ALL NOVEL B3 Chapter 31 - The Right Direction
John tried sounding humble as he said, “I understand, Avatar. Never talk about it and never do it again. Thank you.” But if he had to use his new ability, he would. The pain it caused was enough of a deterrence from taking more souls anyways. He hadn’t taken any since the egg-monster. Though if he could’ve taken Hyavod’s, he would’ve.
John then changed his mind. I need to think that through more. That’s old John’s thinking. The John that failed. I don’t fail. Not anymore. Let Talker serve as my last mistake. And I really need to tighten up my Kahaka Four-two persona. It’s too much like the old John. As Amber reminded me, I need to play the role perfectly.
I hope that Kahaki girl is alive. Maybe I didn’t fail her. No. No more of that either. Wishful thinking. I know she’s dead. I failed her too.
“I pray you really understand, John,” replied Avatar. “I truly pray you do. Take this very, very seriously. I cannot stress this enough.”
Avatar then lost her serious attitude. She smiled and said, “Okay, now that that ugly business is out of the way, let’s move on. Since we can’t detect those [Skills] of your strange [Synergy], I’ll add a new section to the notifications listing them and their last known level. Have you checked your harmony?”
“A little under half,” John answered.
“We assumed. So, that strange [Synergy] seemed to have made many changes. As we said, other than [Runes], no DR or risk of hitting soft caps. We have some really odd results from your scans we can’t understand. It’s like your body is in flux. We’re getting some readings only present in alpha-types, but you have none of the usual benefits.
“A D-grade alpha-type would have much higher soft caps than what we believe your new ones are if your [Runes] [Stat] is an indication. But your [Runes] could still have a different soft cap and DR than the rest of your [Stats]. We’ll know more in time.”
“Got it,” replied John.
“We have some data on your breathing and cycling techniques, but we’d like you to meditate as soon as possible. The only time you’ve meditated since entering real time gave us bad data due to the energy of the healing pill you took. We can’t see these [Skills], but we can measure their output, and all three techniques seem to have drastically improved in effectiveness.”
“I planned on meditating as soon as I exit,” said John. “I need to heal my leg. Oh, I should tell you, once my leg is fully healed, I’m applying max energy credit towards opening the next NCU expansion. I want to slot that cooldown reduction NCU I have and get that out of the way.”
“What’s the rush,” asked Avatar. “With your new belt, your focus should be on creating emptiness. And your new [NCU Energy Cost] penalty is absurd. We decided together that we would wait until your penalty was under 20% to get more NCUs. You’re over 26% effective [NCU Energy Cost] now. You should’ve consulted me. These are the choices only a silly boy would make on his own.”
John almost smiled. He was very happy his penalty wasn’t nearly as bad as he assumed it would be. He must’ve gotten some good [Achievements]. He said, “I know it seems that way, but it’s all part of a plan. A 26% penalty isn’t so much worse than 20%. It’s barely higher than what it was before. I gather energy faster than ever, and I can drain my enemies of essence too.”
Avatar scoffed. “With any sizable injury, you’ll have to. It’ll drain 40% of your essence. And you’re not considering all the little costs that all add up and slow you down, like the new prefill [Emergency Heal] NCU, the rate set for energy credit, etcetera. I disagree with your choices, but I understand your reasoning for making them. And judging by your recent actions, I suspect there are additional reasons.”
John nodded and said, “I have a plan. I don’t want to tell you as it requires me being unpredictable at certain points and never thinking about the plan I’m planning.”
“You’re a strange man, John,” replied Avatar as she slightly glitched again. “Okay, we’ll move on. For your rank up, each [Stat] increased by 24.3. For reference, normal terrans have all gotten about 3.375 to [Capacity] and two other [Stats] for mid-low Silver.
“Just to have an idea of how much DR is now impacting [Runes], it only increased by .4 during your rank up. The highest DR we’ve yet seen from you. One of the highest DRs recorded too. It increased by only 1.646% of your other [Stats].
