Ubel CH7

Making pills helped me work with my emotions. Feeling pieces fall away under my electrifying touch was so satisfying. Fueling the pills with my anger at my situation gave me pills that acted fast, were hard on the body, and were powerfully effective. My pills were violence, and sometimes violence was needed, especially when clearing out corruption. Those emotions also helped bind together the ingredients. Without a certain amount of anger, it was harder to add ingredients with fire-type mana.

It was when my mind wondered when things became weird. Thinking about Mos’s skirt that liked to ride up, showing off her hot black panties on that green tush, made my pills bind in very different ways.

Yang Strengthening

Rank: E

Description: A pill of lust and steamy want, it’s a powerful aphrodisiac. When sleeping, dream about the woman of your dreams. Benefits include Increased staying power, shorter refractory period, and explosive orgasms.

I needed to get my mind out of Ms. Thomson’s bedroom.

The pill had the same ingredients as my root cleansing pill. From what I could tell, emotion changed how the ingredients interacted, or maybe it altered the story of my alchemic recipe. I didn’t know for sure. It was exciting and kept my mind off of being trapped in my training gear.

Not having the option to touch someone with my own hands was demoralizing. To be unable to touch a girl or have sex was a complete nightmare. Mos was available, but I couldn’t do anything but maybe service her. We weren’t even there in our relationship yet. I wasn’t bold enough.

I couldn’t even dry hump her because my training gear was too heavy. She could ride me, but I would not be able to feel much because of the thickness of my training gear. I needed to get to the level where I could take it off, and to do that, I had to add more layers.

Demon Hearts glared at me as I ate a sandwich while my ice ghost core advanced to the E grade. The misty, almost translucent core gained a slight icy blue appearance. It was honestly beautiful. Frost appeared on the shelves around it.

Food hadn’t been an issue yet, but that would change in a month. I would have to forage for myself in the dungeon. Fortunately, Mos should still reach Hobgoblin before long. This was more important than getting her a class I wanted for her. Mos was a high charisma type and probably wouldn’t want to have a meathead class. Or her rank up might be stalled due to a lack of increased wealth. Hobgoblins needed a certain threshold of wealth to move up.

I tapped my shoulder while I weighed, putting on another layer of training weights.

I decided to look at my stats for confirmation. A change to my perks caught my attention.

Atom lvl56

Class: Lightning Elementalist lvl56

Profession: Alchemist lvl9/9 Tier 1

Perks

Ancient Branch(D): +20 Increase to MP Multiplier

Eldritch Flesh(E): +10 Increase to HP Multiplier

Heaven’s Spear: All lightning spells have piercing.

Heaven’s Wrath: Equip Lightning Spells to any weapon. If unarmed, equip them to your body. When dealing damage, unleash spell effects on enemies.

Human: Welcomed in all human settlements and +2INT per level

Old Blooded: Gain access to Eldritch-only classes and gain +5WIS per level

Second Strike: All Lighting spells hit twice.

Spirit Branch (D): +20 Increase to MP Regen Multiplier

Undying (E): +10 Increase to HP Regen Multiplier

Unknowable Muscle (E): +10 Increase to strength multipliers

HP 212,800

MP 470,400

Stats

STR 214

DEX 203

VIT 190

INT 280

WIS 448

CHA 39

LUK 25

“Those are some high HP and MP. I bet you’ll be able to condense four times when you hit level 100 and prestige. Well, with your luck stat, you’ll most likely die in the process instead.” Demon Hearts said.

“Extrapolate,” I said.

“I don’t take orders from you. Why don’t you look it up if you can find anything on it in your database?”

There was something about getting as strong as possible before level 100 was important. Still, I thought it was only about getting the best spells and perks.

I looked up condensation and found information about how water evaporates, groups up with dust particles to make clouds, condenses, and falls as precipitation. That had nothing to do with stats.

“Haven’t you ever heard of the great third multiplier? It’s the real difference between adventurers and NPCs everyone who knows anything knows about it. How else do you expect to battle raid bosses larger than cities without greatly increasing your power? Did you think classes alone and high numbers made the difference?” She cackled at me. “I’m not saying anymore.” Demon Hearts said.

“Hmph,” I said and turned away.

