“What do you mean dead? Why would you be dead?”

“That feat is a death sentence. I looked through your memories and confirmed the veracity of your words and confirmed that we are dead, we just haven't stopped twitching yet.”

“I don't understand what you are saying? I know the feat is dangerous. Several times now it has almost overloaded my brain with knowledge when I reach various thresholds, but I think I have started to come up with a way to fix the problem.”

Ulgatha sighed and seemed resigned, but still answered his question, “‘The Crafters Legacy’ has existed since the very beginning of the system; some even argue that it existed before the system and was what created it, but none alive today know for sure. Whether it existed before the system or not does not matter; the only thing that does is that the feat is ancient and only one person can possess the feat at a time. In ancient times to possess it was a great honor, and wars would be fought to kill the wielder of the feat so that others could claim it for themselves. Crafters with the feat would become powerful beyond measure and would have access to all of the knowledge of all previous holders that possessed the feat. However this eventually changed. Eventually the knowledge gained from crafters since the dawn of the system became too much and began to be handled and the feat began to inadvertently kill new crafters who received it. Now no one takes it any more, only those who are foolish enough to believe that they have found a way to contain the knowledge even try to take it any more, but those also die in time overwhelmed by the feat they thought they could contain. Most die during the first influx, but if they manage to survive that long they will die during the second or third. It makes no difference they all die in time.”

Daniel felt indignant at the matriarchs words and replied a little petulantly, “Well, that can't be completely right. I have survived five such information influxes so far and I am still alive.”

The matriarch paused and looked back up at him. “What do you mean five times. That should be impossible. None in at least two hundred year have managed to survive that long.”

“Well, I mean it hurts like hell and usually knocks me out cold, but I have been able to mitigate some of the effects with attribute points and level curtain skills. Not to mention my other feat as well.”

The matriarch paused for a long minute before she finally responded in an amazed voice. “You must be the luckiest man in the entire universe.”

“What do you mean I wouldn't call my situation that lucky. It hurts like hell and I am hesitant to continue crafting until I have a more concrete solution.”

“I have looked over your memories of the last month or so. I was not expecting you to be from a newly transitioning world. As a hero with two feats is a huge advantage. ‘Troll Regeneration’ has primarily kept you alive up to this point, but then there's your class. Oh, your class. You're the Juggernaut you may actually be able to survive the effects of ‘The Crafters Legacy' feat after all, and I am going to help you do it.”

“What does my class have to do with anything?”

Ulgatha tipped her head back and let out an almost hysterical laugh. “Of course you wouldn't know.” she said while chuckling. “When a planet is newly integrated all of the heroes get access to a random tier five combat or support class. The only exception to this is the one class that is given to every newly integrated planet. They are called the Hero. which is literal in several ways. They are to be the heroes of your planet in not only name, but class as well. This is off topic though. Out of all of the classes in the universe you could have received you got the Juggernaut, a powerful class with strong defensive skills and powerful attacking and sieging breaking attacks. Juggernaut is a well known class in the universe and all of the holders of the class are universally feared.”

“Wait, is that why I’m lucky because I got a powerful class?”

“No, you not only got a powerful class, but a class with access to one of the most powerful body reinforcement skill trees there is. With that skill tree and your ‘Troll Regeneration’ it's no wonder why you have survived up to this point. Especially since Troll Regeneration's healing factor is increased while out of combat.”

“Okay, I understand what you are saying, but so far this has only kept me alive. I have yet to find a solution for what ‘The Crafters Legacy’ is doing to me.”

“If it was that easy to luck your way into a solution for ‘The Crafters Legacy’ major problem then someone would have found a similar solution thousands of years ago.”

Daniel was a little taken aback by her words, and now that he knew more about the background of the feat he possessed he had to admit that he was a bit too confident “Okay, what do I do next then?”

“Well, you have nine more skill points to spend that seems like a good next step to me.”

Daniel nodded and did agree with the Matriarch. He put another point into the ‘Psionic Custodian’ skill and he read over what benefits he gained for getting level two of the skill and what he would receive for getting the skill to level three. He then also looked to see what new skill the tree would have for him.

