Author’s Corner: Hi guys. Thanks for reading. Enjoy the chapter. That is all.

After taking a little bit of time to recover, I went ahead and spent all of my stat points from my level-ups in the dungeon, and took a look at my new status. At the very least, I felt somewhat secure in my ability now.

NameJohn HulettRaceWood ElfTitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame25,000Level 11013%ClassDruidAdvanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthanHealth940/940Health Regen0Mana3000/3000Mana Regen20.6Strength30Wisdom200Agility40Intelligence300Dexterity40Charisma35Vitality94Luck25Points Remaining0Earth 31%Fire 28%Wind 27%Water 28%Lightning 25%Light 25%Dark 28%Plant 25%Void 25%Metal 25%Magnetism 25%Plasma 25%Gravity 25%Time 9%

Now, my health had nearly doubled, and I could feel as if my body had become lighter as well. Although I doubted that I would be able to keep up with the demon that wiped us out, it should be enough for normal enemies. With that taken care of, I could move on to other matters, namely giving Celeste’s new body a soul.

“Hey, John.” Celeste called out to me shortly after I went looking. When I found the wandering robot, her appearance looked much the same as my parents had when I first found them on Gerin. Tall, sleek, and bland… channeling my buffer, which I now had in abundance, I poured some of my soul into her. Then, after infusing it throughout her body, she began changing into a Deus Ex.

Apparently, she hadn’t been expecting the sudden procedure, and was caught a bit off-guard by it. However, soon her body began shifting. Unlike my parents, who gained completely new looks when they changed races, Celeste seemed to have customized her new look to perfectly match what she had before. She even bought the same flight and weapon upgrades. Well, she wasn’t able to get everything, since the experience I gave her wouldn’t bring her up that high.

“Thanks, John.” She said with a small grin, now back in the same appearance that she was in before. “I’ll need to spend a couple days to integrate all of my skills again, then I’ve got something to show you. If you need me before then, you know where to find me.” She tapped her own head with a smile, before turning and skipping off down the hall. Of course, now I was curious what it was she wanted to show me…

Anyways, while I was waiting for my new clone body to be prepared, I read over the reports that had piled up. While I was out, it seemed that Celeste continued to have the crew challenge the dungeons. In the time I was unconscious, the average level of the crew had risen by five, which was a pretty decent increase. One dungeon had even been fully mapped out, thanks to Nathan’s team successfully completing the goblin dungeon.

From their report, the goblin dungeon had a much more gradual increase in difficulty than the demon one. On the other hand, the abilities inside did not vary as much. Though, they might not have been able to conquer the dungeon if there was not a rebellion on the final floor, where the minotaurs were attacking the dungeon boss.

Next, and something I had been looking forward to hearing about, was Yang. Given that it’s been two weeks since we killed the boss monster near my lab, she has had plenty of time to disassemble it and craft a full set of armor. Sharon even brought out a team of enchanters from her grove in order to add the finishing touches. Below is a full list of the armor set, provided by Sharon after she identified the finished pieces.

Hooded Cape of the Frozen Scourge

This cape was crafted from a low-level world boss, and retains some of the properties associated with that monster. It was further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

Defensive value: 30

Cold resistance: 40

Vitality: +15

Health Regen rate: +0.5

Fire resistance: 20

Piercing resistance: 30

Special skill: Frozen cloud

Hide Armor of the Frozen Scourge

This armor was crafted from a low-level world boss, and retains some of the properties associated with that monster. It was further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

Defensive value: 50

Cold resistance: 60

Vitality: +30

Health Regen rate: +1

Adaptive shape

Special skill: Second wind

Set skill: Scourge Form

Bracers of the Frozen Scourge

These bracers were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

Defensive value: 20

Cold Resistance: 15

Vitality: +10

Adaptive shape

Special skill: Ice Shield(enhanced)

Gloves of the Frozen Scourge

These gloves were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

Defensive value: 15

Cold Resistance: 10

Vitality: +10

Adaptive shape

Special skill: Ice Swords(enhanced)

Armored Pants of the Frozen Scourge

These pants were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

Defensive value: 30

Cold Resistance: 20

Vitality: +20

Health Regen: +0.75

Adaptive shape

Slashing Resistance: 15

Piercing Resistance: 20

Fire Resistance: 10

Boots of the Frozen Scourge

These boots were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter.