CHA 40

I had until I hit level 100 and prestige to find out more. Until then, I had to collect 3 more skills and tier them all up at least once. Then, some facts couldn’t be ignored. Summoning skills could require a sacrifice of HP or MP. Knowing that it was better to have massive pools of resources than not. Knowing that items had grades, it made sense that mana and health also had grades.

This conversation was it. While it wasn’t the most compelling, it was the apple that popped the wheels off the cart. I opened my inventory and took out the second body suit; this one had elbow-length sleeves, so they wouldn’t get in the way of my other training weights. I took out another set of arm bands meant to go around my current arm weights. Slowly, I put the weights on and felt them tighten until they fit perfectly, further separating me from the outside world. My legs faltered as runes lit up along the armor’s surface. An itch on my backside was unreachable due to the sheer layers I wore, and I hated it. Walking around became a horrible challenge, and there were still two more layers to go.

I threw back a potion designed to ease my strain and sucked in a breath.

“I was afraid of this.” Demon Hearts said.

My eyebrow raised, and I waited, looking at her.

“Fine, you forced a beast tide on the 3rd floor. Ghosts are going to pour up into the second and first floors they may go outside. If they do that, then the dungeon might get mad from the deaths outside. That would be a problem for the dungeon. So, you need to kill them; after all, this is all your fault.”

I rolled my arms far too slowly for my liking. The gains from this weight promised to be insane. I tried to pull off the layer, but like the original training gear, it wouldn’t come off.

After using my pills to clear out two mana roots, my MP recovery greatly increased. Using Heavenly Tribulation wasn’t as taxing anymore. That was good.

Ghosts pushed against the entrance to the boss room 50 deep and 7 across; an invisible force kept them out, but the number continued to climb. Ghosts piled atop ghosts, their spectral claws scratched against a border they couldn’t cross while the ghost cores sat on the shelves beside me. More ghosts piled up filling the hallway to the boss room. I raised my hands and strained under their greatly increased weight.

My contempt boiled in my stomach even as a smile stretched across my face. It was time to cut loose. Purple lightning gathered as I fueled it to the limit with my mana until a wall of dark clouds swept into the ghost horde. Lightning flashed out thicker than tree stumps with dozens of targets.

It was one of the rare pleasures in my life after putting on the training gear. Ghosts burst at the seams as their cores flashed once, and then the lot of them shattered into ectoplasm. A pile of glowing green potion ingredients filled with money, gear, or skill shards filled the hallway. The second my lightning hit the back of the hallway, more ghosts burst into the room.

After seeing a hallway clear the first time, I had to wonder if it would be as satisfying a second time. 20 times later, the ghosts stopped coming, much to my disappointment. The flashing lights and exploding ghosts never got old. My mood had greatly improved, and there was loot to sort through. Piles of gear that I couldn’t use were either discarded or filled my inventory. There were only so many copies of vambraces that added +12INT or any other stat. Rarely did I see any gear that gave flat percentages, but I had my eyes out.

Atom lvl58

More importantly, I increased my core stock. 100 F rank ghost cores of a type made an E rank of that type. I was having a blast collecting them. The levels weren’t bad either. I was probably way overpowered for this place.

After some intense scrutiny, I found no Eidolon Armory. There was Ghost armor, a Shade armory, a Hallucination Armor, and a Duppy Armory. Slaughtering thousands of ghosts clearly wasn’t enough. I had to figure out a way to get more. They obviously couldn’t cross the barrier into the boss room, which was the only reason this worked.

I managed to rank up four of my cores into E grad ghost cores and then popped a spirit root cleansing pill. Ghostly energy filled the floor while Demon Hearts paced behind me, biting her intangible nails.

“Five Ghost cores that don’t belong in my dungeon. Mobs max out at level 90; there shouldn’t be a rank E ghost core here. It might attract mobs from higher floors. I don’t have any barriers preventing them from coming into this room.” I nodded slowly, not calling the dungeon spirit out on her bullshit.

I was a respectable young man raised right.

“Barrier,” I said.

“Dungeons put them up in the boss room to keep common mobs of the same floor out. If something comes from a different floor, all bets are off.” Demon Hearts said.