“There’re some additional items to discuss after viewing your summary and notifications. And you still have daily training to do. You didn’t want them included before, but since you’ve just acquired new items, I should ask if you want their [Stat] bonuses shown in your summary?”
“What bonuses,” asked John.
“Your belt is increasing your [Min. Power] [Stat] by 3. That biosuit you’re wearing isn’t applying its full bonus since it fits you so poorly and isn’t synced with your DNA, but you’re still getting increased efficiencies to some [Stats] and bonuses to fortification.”
John said, “No, thank you. Please just keep informing me of bonuses from items. I won’t know what my actual [Stats] are otherwise.”
“Okay. Here’s my silly boy’s summary.”
Tier/Level/Race 4 (Mortal) (Silver), 17 (Mid-low), Terran-D
Active Title Blessed by Magnus Gar’tar
Aspects/Affinities Vampirism (99.999%) (Major), Change (98%) (Major), Protection (96%) (Major), Battle* (97%) (Average), Shadow (98%) (Average)
NCU Energy Cost 133% (-80.2%)
Active NCU Upgrades Nano Assistance, Emergency Heal, Theta Waves, Heal Delta A, Heal Delta B, Inexorable, Refractory, Nano Support C, Nano Support D, Lock and Key, Scuta Mater, Encase, Mata Support A, Reactive, Swift, Cooldown Reduction, Record 1
NCU Expansion Upgrades 6 of 16 slots opened, 0 slots empty
1) Theta Enhancement – T1C
2) Auto-Reflect – T1C+
3) Swiftness Efficiency – T1C
4) Auto-Shield – T1C
5) Emergency Heal, Prefill – T1C
6) Reactive – T1C
STATS [Effective] Current (Increase)
Strength [35%, 244.03] 180.76 (24.30)
Swiftness [42.04%, 256.55] 180.62 (24.30)
Conditioning [42%, 258.41] 181.98 (24.30)
Min. Power [22%, 175.52] 143.87 (24.30)
Capacity [23%, 165.12] 134.24 (24.30)
Runes [20%, 340.48] 283.73 (208.08)
Physical Fortification [37%, 255.70] 186.64 (24.30)
Elemental Fortification [34%, 250.37] 186.84 (24.30)
Mental Fortification [20%, 209.88] 174.90 (24.30)
Highest Skills [Leech Feckless Retreat Technique] 96.49*
[Mixed Navigation] 94.28
[Mixed Style Swords] 93.73
[Mixed Stealth] 89.55
Synergy Skills Obscured
Class Unknown, Obscured
Perks Orb of the Crimson Palace, Dynamic, Physical, Potent, Protected, Strong, Fast, Healthy, Quick Thinking*, Resilient, Powerful, Expansive, Harden, Resistant, Soulful, Good Genes*, Leech Body of the Morning's Glory, Regeneration, Mutating, Bronze, Fibrilized*, Lightweight, Cloak Essence, Stalwart Vessel, Silver, Picture of Health*
Manifestations Vampirism, Draining Blade, Drain Essence, Hide, Multi-Enhancement, Multi-Shield, Puppet, Reflect, Shadow Spray, Slip, Spoil
Glyphs Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet, Glyph of Plasma Barrage
Last Achievement Sloth 2 - E
Highest Achievement SSUR Body - SSUR
Titles Blessed by Magnus Gar’tar, Blessed by Unnamed Exalted, Ptagmog, Multi-Record Holder (System), Multi-Trailblazer (System)
-Start Notifications
*Obscured suspected Synergy skills and last known rating.
Manifestation Control: Vampirism – 53
Mind: Runic Knowledge – 72, Essence Manipulation – 49, External Energy Manipulation – 31
Body: Mixed Combat Offense – 87.36, Mixed Body Control – 87.06, Mixed Combat Defense – 83.23
Inner-Power/Soul: Leech Feckless Retreat Technique – 96.49, Breath of the Serpent Clan Endless Technique – 47, Turmoil Within Tranquility Cycling Technique – 46
74 tracked skills changed, 26 of interest. Scaled summary per notability/interest user profile.
