[Magic Missile] dealt 21 damage! [Magic Missile] activating! [Magic Missile] dealt 30 damage! Enemy defeated! Experience rewarded!

Current W Inertia: 37751

Max W Inertia: 38359

P-System Log

Got some of it back! 44 from that one animal, if my math is right.

Looks like more evidence for the hypothesis that max W Inertia only increases when I get overflow.

Alright, how much XP do I give Jerome? One thing I've noticed at this point is that levels are disproportionately easy to get. At my last go, it took damn near a thousand W Inertia to level up a single stat, but it would only take 90 W Inertia--two or three of these bees could provide enough to get him to level three. Although I have no fuckin idea what leveling actually does, it goes wayyyyy faster than a bunch of the other stats. It makes me wonder. Why aren't other people leveling up constantly, if the W Inertia their Systems presumably get are this plentiful?

Maybe they're like me, conserving the majority of their W Inertia in order to complete other functions. Also, the XP requirement went from 300 to 900 between level 1 and 2, so I guess it gets progressively harder to gain levels.

Well, I did tell him I was going to give him more XP. I've barely been giving him so far, I'm pretty sure. Last time I did it, it was solely to level him up from level 1 to 2. This time... maybe I'll give him half the W Inertia's worth in XP. I can spend another quarter on his skills, I guess. It makes sense for them to get stronger as he uses them more, and I'm the one deciding how they progress, so I'm just gonna go with what makes sense. He used [Magic Missile] to kill this thing, so that's where the skill points will go.

22 for general XP, 11 for [Magic Missile], 11 for myself. That should work.

Skill leveled up! [Magic Missile] lv. 3 -> lv. 4 Damage increased by 2R4. Mana cost increased by 20%. Hero's Personal Log 051

Oh, shit! Let's go, hella pog!

Thanks, System! Guess you finally figured out how to level up skills after I kill shit with them. Took ya long enough.

P-System Log [oh fuck off, Jerome]

Every time I want to start appreciating Jerome more, man... it'd be so much easier if I was attached to Aster. She's so much less of a dickhole.

Whatever. They're moving again.

Hero's Personal Log 052

Okay, so I've noticed that [Magic Missile] is, like, way better than [Blazing Spear]. It costs less and usually does similar damage, right?

Maybe [Uncommon]-rarity skills aren't necessarily a straight upgrade to [Common] ones. Actually, yeah, that makes sense. [Blazing Spear] does AoE after it gets cast and also gains more damage per level than [Magic Missile], so it might be worth it eventually. Aster used [Inferno Spear] earlier. I wonder if [Blazing Spear] will evolve into that if I level it enough? It sure seemed to do a lot more damage, so I have that to look forward to.

Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: I leveled up [Magic Missile]. It's level 4 now.

[Aster K'lon]: Congratulations. That is perhaps the most powerful direct-damage [Common] skill available.

[Jerome Smith]: Yeah, it's even more powerful than my [Uncommon] skill right now.

[Aster K'lon]: However, it also has little room for growth. The [Missile] line sees significantly diminishing returns in damage versus mana cost after it is high enough level to upgrade to [Uncommon].

[Jerome Smith]: Huh, so that's also a factor when it comes to skills?

[Aster K'lon]: Indeed. You have much to learn yet, reincarnator.

[Jerome Smith]: Interesting. You'll teach me?

[Aster K'lon]: The best teachers are those trying to kill you. I will assist you with crucial information should your current situation require it.

[Jerome Smith]: That seems a little unfair, but okay.

[Aster K'lon]: Here, one piece of advice for free. We have arrived at the dungeon.

[Jerome Smith]: We have? I don't see anything.

P-System Log C'mon, Jerome, I get that you were probably dropped as a baby, but surely you'll learn to think critically at some point, right? Look around you, man! Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: Oh, wait. That hole in the ground. The one covered by sticks and leaves and that kinda stuff. Is that it?

[Aster K'lon]: Congratulations, you have at least a seven year old's ability to recognize patterns. Indeed it is.