“So, dungeon, why haven’t you dropped Eidolon Armory?” I asked.

It was her idea.

“The chance was doubled. Unfortunately, twice 0.005% is still only 1 in 10,000.” I turned to a vast gathering of ghostly energy. “Before, I didn’t like you, but you’ve grown on me like fungus. There are better skills for you than anything over here. Why don’t you put away those ghost cores and move on to the next floor.” Demon Hearts said.

I could only double down.

One more ghost core ranked up, and the ghostly energy went wild.

The dungeon shook as a tide of ghosts flew into the barrier as I lashed out with purple streaks to death flashing from my fingertips. My arms shook while I dealt with tens of thousands of ghosts. A strange chill unlike any I’ve felt before flowed through the dungeon.

“That isn’t good. I’m a F-rank dungeon. That was an E-rank aura pulse. Get down to the next floor I’ll have the monsters ignore you. There is an E rank about to spawn.” I raised an eyebrow. “I’m serious.”

“So am I,” I said.

I downed a stamina potion and punched out. Ghosts died in droves as I punched with all of my considerable weight. Dozens died with every punch as I let my MP regenerate while punching into an ocean of mobs. From as far as the eye could see, there were only ghosts filling the hallway like bugs in a chicken’s crop. There was no need to aim when every hit was guaranteed. There was no need to hold back either.

Tier 2 skills took much longer to level than tier 1. My tactile telekinesis hadn’t increased in level in a long time. My muscles struggled to explode with so much weight barring down on them. Ghosts tried to grab my arms and pull me into the mass of spirits, but I was too heavy even for them. Instead, I pulled back and squished them against the barrier. Every time my MP hit full, I unleashed a hallway-clearing blast of lightning.

It appeared after my fifth clearing. Unlike the white ghosts this creature was a massive black opaque black lizard. Shadows moved as they tore through ghosts as they made their way to me. I waited for my MP to recover as it approached, slaying ghosts and consuming certain cores.

“It’s a demonic type; yes, I finally summoned one,” I grunted to let the dungeon core know I was there. “That means it has to consume a number of cores to support itself. It will need multiple E rank cores of various elements to rank up again.”

Its cloak lifted and lashed out. Spears of darkness cut through a line of ghosts and past the barrier. I felt the spears pierce the seams in my gear and impale my stomach. 20k health vanished in an instant as I grabbed the spear and unleashed tribulation lightning. A purple streak climbed up the spear and shocked the creature for a moment. Parts of its body appeared tattered until more darkness rose and filled in the gaps.

I sensed a loophole and wanted to glare at the dungeon core spirit, but there was no time. The demon-type specter lashed out with a wave of darkness, swallowing the remaining ghosts before slamming into me. The darkness swept me, stumbling away from the ghost cores as the specter closed in. It touched the barrier and slammed its fist against it.

“E-rank monsters can be anywhere between level 101 and 250 it will only grow stronger with every core it devours. Demonic-type specters can consume every normal elemental type. On the bright side, after I rush it with my floor 9 mobs, I will be able to summon it for my first tenth-floor mob.”

“No,” I said.

“What does that mean?”

“I will kill it,” I said.

“That mob has unleashed two skills spells that would have killed you without your armor.” Demon Hearts said.

Why did it piss me off so much to only be saved by the armor that was my prison? I shook my head. This wasn’t a problem; I already had a method to win.

Solomon’s Wisdom

+100WIS

Enki’s Blessing

+100INT

Dragon Lightning

5 * INT * lvl

Cost: 5000MP

My Heavenly Tribulation lightning merged with the shining blue circuit of dragon lightning, turning purple and empowering the spell further. The whole scales of the dragon formed and gleamed with purple lightning circuits as the spell fully took shape. The fangs of the easter dragon extended from its jaws as its long whiskers snapped like whips. Stone burst apart as the dragon formed and pushed against the dungeon walls. The spell roared in a challenge at the specter as another dragon took its place beside it.

Greedy eyes glared between my dragons and at the treasures lining the shelves behind me. My dragons also glanced behind them and, at seeing the treasures, seemed to take on smug expressions of dominance.

