Chapter 76

ZONE 10

We were finally going to do it. It was time to place my last points and then check my final status. Even out my points a little and that should do it. Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Cosmic Entity)

Level: 3,035 - 33%

Unspent Attribute Points: 22

Str: 6,000

HP: 60,000 (X6) 360,000

Int: 6,050 +1000% MP

MP: 1,331,000 (X6) 7,986,000

Wis: 6,050

+1000% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 6,000

MP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.

Con: 6,000

+1000% HP/Regen

Luck: 6,000

Affinities: Earth - 300%

Water – 300%

Primal – 300%

Fire – 300%

Air – 300%

Resistances: Earth - 300%

Water - 300%

Primal – 300%

Fire – 300%

Air – 300%

I may have some undistributed points, but if those 22 points mean the difference between life and death at this point I am screwed. I just kind of wanted a nice even looking display for once. Enough dilly dallying it is time to cross into zone 10.

As soon as I cross I see a series of messages.

Welcome to Zone 10. Scanning. You have Master Level access. You have reached Cosmic Entity status.

Please choose an option:

1. Copper Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and one other planet of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 90% on entry.

2. Silver Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and three other planets of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 75% on entry.

3. Gold Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and five other planets of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 50% on entry.

4. Master Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and ten other planets of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 25% on entry.

5. Challenge Level: You may choose to challenge the Great Game administrator to battle in order to claim a prize on top of the choices mentioned. Each challenge will be progressively harder. You must win at least one challenge to respawn. Failure to win the first challenge will result in permanent death.

1 win = 5% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension.

2 wins = 10% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension.

3 wins = 15% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension.

4 wins = 20% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension.

5 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension.

7 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. History of Great Game knowledge, right to change one rule in Great Game Programming, and immunity to invasion in higher dimension for 10 years.

10 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. History of Great Game knowledge, right to change three rules in Great Game Programming, and immunity to invasion in higher dimension for 50 years.

15 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. History of Great Game knowledge, right to change five rules in Great Game Programming, and immunity to invasion in higher dimension for 100 years.

6. Exit: Master Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to exit once and return. You must return to Zone 10 within 1,000 years or forfeit all rights to ascend.

I think it is rather obvious what I need to do, even though I do not want to. I select option 6 and my group reappears in zone 9.

“Dad, what happened? Why are we back in zone 9?”

“Well there were several options I could choose according to the Great Game and the best one was a challenge mode. I also had the option of exiting and returning within 1,000 years. So as you can see I chose that and we are going to grind like there is no tomorrow.”

I further explained my thinking to my group. With the Master Level access and Cosmic Entity bonus we could have just ascended and moved on with our lives, but I want to know what is behind the Great Game. The chance to earn knowledge and even perhaps change it for the better could not be passed up. I have confidence that I could pass several challenge levels as I am, but it never hurt to have more power so I decided to come out and grind for 900+ years take my gains and re-enter for the challenge level. The closer I got to the maximum level of 5000 I felt the greater my chance of reaching higher in the challenge.

My group and I got down to some serious grinding for levels. We would spend up to 50 years wandering and testing different dungeons for bonuses. If we did not find one then we took the one we could finish the quickest at the highest level and just repeated it until reset. Hide in safe area during reset and repeat. The first cycle we managed only 85 levels in 248 years. Experience was going down. Second reset cycle we lucked out with a speed dungeon and were able to farm it for extra experience for about two decades and that brought us another 112 levels. Third reset we dropped even further and only managed 76 levels. The final reset we would only be grinding for 200 years just to be safe and then we would challenge Zone 10 again. These last 200 years netted another 52 levels. So with another almost 100 years of grinding I managed to up my level by 325. It did not seem like much compared to what we had done in the past, but every bit helped.

I placed all of my new stats and then took a final look at my status and my companions before entering zone 10. Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Cosmic Entity)

Level: 3,360 - 71%

Unspent Attribute Points: 2

Str: 6,545

HP: 65,450 (X6) 392,700

Int: 6,595 +1000% MP

MP: 1,450,900 (X6) 8,705,400

Wis: 6,595

+1000% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 6,545

MP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.

Con: 6,545

+1000% HP/Regen

Luck: 6,545

Affinities: Earth - 300%

Water – 300%

Primal – 300%

Fire – 300%

Air – 300%

Resistances: Earth - 300%

Water - 300%

Primal – 300%

Fire – 300%

Air – 300%

Companion Status:

Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon

Level: 3,305- 64% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon

Level: 3,312 - 82% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon

Level: 3,306 - 11% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon

Level: 3,309 - 75% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak’a Spirit

Level 3,358 - 23% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson

I had 10 years until my time was up to re-enter. I decided I needed to do one more thing. I used the teleporters to get to my personal planet Tivon and then accessed the Great Game store. I remembered that the Great Game message said I could take up to 10 planets with me. If I took Earth, the 4 planets the great powers bought, the planet that the teleport guards bought, my planet Tivon and Segmentia the Dino planet I could still take two more with me. So I needed to buy two more planets. I scanned the list and picked two planets with what I thought were good descriptions and went and conquered their high level dungeons. It only took me 3 weeks to finish that up and tie them to my personal planet. Soon I was back at the boundary to zone 10. Alright, no more putting it off. Time to go and finish this thing. I enter Zone 10 once again with my group and select option 5 Challenge Level from the list.