P-System Log Aster is fucking great. [Assess] activating! Integrated identified: Dungeon [Wilderness Core lv. 2] Nameless P-System Log

Y'know, for someone who was really worried about his mana expenditure last night, he's being awfully cavalier with using up mana.

Then again, this is coming from a not-quite-person who didn't want to spend a single point of W Inertia more then necessary and then ended up spending like 800, so...

I guess that makes us even on this point in the crucially important one-sided beef I have with Jerome.

Anyway. Looks like they're heading into the dungeon now. The hole is wide enough to drop an entire sedan through lengthwise, and it's shallow enough for that sedan to still be drivable afterwards. It's not an insignificant fall, though, so I wonder how--

Oh. Right. I'm an idiot. Aster just jumped down, and Jerome followed her.

Collision with floor dealt 1 damage to you! P-System Log

And they're totally physically unharmed. How could I forget? This world runs on bullshit logic and bullshit rules and all of that is mine to wield. Heh.

Welp. Looks like this is the "safe room", so to speak. My perception dome just expanded like crazy now that they fell, revealing a bunch of shit underground that I didn't notice earlier--well, I couldn't notice it earlier because of how the dungeon perception filters work, but I wasn't actively trying to perceive underground anyway.

Looks like the setup of this one is a little more complex than the last--and by a little, I really do mean a little. There's two paths that fork off from the safe room and they each travel through very slightly different dungeon rooms, but both paths lead to the same final room. What incredible design.

Then again, I suppose there's a reason why this dungeon is only level 2, and I would imagine that it's not its exceptional ability to confuse and kill people.

Ah well. I'm not going to activate an [Objective] for this one. If I start doing them for literally everything, there's decent odds that Jerome starts ignoring them.

Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: There are two paths.

[Aster K'lon]: Correct.

[Jerome Smith]: So you're not going to tell me which to go down?

[Aster K'lon]: Reincarnator, I have trained many years and yet still have only a [Uncommon] class. You have a [Legendary] class. If anything, you should be the one guiding me.

[Jerome Smith]: But you have the experience.

[Aster K'lon]: And you must gain it. Lead the way.

Hero's Personal Log 053

Ugh. I hate to admit it, but Aster's right.

Fuck. I don't know if there's a difference between the two paths.

Hey, wait. I know what I can do.

Hey Siri! Flip a coin!

...I'm making jokes about another world to an inanimate object. Fuck me, I'm losing it.

System, can you pick a random number between 1 and 2?

P-System Message 2. P-System Log I have a random function, I know that, but I'm not pulling that out for Jerome. At least he recognizes that he's being dumb, kinda. Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: We're taking the left path.

[Aster K'lon]: Are you sure?

[Jerome Smith]: Is it worse?

[Aster K'lon]: You find out.

[Jerome Smith]: Okay, let's take the right then.

[Aster K'lon]: Are you sure?

[Jerome Smith]: Fucking--okay, we're going left. That's final.

[Aster K'lon]: Are you sure?

P-System Log

I would laugh if I had lungs.

Jerome is leading the way, sure enough. The doors here aren't built out of the same material that the Maplecrest dungeon had. These ones are like, wood-fired dirt brick or something. I don't know enough about building structure to be suitably impressed by it, but it's neat to perceive, at least.

Jerome: WHAT THE SHIT?

Oh, that was out loud. Aster is behind him, and--is she giggling?

Hey, I appreciate humor at the expense of Jerome as much as any other, but, uh, maybe help him start attacking? He looks terrified.

For decently good reason, too.

Oh man. Jerome's activating a bunch of mana at once. A number of spells, all at once.

I'm gonna try something. Can I bundle them together? Make those activations into one thing?

I think I can. Something deep inside me--maybe my gut, maybe [W%M;G,P]--is telling me that it's doable.

Burning W Inertia and trying bullshit has worked so far, so I'm gonna try that.

[Assess]es became [Mass Assess]! New skill unlocked: [Mass Assess] You may identify multiple objects and enemies around you at once. [Mass Assess] activating!