Psionic Custodian ( 2/5 ): You are a custodian and protect your minds. To you the greatest sin that can be committed against an individual is for their minds to be violated and tampered with. You are not alone in this way of thinking. Passive/Active. Cost to increase 3 Skill Points.

Level 2 (Passive): Increase mental fortitude and increase the passive regeneration of your mental energy.

Level 3 (Passive): You are now able to have five (including the Matriarch) psionic elementals living in your mind at a time.

~~~~~

Psionic Legion ( 0/5 ): your legions march. Not only to defend your own mind, but those psionically linked to you and are under your protection. Note that from now on any invading attack against your or another's mind under your protection will take the form of an invading army of some kind. Active no cooldown. Psionic Energy usage: minor. Cost to increase 1 Skill Point.

Level 1 (Active): Expend psionic energy to create a basic psionic worker construct. Can only be created in a mindscape. Once created the construct sustains itself and will exist until destroyed or dismissed. These constructs have very limited intelligence and will only work when directed to do so. Psionic energy cost to create: minor.

The level three upgrade of his ‘Psionic Custodian’ skill was interesting. He hadn't considered that he couldn't hold more than one psionic elemental in his mind, and getting the skill to level three would fix that unseen problem. Also the new skill he gained access to sounded cool in theory, but at level one he would only be able to create a worker construct which wasn't very interesting at all. Daniel decided to level up ‘Psionic Custodian’ to level three for three additional skill points for a combined total of six skill points invested into the skill, and would level up ‘Psionic Legion’ twice for a total of three skill points. This would leave him with one last skill point he could use to upgrade the new skill that would be revealed once ‘Psionic Legion’ was brought to level two. Decision made he distributed the skill points.

Psionic Custodian ( 3/5 ): You are a custodian and protect your minds. To you the greatest sin that can be committed against an individual is for their minds to be violated and tampered with. You are not alone in this way of thinking. Passive/Active. Cost to increase 4 Skill Points.

Level 3 (Passive): You are now able to have five (including the Matriarch) psionic elementals living in your mind at a time.

Level 4 : Increase mental fortitude and increase the passive regeneration of your mental energy.

~~~~~

Psionic Legion ( 2/5 ): your legions march. Not only to defend your own mind, but those psionically linked to you and under your protection. Note that from now on any invading invading your or another's mind under your protection will take the form of an invading army of some kind. Active no cooldown. Psionic Energy usage: Variable. Cost to increase 3 Skill Points.

Level 2 (Active): Expend psionic energy to create a basic legionnaire soldier construct. Can only be created in a mindscape. Legionnaires can be formed into squads of eight men called Contubernium. Once created the construct sustains itself and will exist until destroyed or dismissed. These constructs have minor intelligence and will perform without direct commands. Psionic energy cost to create: Moderate.