You have chosen the Challenge Level. You can challenge solo or with companions. If you choose to use companions be warned that the difficulty will double.

1. Solo

2. Companions

Let’s see by myself or with 5 companions that are almost my level and the difficulty only doubles. I choose option 2.

You have chosen the Companion Challenge. The number of opponents you will face will be double the original amount in each challenge level. Fight well.

We were teleported to a vast arena. If I had to guess it was more than 10 kilometers long and probably 5 kilometers wide. It was just a vast plain with some boulders and a giant wall surrounding it. Ok so hiding and sniping tactics are probably out. I will just have to see what the first challenge is and formulate my strategy on the fly.

The challenge will begin in 3..2..1..

In the distance I could see two large figures. Identify.

Mountain Ogre X2 Level 1,000

Is this a joke? I haven’t fought anything this weak in centuries. I send Bruce and Azure out to deal with the Ogres while the rest of us are on high alert looking for a trap.

In less than 30 seconds I see.

Congratulations on passing round 1 of the challenge. Each level will get progressively harder.

Really that was it. I guess for a normal person that only had copper access that might have been a challenge. I don’t know anymore. Let’s just keep going.

Round 2

Mountain Troll X2 Level 1,250

Round 3

Mountain Giant X2 Level 1,500

Round 4

Mountain King X2 Level 1,750

Round 5

Elemental Ogre X2 Level 2,000

Round 6

Elemental Troll X2 Level 2,500

I am starting to see a pattern here. Also the level jumps have just become more significant. I guess that many people who have reached Zone 10 would consider this to be a huge challenge, but this is just pathetic for my group. First off there are 5 of us each over level 3,000. I probably have the stats of a normal level 5,000 plus figure. I hope they all stay this way.

Round 7

Elemental Giant X2 Level 3,000

Round 8

Elemental King X2 Level 3,500

“Stand back everyone. I want to try these two by myself. I need to see where I am at with my bonuses. If it looks like I am having trouble feel free to jump in.”

“All right dad, take them down.”

“Good Luck, Master.”

I decided to try my human form first and went straight for a punch at the Elemental king on the right to test my strength. I jumped up to be equal with its chest and let fly full power. When the fist connected the Elemental King flew back almost 100 meters and coughed out a rainbow substance that I can only assume was it’s blood. Test 1 and 2 were complete, I still had much higher stats than a standard level 3,500 monster which was equivalent to my own level. I was fast enough to hit it without it defending itself and the knockback was great. I was actually kind of impressed by the distance I got as the Elemental king was about 20 feet tall. The difference in size alone made me think at best I would knock it over.

Test 3 would be magic. I assumed being an Elemental King meant that it had a significant elemental resistance. So most people would have to fight it physically where they might be overpowered. However, with my absurd 300% affinity I should still be able to deal damage. Let’s try quick 500 mana shots of different elements. Stone spike to left leg, ice spike to right leg to slow it down, wind bullet and fireball to the chest.

It was definitely hurt by the magic which proves that my affinities are higher than its resistance. 500 mana slowed it down, but did not seem to do a ton of damage. Well why it is recovering let’s try a primal blast to the old noggin. Charge it up to 1,000 mana and let it go. Alright note to self, elemental beings unless they say primal probably are not resistant to it. That sort of made everything from the neck up just disappear. I wonder if it was the primal magic, the high affinity or that the head is the most vulnerable spot.

I know I check it out on the guy I punched. I put together a primal blast of about 500 mana this time. The same amount that just wounded the other one and let it fly at the one I punched chest as he charged back at me. Definitely the primal magic and affinities as there is now a hole through that one’s chest. I walk up and punch it in the head to put it out of its misery.

“Ok everyone, my test are over and I don’t think we are going to have a problem. Be careful and watch each others back just in case.

Round 9

Low God X2 Level 4,000

Round 10

Mid God X2 Level 4,500

Round 11

High God X2 Level 5,000

Round 12

Primal Being X2 Level 5,500

Hey now I thought that level 5,000 was a hard cap. I guess that only applies to Great Game players and not the Great Game itself.

“Alright everyone be careful these guys should have stats equal to or higher than you. Use our numbers against them.”

Round 13

Cosmic Entity X2 Level 6,000

“Same plan everyone. Pair up and one attacks as the other defends. Strike and move, strike and move.”

Round 14

Cosmic Entity X4 Level 6,000

“Alright this is going to be harder, but we still outnumber them. Use the entire field and call out if you need help.”

