Slimy Skin

Syndactyly

Staff User (Clumsy)

Giant Spider Core:

Level: 10

Estimated Power: 15

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 30

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Arachnid (Fundamental)

Sharp Fangs

Spider-Climb

Sticky Web

Giant-Sized

Giant Spider (Venomous) Core:

Level: 13

Estimated Power: 20

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 35

Current Skills:

Venomous Bite

Current Attributes:

Arachnid (Fundamental)

Sharp Fangs

Spider-Climb

Sticky Web (Minor)

Potent Venom (Minor)

Giant-Sized

Vengeful Spirit Core:

Level: 20

Estimated Power: 30

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 40

Current Skills:

Decaying Touch

Current Attributes:

Intangible (Fundamental)

Levitating

Humanoid

Poltergeist Core:

Level: 24

Estimated Power: 35

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 60

Current Skills:

Decaying Touch

Haunt

Current Attributes:

Intangible (Fundamental)

Levitating

Humanoid

Banshee Core:

Level: 26

Estimated Power: 45

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 80

Current Skills:

Piercing Wail

Haunting Wail

Current Attributes:

Intangible (Fundamental)

Levitating

Humanoid

Boss Cores:

Goblin Knight:

Level 12

Estimated Power: 25

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 50

Skills:

Mounted Charge

Attributes:

Goblinoid Language Proficiency

Humanoid (Fundamental)

Light Armor User (Novice)

Riding Proficiency (Novice)

Sword User (Novice)

Wolf Mount Core:

Level 12

Estimated Power: 25

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 50

Current Skills:

None

Current Attributes:

Fur (Fundamental)

Keen Nose (Inferior)

Kemonomimi (Wolf) (Fundamental)

Riding Mount (Novice)

Sharp Claws

Sharp Fangs

Quadrupedal Adaption (Fundamental)

Skeletal Necromancer:

Level 14

Estimated Power: 70

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 100

Skills:

Summon Undead

Dark Magic (Basic)

Attributes:

Common Language Proficiency

Humanoid (Fundamental)

Undead (Fundamental)

Light Armor User (Novice)

Shallow One Chieftain Core:

Level: 14

Estimated Power: 50

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 100

Current Skills:

Call of the Shallows

Current Attributes:

Deep Speech Proficiency

Humanoid

Amphibious (Fundamental)

Slimy Skin

Syndactyly

Light Armor User (Apprentice)

Pack Leader (Moderate)

Spear User (Apprentice)

Blacker Widow Core:

Level: 18

Estimated Power: 70

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 180

Current Skills:

Pounce

Venomous Bite

Current Attributes:

Arachnid (Fundamental)

Sharp Fangs

Spider-Climb

Sticky Web (Major)

Potent Venom (Major)

Giant-Sized

Lady Isabella Core:

Level: 30

Estimated Power: 80

Estimated Maximum Power if Enhanced: 200

Current Skills:

Piercing Wail

Haunting Wail

Decaying Touch

Induce Despair

Current Attributes:

Common Language Proficiency

Intangible (Fundamental)

Greater Levitation

Humanoid

New Attributes:

Amphibious:

Gives the creature the capability to swim and move on land, as well as breathe both water and air.

Arachnid:

Gives the creature eight legs and segments their body into a cephalothorax and an abdomen.

Common Language Proficiency:

Grants the ability to speak and understand the common language.

Deep Speech Proficiency:

Grants the ability to speak and understand Deep Speech.

Giant-Sized:

Increases the creature’s size to a meter in length and half a meter in height. Non-functional on creatures larger than a meter in length and half a meter in height.

Greater Levitation:

Makes the creature capable of levitation and limited flight (no more than 10 meters above the ground). This costs .1 Stamina per second per kg of the creature’s mass and propels the creature fast enough to move at 4 m/s.

Intangible:

Makes the creature intangible to opponents, decreasing any incoming physical damage to 10% but rendering the creature unable to deal physical damage. The creature may spend 10 Stamina per second to move through walls or other objects. Additionally, the creature becomes weightless.