Level 3 (Active): Expend psionic energy to create a Centurion (Officer) construct. Can only be created in a mindscape. Once you have created ten squads of Contubernium (one squad of eight men) you may form these squads Centuria (ten squads of eight men) led by a Centurion. Once created the construct sustains itself and will exist until destroyed or dismissed. These constructs have moderate intelligence and are able to carry out complex tasks and direct other constructs to perform tasks. Psionic energy cost to create: Major

~~~~~

Psionic Creation ( 1/5 ): you are a crafter and a builder. This is not just true for the physical world, but the mental as well. The world will be in awe of the law defying objects you will create. Passive. Cost to increase 2 Skill Points.

Level 1 (Passive): Decrease the strain of creating complex items out of psionic energy. Decrease the mental strain of creating objects out of psionic energy.

Level 2 (Passive): Decrease the strain of creating complex items out of psionic energy. Decrease the mental strain of creating objects out of psionic energy. Decrease the strain and energy cost of making large objects out of psionic energy.

Level four of ‘Psionic Custodian’ was the same as level two so Daniel assumed that he would get another larger reward at the max level of the skill. Level three of ‘Psionic Legion’ was also interesting. To be able to make a semi-intelligent construct to direct his other constructs seemed like a good idea. Though if he was understanding the description of the skill right he wouldn't be able to make a Centurion until he had created eighty legionnaires which would probably take quite a bit of time, so he wasn't worried about leveling up that skill until he was close to reaching that number of soldier constructs, and besides Daniel assumed that Ulgatha could direct the constructs in his mindscape until he was able to make some officers to direct them instead. He probably also needed to make workers as well though he would need to talk to Ulgatha some more before he made any decisions. He didn't really know what the workers would be useful for other than dumb labor. Well he had some ideas, but wanted to talk it over with her either way.

Then there was ‘Psionic Creation’ which didn't seem all that great in its current state, but he would have to make some more objects in his mindscape to really see how strong its passive effect was. With all of his Skill Points used Daniel opened up his full status page to see what had changed. And Daniel had to admit it had been a while since he had looked at his full page.

Daniel Martin: First Among Legends

Age: 27

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Level: 7

Tier V Class: Psionic Juggernaut

Primary Profession: Crafting Legacy: Level: N/A

Secondary Profession: N/A

Tier I Profession: Blacksmithing Level: 5

Strength: 40 -> 48

Endurance: 16

Constitution: 50 -> 58

Dexterity: 23

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Willpower: 11 -> 35

Charisma: 10

Free Attribute Points: 0

Free Skill Points: 0

Free Profession Points: 0

Coins: 210

Class experience to the next level: 2,425 out of 7,000

Profession experience to the next level: 550 out of 5,000 (Blacksmithing)

Feats: Troll Regeneration, Crafting Legacy

General Skills: Identification ( 2/5 ), Weapon Proficiency: Maul ( 1/5 ), Pain Resistance ( 1/5 ), Running ( 1/5 ), Jumping ( 1/5 ), Climbing ( 1/5 ), Meditation ( 2/5 ), Stronghold of the Mental Archive ( 1/5 ), Party Interface ( 1/5 )

Class Skills: Tough Skin ( 2/5 ), Heavy Blows ( 1/5 ), Reinforced Muscles ( 2/5 ), Death Blows ( 2/5 ), Powerful Organs ( 4/5 ), Heavy charge ( 1/5 ), Death’s Embrace ( 2/5 ), Death’s Chilling Touch ( 1/5 ), Psionic Custodian ( 3/5 ), Psionic Legion ( 2/5 ), Psionic Creation ( 1/5 )

Profession Skills: Hammer speed ( 2/5 ), Master of the Forge ( 2/5 ), Hammer Strength ( 2/5 ), Powerful Grip ( 1/5 )

Spells: N/A

It was quite amazing to see his full status page and see the progress he had made in a relatively short amount of time. It was also astounding to see his new willpower stat being his third highest stat. With the ten free points he had put into it Willpower when he had combined ‘Mental Library’ and ‘Mental Fortress’ as well as the fourteen points he had gained from choosing his long delayed specialization he was now at a respectable thirty five willpower. Then there was his class. Its name had changed and Daniel had to assume that it was a reflection of the new specialization he had chosen, but other than the name change it didn't affect anything.

Now all Daniel had to do was work with Ulgatha to find a fix for his feat so he could start leveling up his profession again, and open up his mana channels before reaching his next specialization at level 11. Should be easy enough.

Once Daniel finished looking over his status page he closed it and looked back at the purple skinned form of Ulgatha who had been patiently waiting for him to finish. “So, what now?”

“I was skimming your thoughts in real time as you made your choices and I agree with all of the decisions you made. Getting ‘Psionic Custodian’ to level three was an especially good choice. Once I start making some daughters they will be able to help me in running your mind. I would recommend that you keep the first three or four of my daughters for your own mind before handing them out to others. This will greatly increase how fast I am able to format your mind. As for the current next step, start with making some worker constructs. They cost a very low amount of energy to create and even though they are less intelligent than the soldiers I will be able to instruct them for the time being on what to do when you are not in your mindscape.”