This battle took us almost an hour to finish. Compared to what had come before this was no joke. I had to watch carefully to make sure no one took significant damage and that we were doing enough. We eventually had to concentrate all our damage on a single target to overcome the healing factor these guys had. It was just about as absurd as mine. If we did not do enough damage in a short enough amount of time they just healed right back up. Once we had this group down to just a single remaining member I called out.

“Take you time and relax a bit. There is no worries about defeating this one, although since the number doubled from last round I am worried about the final round. So do not kill this guy immediately. Keep him busy kids while Walter and I set up for the last group.”

“Walter, we are going back to basics.”

“Yes Master you mean blow everything up and hope you do not kill us all.”

“Yes Walter exactly, it has always worked in the past. So it should work just fine now. I want you to use everything you have learned over the years to build us a shelter on the edge of the arena. I am going to power up the mother of all primal meteor swarms and take on the last group myself. When the explosion is over you and the kids come out and finish off anything that is left.”

“What about you Master?”

“Remember I just got those new resistances. I won’t feel a thing, in fact it should heal me.”

“But Master what about the”

I cut Walter off, “Don’t worry Walter, just prepare the shelter.”

Walter gave me a strange look and then did as I asked. After dropping him off at the edge of the arena I joined up with my kids and explained the plan.

“Are you sure about this dad?”

“You guys worry too much. I will be fine. Just start dealing more damage and when I feel that I am close to what I can control I will tell you to finish this guy off and then you run for the shelter that Walter built Ok?”

“Sure dad if that is what you want.”

I flew back a bit from the ongoing fight with the last Cosmic Entity and started concentrating on building and fueling the most massive primal meteor swarm of my life. The largest I had ever done before this was 20,000 mana and that sucker was spectacular. Since I was figuring on their being eight of these overpowered guys in the final round I figured that I should at least double that amount, maybe even a little more.

After about 15 minutes I had managed to pump close to 40,000 mana in the spell and it was getting much harder to keep it together and concentrate.

“Alright kids, finish that one off and retreat to the shelter.”

Quicker than I realized the kids killed the final Cosmic Entity from round 14 and started flying towards Walter’s now rather large shelter.

Round 15

Cosmic Entity X8 Level 6,000

There they are about 5 kilometers away and advancing slowly. Let’s see do I wait and add more mana or do I put a timer on it and send it on its way? I better play it safe and just let it go. I felt that I had managed to channel a little over 55,000 mana into the spell and I set it for a 20 second delay. I would retreat for 15 second and then turn around and watch the show. I gauged their speed and set the coordinates for ground zero. Now run, 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, when I hit 15 Mississippi, I turned around and saw giant purple flaming balls of death forming above the Cosmic Entities heads. They must have felt the build up of mana because they glance up and then I saw what could only be panic on their mostly expressionless faces.

They started to run, too late suckers, here comes the pain. I could see 12 beautiful destructive orbs hit all around the approaching group of Cosmic Entities. This was going to be great. I saw the mushroom cloud start to form and then I noticed a large wall of primal element coming towards me. Ok here is the real test of my resistances. When the wall of primal fire hit me it knocked me flying backwards and I had just enough time to think to myself that this was what Walter was trying to warn me about. I was resistant to the magic damage but not the damage from the concussive force of the blasts.

The next thing I remember is my family and Walter gathered around me staring down at me while a blue Great Game message box floated in front of me waiting to be acknowledged. As I regained more and more of my faculties I could hear them talking.

“I can’t believe that he managed to knock himself out again.”

“I know, why does he never listen to us?”

“It’s just the way dad is, at least he didn’t kill himself.”

“Yah but if we had not been here to take care of the other guys who knows who would have regained consciousness first. He really could have died.”

“I take it from the conversations that we won?” I managed to grunt out.

“Dad your finally awake, you have to stop doing this.”

“What do you mean Elvira, it has been over 2,000 years since the last time I blew myself up.”

“Everyone just kind of laughed at that.”

“What happened?”

“Master, when the earth stopped moving we came out and found you unconscious against the wall. We made sure you were still alive and then went to check on the foes. Two of the eight had dies, four were about to die, and two somehow managed to only be wounded, but were also unconscious. We finished them off quickly and then came back to wait for you to wake up.”

“Ok let me take care of this Great Game message floating in front of me and then we can figure out what is next.”

Congratulations on passing all 15 levels of the challenge you are granted 100 levels as a bonus reward. For being the first to pass all 15 levels you are granted double the normal rewards. For being the fastest to beat all the levels you are granted double the normal rewards. For beating all 15 levels while still under level 5,000 you are granted double the normal rewards. For beating all 15 levels while still under level 4,000 you are granted triple the normal rewards. Calculating rewards, you have gained 1,000 levels and the right to access the History of the Great Game. Would you like to access the history now?

Yes/No

I needed some time to rest and reflect. I mentally selected no and the group and I were teleported to what looked like a lounge. It reminded me of the lounge from the Great Game planetary leader challenge just smaller.

“Let Dad get his head together and then we can move forward ok guys?”