Grandmaster: Mixed Navigation- 94.28(3.15), Mixed Style Swords – 93.73(.2)
Master: Mixed Stealth – 89.55(.64), Mixed Survival – 87.66(.6), Mixed Shield – 82.08(.84), Mixed Armor – 78.81(.7)
Expert: Mixed Style Unarmed – 60(6), Hide – 56(16), Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet – 55(11), Heal –52(11), Multi-Enhancement – 50(11), Unbind Defense – 49(7), Drain Essence – 48(20), Slip – 48(15), Unbind Manifestation – 48(8), Soul Veil – 46(8), Puppet – 45(23), Multi-Shield – 44(8), Reflect – 41(6)
Journeyman: Spoil – 38(7), Runecrafting – 34(1), Draining Blade – 33(6), Shadow Spray – 32(4), Glyph of Plasma Barrage – 31(13)
Apprentice: Manifestation Defense – 25(4)
Novice: Cage of Take Everything Ultimate – 9(6)
39 common Achievements attained for a cumulative [NCU Energy Cost] reduction of .6%. Focus here to see each individually.
13 notable Achievements attained.
‘Butterfly 1’ attained (F-Rated). Attain an effective rating of 100 Minimum Energy Units with the Runes Stat, 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 74.6%.
‘Butterfly 2’ attained (E-Rated). Attain an effective rating of 200 Minimum Energy Units with the Runes Stat, 0.20 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 74.8%.
‘Climber 9’ attained (SSU-Rated). Participate in the death of an entity at least 9 tiers above user’s own, 0.90 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 75.7%.
‘Butterfly 3’ attained (D-Rated). Attain an effective rating of 300 Minimum Energy Units with the Runes Stat, 0.30 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 76%.
‘Climber 10’ attained (SSUR-Rated). Participate in the death of an entity at least 10 tiers above user’s own, 1.00 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 77%.
‘Massacre 1’ attained (SS-Rated). Participate in the killing of at least 5,000 sentient creatures in a one-day period, 0.80 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 77.8%.
‘Massacre 2’ attained (SSR-Rated). Participate in the killing of at least 10,000 sentient creatures in a one-day period, 0.90 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 78.7%.
‘Slaughter 1’ attained (F-Rated). Participate in the killing of at least 20,000 sentient creatures in a one-month period, 0.10 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 78.8%.
‘Slaughter 2’ attained (E-Rated). Participate in the killing of at least 25,000 sentient creatures in a one-month period, 0.20 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 79%.
‘Slaughter 3’ attained D-Rated). Participate in the killing of at least 30,000 sentient creatures in a one-month period, 0.30 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 79.3%.
‘Slaughter 4’ attained C-Rated). Participate in the killing of at least 35,000 sentient creatures in a one-month period, 0.40 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 79.7%.
‘Inventive’ attained (D-Rated). Create and successfully utilize sixty manifestations with different functions, 0.30 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 80%.
‘Sloth 2’ attained (E-Rated). Attain an effective rating of 200 Minimum Energy Units with the Mental Fortification Stat, 0.20 [NCU Energy Cost] reduction, cumulative 80.2%.
End notifications-
John really had 265 rune points to spend. God Almighty, he thought. And my energy cost reduction is 80.2% now.
The lowest level of glyphs were labeled as ‘least’ and cost 25 rune points. It then went ‘lesser’ for 35, full glyphs had no prefix or designator and cost 45, ‘enhanced’ glyphs for 55, ‘major’ 65, ‘greater’ 75, ‘greatest’ 85, and ‘flawless’ 95.
It bothered John there was a level above ‘greatest.’ If greatest was actually the greatest, there wouldn’t be a higher level of glyphs. He wished stuff like that didn’t bother him, but it always did.
Since John built [Glyph of Plasma Barrage] from prior spells, it had cost him extra rune points. He didn’t fully understand how the pricing worked for runes, but purchasing glyphs and not building towards them was cheaper.
It would cost John 70 rune points to bump up [Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet] to [Flawless Glyph of Darkflame Jet]. It would be 45 rune points to bump [Glyph of Plasma Barrage] up to [Flawless Glyph of Plasma Barrage]. Making both flawless glyphs would cost him 115 rune points, which would bring his total spent to 193. He’d still have 147 rune points left.