Each dragon glanced at each other and I felt completely out of the loop as they shifted their bodies to better block the treasure. Maybe my spell was more dragon like than even I thought if they had personalities of their own.

The specter raised its branch-like arms, and a wave of darkness rose behind its body and the dragon opened its mouth. 10,000 mana went into the dragon, and a purple orb of pure enmity and contempt appeared between its jaws before blasting the ground with a sparking purple dragon fire. The flames spread and burned like flames but jolted light tribulation lightning. The darkness formed a barrier around the specter as the dragon fire shattered the barrier before a wave of darkness raging from the specter kept the flames at bay. Another 25k mana vanished as the second dragon flashed its eyes, and bolts of thick tribulation lightning blasted through the specter.

Heavenly Tribulation lvl0/9 Tier 2

Description: Annihilation and providence are two sides of the same coin. With this power, immortals can be turned to ash, or planets can be powered for centuries. Choose carefully how you wield this power; it can easily strike down its wielder.

Level Requirement: Thunder Dragon Scales, E Rank Lightning Ghost Core, Copper Quill

Atom lvl65

Its body began to disintegrate, but before it died, the monster’s mana flashed. Broke pieces of the barrier blasted forward. My dragons encircled me, shielding me with their electrical flesh. The darkness shattered against their scales as I stood there holding my stomach wound. A golden skill shard shown even brighter than the light from my lightning dragons. I made my way out of the barrier and picked up the skill shard.

Eidolon Armory Tempering lvl1/9 Tier 1

Description: Ghostly rings control an armory fit for a lich king. Every weapon used is considered equipped and can be used by these skills conjured rings. Through the use of this power, an armory can turn a man into a god of war.

Eidolon Rings Conversion: 100,000/1 Eidolon Ring.

Eidolon Armor Constitution conversion: 10,000HP/1 Eidolon Armor Constitution

Requirement: 3 ghost cores of metal, fire, and lightning

“This wasn’t what we agreed upon.”

“It's even better, and I didn’t have to fudge the numbers. A specter on the 3rd floor is unheard of, so the drop has to equal the feat, even if it was kind of cheating with scrolls. If you are confused about the Eidolon Armor Constitution, it takes 10,000 HP to complete a revolution of the technique. Absorbing the skill should implant it for you. The constitution maxes out at 100, where it can be tiered up. It should make your body much tougher. After that, all you have to do is find the ingredients the skill requires on the second tier to continue the constitution training. Now get the fuck out of my dungeon I need to remodel.” Demon Hearts said.

I grunted.

CHA 50

Less really was more, and that was very confusing.

…

After packing up, I began my slow track back up the stairs. Mos was going to be pissed.

The goblins on the second floor were gone, and there were ghosts everywhere. It was unfortunate, but I could always use a few more cores. The ghost in my path died to a single blow more often than not and dropped different types of ghost cores. On the first floor, I walked into the barricade held by goblin mages and warriors alike. While no arrows or spells had fired, they looked at me like I was some kind of ghost myself.

“Atom is that you, or is this another ghost trick.”

“All loot dropped from my kills is mine.”

“Good enough for me, you filthy human heathen. Get your ass over here you’ve been in there for hours. You must have been trapped for days down there.” Captain Gor said.

“Wait, time moves differently in dungeons,” I said.

“I will write a report on this failure in communication. You aren’t required to donate your earnings to the Goblin nation since the initial scouting party died, and you were left alone with no back up. Don’t go wandering off. I need a report on the state of the second and third floor from you.” Gor said.

At first, I didn’t know why they were being so considerate of me until I realized they could all clearly see my level.

STR 250

Perk Evolved

Unknowable Muscle (D): +20 increase to strength multiplier.

I was officially a quarter of the way to getting rid of my cursed gear. My two empty professions could be used to make a gym and magnetize the weights. This way, I could greatly increase my gains even faster. Once I returned to my workshop, I would make the xp potion and reach tier 2 in Alchemy. From what I learned, that would increase my INT gain from 1 to 3 per level. My MP would go up even further, making it easier to crank out more potions.

It was funny I had thousands of stars and hundreds of thousands of copper pennies but nothing to spend it on.

