[Ley Line - lvl 9 > Ley Line - lvl 10]
[Ley Line - lvl 10 > Ley Line - lvl 11]
[Ley Line - lvl 11 > Ley Line - lvl 12]
[Ley Line - lvl 12 > Ley Line - lvl 13]
[Ley Line - lvl 13 > Ley Line - lvl 14]
After doing a bit more testing I finally figure out the difference between [Tether] and [Ley Line].
Where the main idea behind [Tether] was to create a tether, anchor it in space, and connect two disparate locations, the point of [Ley Line] is to create a line between them, not the anchor itself.
I'm starting to suspect that as I reach higher levels, I might not even need the anchors. In theory, I could just create lines. However, I still have no idea how that would work.
It’s hard to explain since I mostly go by feel. Yes, anchors, marks, whatever you call them, are important, even with my new skill, but they seem to be more of a side benefit than the main focus.
As for the lines, I’m still not very sure what their advantages are, but it does bring to mind an image of the world spanning Veil of the 5th floor.
I have a suspicion that my new skill, at a really, really high level, could have the same potential. Perhaps allowing me to cover the entire earth in invisible lines of mana and do... something.
I’m sure I’ll come up with something amazing eventually. Maybe a personal transportation net. Or a system to detect monsters with invisibility and kill them on sight.
I know I still don’t have a proper understanding of the skill, these are just the questions I have at the moment.
What’s the advantage of using lines over anchors? Lines have a larger surface area and more points where they can be damaged, while anchors are vulnerable to the anchors themselves. Yes, lines cover more space—the entire breadth of the line—whereas anchors just connect two points.
It needs more testing, but it’s not like I mind. After all, it’s a shiny new toy I can work on, and I already did over the past few days.
I’ve also figured out that I’m somewhere in the central region, though I haven’t seen much difference so far, but then again I haven’t actually delved any deeper than the border of the Mana Desert.
I still haven’t given up on my goal of using the sand to acquire mass quantities of shards, I’m also waiting for Aaron, Dennis, Lily, and Biscuit, the group I was supposed to guide, before delving back into the Mana Desert.
Tess and the others decided to go forward with the plan, so we’ll be splitting group 4 to cover more area, train, and level up for the next few months.
Something tells me things aren’t going to be quite the same with the group after the days of amplified emotions in the Champion’s prison, but I don’t ask. I’m sure Lily and the boys will tell me more when they get here.
That is if we can even detect each other. Currently, the plan is for them to reach the edge of the desert and move across it until we meet. Of course, with help from my constant signals and the twins’ attempting to use [Connection].
There’s also a crown over my head. For the next few months, I plan to find out how much mana I can store in the thing. I also want to move my mana to it for when I inevitably go to collect white sand for crafting.
At least I managed to get the blue brothers to teach me how to purge the mana from my clothes, so I don’t have to go naked anymore.
An interesting question comes to mind. If I were to leave my things and crown here and go to collect some white sand, would it be possible for someone to steal my crown?
I mean, it would probably explode eventually, but it would still be interesting to see how the skill would react if someone else were to touch the crown.
A day later, I shoot off a couple of flares made of thermal energy, launching them high into the air, while storing my mana in the crown. Then I do a few rounds of expunging and purge the mana clinging to my clothes and body.
As I pass the border and my mana stops regenerating, I repeat the process again. Only then do I use kinetic energy and make my way over to the white dunes.
Upon reaching them, I immediately start checking for more of those annoying whales and push as much of the white sand as I can into the bags I brought with me.
In the end, it probably comes out to somewhere around half of my weight, before running back satisfied with the result—without any whales attacking me this time.
I stop just before passing through the border so that my mana doesn’t regenerate. There, I already have a few molds prepared, granted they’re mostly just holes in the ground made with my mana and purged.
At this pointI grab the white sand and start pouring it into one of the forms before me.
A single big dagger with a handle made from the horn of a monster I killed not long ago.
I repeat the process from before, using a stream of golden thermal energy to melt the sand until it begins to bubble, releasing trapped air and starting to glow. I take a moment to let the gasses finish venting and let the blade cool. Then I do the same with the other 4 forms, ending up with five daggers.
Taking the bags of white sand, I put them in a hole on the side where mana doesn’t regenerate and push a rock over them.
Then I take the daggers and walk across the border with them, returning the crown to its place over my head.
