Hero's Personal Log 018

Oh shit, my mana capacity increased. By 37 whole points! Hmmm... I assume Constitution affects my HP, then? Unsure what Insight and Strength do, though the latter should be pretty obvious.

That makes me think... what build do I want to run? So far, it looks like I'm running a pure magic build, like a wizard or sorcerer class in DnD. I mean, it looks like classes work differently in this world, what with me getting the class [Godkiller] without ever requesting for it or interacting with the class interface. On the other hand, the Axel guy I first met had the [Common] class [Apprentice Mage] and his "Master"--this cute woman here--is a [Mage]. Does that mean that people can manipulate their own classes?

Come to think of it, [Godkiller] doesn't really say anything about what my class actually does. That means I should have more liberty to decide where I go, right?

P-System Message

Warning: Dungeon Core is still active.

Advise increase of stats and completion of dungeon before initiating introspection.

P-System Log

C'mon, Jerome, thinking too hard about things is my job!

Also, Jerome logs slower than I do, and it's a lot more awkward because I can actually perceive him just... standing there. He's not the best at multitasking.

I wonder if I can fix that.

Okay, that's besides the point. The point is that we've had enough thinking about stats now to fill up an encyclopedia and Jerome is still in the first room.

Thankfully, he seems to listen to the System. Maybe he's read enough fictions where the System running things is all-knowing and all-powerful and is still letting that belief seep into his actions. I mean, I'm pretty sure he's realized by now that I'm kinda broken, but he still holds enough faith in my opinion to actually listen to me. That's nice, at least, though it probably stems from him not knowing that I'm just a very lost human stuck inside a System.

At any rate, I hope we can finish the rest of this dungeon quickly.

Hero's Personal Log 019 Boost my Strength, please. I always wanted to be a cool buff guy, but I just never kept up with workouts before I got here. P-System Log

Alright, that's definitely doable. I hope.

Last time, it cost 60 W Inertia. That hurts to lose, but I can't exactly renege on my promise here. I'll look really, really fucking stupid if I do.

So... 60 W Inertia invested.

Aaaaaaand. Nothing.

I would really much rather finish this quickly. I'm just going to keep on pouring in W Inertia until the stat increases. Can't have any compunctions about overuse right now. If Jerome learns to distrust me, then I am truly fucked when it comes to maintaining any form of control over our actions. I need to commit.

100 overall.

150.

200. I'm starting to think this might've been a terrible idea.

300.

400.

500. I've more than quintupled the amount of W Inertia I've spent up until this point. I have a lot more to go, but this is really not looking good for prospective future stat increases. I do not want to do this again.

600.

700.

I felt something change somewhere between 600 and 700. I believe that was the Strength stat increasing.

I just spent an order of magnitude more W Inertia in the matter of two seconds than I did in the entire time period between being reincarnated and now. It's kind of invigorating but I also feel really really bad about it. I promised myself I'd see it through, but I'm sort of regretting that now. Like I just watched my life savings go down the drain at a roulette table.

Whatever, the important part is that his Strength changed.

P-System Message

Strength and Magic stat have been increased.

Advise returning to [Objective] Clear the Maplecrest Dungeon.

Hero's Personal Log 020

Huh. I don't feel any different. Maybe it'll make a difference if I attack something physically.

Well, there's still three dire wolves left here. I can try once I whittle the numbers down to one.

P-System Log

Sure, you go do that, Jerome.

Hopefully he can recoup some of my losses. With that expenditure on Strength, I'm now 810 points of W Inertia in the hole. I thought the amount I spent to increase Magic, Health, skill XP, and Jerome's XP were already wasteful, but these core stats are expensive as fuck! Like seriously, what was that?

And this was with my own cheat skill helping me along, too... I can't imagine what it's going to be like once I don't have the easy mode offered by it. I don't think I'm going to be offering another stat increase for a long while.

Interestingly enough, it didn't change the modifier. Only the base stat. I don't see anything that could be providing his modifiers... maybe his class?

Overcharged [Magic Missile] activating! [Magic Missile] dealt 50 damage! [Magic Missile] activating! [Magic Missile] dealt 30 damage! Enemy defeated! Experience rewarded! Current W Inertia: 37584 P-System Log

Ah, I think he's experimenting. Assuming he's not dumb, he's found a general range for the HP of these monsters.

I have to say, [Magic Missile] is pretty pleasing to perceive even in my altered state despite the fact that it's only a [Common] spell. As far as I can tell, it's a bright golden beam that soars straight and true, and it just feels like magic distilled. It really makes this whole thing seem more real.

Anyway, looks like I regained a little bit of W Inertia. Nowhere near the amount I burnt for Strength, though.

Overcharged [Blazing Spear] cast! [Blazing Spear] dealt 45 damage! Enemy defeated! Experience rewarded! P-System Log

I've kind of noticed this already, but this last time confirms it. The overcharged spells feel a little different from the normal ones. I don't know how to quantify it exactly, but I think the complexity of the W Inertia wrapping I do to facilitate the spell is a little more complex when it's overcharged. Nothing too severe, thankfully, but interesting to note. Looks like [Blazing Spear] can't overcharge as much as [Magic Missile], either.

Also, I am definitely not putting more W Inertia into improving those spells until Jerome gets me a lot more W Inertia. I spent way too much on increasing Strength.

Oh, Jerome is trying to put some of that new increased stat into use, I think. He's just charging straight forward. Not gonna lie, even if he wasn't the most fit guy in his past life like he implied in the Personal Log, he seems pretty damn built right now. Maybe he got some muscle added during reincarnation?

