I eyed the edge of the empty lake, the distance making it hard to tell just how many monsters were waiting for the next wave to start. It was unclear what the system meant by “raising the difficulty” but if I had to wager a guess, it would either be bigger waves, or stronger monsters. My money was on more monsters, but how many more remained to be seen.

Based on how “easy” defending the node was so far, I was fairly confident in defending the node for the next twenty-four hours, but I was worried that the system would raise the difficulty again for the third day. If that happened, no, when it happened, I’d be in trouble. Sure, more monsters meant my attributes would raise higher as well, giving me a better chance, but I couldn’t help but wonder whether it would be enough.

I needed to find a working strategy to deal with what was coming. But as it turned out, I’d have to think about it after fending off the wave that just started. I quickly scanned the empty lake and counted ten monsters rushing toward the bottom. The most I’d seen so far was eight monsters in a wave, so that was definitely more than usual. I suppose it would be safe to assume that the difficulty increase was referring to the number of enemies per wave.

For now, I went through the motions, trying to see how well my strategy worked against the increased numbers. My wisdom was only two points off from being what it was before I lost half of my attributes to the mean voidling, which meant I could support a wide array of strong spells again. The glory days of being a glorified magical Gatling gun were back! For now, I released a large poison mist before hiding under a void cloak.

I kept my eyes open for monsters with special tracking abilities as I dodged around the now-fighting monsters, poison aura active the whole time. It took a bit longer, but eventually, I emerged from the shadows to take part in the brawl, overwhelming the competition by firing off spells left and right. A quick glance at my status revealed that I still had some room to spare, so fighting like this should work for now.

That didn’t change that I would get into trouble once the third day arrived. I needed something more, a new skill, a new spell to help me out. As I ate, I went through my skill list again, checking if any of my spells or skills were close to being upgraded, but sadly the highest levels I could find were around level five or six.

I considered trying to redouble my efforts in learning new magic from scratch. I’d been dabbling here and there, and I learned a few things about how the spells worked. Or at least I assumed that I was right. I wondered whether I would manage to learn anything that would help me out in the next twenty-three hours, but I doubted it and wasn’t willing to gamble on it unless I had to. I’d rather abandon the node once I collected the second reward and attempt it again later.

I was idly looking through my status again when my eyes fell on my DP. I’d collected almost 37k… which meant I’d collected a bit over eight thousand over the course of the first twenty-four hours of defending the node. I quickly checked the shop, which I hadn’t done in a long while, and stared at the “purchase skill” option, which allowed me to buy a single skill. A single chance to buy a skill until my traveler tier went up after completing the main quest. And for fifty thousand DP…

I could buy an EX-tier skill.

I looked at the option longingly. Ever since I’d seen the option the first time I knew I wanted to buy an EX skill, because, why would I waste a chance like that? I always assumed that I’d get to buy it way later in my journey, but here it was, within reach. I would need to earn thirteen-thousand DP before the next day started, which would be a tight fit. My current tactic only had me kill about three monsters per wave, while I weakened the rest and let them finish each other off. If I took a more active role in the fighting, combined with the increased amount of monsters coming for me… I should barely be able to make it!

I suddenly got excited. What would an EX skill even look like? Gluttony was an SSS-tier passive skill and was absolutely busted. Giant Spike was an SS-tier spell, and it shredded most monsters. An EX skill would boost my strength to ludicrous levels!

The third day of the node didn’t seem so scary anymore. All I had to do was kill enough monsters to reach the DP threshold and my power would skyrocket, making the task almost laughably easy. I finished my meal and felt giddy, almost unable to wait for the next wave to start. The break between the waves, which was merely boring up until this point, became torture as I became like a kid waiting for Christmas to come.

Hurry up and visit me, Santa!

I stared with mad glee at the thirteen monsters rushing into the empty lake. The biggest wave to date was approaching, and I was planning to end as many lives as I personally could. As per usual, I sent out a poison mist, covering a large area. But, instead of cloaking myself and starting the dance I’d grown used to, I kept waiting as they came closer and closer until they were almost on me.

