Creator’s Game

Within the comfort of his new home, Hugo was able to use an artifact on the second floor game room. 

Currently there was nothing in the room except the one Artifact. But that was all Hugo needed for now. Perhaps sometime in the future there would be more Artifacts than just his own. 

After having woken up for the day and eaten a breakfast made by Eve, he prepared himself for a day within the Ascent. 

Once inside the pod, his mind was sent straight into the game. 

He appeared within the central plaza of Oddbird’s Rest. All the clothes he had bought with Aurelia were resting within his Storage Sack, besides the pair he had put on. He was wearing a simple fitted shirt with loose pants, similar to sweats and a t-shirt.

He sighed. 

“I’m officially on my own. For now, I just need to get more stats and practice my skills. I can do that through Dungeons, or I can go to some hunting grounds where monsters spawn in the wild. Moses said I would need a hunting license for that. There are also some questlines I could pick up in certain locations. Besides that, I might need to get some armor soon. But then I would have to pay for repairs… I’ll just stick with my weapons for now.”

Hugo brought out his map, looking at the hundreds of tags and landmarks that indicated dungeons, hunting grounds, and quests. And that was just in the vicinity of Oddbird’s Rest. 

Every mark also had details ranging from the recommended level to handle quests and dungeons to the details on the monsters within hunting grounds. Everything was documented, showing how much diligence the Heads took collecting information. 

Hugo couldn’t just use Eve to guide him step by step. From now on, he’d have to make his own decisions. Of course, he could do more research to find guides and get recommendations. There were millions of articles about where to go at different stages of ones development. But since he was so late to the game, even those could be considered outdated. It was best if he just used this information to do what he could. 

But there were some paths that gave more than others. Hugo needed to raise his proficiency while also raising his stats. And raising stats primarily involved getting Accolades. 

Dungeon diving was one good way to get Accolades. Clearing notable dungeons on hard difficulties was the best way. But there were also quests that gave some. Those that did were all marked on his map, including the rewards. 

Only, those quests were all rather difficult. They were also at wildly varying locations. 

Hugo pondered, analyzing the map for a bit before settling his eyes on one particular dungeon. 

It was called the Mire’s Nest. It was a difficult dungeon where the hardest difficulty took a full team of 8 peak Realm 1 fighters to clear. It was considered a milestone on the way to Realm 2, and clearing it successfully granted a valuable Accolade. Not only that, but it had a decent amount of valuable loot in the form of special ingredients that could be salvaged from enemies. 

At least, that was a year ago. That loot probably wasn’t nearly as valuable now, but that wasn’t what Hugo was after. 

Being a superhuman with nigh limitless stamina, Hugo had high expectations of himself. He should be able to do the work of 8 people in the same amount of time. That meant he would work toward solo clearing the dungeon. 

Dungeons were the perfect place to practice fighting. It was repetitive, full of patterns, and Hugo needed that. 

With that decision made, he started walking. 

The Dungeon was just a mile from the city’s center. It was surrounded by all kinds of vendors and facilities, thousands of players and natives alike flocking toward it. 

The natives of this game world also fought to grow stronger, though not as fervently as the players. They could still die, so every dungeon dive was a huge risk. On the contrary, hunting grounds were much safer so more natives could be found there. 

Hugo walked up to the dungeon, the familiar prompt appearing in his vision. 

He quickly designated his desire to tackle the dungeon solo, starting on the easiest difficulty. And because he didn’t need to look for a team, he entered instantly. 

…

The place he appeared in was actually a prison cell which seemed to be in some kind of underground dungeon. The door to it was completely broken though, rusting off its hinges and taking no more than a push to swing open with a grinding noise. 

It was also completely pitch black, though Hugo almost didn’t notice due to how amazing his eyes were. He could see just a bit, the small amount of light there was pointing toward a source down a hallway. 

At that moment, a screen popped up in front of him.

---

<Mire’s Nest>

Objective: Find the leader of the Umbraskin nest and eliminate it. 

---

Stepping out of the cell, he noticed 7 other cells around the place, probably for other players who would arrive in a group. After bypassing those, he found a spiral staircase leading upwards. 

He followed it up to find a torch on the wall, grabbing it before continuing and finding an exit. 

Hugo walked up to the wooden door, light seeping through the space between the bottom and the floor. He grabbed the handle and pulled, immediately hearing a reaction from another person on the other side. 

