The Unknown - Edited
(@Zuggyman) - This, is, insane! Who knows if any other player has met such a mob?
(@Kaido) - Definitely not. It'd be the talk of the forum for sure.
(@Bankai) - I doubt any of the lower-ranked players could survive this. I mean she took more hits than possible.
(@Zuggyman) - Compared to the start of the fight the hits she took now are nothing but scratches.
(@Toonman) - Impossible. That one creature almost took her leg. The other nearly got her head.
(@Zuggyman) - Nearly. I believe it's recorded. Rewatch the start of the fight quickly before she meets the next mobs.
(@Toonman). - okay.
(@Hursi14Flimt) -It's probably a tank build
(@Zuggyman) - I discussed this with some of the Creator Players and there's no such concept for builds. Atleast for themselves or for now.
(@Thatbhadboi) - must be gear then or she's just higher level.
(@Kaido) - most of the creators have gears at this point. She's probably at a higher level I'm guessing she's been fighting mobs somehow.
(@Zuggyman) - Guys guys she found something.
And the chat went silent all eyes focused on the scene.
*****
HELEN'S POV
I decided to practice my Nothingness Manipulation for a while before I walked into a fight I couldn't handle with just swords and fists. Focused on the blob of darkness I willed it to come at me. The thing moved fast already next to me before a second.
'Speed. Check". Before anything though I wanted to confirm another thing. I willed the Nothingness to cling to my skin and seep back into my body.
[GENERAL SKILL - NOTHINGNESS EMPOWERMENT - gained]
Infuse Godform with nothingness to improve physicalities. Abstract not affected. Nothingness affinity or RACIALITY is required.
I felt a shiver through my body making me gasp. I felt more. Lighter, like I had a ton of energy in my body waiting to be let loose. I could feel it traveling and rushing through me. It gave me the feeling to just let it loose. I bounced a bit and felt myself go higher than I thought I normally should.
'Amazing'.
The feeling to just let loose grew and grew and I gave in. Raising my right palm I drew on the nothingness surging through me like I was amwire and it was a current. Then I directed it through my arm and out my hand.
[GENERAL SKILL - NOTHINGNESS HANDBLAST - gained]
User projects blasts of nothingness from their hands, being able to cause erasure of affected portion, large wounds of erasure, and fatal impaling of erasure.
The ground crumbled and turned to dust. The area around the site of affliction breaking and falling into the hole. "Well, shit".
My awe turned into a smile and I shivered in excitement at the thought of the next Unknown I would meet. 'But first I need to have more of these attacks or at least something for mobility'.
The first thing I thought of was how I used the nothingness to keep the creatures back. 'Can't be giving around getting wounded'. So I thought of a variation of the blast where I could keep the enemies on one side away.
'But would need me to be faster enough to use Hand blasts to kill the others. Still doesn't mean the blasts could kill all at once and there could be more than one's. I frowned.
Pulling the nothingness out of me I made to try something when I realized something new and exciting. 'I'm generating Nothingness when with my Godform. I thought it would only need me to use Form Of Nothingness but this...this is great '. With a grin, I pulled more nothingness into my body and felt my energy rise.
Drawing the nothingness out my palm I directed it first into the Sowrd of Murre. If I could use the nothingness erasure property to wound the Beasts then maybe I could be good.
'It could erase your sword?'. The mental question had me halting the nothingness. Looking deeply at the sword I mentally spoke. 'Don't'.y instructions to the nothingness were fulfilled as the energy flowed over my blade and coated it.
The black coating covering it gave it a purple hue. A bright purple hue. Then I swung.
[GENERAL SKILL - SWORD BEAM CUT - gained]
User uses a sword or other such bladed weapon to unleash powerful beams of nothingness which have increased or a sharp cutting line capable of cutting through matter. In the case of nothingness, such slashes erase the given target. The beams can also work to enhance the cutting range of the blade making sure an enemy is never too far.
"Holy yeah". A sharp reminder of my stream stopped me from rejoicing seriously. Coughing awkwardly I focused back and muttered with a no business voice. "Yeah".