Like the spears I made before, the daggers begin to tremble, reacting to having a source of mana so close, despite being trapped in the form of glass where the individual particles can’t pierce me.
Mana-Reactive Dagger (Upper Epic):This dagger ignores mana-based defenses and absorbs mana on impact, sharpening its edge against physical armor and barriers. It becomes progressively more effective the more mana it absorbs, but if pushed too far, it can shatter explosively, scattering a mist of fine, cutting particles that may cause a significant degree of harm to anything in the area.
Not bad. Let’s sell it.
Do you really want to sell the following item for 1,830 shards?
Mana-Reactive Dagger (Upper Epic)
Yes/No
Yes, yes, yes.
Some items are failures, like the boomerang, club, and warhammer. Some wind up going for much cheaper, many of them set somewhere around 1 thousand shards.
I think there are requirements for the usefulness of the weapon. You can’t just create a shape and expect it to be declared a weapon by the system.
Other items take more attempts to get right. For example, the scythe took a lot of time, and some things like armor, gloves, and chest plates just didn’t work at all. But I don’t mind it too much. I have scores of weapons, and I’m visiting multiple Communities, offering some nice stuff to people who come up with items I didn’t think of.
Most of the things that work turn out to be weapons, as things like brooches and pendants don’t seem to do much, turning out rare at best.
It takes multiple visits to the desert and another two attacks from those goddamned good for nothing whales.
Monsters begin appearing as well, as they always do during the day. They’re stronger than those I find in the outer region, but how could they cause trouble for me?
I mean, even with the quantity of mana I’m turning into thermal energy and the amount of time I spend training with RTE and orbs, I still have plenty left over to fill my crown.
These are beautiful times.
A week or two passes like that. It's hard to say with all the training and crafting I do.
Finally, I detect Lily, the best doggo of the 6th floor, and Aaron and Dennis. They reach my campsite, and the expressions on their faces as they do just look plain weird.
Lily rushes in first, hugging me with a big, bright smile, and I’m in a good mood, so I return, tapping her on the shoulder after a moment, signaling her to let go.
She doesn’t.
As I start thinking about whether I should strengthen my body and how much kinetic energy I would need to dislodge this musclehead, she finally lets go.
“You sure made a mess of this place,” she notes, still smiling.
I look around and realize she’s right. There are dozens of holes in the rocky ground, the newer ones growing smoother as I experimented with my skills to make the edges of the forms better. Beyond the border to the Mana Desert, next to the forms, there are a multitude of bags, full to bursting with white sand.
On the opposite side, in the central region, there are several monster corpses that I tried cutting apart to use for weapon materials or as anatomical guides for the more annoying ones.
I even dug several holes in search of metals to use for weapons.
This place really is a huge mess.
But it feels cozy. Though maybe that’s just because I’m getting richer by the minute.
I grab one of the daggers from the pile and throw it to Lily.
“How much can you sell it for?”
“It says just over 600 shards.”
Hmm, I see. I could sell it for around 1,800 shards. So if I make the weapon myself, I can sell it for 50% of the system estimated value, but if I hand that weapon to someone else, it acts like they found the weapon on the floor itself, so the sale price gets reduced to somewhere between 10-20%? I’m starting to wonder if the system isn’t just fucking with me.
It’s probably a combination of both.
“Good,” I say, taking a few steps to lift Biscuit into my arms and turning him to make sure he can hear what I have to say.
I hold the best doggo in my outstretched arms, with his hind legs hanging free as I shake him from side to side. Which he seems to enjoy.
“There are 4 piles of about 70 items each. Go and sell them to the system shop. Each of you should get,” I try to do a quick calculation but give up. I hate math, “30-40k shards. Half is mine, which you will use to buy whatever I want.”
“The fuck?” Dennis says, staring like he’s never seen me before.
Aaron pokes him, “Shut up before he changes his mind. We’ll do it!”
They rush away, and Lily follows after a quick moment of persuasion.
Then I whisper to Biscuit, “And you, buddy, if you can sell them, you can keep all the shards and buy whatever you want. Depending on the floor, you can even buy food.”
(Food!)
“Yup.”
I put him on the ground, and he wobbles to his pile before stopping and turning back to me.
He stops in front of me and bumps my shin with the top of his head, before returning to his pile.
I open my status and check my shards.
Shards: 268,614
It's time to treat myself to something nice.