Levitating:

Makes the creature capable of levitation and limited flight (no more than five meters above the ground). This costs .1 Stamina per second per kg of the creature’s mass and propels the creature fast enough to move at 2 m/s.

Potent Venom (Major):

Increases the damage and duration of the creature’s poison effects by 50%.

Riding Mount (Clumsy):

A creature with this Attribute is somewhat fit to be a mount for other creatures and will usually keep their rider on.

Riding Proficiency (Clumsy):

A creature with this Attribute is somewhat proficient in riding other creatures and will be able to stay on their mount provided the mount is cooperative.

Slimy Skin:

Coats the creature’s skin in a wet layer that makes them harder to be grabbed.

Spear User (Apprentice):

Allows the creature to benefit from spears with requirements at or below the level of 30. Additionally, grants a fair amount of knowledge of spearplay, but any further potential learning is limited by the creature’s intelligence.

Spider-Climb:

Allows the creature to walk on walls and ceilings.

Staff User (Clumsy):

Allows the creature to benefit from staves with requirements at or below the level of 10. Additionally, grants a fair amount of knowledge of spearplay, but any further potential learning is limited by the creature’s intelligence.

Sticky Web (Major):

Allows the creature to spin a very sticky web using Stamina.

Syndactyly:

The creature’s extremities become webbed, increasing their swimming ability.

Undead:

Makes the creature undead, turning most light-attribute healing into damage and most dark-attribute direct damage to healing.

New Skills:

Mounted Charge:

Rarity: Common

Type: Active (Mounted)

Description:

Spend 10 Stamina to charge forward 5 meters with your mount. If you hit an enemy with an attack during this charge, it deals 20% more damage.

Nyoooooom

Degraded:

Mounted Rush:

Rarity: Common

Type: Active (Mounted)

Description:

Spend 10 Stamina to charge forward 5 meters with your mount.

Nyoom.

Summon Undead:

Rarity: Rare

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 50 Mana and cast for one second to call forth 1-5 skeletons or zombies (your choice) of a level that is 20% of your own. They come equipped with weapons and armor appropriate to their level.

Reanimate!

Degraded:

Call Undead:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 50 Mana and cast for one second to call forth 1-3 skeletons or zombies (type chosen at random) of a level that is 15% of your own. They come equipped with weapons and armor appropriate to their level.

They’re…not actually anyone’s bodies or anything. If they were never living or dead to begin with, are they really undead?

Shallow Spells:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Active

Description:

Provides access to basic water, earth, and mud magic.

You’ll be the terror of the kiddie-pool.

Degraded:

Shallower Spells:

Rarity: Common

Type: Active

Description:

Provides access to basic water and earth magic.

You’ll…decently frighten the other kids in the kiddie pool? You’ll win the splash fights, at least.

Call of the Shallows:

Rarity: Rare

Type: Passive

Description:

While you are standing upright in water that is at least 10 cm deep, increase the stats of you and your subordinates by 10%.

A must-have for any monster attacking a beach

Degraded:

Whisper of the Shallows:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Passive

Description:

While you are standing upright in water that is at least 20 cm deep, increase your stats by 10%.

If you lean down and listen to the waves you can hear the ocean.

Pounce:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 20 Stamina to leap forward 5 meters and make an attack on an enemy. This attack deals 10% extra damage.

Get ‘em, get ‘em!

Degraded:

Prepared Pounce

Rarity: Common

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 20 Stamina and charge for 1 second to leap forward 5 meters and make an attack on an enemy. This attack deals 10% extra damage.

You’ll get ‘em when you’re ready.

Venomous Bite:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Passive (Bite)

Description:

Your bite attacks inflict Poison at the rate of 20%. This poison inflicts 20% of the damage of the main attack every 10 seconds for 5 minutes.

It’ll kill them. Eventually.

Degraded:

Venomous Nibble:

Rarity: Common

Type: Passive (Bite)

Description:

Your bite attacks inflict Poison at the rate of 10%. This poison inflicts 10% of the damage of the main attack every 10 seconds for 2.5 minutes.