He looked through to find a hunched humanoid creature, an Umbraskin, in leather armor standing there, staring right back at him in surprise. It’s skin was purple and it had some clusters of tiny horns growing from various places around its body, like its temples and arms. It was also shorter than a normal human and had some sharp claws growing out of its hands, along with two small tusks that grew from the bottom of its mouth. 

It seemed more intelligent than an ordinary beast, wearing armor and carrying an axe, but that’s where the differences ended. It looked at Hugo for a moment in surprise before snarling.

Its mouth opened to yell, but with a quicker reaction Hugo threw out his hand and chopped the its neck, stifling its voice while lifting his mace. 

After dropping the torch, he brought down and crushed the Umbraskin’s head with the mace. It was far too slow to try and dodge Hugo, even if he wasn’t properly trained yet. 

Hugo let the body drop while looking around. He seemed to have appeared within the hall of a castle or fort. Unlike how it must’ve been in its prime though, all the nearby walls were dilapidated with some bloodstains on their surfaces. What seemed to be partially carpeted flooring was also completely torn apart, with mold growing in dark corners. 

There were no other Umbraskins in the immediate area, so Hugo flourished his mace before moving forward. 

“It’s a nest, so I should probably approach this with some subtlety…”

He mumbled while turning a corner, finding three more Umbraskins in the middle of an intersection a distance away. 

Hugo rubbed his chin. This entire building was probably occupied by these things, and there was no reason they couldn’t just scream and call for aid. So if he wasn’t careful, the entire population within the building would be on his ass. 

But trying to be stealthy without additional help was also difficult. If he had an archer, he could probably get past those three Umbraskins without raising an alarm. But he was alone, and they would notice him before he could even reach them. 

The smart choice was being stealthy, but that seemed to already be out of the equation. Even if he baited them over and got them in close quarters, it wasn’t like he could kill all of them instantly. One of them would still scream for help. 

After some more thought though, he remembered that he wasn’t here to perform. He was here to learn. If that meant failing, then he would fail in a way that taught him the most. 

He had endless stamina, speed and strength that far surpassed normal Umbraskins, and some good weapons. Swinging a mace wasn’t that difficult so it wasn’t like he couldn’t hold his own. That meant that he would be able to put up a fight, even if the entire nest bore down on him. 

So he decided to change his approach. He wouldn’t be hasty, but he would be bold. Instead of trying to be subtle, he did the exact opposite. 

Nodding and taking a step out, Hugo exposed himself to the three Umbraskins ahead. They recoiled as he ran straight to them, covering the distance as two of them let out a shrill screech. 

Hugo lunged toward the one that responded to him. It couldn't even lift its crude longsword before its head was crushed despite the helmet. 

Hugo turned to the other two as blood splattered. One had a shield, and so it hastily defended when it saw Hugo. The other one started to scream instead of swinging its axe.

Hugo went for that one first, trading his mace for his knife and slicing across its neck, almost decapitating it outright. While it fell, Hugo then reached out for the shield bearer next to him, ripping the shield out of its arms before doing the same and stabbing it in the neck. 

Two bodies dropped, Hugo letting out a long breath in between them. 

“...That was fast. 

They couldn’t even get off an alarm, unlike what he thought. When under pressure, his reaction times and speed were even crazier than he thought. Even the distance he had to run to reach them in the first place was covered in a mere four steps.

He was underestimating himself heavily. 

Humming, Hugo had a thought and grabbed the shield. Then he started walking off, twirling the knife in his hand. With his speed, there was no need to waste energy swinging around the heavy mace. 

Hugo brought out his map with his free hand. On it was a full map of this very dungeon. He looked around and found out where the dungeon boss was as well as a few valuable items. There were also estimated enemy positions. 

After doing a quick analysis, he picked the path of greatest resistance.

Putting the map away, he broke out in a jog, traversing the corridors and finding the next group of enemies. 

The four hardly noticed he was there, so his appearance was like an ambush. He went around and killed two with his knife before the other two even noticed. Then he threw his shield like a frisbee at one, knocking it over before killing the third. 

After that, he bent over the fourth one. It laid on the ground, squirming in agony. There was now a massive bruise indicating serious internal bleeding and shattered ribs. A casual toss and he had incapacitated the thing. It couldn’t even breath, coughing up blood. 

“How realistic. What’s the public’s response been to this realism?”

“It’s generally in favor.”

Eve appeared next to him, looking down at the little beast. 

“There have been some mixed opinions, but its nothing the censorship feature can’t handle. Because of that nobody’s really able to complain. This game is too good to leave.”

“Mm. I hope to experience that wonder some more.”