Still, I was excited. With Hand blasts I could attack without my sword, with my sword I could deliver more lethal damage. Wave emissions would keep them off me and non-existent would help me move unhindered and attack like an assassin.
'Still not a movement skill'. I needed a movement skill. I didn't and couldn't come up with something though so I just shrugged. I'd practiced enough. It was time to see what I could do with these new skills and I f I still got my ass kicked.
'Well, I'm learning how to fly next'.
I spammed my new skills to get a feel and muscle memory of it as I walked towards the direction that the Unknown should have come from. With each step taken and each attempt made that failed I was slowly getting better yet tired. Yet something annoyed me.
"I did make Sol with my Abstract right. Sol is fire so basically I made one huge ball of continuously blazing flame. So why then can't I create a bloody flame now. ". I wasn't just speaking of the fire. While Subatomic Manipulation had affected the ground it was nothing about elemental powers. I was very annoyed about having my spell-casting locked since I believed my elements and magic were there.
'At least Tora has magic. Maybe I can pick up a thing or two from her. When she's older. stomping the floor in annoyance I grumbled at it. "But why was my spell cast locked anyway?. Wait does it have to do with magic. There is no magic and there is no... any other force right". I was almost lost in thought now as I realized some things.
"Alright first things first, what was different about Spell Casting's description? The mystic arts and all that." I tapped my cheeks while thinking. "But the energies exist, right? Tora has ..." I paused as I realized she didn't indeed have any such energy. The description said she could manipulate and control any but she didn't have any.
"But Haero was able to ...control a sun I put there. He's shown nothing else but capabilities to use what I created". I was fully scratching my head. Stream be damned.
"Doesn't this mean....holy shit". It clicked instantly. What the system meant. What was missing and was important?
"I am the universe, as the universe is I". It meant the words literally. I couldn't cast spells because there was no mystic energy in my universe. "But wasn't the entire power all dependent on Abstract". I shook my head as I realized I was wrong all along.
"The system checked my Abstract before I could proceed with the creation of Sol. Which means Abstract is important. But ..." I attempted to once more create fire only to be met once more with nothing. "... it's not everything. Or did Sol's success have to do with the 'One of the speakers' title?".
There was always a nudge whenever I tried to will out the flame yet it was like something was lacking." Fire needs a spark to be ignited. I have the flammable but not the spark. The mystic energy is the spark I need.'
A click sounded in the distance dragging my eyes up in that direction.
"I guess I'll be very busy later. For now, I have a hunt to complete."
Fortunately for me, I had a perception stat which gave me a higher awareness of everything. Unfortunately, I couldn't increase it by leveling up and I already tried adding stat points to it too. I did wonder what its difference with Extra Sensory Perception was.
The requirements for it weren't visible either since it wasn't exactly a skill. This left me with the idea of using it constantly in hopes of triggering a level-up mechanism or something that would help increase my main perception.
Right now I was on full alert as I tried to listen for anything in my surroundings. The entire lost world was the same, rocks and boulders with rough ground. Darkness everywhere. A fog of black cold smoke with tendrils of sickly green rolled around.
Cold embers of divinity.
A frown at the stuff appeared on my face while I clutched harder onto the wolf fang. My eyes appraised the fang as a feeling of appreciation welled up within me. It was my source of pride. Its presence reminded me that whatever was down here wasn't as bad as the Void Wolf. Just more. numerous.
[MATERIAL - WEAPON]
[TYPE - VOID CHAOS DAGGER]
[Forged from the claws of a slain wolf these daggers inflict chaotic damage on divine beings. One of a pair.
+100 to damage
x25 to chaos]
Both striking together would double tbe effects it had. But I preferred holding the Sword of Murre. The dagger was a close combat weapon for those Unknown that managed to evade and get into my space
Quickly I appraised the sword as well and saw that using Nothingness with it had affected its description. In a good way.
[MATERIAL - WEAPON]
[TYPE - SWORD OF MURRE ]
[A short sword most would lust for. A relic of the old worlds. Once Athena slew a gorgon with its blade. Has been touched by the Nothingness. Increased resistance and conductivity to Nothingness energy.