It…might kill them? Maybe?

Decaying Touch:

Rarity: Rare

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 20 Mana and Stamina to imbue yourself with a decaying aura. The next time you touch an enemy, they take necrotic damage based off of your Magic. This is more effective the closer to vital locations you touch.

Your enemies will actually be justified when they complain about you touching them.

Degraded:

Rotting Touch:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 20 Mana and Stamina to imbue yourself with a decaying aura. The next time you touch an enemy, they take a little necrotic damage based off of your Magic. This is more effective the closer to vital locations you touch.

It’s more uncomfortable than truly damaging, but it’ll add up.

Haunt:

Rarity: Rare

Type: Active

Description:

Spend Mana to move an object within 5 meters. The more Mana you spend, the faster the object is moved. The farther you are from the object and the heavier it is, the more Mana is necessary to move the object.

No, I swear, the chair just moved on its own!

Degraded:

Minor Haunting

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Active

Description:

Spend Mana to move an object within 5 meters. The more Mana you spend, the faster the object is moved. The farther you are from the object and the heavier it is, the more Mana is necessary to move the object. Objects have a speed cap of 5 m/s.

Not enough to make anyone move out of a house, but enough to give them a spook.

Piercing Wail:

Rarity: Rare

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 20 Mana and Stamina to let out a loud screech, dealing percussive damage based on your Magic to all enemies within 10 meters.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Degraded:

Shrill Shriek:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 20 Mana and Stamina to let out a loud screech, dealing minor percussive damage based on your Magic to all enemies within 5 meters.

aaaaaaaaaaaa

Haunting Wail:

Rarity: Rare

Type: Passive

Description:

Your percussive attacks recur, dealing 25% of the damage again 5 seconds after the original hit.

That attack won’t be the last they hear from you.

Degraded:

Echoing Wail:

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Passive

Description:

Your percussive attacks recur, dealing 10% of the damage again 5 seconds after the original hit.

Echo!

Induce Despair:

Rarity: Epic

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 50 Mana and Stamina to coat yourself with despair. The next enemy you touch is frozen in despair for half a second, losing the ability to move and taking double damage from the attacks of you and your allies.

Not a status that’ll guarantee your enemy’s death within a few seconds, but it’s plenty to make them regret coming across you.

Degraded:

Induce Hopelessness:

Rarity: Rare

Type: Active

Description:

Spend 50 Mana and Stamina to coat yourself with despair. The next enemy you touch is frozen in despair for a quarter of a second, losing the ability to move and taking 50% more damage from the attacks of you and your allies.

Show them what crossing you means.

Tess gained 1 new User Fundamental slot and put Greater Levitation in it:

She had 9 unused Attribute slots and put the following in: Haunting Wail, Piercing Wail, Potent Venom (Major), Intangible, Spider-Climb, and Amphibious.

She currently has in her core slots the Emperor Lion core, all the boss cores from before, and all the new ones except for Lady Isabella and Blacker Widow,. The rest of her cores were ejected, and the two missing boss cores were made into pets.

Exact stats for Lady Isabella and Blacker Widow will be gone over in the story proper (Note - this has not happened as of the time of posting this chapter to SH. It's coming, there just hasn't been a great opportunity lol).

Statuses:

Burning deals fire damage over time and can be applied once for each major body part (torso, each arm, each leg, and head for a humanoid).

Shock messes with the target’s movement, causing it to become slow, jerky, and imprecise. Does not stack with itself, and the Shock with the longest duration is kept if there would be two simultaneous Shock effects.

And, since it’s not explicitly mentioned in-story (Some of you asked about this already, and I had happened to put this here anyway so...yeah. Really should have been in story proper, if I ever go back to do a thorough edit I'll change that but for now this will do):

Bleeding deals damage over time and can be applied as many times as wanted.

Poison deals damage over time, and when a new poison is applied, half the duration and half the dps of the new poison are added to the existing poison. DPS is capped at 200% of the poison-applying attack that dealt the most damage, and there’s no cap on duration.