Gor led me to a command tent well behind enemy lines guarded by two tough-looking hobgoblins. The tent flat opened and revealed a spartan, if comfortable, room with a desk in the middle and a cot behind a curtain.

“I would offer you a seat, but I suspect you’re too heavy for it. Why did you decide to put on more cursed armor?” Gor asked.

What was he, my father? I kept my words to myself and tried to be somewhat respectful.

“The only way out is through,” I said.

Gor nodded like that made all the sense in the world. The stern-looking Hobgoblin had chilled out since we last met.

“Do you know why you aren’t being reprimanded for taking loot?”

“Because I would annihilate you all with lightning if you tried,” I said.

Gor paused as he sat behind his desk. He tried to appear cool, but I could see the sweat gathering on his bald head.

“You survived a dangerous event, and the dungeon is shutting down. That means this situation has nothing to do with you. It most likely killed off the mage team because it needed the extra energy to construct its next floor. The only reason I can choose to believe that is because no one saw you kill any of my men.” The Hobgoblin stilled, and the air felt sharp. “Don’t believe for a second you’re a match for me at level 65,” Gor said.

Purple lightning gathered between my fingers, eager to take on the form of dragons again. A smile spread across my face before I forced myself to calm down. I had something far more important to see waiting at home. While the battle was great, I had a question burning in my gut to ask Mos.

“Are you done?” I asked.

Gor nodded like I passed some test. “We can always make more gobs, but if a member from the republic comes back strong, it's something to celebrate. Keep up the good work, and put some gobs in Frog already.”

“Cursed gear,” I said.

The Hobgoblin waved his hand. “Back to business. What was the second floor like? Describe the situation. I won’t judge if some mages needed to get crushed. Those little shits were getting too big for their britches. Some don’t even know how to march disgracefully.”

“We were unprepared and paid for it. The catacombs were trapped. White fox lines the tunnels, spraying hallucinating pollen, making mages easy prey for the ghosts. It wasn’t long after we arrived that the squad scattered, and the ghosts picked us off. I saw my sister, who knows what anyone else saw. My armor bought me time to figure out what was going on. After that, I used my time to gain experience and learn more about the floor and its drops.”

I left out Demon Hearts and most of my gains in case he demanded the loot. My experiments with ghost cores were also left out.

Gor steepled his fingers in thought.

“You made commendable contributions to the war effort and didn’t kill any good gobs. I would say you saved lives we would have thrown more mages to the ghosts before we figured it out. The dungeon most likely won’t open for a month while it builds its E-rank floor. Thinking about a dungeon with a fifth floor makes me nervous. That’s when dungeons begin to build a theme. I can only imagine how this dungeon will change.” Gor said.

“Then I will return home. I’ve had enough exploring for one day.”

“Happy marching,” Gor said.

…

Moving in my ridiculously heavy training gear was a nightmare. I would smell like a latrine if not for the self-cleaning functions. That was one of the few benefits of the armor. Walking 40 miles had become supremely difficult, and only my thoughts of seeing Mos kept me going.

I made plans for new potions and picked a few ingredients along the way. My lewd thoughts might infect the ingredients I chose. A mushroom called demon’s tongue, a long purple fungus, had many beneficial properties. Ingredients unusable in potions or unknown by the goblins were left to grow and found their way into my inventory.

Every few miles, I saw a hint of something just off the path and left to pick it up.

LUK 30

That was something new. Luck was somewhat based on fortunate encounters, and finding a bunch of ingredients valuable to me triggered it. Each choice to go off the road seemed to have a chance to raise my luck by a little more. Plants that would have discouraged me before stood out to my enhanced eyesight from Tactile Telekinesis. It wasn’t long before I had several stacks of various local plants. They were far enough away from the city to go unharvested.

A plan had formed in my mind after thinking long and hard about my predicament. There was no way I could get off with a second layer of training gear; only my face was exposed. I’ve heard of numerous ways a man can love women. What I had planned was a little unorthodox, but alchemy would find a way. I had a month to get the job done.

Something blocked out the son, and I looked up to see a short skirt-wearing woman flying on a broomstick. The woman spotted me and descended with a wide smile on her face.

“Wow, you look like a meatball. Are the goblins fattening you up for dinner?” The woman said.

