P-System Log

Seriously, I have had it up to here with all these fucking threats. It's been TWO. DAYS. Literally two days, and how many life-threatening situations have we been through? I'll not lie and say it's not fun, but seriously. There's a limit, y'know?

The dungeon door just opened up again, and the fuzziness that I normally feel when trying to perceive outside of a dungeon from within or vice versa is just completely gone. In its place is a horrid wrongness and the sense that something has been destructively, irreparably broken.

R Beasts.

That would be what that skill was for. Wasn't it an observation skill, though? How did it end up... I dunno, violating this dungeon's core tenets?

Also, the boss hasn't resurfaced. I wonder what that's about. Maybe I should invest more in Jerome's HP. Shit might be charging up more for this hit.

I have a sneaking suspicion as to why it hasn't attacked any of the party, though, and that suspicion is just increasing. I can feel a few beings just outside where the dungeon boundary used to be.

Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: There are R Beasts in the vicinity. [Mana Sense] detects them.

[Arcs S'tar]: Fuck. How many?

[Aster K'lon]: Four. We encountered two of them before, and I believe their signatures are the same. Were you aware of any R Beasts in S'ker?

[Arcs S'tar]: No. They may have been sleeper units.

[Mass ASSESS] activating! Name: Try'stin Class: Cultist Race: Half-elf Level: 17 XP: Health: 98/98 Mana:

[ASSESS] cannot approximate this information.

Skills Name: Bi'rohn Class: Berserker Race: Human Level: 12 XP: Health: 142/142 Mana: 25/25

[ASSESS] cannot approximate this information.

Skills Name: Ch'll Class: Oathtaker Race: Dark elf Level: 19 XP: Health: 157/157 Mana:

[ASSESS] cannot approximate this information.

Skills Name: Shia Class: Sacrificial Lamb Race: Human Level: 3 XP: Health: 1790/1790 Mana: 1/1

[ASSESS] cannot approximate this information.

Skills Hero's Personal Log 086 Holy hell, talk about an information overload. They added two new party members at some point plus they got some levels--I don't think I like that. System, you're gonna need to come in clutch here. Between these guys and that boss, we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. P-System Log

No shit, Jerome.

But it looks like that hard place might not be so hard after all. I can sort of track the movements of K the [Darkstrider] through its mana emissions, and it doesn't look like it's moving towards us.

What happened? It was very much trying to kill Jerome earlier, but--

Oh. I'm stupid. There's fucking R Beasts there, and all of us here know that they need t̸o̸ ̶d̶i̵e̸, as weird as it feels to say.

Even the dungeon boss--one which was apparently a reincarnator at some point, mind--knows that, it looks like.

[Nightwalk] + [Secret Strike] = [Shadowblade] cast! Party Chat

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Did you catch that?

[Aster K'lon]: Yes. [Shadowblade] was redirected into the one with the class [Sacrificial Lamb].

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: And yet he seems sure on his feet. Did that skill not deal over four hundred damage with a single blow?

[Aster K'lon]: You saw that thing's HP stat, same as mine.

[Arcs S'tar]: We running or fighting? Can we even fight these guys? I don't know if my skills can touch them.

[Jerome Smith]: I'm fighting. The rest of y'all can do whatever.

P-System Log Yeah, I guess we're participating. Skill invoked: [K??i?oika?i] [Nightwalk] cast! [K??i?oika?i] dealt 179 damage to you! P-System Log What the hell? Jerome was the closest one to that hit, yeah, but that wasn't anything close to a direct hit. The skill was aimed at the dungeon boss, not Jerome, and it manifested as a gold-red beam of light. Jerome got caught in the afterglow, not even the main hit. How fucking powerful are these guys? [Misty Strike] activating! Passive invoked: [Divine Protection] [Misty Strike] nullified. P-System Log You're shitting me. This is what a [Legendary]-class Integrated looks like when they're not hampered by a System like me, huh? Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: 179 to me. No damage dealt.

[Aster K'lon]: Withdraw, Jerome. It's too dangerous.

[Jerome Smith]: No. If I'm supposed to face the Eternal King one day, then I have to be able to step up to the challenge of at least these lesser enemies.