Anyway, the distance between him and the last dire wolf is closing pretty quickly. Jerome is fast.

Hero's Personal Log 021 Trying out the increase in Strength. If anything goes wrong, I know the System has my back. P-System Log

...well, he sure trusts me. More than I trust myself, I think.

They're about to make contact. The last wolf was just sitting by the door, and now it's un-idling to face him.

Around it lie the bodies of its teammates, except... not really? They're fading away, the fur infused by a weird bluish light. To my senses, it registers as loose W Inertia fading away from its body and in the process, their bodies are disappearing. I don't think I noticed this earlier, but it's really obvious now. Is that a despawn mechanic? It's not facilitated by me. Not consciously, at the very least.

Ah! They engaged in a fight! Jerome missed a punch. Like, missed it really badly. He went for a huge swing and then his enemy was simply not there. I didn't detect the move, but the dire wolf isn't where it was a moment ago. Instead, it's charging at him, and suddenly I can feel the air shifting around them. Not mana, that's for sure, but it doesn't feel quite the same as my own W Inertia manipulation. I'm not totally sure what this is, but time is slowing down and the effect is surrounding them even more and--

Strength contest initiated! Strength contest won by [Godkiller] Jerome Smith! P-System Log --and Jerome's strike connects first. His swing is somehow more directed than it was before, like there's an invisible hand guiding him. Unarmed strike dealt 16 damage! P-System Log

Was that me facilitating that through the unconscious usage of [W%M;G,P]? Was it the Origin System? Is this just how this world works?

That hit connected solidly. The dire wolf got sent flying back with one punch, and it hit the door before it fell to the ground. It doesn't seemed harmed, though, which is probably its Health stat kicking in.

That System notification, the one about damage, that hasn't been me this whole time. This time, though, it didn't name a skill. I do wonder... is there a skill for [Unarmed Strike]? It sounds like something that should exist, but this was just a regular ol' hit.

Then again, most skills have seemed like spells so far. Maybe skills only count as skills if they require mana?

Jerome is going for another hit. Really wants to test that new Strength out, huh?

Strength contest initiated! Strength contest won by [Godkiller] Jerome Smith! Unarmed strike dealt 14 damage! P-System Log Less damage than before. This strike looked almost exactly the same as the last one, but it didn't do the same. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this is affected by a damage roll as well. Hero's Personal Log 022

Unarmed strike isn't a skill, but it still has a damage roll. Most likely theory: it factors in my Strength modifier, which is 10, which is why my damage is around there. I would assume that increasing the Strength stat itself has to do with the contest that was initiated when I tried to strike at it. That was weird, but I think it can be explained away by System weirdness. After all, the Continent works way differently to how Earth does.

Well, that was productive. I'm just going to kill this now. [Magic Missile] has been more consistently effective than [Blazing Spear] so far, which is weird since the latter is a rarer spell, but maybe that's because I need to level it up more.

[Blazing Spear] activated! [Blazing Spear] dealt 31 damage! Enemy defeated! Experience rewarded! P-System Log

Well, that's the first room cleared. I got back a decent bit of W Inertia from that, though I'm definitely not investing any of that for now.

Jerome is heading to the door now, with Aster just behind him. If the fuzzier perception of the space beyond my dome was accurate, there should be five rooms total in this dungeon, excluding the safe entrance. Having cleared one, we now have four more.

I can't sense what's behind the door in a similar way to how I couldn't sense what was inside this dungeon from outside, though it's to a lesser extent. It's like my dome just ends earlier and the next room over is fuzzy and indistinct rather than a full block like it was with the dungeon entrance.

Jerome: Can I just open the door?

Aster: Yes. Dungeon doors in a [Common] dungeon will almost always bend to the will of any who seek to enter.

Jerome: So there are higher level doors that won't?

Aster: Correct. None in this area, though you may encounter some as you journey towards the Eternal King's domain.

Jerome is opening the door.

The door is open, and my dome is extending into the next room now.

Uh oh.

P-System Log [this dungeon is not ok]

I'd thought I'd gotten a decent overview of the dungeon earlier, but I was dearly mistaken. From the fuzzy beyond-the-dome perception, I obtained a good understanding of what lay at the end and the structure of the rooms that we would be going through. As such, I'd been ready for the (exceedingly obvious) spike traps that were in this room. It's pretty simple. The floor in this room is more put together, less like an untamed cave and more like a manmade structure. Probably created by the Dungeon Core, which doesn't say great things about its intelligence. The trap is literally just that the floor has huge-ass tiles on them, and the raised tiles trigger spikes from the floor.

The "traps" are still online. But that's not what I'm worried about.

There are two people inside here, chanting something at the other side of the room. And their presence hurts.

I'm not the only one who noticed.

Aster: Prepare yourself for battle! These are not dungeon residents!

Jerome: Ready when you are. What are they?

She's not responding. At least, she isn't saying anything. But there's mana forming. I've learned to detect what the formation of magic looks like, and now...

[Greater Assess] cast! Abnormality detected! Approximating stats with known R information. P-System Log Wait, R information? Name: Try'stin Class: Cultist Race: Half-elf Level: 12 XP: Health: 51/51 Mana:

[Greater Assess] cannot approximate this information.

Skills Name: Bi'rohn Class: Berserker Race: Human Level: 11 XP: Health: 132/132 Mana: 20/20

[Greater Assess] cannot approximate this information.

Skills P-System Log THEY NEED TO BURN.