“Okay, how many workers do you need then?”

Ulgatha hummed for a second tapping her lips. “I would say that you could make ten workers to start as well as one soldier. From there you should make one worker every hour or so. This will keep up with your regeneration rate of mental energy so that you don't overtax your mind. Once you get a feel for using your psionic energy you may be able to make more than one an hour, but until then stick with just one.”

Daniel nodded in acceptance and made the requested constructs. The constructs were made of the same purple energy as Ulgatha, but the workers were nowhere near as distinct as her. They were just the shape of a humanoid with no facial features to be seen. The soldier was a bit better; it had some armor similar to his own with a sheathed sword. Its entire body was more defined and Daniel could definitely see the better quality of this construct. After his inspection of the constructs he turned back to Ulgatha.

“At that rate I'll have my first Centuria in about eighty hours. That should be plenty of time for me to level up again and upgrade the skill to allow me to make officers. Though what will you be doing in the meantime?”

“I will be organizing the information contained within your mind. I will make the information into books to shelve into your library like you have already started to do. My hope is that I will be able to dive deep enough into your mind and retrieve some more of the information that ‘The Crafters Legacy’ has dumped into your mind that you don't currently have conscious access to. My initial estimates are that you last concourse access to close to 95% of the information from the various downloads. I will also begin to use the workers to expand your fortifications above ground and dig ditches things like that. Oh and one last thing. That skill book for ‘Mental Library’ that you rewrote. You should sell it back to the shop for coins.”

“Why would I do that I only have the one book? What would be the point? I would rather give it to Steve or John to learn.”

“Ah, I should have been more clear. You can give the item to the shop as a listing for people to purchase. You would give the shop and by extension the system permission to make copies of the book with a small amount of the profits being taken to make them. There is a real market in the universe for skill books that reliably give the skill that it details. The system could verify that you, the author, have gained the skill from this book which would give people more of a reason to purchase the skill book.”

“But why would they purchase my skill book just because I gained the skill?”

“Well for starters there are no guarantees that when you buy a skill book that you will actually be able to learn the skill that it contains. Every skill book you buy is almost like a gamble on whether you can learn the skill or not. Some books just have better odds than others. Having confirmation that someone has learned the skill from that skill book before purchasing it is like increasing the odds of your gamble succeeding if that makes sense.”

“It does and I will be sure to put the book in the shop, but going back to what you said earlier. When you casually talk about rummaging through my mind like that it gives me the heebie-jeebies.” Ulgatha gave Daniel an extra toothy smile that showed off her elongated canines. Daniel decided now would be a great time to book a hasty retreat, and a moment later he was out of his mindscape and back in the real world and sitting cross legged on his bed just like before.

He hadn't been in meditation very long this time. Or at least he didn't think he had been. No longer than an hour at most. He left his room and not seeing Steve or John in the main room or any of the training areas he decided that he would train and wait for their return. He had lost his progress for ‘Physical Fitness’ while he had been in his extended meditation and wanted to get back to it. He also did a round of stealth and acrobatics training. After his first round through the obstacle course John entered the room. He was kitted out in a full set of leather armor and held his staff with in one hand. It looked to be made completely out of a black stone and Daniel had no doubt that it could do some real damage to something if John ever needed to get up close and personal during a fight. Daniel waved a greeting at the man when he entered the room. “John, did you just finish up a run in the dungeon?”

“That I did. I just finished the seventh floor of the dungeon.”

“That's great John, you've almost caught up with me now. What about Steve, where is he at?”

“We enter the Solo Dungeon together and he is clearing the ninth floor. I probably just got out a bit before him. Though by the way Steve and I did want to discuss some things about the Team Dungeon with you as well.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Well, while we wait for Steve I may as well give you the spark notes version of what we have discussed. Basically Steve and I want to go into the Team Dungeon. We think that with your titles we won't have any big unknown Dangers in the Dungeon. We have theorized that if we choose a specific enemy and the level of the enemies then we shouldn't have any problems in clearing the floor. I bought a bestiary from the shop with some of my coins and Steve and I picked out a monster that should be good for what we are planning.”