I looked into the frenzied eyes of the approaching monsters, their looks conveying their fervent wish to dismember me. Yet, at the very last moment, I opened a void portal and jumped through, emerging some hundred meters above the action. My wings snapped open as I watched the fools below me crash into each other, forming a pile of angrily used skills and spells. I watched the chaos unfold while I started gliding lazy circles above the writhing mass of limbs trying to tear each other apart.

I didn’t just watch, though, and not soon after, a bombardment of epic proportions started. I rained down void javelins and poison bombs, some of them infused, and since the monsters were so entangled with each other, I did some serious damage. I didn’t let up, hurling down spell after spell without stopping for a second. It was becoming hard to see due to all the dust being thrown into the air, but still, I kept casting.

The system informed me whenever I felled another beast, and I kept counting whenever it did. By the time I touched the ground again, I was only missing four kills, but I couldn’t be sure whether that was because they were still alive, or because they were killed due to friendly fire. I distanced myself a bit from the huge dust cloud and waited for it to settle. Once it did, a scene of absolute cranage was revealed, a single, confused sabretooth tiger standing atop the rubble. I didn’t give it a chance to regain its bearing, and a giant spike speared the monster in half.

I marveled at the destruction I’d wrought, this being the second time I’d used this particular trick. I’d been adjusting my strategy a bit after every wave, trying to find a way to maximize my killing potential, and after the seventh wave, this was the result. I was now nine waves in, and already my DP were getting closer and closer to the 50k threshold. There was no doubt in my mind that I would achieve my goal before the third day arrived.

I happily hopped over to the corpses and started refilling my reserves. Time to get ready for the next wave!

As the dust settled on the forty-third wave, I stared at my status proudly displaying the number 51’284. I’d done it! I’d achieved the DP necessary to buy an EX skill! I hopped around happily, temporarily ignoring the food on the ground. Oh, I was so excited!

Since I was on a time limit, I didn’t waste any time and pulled up the Pay to Win shop, navigated to the EX-skill section, and selected it. The system presented me with a list of buyable skills, and I felt like a child in a candy shop. Scanning over the possibilities with wide eyes. The list itself was extremely long, a lot longer than the SSS-tier list had been for some reason. I felt tempted to read through every single skill on display, but I had to remind myself that I was on a timer.

For now, I wanted to see what spells the system offered. An EX-rated spell would surely be a huge boon to have, so I used the filter function to trim the list significantly. My eyes instantly zeroed in on a spell simply called “meteor”, which apparently would summon a literal meteor, bringing with it widespread destruction. I was briefly fascinated by it, only to remember that if I cast that in the empty lake, I’d probably take myself out as well.

That, and the mana cost was so out of my league, it wasn’t even funny.

I continued my search, giving everything even remotely interesting a quick read. There was a spell called “The Plague” that would spread deadly, magical disease in a one-hundred-kilometer radius! An extinction-level spell to be sure, but also incredibly scary, and once again, cost a metric shit ton of mana to cast.

I saw a spell that would summon a tsunami out of thin air, one that caused an earthquake and created a giant rift, a spell that summoned a literal volcano and caused it to erupt, and a spell simply called “Death”. All of these spells were amazing, of course, but seemed more focused on widespread destruction. And every single one of them had a ludicrous mana cost attached to it.

I found a spell called “Dimension Shift”, which would allow me to teleport to any system-controlled planet, or dimension, I wanted to. Again, super cool. But if I ever planned to cast it, I needed to invest so much more into Wisdom that it might take years.

I started to realize that getting a spell was a fool's errand. These spells were powerful, true, but I needed something that gave me an immediate boost. Which meant, I needed to shift my attention toward passive skills once again. Gluttony had proven to be a massive success, so whatever the system had in store for me, would undoubtedly boost my strength into the stratosphere!

I filtered the list again, taking a look at the passive skills on offer.

The first skill in the list was called “True Immortal”. A passive skill that would occasionally upload your data into the system, so that you could restore yourself to that point if you died. A crazy skill, and a definite maybe. “God of Attributes” made it so that whenever I’d gain an attribute point it would be doubled and would allow me to use four more attributes. This would obviously synergize like crazy with Gluttony, so I put that down as a maybe too.

