CC 9: Tenacity ~ Forty-Seven

Watching carefully as a hacked-off Cyclops finger was fed into his aspect tower, Joe had to take deep breaths so he didn't feel too queasy. It wasn't that the actual process of watching a body get converted into aspects was an issue, more it was the fact that this had been an intelligent monster that spoke to him directly. Something about that made this process more… personal.

“Can't complain about the results though.” Joe breathed to himself as he watched Unique aspects flooding into his Natural Aspect Jars. He was going to be able to turn this creature that had created such devastation, and led swarms of monsters against them, into the very thing that it was trying to prevent: a civilization. He was already demarcating sections of the monster for his projects. “I think I’ll need half a foot in order to build a greenhouse, a couple of fingers in order to set up the rest of the quality of life rituals, I wonder if I can make a ritual efficient enough to only need a fingernail per apartment building? Hmm…”

He made some notes in his notebook as he waited for the rest of the finger to dissolve. When that was done, he closed it with a snap and motion for the next chunk to be brought in. Joe flinched away as he looked to the side and saw the enormous eyeball being rolled toward him. For an instant it’d seemed to be staring directly into his soul, and he had froze up. Not in the debuff way, but just in a natural reaction to seeing an enormous, freaky eye staring at you.

Unfortunately, whatever effect the eye had on intelligent creatures had faded with its death, or he would’ve fought to turn the grisly organ into a defensive structure.

It was rolled into the opening, rapidly dissolving the exterior of it, then it deflated like a balloon as a large hole was punched in one side, and the thick gel within it spurted out into the tower. Joe directly gagged at that, stepping back a few feet. “Abyss! what in the…! Okay, at least it went in there and is being dissolved. That would’ve been a nightmare to clean up.”

As it deflated, it stopped moving into the tower of its own accord, and they had to work with a half-deflated eye flopping in place as they tried to force it deeper into the opening. Joe didn't even touch it with his hands, instead pushing with his ritual orbs to get a nice even distribution of force across its surface. Then the cleanup crew left with a wave, off to chop off another chunk. Joe went back to his notes, once again waiting for the next piece to start arriving, when he heard a sharp *clink*. He looked up with a slight frown, trying to find what had made that noise. When he looked into the aspect tower, it was like looking into a spotlight, his ears filled with the astral scream of a magical item thanks to his Magical Synesthesia—it was painful to listen to, heavily distorted because of its Beginner rank—and he realized what had happened.

Joe had just found the core of the Cyclops, and he needed to tuck it away before anyone noticed. He deactivated the ritual with a thought, Omnivaulting head-first directly into the half dissolved goo that was filling the tower and swimming through it until he grasped the shining object. He got to his feet, half submerged in aqueous humor as he triumphantly sucked the luminescent gem into his codpiece. He stared into the distance as he read over the notification of the item, already knowing exactly what he wanted to use it for.

Item gained: Monster Core (Artifact). This core can be converted to 12,000 experience, or used for other crafting purposes.

“You’re going to be my first Artifact ranked aspect jar. As soon as I can convert you over, I'll be able to start constantly accumulating bright orange aspects. What a beautiful addition!” Joe was muttering to himself furiously as he made his plans, nearly quivering in excitement to get started on the process, even though he knew that he was nowhere near having enough aspects to begin the conversion process. But as soon as he did… he would never run out of them again, at least not permanently.

“I think he finally lost it.” A hushed voice echoed in the building, reaching Joe's ears and causing them to twitch and burn bright red in shame. “He's just standing in that sludge, slapping his hands up and down on the surface of it like a child in a bathtub.”

“I needed crafting materials!” Joe shouted back, his entire bald head now a bright red. He swam out of the muck, stepping out of the tower and reactivating the permanent Field Array the aspect tower generated. He couldn't bring himself to meet anyone else's eyes, and they were all grinning at him with only a hint of concern nestled beneath the mocking smiles. “A-hem. Anyway, what's the next piece that you brought me?”

