Chapter 20
Ascendant
I sat back on the beach thinking of what had happened, somehow I had created a buff for anyone who managed to land on the island. The problem was that players were not supposed to create a buff, at least no one like I had created. It opened the way to cheating in the game and the developers had made sure that it was not something a player should be able to do.
Yet some how I had done it, and it troubled me on several levels, first I did not want to attract attention to myself and having this kind of power would attract attention. Second it went against the game programming, the fact was that by creating that kind of buff I was rewriting game programming and that should have been impossible.
The third thing that bothered me was being an Ascendant, that kind of power was to much for a player to have, I knew that I did not really want to become a God. My goals were simple to get back to my wife and just enjoy the game. If it was a game anymore, I was having doubts. First traveling to other realms, it might have been part of the original coding, but I now doubted that.
If it was part of the coding, then why had I retained a bit of power and ability back when I was in the real world. The fact that Sebastian had been sent to earth to retrieve art and artifacts during WW2 should have been impossible. It all might have been part of the story line but after reading the homeland security scientist’s notes I did not think so.
The other thing that was bothering me was that after looking at my stats and character sheets again I noticed that the Ascendant level one skill tree was now active. I suspected that Nyx has done more that kiss me, she had somehow turned on the Ascendant skill tree which now was enabling me to access skills and abilities that I had no clue I had. What a mess.
As my thoughts drifted I began to think of what I had to do, it was clear that while I was in this realm I would have to complete the thief training and this spying quest for the King. I also had some other loose ends to tie up, reaching into my bag I dragged out the lot I had received from the Siren.
The art of singing
Or how to not have tomatoes thrown at you
Opening the book, I could see the pages were written in the language of the Sirens. As I slowly read the pages I could feel the magic leaving the book and imprinting itself upon me. After several minutes I realized the book was done and a window had opened itself on my interface. As I read the message I smiled, it stated,
Congratulations, you have received the gift of the Sirens
Your singing and musical ability is now greater than any bard
You now have the ability to sing any song that you have heard and the magic to have music accompany your singing
You have gained the ability to cast Sonic Shard this is a high frequency attack that bypasses armor to do soft tissue damage.
You have gained the ability to cast Sonic Blast an area of effect attack that causes a dazed and confused debuff on all enemies within its range for one minute, all damage done during this time is multiplied times two.
I sat back, these abilities were almost a class by itself, I quickly opened up the stats notes and added it to the list.
Elf
This race loves both the sea and the forests
Long-lived they are the masters of life magic
They favor the healing and magic class
Both hunters and melee warriors do arise
The Elf’s favor the night and worship the moon goddess
Racial ability quickness, for 5 seconds elves can move at twice normal speed
Strength - starting level one = 50 your strength starting level one =250
Agility – starting level one = 55 your agility starting level one =270
Intellect – starting level one = 55 your intellect starting level one = 55
Health – starting level one = 50 your heath starting level one = 200
Speed – starting level one = 50 your speed starting level one =200
Updated Stats at level 4
Strength = 280
Agility = 280
Intellect = 85
Mana = 5000
Health = 320
Speed = 280
New ability learned
You have mastered the ability of metamorphic change
You can now shift your body from human to demon
Be warned the transformation will allow others to see you as a Demon
Dragon Eyes
the ability to see as a dragon sees
Dragon shadows
the ability to wrap yourself into the Shadows and disappear from view
Dragon Fire
The ability to cast the Fire of Dragons
Skillset
Lock picking, the basics
Lock picking advanced
Lock picking master level
Pickpocketing, your guide to personal riches through the efforts of others
Climbing walls and hanging around, the right time and approach to let yourself in
Restraints, they are not for the free
What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine, confidence benefits a con man
Some gave all and all gave some, how to read a mark
You have discovered a hidden class
Thief
This class allows you to develop a subclass to display to the public, all classes are available
If you are found out you will incur one hundred percent reputation loss with all City NPC guards and King and will be imprisoned by the state
Class bonus
The ability to know when others speak of you if they are in the shadows
Nanobot integration into game avatar
Defensive capability, self-healing
Offensive capability, electrical discharge from hands
Strength increase four times normal human
PIM integration into Gaming Interface
Stealth detection enabled
Upgraded map functions
Ability to make calls to the Real World
Ability to access GNet from within the game
Ability to leave and enter the game
Avatar integration into gaming matrix
You are not recognized as a player and the gaming AI has no control over you
You have found a Companion
The Demon Sebastian
An NPC that will follow your leadership
You have accepted a holy entity into your party
The faction changes have been recorded
Komhether is now aligned with the Demonic Prince Torn
You have gained another companion
Komhether
New ability to persuade the followers of the Gods to see the truth and join you
New ability learned
You have mastered the ability of metamorphic change
You can now shift your body from human to demon
Be warned the transformation will allow others to see you as a Demon
Pet companion
You have gained a pet
Crusty the crab has been added to your pets
You have the ability to summon and dismiss your pet from wherever you are
Congratulations, you have received the gift of the Sirens
Your singing and musical ability is now greater than any bard
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
You now have the ability to sing any song that you have heard and the magic to have music accompany your singing
You have gained the ability to cast Sonic Shard this is a high frequency attack that bypasses armor to do soft tissue damage.
You have gained the ability to cast Sonic Blast an area of effect attack that causes a dazed and confused debuff on all enemies within its range for one minute, all damage done during this time is multiplied times two.
It all seemed to be normal until I checked the interface character and stat list and noticed a sub menu titled, Ascendant class all class abilities and skills set to level one. As I read the description I groaned out loud then added the information to my notes.