“You will. The first step though is activating your Psion, since you’ve been forgetting. And jump to Tier 3 difficulty when you finish this round.”

She left with those words, Hugo smirking and leaving the dying Umbraskin. 

He continued on with a jog. After that he encountered another group of four umbraskins in the corridors. 

Before attacking though, he focused inwardly. He felt the Heart’s Eye on his chest, and urged it to open. 

It flashed, and then Hugo focused on the First Star. 

White lines bloomed across his body as his heart thrummed with the power of Psion. 

He punched out, and with his movement, Psion accelerated, travelling down his arm and exploding through the fist. The air thrashed under its power. 

But it was crude. Hugo could feel the Psion and the paths it should travel in order to align with Magnus’ Constellation. Hugo used far too much energy, most of it being wasted along its path. Those white lines, representations of the perfect form, told Hugo just how far he was off the mark. 

A built in teacher, and quite the ingenious tool, Hugo thought. With this, it would be almost too easy to learn. 

Of course, it wasn’t a combat technique, and thus had limited application in this dungeon. Still, he decided to keep his Heart’s Eye activated. 

Then he moved, advancing toward the four umbraskins in front of him with his full speed. 

And he flew. 

His steps took him nearly double the distance, and before he knew it, he was flying right into the group. 

They all crashed into each other, the umbraskins going flying, and Hugos body getting nicked in a few places from their weapons. Accidental injuries. 

He quickly scrambled to his feet, looking at the umbraskins as his heart pulsed with power. Every movement witht he Heart’s Eye open was imbued with the power of Psion. His movements dictated the use and path of that magic. 

“I should tone it down.”

Hugo mumbled. He had been too focused on running, so the full power of his Psion had gone to his legs. 

If he wanted to use less power, he needed to run with less intensity. He would also need to restrict his own body. Even so much as flexing a muscle would send power to it, resulting in potentially unwanted power in certain areas. 

No wonder Precision was the first Star of Magnus’ constellation. Without precision, you’d never be able to apply your Psion the way you wanted. Many might be able to learn the feelings behind their movements and monitor their power that way, but for more complex applications, you needed every muscle under your control. 

Hugo let out a breath, processing these things before diving into the group once more. 

He brought out his mace, and with his full strength, swung it at an umbraskin with a shield. 

He felt his Psion surge through his arm with his movements, mimicking the intensity of his muscles and amplifying it. 

With all that power behind it, the mace outright tore the shield in half, continuing through the body behind it and bisecting it. 

Hugo quickly recovered before finding the three others bundled close to each other. 

Then, his mace swept through all three, repeating what it had done to the shield bearer. None of them could even scream.

“Slow.”

He muttered after settling down. 

The umbraskins looked like they were moving in slow motion. Even worse was the fact that Hugo wasn’t taking full advantage of it. 

He had never fought anything before. It was easy to simply stick a knife inside a throat. But knowing how to prioritize threats, how to place yourself in advantageous positions, and weapon techniques were things that had to be taught or learned over time. 

Hugo wasn’t using any technical knowledge. But they were so slow and weak that he didn’t have to. 

Elite athletes far outclassed ordinary humans, and superhumans far outclassed elite athletes. And with every Step to Heaven, a superhuman could far otuclass other superhumans. 

Hugo had already achieved the first step, Focus. But more importantly, his body had been genetically augmented and upgraded. Eve hadn’t actually explained every little bit of the details, but she didn’t have to. Hugo could feel them all too clearly. 

So before a dungeon that could be handled by 8 ordinary humans with a bit of magic, the winner was obvious. Hugo really was underestimating himself, and didn’t yet know how far he could push himself. 

And that was before using Psion.

With Psion? His already extreme attributes were multiplied. Even in this moment, with the most crude usage of Psion, he felt unstoppable. 

But there was so much more power to unearth, both in the game and in his body. When he reached the pinnacle of the steps, trained to the pinnacle of Eve’s Mechanical Truths, and attained the highest magical power in this game…

Just how powerful would he become? In both realities, how much strength would he wield? Who could ever stop him?

Hugo felt a shiver of euphoria, a wide smile erupting on his face. 

“So this is what so many people are fighting toward. No wonder this game is so popular. The glory of that power…”

Hugo let out a chuckle. Glory was an interesting thing. It was also curious how the big names of this game, like Magnus and the Departed, were mentioning something about finding them at Glory. Was it a place? What did Glory mean in that context?