“We brought the rest of its big ol’ head, but I'm pretty sure it won't fit in there. It's too hard for us to chop up without dulling our weapons, so we just sliced through the brainstem and rolled it this way.” With that description, Joe carefully didn't stare directly at what they brought him, instead simply nodding and setting up an extremely thin Field Array. He was going to have to slice this into chunks, but didn't want to waste all of the valuable aspects that would be lost in the process if he made a full-size one.

The grisly work continued for days, even though the Cyclops was the first and most important of them. Tens of thousands of monster corpses in various states of ‘destroyed’ were brought to him thanks to being considered his kills, though he ensured that he parceled them out correctly for taxes, as well as what he owed his other assistants and employees. Eventually, Joe looked up and didn't see another body waiting for him, and allowed himself a breath of relief. It was wonderful to gain so many crafting materials, but the gore of the situation had practically numbed him to the excitement of it all.

Finally, with all of that out of the way, Joe turned his attention to all of the notifications that he’d been holding off on reading. After all, letting the corpses rot would have meant fewer aspects gained. The system messages came to him in the form of Town first, system announcements for him personally, and then changes to his skills and stats. He assumed they had been arranged that way on purpose, so he didn’t brush past any of them.

Settlement upgrade to Town complete! Every person who actively defended the city has gained 10,000 experience! Your town has been given a 100 hour monster repellent, and no monsters will be able to approach your walls unless a member of your settlement initiates combat. New building slots are available, expand this section to peruse those updates!

“Well that was a nice little bonus.” Joe shook his head slightly, “More experience than I've seen in a while—no, don't get grumpy. There's a lot more messages.”

He took a breath and moved to the next section, which had a strange border of gold around it, indicating that it had come from an administrator or moderator team that were still in control of the system. It filled Joe with a strange sense of relief to know that this place was still being actively directed, and he hoped that they were working for the good of the people trapped in this world.

Congratulations! Your request to have the issue elevated has brought direct administrator attention to your actions on Jotunheim. Your non-direct combat prowess has been noted, and restrictions upon skill gain, experience gain, and aspect gain have been unlocked, allowing you to further refine and enhance your unique method of not-exactly-combat. From now on, your encounters with monsters will yield greater rewards.

Thanks to your faction leader ( Occulttatum ) arguing on your behalf, we are pleased to inform you that you will gain a full 50% of the experience and aspects from Monsters defeated through non-direct combat methodology. We hope that you understand that this enhancement in value is entirely in recognition of your ingenuity and resourcefulness in dispatching foes beyond your true combat capabilities.

We hope that you will keep up the good work, and continue to explore innovative ways to overcome challenges. Your strategic thinking and mastery of unconventional methods will be key to your future success, or the reason for your eventual downfall. Happy hunting, may your victories be as overreaching as your methods.

Joe read that message several times, tasting the words by saying them softly, and eventually coming to recognize the message for what it was: he’d just made some moderator extremely angry, and they were giving him his rewards even while doing their best to craft the message in a condescending and insulting way. His lips curled up, and Joe chuckled softly. “Looks like no matter how powerful you are, there's always someone above ya. I’ll keep that in mind, sorry if I caused you trouble, Mod.”

The Ritualist flinched as another message intruded in his line of sight, blocking the others that were waiting for him. This one flared with the light of the sun, and he read it with some trepidation.

Don't worry about that, young one. Within the intricate web of life's tapestry, there is always someone perched upon a higher rung of power. Never forget that true strength lies not solely in one's position, but in how that power is wielded. It is the compassionate and wise who rise above, inspiring unity and lifting others toward greatness. So long as you remember to strive not just for power and lofty positions, but for the noble character that defines true leadership, you'll be just fine.

-A.

That was the second time Joe had seen a message signed off in this particular way, with that particular flavor of notification burning his eyes at the same time as filling him with warm and fuzzy happiness. He took a deep breath, nodded a single time in recognition, and let the message fade away so that he could see what else was waiting for him.