Defensive value: 20

Cold Resistance: 20

Vitality: +10

Adaptive shape

Special skill: Ice Walk(enhanced)

Fang of the Frozen Scourge

This fang was taken from the body of a low-level world boss, and fashioned into a deadly spear. The entire weapon is a single piece, and retains the freezing properties of the monster it was taken from.

Piercing value: 50

Cold value: 60

Special skill: Frozen Breath

Special skill: Ice Domain

Special skill: Poisonous Cold

This was the set of armor that she submitted to complete her quest with her patron. And as her reward… She actually spent it on me. Rather than getting herself something to increase her abilities, she exchanged the favor for an item that would more rapidly increase my cultivation speed. Perhaps she realized that I wouldn’t be able to accept the new armor set, so she wanted to give me something special instead.

Archdruid’s Elemental Ring

Bestowed by the Goddess of Evolved Beasts, this ring was prepared as a gift for someone precious. By equipping this ring, mana of all types that the user absorbs will be drawn into the ring, condensed, and then fed through the user’s body.

Special effect: Removes passive cultivation cap

Needless to say, I was surprised when I looked at the information that came with the ring. Yin had given it to me on Yang’s behalf, because the demi was still busy working on the rest of the materials from the Frozen Scourge. Aside from the main set, there were ten other identical sets of armor that had been crafted, as well as nearly a hundred spears planned. Additionally, there had been twenty-four swords made from its claws that had similar, albeit weaker effects.

I could safely say that our security team would not be under-equipped for the foreseeable future. If anything, we had a lot of extra gear. Of course, I was wearing the ring that Yang had exchanged her favor for. Why wouldn’t I, when she went through all the effort to get it for me?

I decided to let her continue her work without interruption for now, and thank her when she was done. Out of all the items I had received, this one is very likely the most helpful to me. With it, wouldn’t it be possible to cultivate all the way to 100% affinity if I just waited long enough?

After taking care of the reports, I went down to the lab again, and got ready for my mad scientist experiments. We had a lot more information about monster spawns now, so I should finally be able to start making my time monster. But first, I needed to make some things to help.

I expanded the basement of my lab so that I would have all of the room I needed to work, and could take care of any monsters that seemed to want to run wild before too much damage was caused. Next, I set up eight spell formation circles. Each one would be set to gather a specific amount of elemental mana, in order for me to accurately measure my results. The types of mana drawn in to these circles were the seven primary elements, as well as time mana. I wanted to try to keep any other type of mana out of the equation for now.

Next, a larger spell formation that fully encompassed the other eight, with spiral patterns to draw the mana gathered to a single point. This would be what I ultimately use to create the monster, after I have the mana ready. Although I could do the work myself, this way should be more accurate.

In order to test it, I set the configuration in the circles to draw in the amount of mana needed to summon an ettin. Since I had plenty of experience doing this, it should prove as an accurate example.

Once all of the settings were complete, I activated the smaller spell formations to begin drawing in the mana. Then, once the runes around the edges began glowing brightly, I used a much larger amount of my own mana to activate the bigger formation. Sure enough, the energy contained within the various circles slowly worked its way through the diagram and joined together in the center.

I felt the familiar pull of mana in the area, as a monster began forming. Perhaps because of the way the formation was set up, the monster spawning process was not interfered with by the anti-spawn barrier. I’d have to look into why that was the case later, as it showed a weakness with the method. However, soon a large figure emerged within the center of the spell formation. As expected, it was the familiar two-headed form of an ettin.

A small smile formed on my lips as I sent a wind blade out to behead the creature. With this, I could begin my work to create a custom monster. Hopefully…. We’ll see. Either way, at least things will get interesting from here! Worst case scenario, I make something that eats me. It can’t get much worse than that, right?