“Is it a type of beast is it? I also want to enter the Team Dungeon, but I want to get Kota some more evolutionary progress and he needs to kill other beasts to get that. Well he can kill goblins of other monsters as well, but he doesn't typically get much progress from them.”

“Yes?” John said questioningly. “They are like half beast half monster. They are weird hybrid monsters called gremlins. They are about knee high in height, with big ears and just as big eyes. They come in two varieties: those who are hairless with hard lizard-like skin and those that are entirely covered in fur. You generally find the different varieties in opposing climates. So the lizard skinned ones are in hotter climates and the furry ones in cold climates.”

“What level would we want them to be?”

“Around level 3 was what we were thinking.”

“I only have one concern. The Team Dungeon scales to our level right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, what would happen when we mess with the level of the enemies. I am afraid that if the dungeon can’t mess with the quality of the monsters it will mess with the quantity of them instead if you catch my meaning.”

“I’m sure it will be fine. Gremlins are weak so even if the dungeon makes a few additional gremlins to throw at us we will be able to handle it.”

“If you say so.” Daniel said doubtfully. “Any ways I need to go do some shop stuff I’ll be back in a minute.” Daniel left John and entered the shop. After a quick conversation with the AI Daniel managed to successfully put his re-written skill book up for sale on the shop. The shop did change a small service fee from every transaction as a convenience fee for being able to use the shop which Daniel hadn't noticed up to this point because it came out of the sale of the item. He also lost about fifty additional coins per purchase because the system shop would also be printing the books, and that was fine with Daniel; he didn't want to have to go through the hassle of trying to figure out the process himself. He just didn have that kind of time.

The whole process ended up taking Daniel about twenty minutes to set up. Before he exited the shop he also made another soldier construct in his mindscape. Daniel was glad he didn't have to enter the mindscape to do so it would save him time in the long run. After that was done he exited the shop he saw Steve in the main room waiting for him.

“Did you finish up whatever you were doing with the shop?”

“Yeah, Ulgatha recommended that I put the skill book I re-wrote up in the shop. Apparently there is a market for skill books that people have actually gained skills from.”

“Who’s Ulgatha?”

“Ah, she is a Psionic Matriarch that is now living in my mind. It is kind of like a symbiotic relationship. It's a benefit of one of my new skills I gained from my new specialization.”

“So, you now have an elemental living in your mind? What kind of benefits does that give?”

“Yeah I do.” Daniel quickly explained the basics of how the ‘Psionic Custodian’ and ‘Psionic Legion’ skills worked and how Ulgath could make copies of herself which Daniel could bestow to other people which would link themselves to Daniel. The elemental itself provided several benefits to who it was bonded to, but another benefit was once a person was psionically linked to Daniel he could also send psionic constructs to help protect their minds from mental attacks.

“That is interesting though it doesn't currently have any real combat application unless mental attacks are involved,” said John.

“That is true, but you never know that could change later on with new skills or skill levels.”

“Do you think this skill tree will solve your problem?” Steve asked.

“Maybe. It's definitely going to help a bit in some aspects, but I am unsure if it will ever completely solve my problem.” Daniel also quickly explained how ‘The Crafters Legacy’ was regarded in the rest of the universe and the very serious Dangers that it possessed.

“Yikes, that is a much bigger problem than we first thought it was. Any plans going forward.”

“Some, but most of the plans revolve around gaining more skill points so I can continue to put points into my Body Reinforcement skill tree and now my Psionic Custodian skill tree. My Body Reinforcement skill tree should be enough to keep me alive for the time being as long as I continue to not craft anything, but at the same time I hate not being able to craft for the foreseeable future.”

“Do you know what triggers the information dumps? Maybe you can avoid whatever triggers them to continue to craft.”

“I have thought of that as well, but it's still risky. From my understanding it's when I complete the crafting legacy quests that triggers the knowledge that I gain. I could technically avoid advancing any of the quests and continue to craft, but I don't know if there are other triggers that I don't know about. Doing that would also limit me to craft with only common and rare rarity materials. If I crafted with any other rarity of material I would probably trigger another quest which would give me another influx of information.”

“That does sound risky,” Steve said while standing up and clapping his hands, “So it sounds to me like we need to get you some more levels Daniel.”

“That it does. Are you guys both ready to go?”