John loved both of his current glyphs and spent the points. [Flawless Glyph of Plasma Barrage] increased from 7 meteorites to 17, its range more than doubled, and the damage of each meteorite increased. Thankfully, the casting time stayed the same, though the cost increased dramatically.
[Flawless Glyph of Darkflame Jet] significantly improved in range, area, damage, control, as well as cost, but its cast time also increased too.
John was excited to have so many points and wanted to get another flawless glyph, maybe an invisibility one like Amber had. He suppressed his desire. Since [Runes] was affected by such heavy DR, he knew he wouldn’t be getting many runes points going forward, and he had to plan and be smart with the ones he had banked.
John had no idea what challenges he’d be facing, and having the ability to get a flawless glyph whenever he wanted could be a game changer and a good way to trick or surprise Mele. And unlike other cultivators that would all have [Archetypes], he could get whatever glyph he wanted.
John had really great gains while in the Nether, had some sort of special [Synergy], an extremely potent peak-concept in ‘vampirism,’ and had finally fixed all the damage his soul had sustained. Things were going in the right direction. He needed to keep as much of himself as possible a secret from the Mele.
John wrapped up everything with Avatar including his daily training allotment, exited the oin barracks, and meditated in the street. This was to continue being unpredictable and further throw off the Mele.
Since John’s soul issue was more than fixed there were no longer any reasons to make shen in limited amounts, or any reason to use the [Title] the Peerless had given him. He only wished he could view his own soul and compare its size and brightness to what he had seen at certain tiers.
Once it was well after dawn and most normal people would be awake, John went to find a man he talked to many times before named Abe Cohen.
Abe was a childhood genius and taught ‘Math 55’ at a university called Harvard before the Peerless came to Earth. Great things were expected of him, and just like Talker, those great things never manifested. Abe said he wasn’t interested in doing great things. He enjoyed teaching, he enjoyed learning, and he took comfort in his religion. Unlike Talker, he was content in life without doing the great things others had expected of him.
John went to what was called the ‘smart barracks’ for humans and asked for Abe. He was told to go to the Nursery, the largest building in the Kahaka district. The Nursery was an enclosed environment for the klieen and contained many flora and fauna of their home world including a sapient plant and a sapient beast.
Even though he needed to wear a suit to protect himself from the environment, Abe was living in the Nursery and studying all within it.
Thankfully, Abe needed little convincing to help. During the flight to Gani, John had provided the man with all the information he wanted regarding Lilly and what he knew of her people. Abe would return the favor by tutoring John in math and helping him prepare for the entrance exam. This would be a great supplement to Avatar’s training and classes.
Then John checked in with his friends in his own barracks. Once that was settled, since the crone never replied to him, he decided to take a risk. He went to visit the Mele that rotated out of something called Command of Quarters, or CQ, for Kulolo.
John thought he’d have to argue with a guard to get permission to leave his district again, but the Oli at the gate just waved him through without a word being said.
Upon hobbling into the Kulolo Headquarters’ building, John saw the Mele sitting at a desk surrounded by dozens of monitors. Without even turning to look at him, the Mele said, “Your chances are near zero unless a variable changes.”
John stopped and said, “Excuse me, Seven-three?”
“Acquiring two of the three mats you’re missing. For the [Perk] you want. For us, the [Perk] is named [Elaborative Encoding]. I’m unsure if it’s named the same for you but it’s an NCU-controlled and enhanced mnemonic system.
“One mat is readily available. Two would need to be specially ordered through Kotown vendors. A conservative estimate for all three mats totaled is 2,400,000 crystals. Even if you were allowed full access to the Kotown Arena, with your current odds, you’d need to bet in the tens of millions to make the required amount.
“And no, I will not contact any Nani for you. If they are not replying to you directly, I will not risk a gig or annoying my Alii to do so on your behalf.”