My face was covered in sweat, the air was heaving in and out of my lungs, and I itched in places with no viable way to scratch. The sun was harsh, making an already hot walk even more miserable. Only the thought of Mos had given me the momentum to push myself home.

I stared at her exposed breasts with tattoos, saying my eyes were up here. When I looked up, she had a wand out, and shadows formed into crows.

“Just because I’m not wearing a shirt doesn’t mean you get to stare fatty.”

I sucked in a labored breath and let it out. “You don’t want to do this. I was going to finally have sex when I got back home.”

The witch cackled. “Good, you’ll die a virgin with no more ugly genes to sully the world.” I stared at her with the system.

Gloria lvl50

Class: Witch lvl50

Description: A possible companion to anyone who wishes to join the noble factions in the kingdom. A dominatrix to some and a cheerful submissive to others. This firecracker is always down to party. She likes to start fights with warrior types when they see her breasts.

“Not impressed,” My lightning gathered between my fingers.

“Wow, you are such a novice that control is pathetic.”

The crows shot forward, and I moved slowly but with certainty. My gloved hand knocked them out of the way as I approached. Black ink splashed against my cursed training gear, but the ink failed to do anything to it. My steps were slow and methodical. I still had miles to cover before I saw the goblin penis tower. More crows appeared, but they couldn’t do any damage to my armor.

“What are those clothes made of? By their runes, they must be enchanted, but with what?”

She flew up when I started closing in. She remained just out of my reach I jumped but could only manage a few feet off the ground. The smug look on her face nearly made me spit. Somehow, she kept out of reach, and my Heavenly Tribulation couldn’t form an animal analog without a spell. I was still 35 levels away from 100; I needed to close the distance if I could manage it. Lighting continued to spark around my body.

For hours, she laughed as I struggled and wasted potions to keep up my stamina. The joke on her, my stats were slowly rising even if I could never get in range. I needed a way to close distances quickly.

Battery Cell lvl1/9 Tier 1

Description: Store electrical energy in the body to be converted to stamina.

Suddenly, my body felt thirsty, for lack of a better word. I was already thirsty from my march and then what felt like hours of fighting, but I felt sincerely thirsty. This wasn’t the first time I had a skill effect on my body, but I knew this one had changed things. I hesitantly used my lightning and felt my body lick it up. When that happened, the energy felt immediately lost, and I was hit with a feeling of refreshment.

A mad cackle escaped my lips I couldn’t help it. The synergy was perfect. I smirked at the witch, who didn’t look too pleased.

“Have you finally lost it, fatty?” The witch asked.

“You’ve outlived your usefulness. I don’t think I’ll get a flying skill out of you. But thanks anyway.”

I shot forward like a wrecking ball while blasting myself with lightning. The energy drain was crazy, but I had lots of mana. She floated up, and I jumped with far more air than before. My hand wrapped around her ankle, and she came off her broom. Crows burst into ink as they slammed into my back, but neither was effective. I tossed her broom in my inventory and tossed her under my shoulder like a piece of firewood. Her wand snapped when I yanked it out of her hand.

“You mage types are always so cocky until I get my hands on you,” I said.

She beat against my back and then slowly stopped.

“You’re not a fatty at all this is a suit.”

“Cursed training gear,” I said.

“Fuck, no wonder my curses failed; there was already a curse in place. What’s the curse being fat?”

“Can’t remove it,” I said.

“How do you not smell like a latrine?”

“Self-cleaning,” I said.

“I’m not dead, and you can’t rape me; it seems we’re at an impasse.”

“I thought about taking you to my wife and let her find something completely embarrassing for you to do as a punishment.”

“Good, you can speak in more than five sentences. I thought you had more than one curse going on. Since we aren’t fighting to the death and this was more a playfight will you give me back my broom after. I would offer to suck you off, but you know. You could watch me masturbate. Lots of squires try to do that until I curse them into girls. Don’t look at me like that; it's only for an hour. I can’t make it permanent yet.” The witch said.

Mos could handle her, but I was going to toss her into a pig-filled mud pit on my way. With my increased stamina, I had a real shot of getting to the 1000 mark sooner rather than later. I just had to work out continuously and take lots of health potions. It would hurt, but I could keep going.