After I added the latest information to my notes and then compared the notes to my character stats I noted that my mana was now at 5000. I went back and changed that on the notes I had made and then let a smoke. I also took the time to add my pet Crusty the Crab to the character notes I was making and also highlighted the buffs Gaiatoci and Ama had given me and was not surprised to see that they were now active. I read the description and thought about the implications.
Gaiatoci’s Buff
You were buffed by the Earth mother in her dying moment and have received the ability to draw life and mana from each other as all life is mana and mana is life in all the realms.
Sitting on the beach hearing the waterfall was relaxing and it allowed my mind to think about where I was with my abilities and skills. At level 4 I had an excess of abilities that were OP, but I was dealing with issues normal players did not deal with. This whole cross realm God thing was a big pain in the arse. I would have to somehow learn all I could and then hope my leveling would catch up to the abilities I had and help me to be a power player.
As I sat there and dug my fingers through the sand thinking of mana and life, I thought all beings even the Gods I had met seemed to have a finite amount of mana, with the exception being Gaiatoci. She had limitless amounts of mana and I suspected her buff had to do with both life and mana. Life it was everywhere and I could see the mana flowing throughout all living things if I looked through my Dragon vision.
Staring at my notes I noted that they were a mess and I wanted something I could pull up that would be easy to read and understand so I began to compile the character list of stats and abilities into something more useful while thinking about the buffs I had.
Elf
This race loves both the sea and the forests
Long-lived they are the masters of life magic
They favor the healing and magic class
Both hunters and melee warriors do arise
The Elf’s favor the night and worship the moon goddess
Racial ability quickness, for 5 seconds elves can move at twice normal speed
Updated Stats at level 4
Strength = 280
Agility = 280
Intellect = 85
Mana = 5000
Health = 320
Speed = 280
Buffs
Ama’s buff of the succubae
Radiates sexuality
Gaiatoci’s buff of life and mana
Capable of receiving both life and mana as they are the same
Abilities
Dragon eyes the ability to see as a Dragon sees
Dragon Fire the ability to cast the fire of a Dragon
Dragon Shadows the ability to wrap yourself in the shadows
Sonic shard the high frequency attack that bypasses armor to do soft tissue damage.
Sonic Blast an area of effect attack that causes a dazed and confused debuff on all enemies within its range for one minute, all damage done during this time is multiplied times two.
Icy water bolt
The ability to cast an icy water bolt that freezes on contact
Electrical discharge
The ability to discharge electrical currents from your hands
You have mastered the ability of metamorphic change
Stealth detection enabled
Metamorphic change
You can now shift your body from human to demon
Skillset
Lock picking, the basics active skill set
Lock picking advanced
Lock picking master level
Companions
The Demon Sebastian
The holy Messenger Komhether
Pet companions
Crusty the Crab
Nanobot integration into game avatar
Defensive capability, self-healing
Offensive capability, electrical discharge from hands
Strength increase four times normal human
PIM integration into Gaming Interface
Stealth detection enabled
Upgraded map functions
Ability to make calls to the Real World
Ability to access GNet from within the game
Ability to leave and enter the game
Avatar integration into gaming matrix
You are not recognized as a player and the gaming AI has no control over you
Class
Ascendant class
You have gained the essences of three higher powers and have been transformed in a Higher Being.
You are now a Demigod and can continue the path of ascendency by gaining the essences of higher powers.
Thief class
You have discovered the hidden class of thief and have been accepting into the dark brotherhood.
You have an open subclass as part of the thief class.
I had covered the information I wanted to have handy and I updated the PIM with it.
My mind was still thinking about life and mana and how the two are the same. The smallest form of life I knew of was the microbe, which exists from the deep biosphere to the atmosphere, and in fact it exists in every other living organism. I could think of nothing else alive that was everywhere in all the world.
Focusing my Dragon eyes on the mana I saw everywhere I began to look at it closer and closer, clearly it was part of all the living things I could see but now that I focused I could see that it went deeper and smaller into individual strands that went smaller and smaller separating into more strands.
It had to be it, the source of both life and mana, I pulled back my vision and thought about it. These realms were an artificial creation but they were based on the real world. All magical beings could tap into this mana but were limited by the amount they could contain, even with my new mana pool at 5000 I knew that there was so much more available, the question was how to access it.
Considering that this world was really a computer program and I had hacked into it I decided to try to do some off the cuff hacking within the game, call it a magic mana spell and see if the game would allow me to create my own spell. I had managed to do a permanent buff and this was really the same principle.
Opening up my PIM I began to do some rough coding, and once it was done I gave the tiniest mana strands a value. Then I had them all join together within a 20-meter range and flow from all around with me as the target. Finally, I created an access port within myself to receive and set up a one-way valve of sorts to allow me to control the flow. Finally, I named the spell Manaflow and added it to my interface.
It really was a macro of sorts made to do several things one after another. Hoping it would work I activated the spell and observed myself for changes. I instantly could feel the power of the flow flooding me, and I turned down the valve. At one percent I felt a steady top up and I realized that I had succeeded. It seemed to achieve a balance between the man I was dispelling due to active buffs I had on.
I felt great the mana was life and I noted in this rawest form it actually was also boosting my health, it was regenerated at a small but constant level. Success comes with a price and I suddenly realized I was tired. Standing up I made my way to the cabin and crawled into bed, tomorrow I planned on trying out a couple of other macro spells to see how much I could do. But tonight sleep called.