John clamped down on the anger and anxiety this reply gave him. There was just no way the Mele could’ve known all his specific reasons for visiting. He assumed his brainwave protection wasn’t working.
The Mele said, “I cannot read your mind. You’re still protected from the Interpreters. It was simple deduction.”
John wanted to shake an angry fist at the Mele and yell at him, but that wouldn’t help his situation. If his odds only paid 20 to 1 or 50 to 1 in the Kotown arena now, the same as in the Kahaka arena, there was no way he’d be able to make 2,400,000. If he worked at the smithy from now until the entrance exams, that work would earn him less than 10 or 15 thousand.
It was impossible. John asked, “How much could I make selling the four mats I have now?”
“About 440,000 here in Kulolo. Up to 700,000 if you ever receive permission to visit the markets in Kotown.”
John paused. “Did you just know that off the top of your head or did you enter your Mind’s Eye and look it up?”
“I looked up prices of mats for [Perk] options earlier. The most efficient way for you to earn crystals would be to fill Essence Batteries. Many Kahaka make a great number of crystals this way. Sadly, unless you bet a great sum and win an unpredictable wager with odds favoring your opponent, you’d still not be able to afford the [Perk] in time.
“Currently, there’s a cap of 10 EBs per Kahaka per year. I suggest petitioning for an exemption to that cap. Your essence should safely be graded at peak Platinum. With your [Min. Power] it should be rated higher, but there are qualitative changes to essence after a soul is refined that will keep it at that tier and rank for grading purposes. Peak Platinum-rated EBs sell for up to 40,000 crystals to vendors, or 45,000 if sold directly to Peerless.”
That got John’s attention. The Mele added, “My Alii is willing to supply you 10 empty EBs if you sell directly to her for 40,000 each.”
John said, “Deal,” and entered his Mind’s Eye. The crone had given him a very restricted version of the CSL he could use to contact her in case of emergency. He had the contact info of the crone and two other Nani in it. He liked to have Avatar write the messages he sent through it since she made them sound much more professional. He petitioned to have the yearly Kahaka EB-cap removed. That would solve his issue
While waiting for the 10 empty batteries, the Mele asked, “Is there anything else, Kahaka?”
“Yes,” replied John, but he couldn’t think of anything else to ask. He always thought about all the questions he’d ask a Mele if he ever had the chance to. Now that he did, he couldn’t think of anything.
Something finally popped into John’s head. “How important are the entrance exams? The academic portions. Oli are fighters. If I excel at the physical portions, that should be enough, right?”
“All parts of the exam are worth points,” replied the Mele. “Total points decide if you pass and what academy will accept you. The academic portions are as important as the physical portions. Oli aren’t just expected to fight. They perform many duties requiring knowledge of various maths and sciences.”
John cursed. “If that’s the case, if I’m unable to get the mats on my own, do you think a Nani would get me the materials I need?”
“Possibly,” replied the Mele. “But if you want to be accepted by Oli, if any Nani provided you with help not given to all our Li, it would hurt how you’re viewed and cause resentment. It would be seen as the Nani unfairly stacking the deck in your favor. Legacies are sometimes provided material assistance by the one assumed to be their father. You are not a legacy.”
John grunted. “Thank you, Seven-three. I appreciate all your answers. Hopefully they lift the 10-battery restriction. That would solve the issue. If not, I guess I’ll just have to learn and remember the old-fashioned way.”
“My pleasure, Kahaka. We appreciate how much effort you are putting into keeping secrets from us. For future reference, abnormal behavior draws our attention like nothing else. Since your cultivation, cycling, and breathing techniques have measurably improved, most of us assume at least two of those [Skills] were included in your synergy. As for the others…”
John ignored his initial instinct to run. He turned his face into unreadable stone and calmed his heart. He wouldn’t be rude and run, but he’d give the Mele nothing. Or do his absolute best to give the Mele nothing.
When the questioning was over and John left, he was a little hopeful. The Mele was wrong about a few items and ‘Record 1’ was never mentioned. But the Mele had gotten far too much right. And he was disappointed to find out the Mele talked together and pooled information. That would make things much, much harder.