The next skill of interest was called “The Original Sin”, which seemed to be a combination of all the “Sin” skills I’d seen in the SSS tier, albeit with lesser effects. Then there was a passive called “Perfect Warrior” which gave crazy bonuses for all physical combat-related things. I wasn’t particularly interested in that, but its existence meant that there was probably a similar skill for magic.

There were several skills that would provide crazy boosts for certain types of magic, like “Summoner of Extinction”. Which would not only give access to summoning magic if I didn’t have it, but promised unlimited summoning slots, magic stat boosts, and the ability to summon the craziest things.

And then, I finally found it. An EX tier passive skill for general magic use. My white whale, my holy grail. Yes, a lot of the skills I’d seen would have been amazing picks, but this one was just… a cut above. Not only did it improve every single aspect of spellcasting, but it even gave crazy attribute bonuses!

Magical Singularity (EX)

+100% Intelligence

+100% Wisdom

Increase efficiency of Intelligence and Wisdom points by 50%

Reduce the mana cost for all spells by 25%

Increase XP gain for all spells by 30%

Your understanding of magic increases at an astonishing rate.

Grants access to the Magical Truth skill tree.

Mages of a certain tier will feel your presence and be favorable toward you.

I read over the skill description several times just to make sure that I wasn’t imagining things. This felt… almost illegal. Sure, the other skills I’d looked at were equally bonkers, but the sheer increase in power this single skill offered was… crazy. Not only would it permanently double my points in intelligence and wisdom, it even made the points more effective. The skill was already worth taking just for these benefits alone.

Everything else was just icing on the cake! I’d even get a new skill tree to invest in!

For just a moment in time, I questioned my decision. If things were too good to be true, they usually were. Would the system strike me down for my hubris if I dared select this skill? Would it send every single hunter on this layer after me if I did? I quickly dismissed these concerns. I’d decided that the system was but a tool. I selected the skill without looking back. This was the ideal passive for me. The passive that every mage desired.

I almost expected there to be some kind of fanfare, a huge parade heralding the arrival of the extraordinary skill. But nothing of the sort happened. The skill was merely added to my list of passive skills and I felt the mana penetrate my very being. I felt like I drank every cup of coffee on Earth twice over, completely jacked up on the feeling of brimming with, nay, oozing magic from my very being.

I had to take a look at my stats.

Name

Gary

Traveler Tier

1

Type

Monster(P2W)

Species

Nascent Voidling (T4)

Level

20

Max HP

805

Max MP

16'190

Max VMP

8'904

Strength

45

Agility

59

Intelligence

188

Wisdom (C)

220

Constitution

70

Luck

54

Attribute Points

0

Skill Points

26

Data Points

1'284

Skill Trees 2/2

Poison

Magical Truth

Mutations

2

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at my new MaxMP. The paltry sum of a bit over two thousand that I had before this absolutely paled in comparison. I wouldn’t need to worry about mana consumption ever again! Some of those EX-tier spells needed over one hundred thousand MP to cast, so I had a long way to go if I wanted to get there. But still!

My cup runneth over!

I’d done some machine-gunning with my spells before, but now, the limit of having to spend my MP was almost removed. Dear god, I just trivialized this bonus objective. I dared the next wave to start, double dared it, even. The rest of this challenge would be a breeze!

You have completed a bonus objective!

Defend a Node for three days (3/3)

Congratulations!

And with that, it was done.

The rest of the objective had, as predicted, been easy. Every time a new wave arrived I could just spam spells like it was nobody's business, deleting the competition. I’d selected the mutation reward for both of my rewards, which netted me two and three mutations respectively, bringing me to a total of seven. Happy that I already had this many points stocked up before evolving, I hopped out of the empty lake, leaving it behind for a rando monster to claim.

And with that, I’d completed every objective put before me by the system and I was ready to evolve. Technically.

My defense of the node, with the complementary dead monsters to eat, had pushed my attribute points to even greater heights. I surpassed my status before I was lost by leaps and bounds. Yet, there was still one more thing I wanted to do before evolving.

It was time to kill a hunter.