+10 to Phy
+10 to Mob
+2 to Foc]
What bothered me though was how the weapons had no ranking or grade. It was like a weapon was just a weapon. This was a game, weapons should have grades or ranks.
Annoying devs.
Click click.
The clickings of those Unknown coming closer made me focus once more as I waited. Unfortunately, these creatures didn't disappoint. But the game changed.
This time as they raced up to me I managed to smack one down and instantly slit its throat before I used my appraisal on it.
My tongue wet my lips as they instantly went dry. My feet took a stagger back as I slowly raised my head and faced forward.
"If you're an infant then what the hell is an adolescent!?" I asked as silently as possible while making a slow backtrack. My vision swam. One moment I was looking at the thing, the next, I was seeing myself from above. The ground below me shattered in an explosion of rubble and dust. I was sent flying backward and landed on my back.
My sight returned to normal.
[Eye of Fate/5%]
The thing about fate. She was a bitch. The crazy sight and then the notification that came with it luckily cleared my mind up on what just happened. Since I'd not used the skill the notification made it clear what I'd just experienced.
I looked down at the ground and then jumped back just in time too as the floor behind me cracked. Everything seemed to go slower, my perception alerting me as I flew backward. The floor where I had been standing burst upwards in an explosion of dust and stone. From within leaped two things, both as huge if not taller than I was.
A quick appraisal answered my question.
But what shocked me was seeing another infant Unknown making clicking sounds as it prowled from behind the adolescents. It caught my eyes simply due to the bleeding and injured eye to its left, a spot where I had given it a nice memory of me when it had so arrogantly attempted to take my head.
"It survived". I muttered incredulously. But that wasn't the only issue. Things now made a bit of sense. There was barely light here except for that from the Sword of Murre. The ground was rocky and bad for life.
Almost black and gave off a pungent scent I was sure would be defined as death-like, yet I perfectly tracked a beast that could come and go as it wished when I had no such skills.
My right foot took a step back resulting in clicking from the infant Unknown.
"It was a trap.".
*****
Franco was wide-eyed as he stared at this. He wasn't the only one though. In a familiar office, Jameson watched with an entourage of staff on the large screen shocked not that the Unknown was smart but that she perfectly deduced it.
Jameson had the streamer site on, watching as the number of viewers went up sporadically. She'd already hit a hundred thousand views.
The comments section was bustling with chatter as to how the Unknown could be smart and strong. They felt it was bad for the devs to create such an unbalanced mob.
He read most of the comments appearing before a roar brought his attention back to the screen.
Jameson paled. "Oh, she's dead now".
It took about a few minutes before the viewers saw the same scene and the comments went even madder.
(@Kaido) - This is unfair. How's she supposed to win this?
(@Toonman) - I don't think the devs want her to. I mean with such a mob this could be a high-level area.
(@Zuggyman) - I doubt she's stupid to just wander into a higher-level place. You've watched her monologues and practice. This Creator Hildelith is smart, maybe not a genius but it is obvious she's in the area cause she has to.
(@Lolipop99>>@Zuggyman) - Makes sense. Refuse to believe such a player got there by being dumb.
(@Thatbhadboi) - You're all forgetting. Good reason or not she can't beat that. She needs to escape And maybe return when she's stronger.
(@Zuggyman) - She disagrees.
The comment went silent with that last statement as Franco was focused on his screen. Jameson had long forgotten the stream his attention on the bloody fight happening down in the lost world. His grip was tight as he watched the number one Creator player deal damage and also get damaged.
At the rate, she took injuries even if she survived she wouldn't be in a good condition for the boss. Physically, she could heal her injuries Jameson frowned at this part.
"It's inevitable" he muttered as he shook his head. "It was a good run too."
Jameson sighed as he thought of the penalties of death. Apart from the equipment drop and loss of level, there was a 24-hour ban from the game. It would get even worse when other players began to show up. After all Creator players were supposed to be all-powerful and like the Crown of the Supreme described. Absolute.
A 24-hour ban while not much was everything to players since a lot could happen in a game with time dilation. "Enough time to lose her spot".
Jameson frowned before settling down forcing open his clenched palms and watching freely. No point in stressing over what was determined.
Right?.