“Yeah I have everything I need.” said Steve while holding up his right hand and wiggling his fingers at Daniel. On his finger was a plain gold band just like Daniels' own. “I purchased my own storage ring after finishing the eighth floor, so I got all of the supplies I need.”

“What about you John?” Daniel asked.

“Oh, I don't have a storage ring yet, but I am sure one of you two could hold my supplies for me while we are in the dungeon.”

“That won't be a problem, I can do it.” replied Steve. After a bit of time gathering items Steve had all of John's extra items in his storage ring.”

Before they went any further Daniel decided to ask a question. “You said you bought a bestiary right? Do gremlins have any elemental weaknesses or known dangers that we should prepare for like poison. Now that we have rings we can carry some more potions with us without the fear of breaking them.”

“From what I remember the different varieties each have a different elemental weakness as you might expect. The cold environment ones are vulnerable to fire and the warm climate ones are vulnerable to the cold or frost. As for poison they don't have any, but their bites can give nasty infections if not treated properly.”

Daniel thought for a moment. “I think we should stock up on some vials of alchemy fire, and with our titles we should specify the cold variety of the gremlins. I feel like burning damage is a lot easier to come by than frost.”

“You make a good point Daniel. Even though we know what we will be fighting, there is no reason for why we shouldn't be as prepared as possible. The last time we made that mistake it almost got us killed. We should also get some cure disease potions as well just to be safe.”

After they went shopping for the potions they split the vials between Daniels and Steve’s storage ring. They approached the door to the Team Dungeon more prepared than before. Daniel started to interact with the door, but remembering something he turned to Steve and John, and reached out with his new psionic power and started the process to make a party using the ‘Party Interface’ skill. Steve and John both also reach out with their own Psionic power and finished the process of binding their powers together. Daniel was glad that John had also picked up the skill gem as well. Once done Daniel turned back to the portal to the team dungeon and pressed his hand to the portal like he had done the first time. When the box appeared asking how many people were entering he selected three people. Unlike last time however, a new screen entered Daniel's vision immediately after he made his selection asking him what he wanted to add to the dungeon. “Did you get this screen as well Steve?”

“I did. I will add the cold variety of gremlins you select to their levels.”

“Sure thing.” Daniel said as he set their opponents level to three then closed the window. A second later the portal of the Team Dungeon flared to life. Daniel had to assume that Steve had also finished making his selection which caused the opening of the portal. Together the four of them walked through the portal.

They appeared in a stone cave, but only twenty feet ahead Daniel could see the sun shining into the opening of the cave. Daniel walked forward and exited the shallow cave mouth. It took his seconds a moment to adjust his eyes, but when they did his mind couldn’t process what he was actually seeing. From where he was standing it looked like the ground itself was moving, but then his improved eyes from his ‘Powerful Organs’ skill began to pick out individual shapes. It was then that he finally realized what he was seeing. Gremlins covered the ground as far as his eyes could see. They covered every spot of available land and their patchy brown and white fur helped them blend in with the rock and snow covered mountain they were on. Though their insane numbers weren't helping them blend in in the slightest.

Dungeon Quest Survive: Good luck.

Objective: Survive the endless waves of gremlins for as long as possible. The portal to the Training Room will be closed and can be reopened in any location with a sixty second channel time

Reward: Based on number of gremlins killed and total time survived before returning back to the Training Room.

“Oh, don’t worry Daniel, decreasing their level won’t increase the number of gremlins we have to kill by that much we will be able to take it.” Daniel said, trying to mimic John's voice. As soon as they had received the quest a small army of gremlins had begun to move in their direction and Daniel watched on as they approached.

“We may have miss calculated a bit.” John said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.”

“Well, the question now is if we immediately go back through the portal now or try and fight this out. Based on the quest there's no penalty for leaving, so I think we should try if things get out of hand we can just retreat.” said Steve who was also looking down at the horde of gremlins next to Daniel.

“I agree,” said Daniel. “John, you said you can manipulate stone and make fortifications, and constructs right?”

“Yeah that's right.”

“Well, start closing off this cave entrance so that only a limited number of gremlins can attack us at a single time. And hurry, this first hoard is already on its way.”

John nodded, and a moment later the entrance of the cavern began to narrow as John took the stone from the walls to make the entrance more narrow. Daniel just hoped their preparations would be enough to survive this first wave of gremlins.