He shrugged and continued on. Hugo kept his Heart’s Eye open as he cleared the rest of the corridors. At some point, he made it to the end of his path, throwing open some doors that led to a plaza. 

He watched as several dozen umbraskins turned to him, some growling in wrath. They were clustered together in the plaza, at their head standing a tall ogre-like creature with deep blue skin. It wielded two massive chains, scars littering its body, one eye missing. 

Beyond them all were another pair of grand doors that led to the throne room. That’s where the leader resided. Hugo would have to kill his way there.  

He brought out his mace as a few umbraskins with bows started to draw. Too many enemies meant he wouldn’t have the mind to worry about accuracy with a knife. 

Then, right as the arrows started flying, he ran. 

His steps took him straight to the enemy ranks, getting met with shields. One wide swing with the mace, backed by Psion, shredded through three umbraskins. 

Many others charged him while trying to swing with chipped axes and swords. They flanked around, trying to surround him, anything to get a hit in. 

Hugo glanced around and backed out. He didn’t want to be surrounded. It would only make managing them more difficult. 

So he pushed through one direction, constantly swinging with every step, killing one or two at a time. He moved too fast to be surrounded. 

But it wasn’t too fast to be hit. When he attempted to dodge one, another weapon would be waiting. Some outright threw their weapons. At some point, Hugo suffered a few wounds. 

His subdermal armor that he recently received wasn’t applied in this game. However, his enhanced bones were. Those couldn’t be broken through with their weapons, so no wounds could truly go that deep, depending on where they hit. 

Then, Hugo heard a whistle in his ear. He glanced back just in time to see an arrow fly into his shoulder blade. 

“Ouch.”

He grunted before shaking his body and sending the arrow flying off him. Since it hit the bone, it couldn’t penetrate deep. 

He continued as blood streamed down his back. Some other arrows came flying and hit other umbraskins, while only one managed to land on him. That one hit his quadricep, stoped right as the arrowhead burrowed underneath his skin. It couldn’t go deep with how dense his muscles were. They weren’t sharp nor was there much power behind them. 

He ripped that one out and kept going, even though his leg started burning to no end. The bleeding stopped after only a several seconds, clotting with amazing speed. 

Hugo cut down half of the entire army like that. Before he could finish them off though, the ogre stomped its way toward him. 

It stood 10 feet tall, Hugo’s head only barely coming up to its chest despite it being hunched over. 

Yet when they clashed, it could only stand there. 

Hugo jumped, his body flying right toward the ogre’s head. It reached out with a hand, whichhe swung at. 

The mace pulverized the hand, knocking the arm away in the process. Hugo fell back down tot he floor as the ogre screamed in pain before quickly jumping right back up. 

And once at its head, he swung down, the same scene occurring. Its skull couldn’t hold up. 

It collapsed, Hugo immediately turning back to the other umbraskins and charging them. They all tried to scatter and run, but he was too fast to be retreated from. 

Before long, all the remaining enemies had ben put down. Hugo stood in the middle of the plaza, almost completely covered in blood, nearly none of which was his. 

“...How messy. Let’s get this over with so I can wash up.”

He hoisted his mace, walking to the throne room. 

With a kick he blasted threw open the doors, the leader of the Mire’s Nest sitting on top of a half destroyed throne of tarnished metal. 

It spoke with a raspy, half hysterical voice.

“You are an incredible warrior! You single handedly slaughtered my kin. What to do, what to do…”

“...”

Hugo stood there, watching it as it stood from the throne and started pacing. Then, it grabbed the serrated sword off its back. 

“The eggs! The eggs must be protected! How s-silly! I almost forgot to kill you.”

Hugo’s head tilted. He didn’t think humanoids laid eggs. 

He shrugged once the leader charged him. It was certainly faster than the others, and about a foot taller than him. It also seemed trained with the blade, or at least experienced. 

But it still didn’t matter. In Hugo’s vision, it looked like it was running through water. It was unsteady, slow, and too easy to outmaneuver. 

The elader slashed downward, Hugo sidestepping it before swinging up with his mace. 

The mace connected with its jaw, sending the bottom half flying off its face. It was still alive though as it staggered backward, scrambling around. 

“Ahh!! Uugaahh!!”

It naturally couldn’t speak, so it only let out guttural cries. Either way, it was completely harmless, so Hugo stepped forward and ended its life. 

With another swing, the battle ended. Then, a prompt was displayed in his vision. 

---

<Congratulations! Mire’s Nest cleared. The exit lies before you.>

Dungeon Collapse occurs in 2 hours.

<1:59:58>

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