[Arcs S'tar]: Then I'm coming too.

[Aster K'lon]: Me as well.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Count me by your side, reincarnator.

[P-System]: Everyone except Jerome, back up.

[Jerome Smith]: What the fuck, System? You can speak in party chat?

[Arcs S'tar]: What the hell are you?

[P-System]: Listen to me or suffer the consequences.

[Aster K'lon]: As much as it pains me to say it, we must follow its orders. Jerome's System is abnormally powerful.

[Arcs S'tar]: Very well. Then you must be prepared to retreat, Jerome. This is a little mad.

[Jerome Smith]: Yep, got it.

Hero's Personal Log 087 You can talk in party chat??? What the hell? P-System Message

Worry about surviving this first, Jerome.

Other concerns are secondary.

P-System Log

Fuck this shit.

I've been justifying not spending W Inertia to myself for a while now. Distancing myself from Jerome, preventing him from gaining control over me, and most recently spending W overflow on [W%M;G,P]... they look like valid reasons, yeah, but the fact of the matter is that I've basically been kneecapping our strength. It was fun at first, thinking of ways I could creatively solve each individual problem, but it's reached the point where we are in situations where I need to killk̶i̸l̶l̷k̷̮̇̀i̶̜̲͑l̶̳͎̙̇̚l̸͉̣͌̊̐K̵̬̰͍̺̓̈̓̃͂͠Į̵̥̊̂͊͋̿̂̎L̷̼̲͕̍̍͂̏́̓̃͠L̴̨͙̺̈́̈̉̈́̉̎̆̇̚ my enemies and Jerome doesn't have the resources necessary to do that. All the while, I'm sitting on nearly 40,000 W Inertia that could be used to accomplish the job I'm supposed to be doing.

I don't want to feel like the underdog in everything. That's fun for a few fights, but now it's just stressful. I don't want to die here, and that means I don't want Jerome to die either.

I'm getting tired of holding us back.

It's time to be the cheat skill that Jerome's been wanting.

Current W Inertia: 35909

Max W Inertia: 38382

Jerome Smith (abbreviated) Stat Current Maximum Health 7068 7367 Mana 5567 6271 P-System Message

Alright, I'm getting tired of this fucking charade.

Jerome, think of this as taking your training weights off or whatever.

Hero's Personal Log 088

That's... different. Can't say I don't like it, though.

Thanks for the boost. This is massive.

P-System Log

While we're at it, I'm stealing that [Shadowblade] skill. And the [Nightwalk].

I still have 35000 goddamn points left. It's not like I'm going to go broke anytime soon.

And if I can't steal them, then I'm going to make something better. As far as I know, I'm the only one in the world who can do this, and I've been holding back on it for far too long. Fuck saving W Inertia, I can just get it back by killing these shits.

No budget. I'll spend as much as I need to get something usable out of this.

New skill unlocked: [Nightwalk] Become one with the darkness to mobilize yourself. P-System Log I can do better than that. Skill evolution! [Nightwalk] -> [Ethereal Stride] You no longer require the dark. New skill unlocked: [Shadowblade] Strike with an ethereal blade, bypassing defenses. P-System Log

How much did I spend on that? 2500?

Fucking LOL, I haven't even dropped beneath 30000 W Inertia. 33421, to be exact. Nobody needs this much.

I'm going to drop it to 30000. That new skill seems powerful, so I'm going to make it more. No shitty knockoff of a dungeon boss attack here. At Parker Productions, we make things better than the original.

Admin Tier increased! 0 -> 4 P-System Log

...seriously? All I had to do was spend more this whole time?

I'm a fucking idiot.

There's something waiting for me. A name. A name for a skill, no less. What should I pick? Something that fits Jerome.

Hmm....

Skill evolution! [Shadowblade] -> [Edgelord] You are the blade and the blade is you. P-System Log

Perfection. Now, let's get to work on those other skills... I can afford to lose another few. We'll get it back, anyway. If I'm going to rip this Band-Aid of caution off, I'm going to commit to it all the way. OP Jerome or bust.

But first... we might need to clear these nuisances out of the way.

P-System Message Let's kick some ass. Hero's Personal Log 089 Fuck yeah.