FMH: Everything ~ Thirty-Eight

“I can't believe how much Potentia this is worth!” Zed had taken to sitting around and pretending to meditate as he returned the attacks to the sentinels. He had asked Andre to grow a stump for him to sit on to make sure that he maximized the range of his stolen Mastery. It didn't matter if it was above him, below him, or to the sides, any projectile coming within three feet was returned.

At this point, they had been at it for days, with Taylor joining in on the fun by stealing her own Spell version of Luke’s new Skill. Between the three of them constantly returning attacks, Luke endlessly destroying Sentinels, Taylor sending out endless lightning storms, and Andre creating a deadly underbrush that slowly but constantly subsumed the towering Sentinels, the respawn rate of the monsters was ever-so-slowly decreasing. It had gone from nearly instant to just shy of three seconds at this point.

They were all swimming in Potentia, especially Zed, who was getting hundreds  per kill. This led to endless theorizing by Andre, who had gone off on a rant about how the Bard had practically never killed any monsters to this point and had then started with such impressively strong ones. Even with the rate of decay he would have to deal with over time, the sheer influx of power was more than he had ever seen in his life.

Luke was already on his second level up, and from the events he had been observing over the last few days, he was leveling up even slower than his teammates. What he truly wanted to do was invest his Potentia in his Source-cerer’s armory Skill, but unfortunately, it appeared to have been locked at Tier nine, level nine. When he had attempted to devote the final point it required, his Sigil rejected the input, and a tiny lock with the crest of the Hollow Kingdom had appeared over the Skill. He checked it one more time, just to be certain.

Source-cerer’s Armory (Tier 9, level 9). You have devoted the maximum amount of Potentia allowed to this Skill! In order to upgrade it further, you must receive direct permission from the King after a thorough study has been performed on it to ensure that it will not interfere with your duties to the Hollow Kingdom.

The Murderhobo felt a growl building in his chest, but he channeled his anger into the enemies waiting to be destroyed. One after another they fell, doing their best to inflict harm on him. Due to the powers he had gained from one of their own, they overwhelmingly failed. “Fine! Increase to level fifteen.”

Hello, there! It looks like you're trying to devote 98,700 Etheric Xenograft Potentia to leveling yourself up! As this level is 3/4 of what is required to ascend to a Higher Realm permanently, the Hollow Kingdom would like to remind you that reaching level 20 can only occur with a direct order from the ruler of the Hollow Kingdom. An alert will be sent out to your first line leader, their supervisor, as well as placed in the Royal Ledger, that you have increased your level to this point!

Make sure to spread out your expenditure of Potentia so that you're able to keep up with the increased mandatory duties and services to the kingdom that your level will bring. Are you sure that you would like to increase to level 15? Yes / No.

“Yes.” Luke tried to keep his mind off the fact that his increased level would bring greater attention to him. He looked over his Characteristic information, placing this upgrade in Fitness, as was his usual. “Neat, now I can casually inflict seven hundred fourteen points of punching damage without having to activate any other Skills. Thank you, Source-cerer’s Armory.”

Cal Scan

Level: 15

Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 2,799/61,000 to level 14!

Body: 40.85

Fitness: 56.7

Resistance: 25

Mind: 22.4

Talent: 19.9

Capacity: 24.9

Presence: 21.5

Willpower: 27

Charisma: 11

Senses: 29.85

Physical reaction: 39

Mental energy: 22.7

Maximum health: 1020 (Giga)

Maximum mana: 378

Mana regen: 6.57 per second Overridden: 100 per second.

His situation wasn't like most other Ascenders. Luke wouldn't be getting an increase to his Noble rank, a fat purse for general expenses, and long stretches in luxurious locations for his services. No, he knew from experience that all that awaited him was heavier restrictions and more fear from the weak nobility as they realized that he was coming closer and closer to escape. “They probably think I'm going to come after them… but I will literally just forget they exist and move on.”

“I can't tell you for sure which one they would prefer.” Zed spoke in his ear, using his distance speaking ability to connect the team. “One of the biggest draws in having Ascenders in their pocket is the hope that, as they ascend to higher realms, they’ll have someone waiting for them who'll give them guidance and perhaps some of the luxury they poured onto you in the past. Do you mean to tell me that, if someone were to ascend to a higher realm after you did, you’d look at them and be happy that they made it? You wouldn't try to destroy them?”

“I wouldn't bother.” Luke rejected the question immediately, only for Zed to *tsk* at him and smile knowingly in his direction.

“Really? What if it was Master Don?” Zed offered teasingly, though he flinched in the next moment and closed his eyes again as multiple needles came for him. “You mean to tell me that, if someone like that were brought up, and you were a couple levels above them, with far more powerful Skills, you wouldn't want to crush him for how he treated you when you were younger?”

Luke didn't answer, though his blood was boiling. Using that fury to motivate himself further, he decided that he had been spending far too long at the edge of Zone twenty. It was time to push deeper. On his next attack, he took several steps forward. His team noticed immediately, and each of them called out to him in their own way, with Zed being the clearest, of course. He could essentially speak directly into their ears, no matter the distance.

*Step.*

*Slam.*

*Step.*

With each attack, he followed the momentum, and soon the Murderhobo was surrounded on all sides by enemies. He constantly ground forward, attacking, stepping, attacking. He moved at a measured speed, only going a few steps every other second. If this Zone followed the principles of the others, he would need to maintain this pace for the next one thousand, three hundred and ninety-one miles to reach the end of the Zone. He hoped desperately that he would find whatever it was that was creating these creatures far before then and ease the burden on himself.

Not that he truly minded the combat, just that he was concerned about being able to stay awake long enough to get to the other side while moving this slow. He paused as he had a realization. “Wait a second… the only reason I hadn't been able to fly over these things was that I was constantly shot down.”

“Luke, don't do anything foolish! I can only maintain contact with you for about five miles before-” Zed's voice slowed to a stop as the Bard remembered who he was talking to. “Fine… I can just tell that you're about to do something that'll put you at great risk. I'll pretend I didn't know. Try to be back before Taylor gets too worried about you. I mean, I know you’ll be fine, but still.”

“Yup.” Luke launched himself upward, kicking off the nearest Sentinel and jumping onto its head. From there, he activated Bum Thunder and pointed himself directly upward, throwing Cookie forward as hard as he could and activating Feather's Fall. Hundreds of Sentinels looked up at him as if they had just spotted the most delicious thing in the universe, and thousands of weapons shifted to point upward. “I really hope my Skill can deal with all of this.”

Gravity took him, and he started moving forward down the slope, rapidly building up speed. Once every handful of seconds, he had to reactivate Bum Thunder or jump off of another creature's head. He preferred the former, as it was nearly impossible for him to see exactly what was going on below him. Everything in his vision had turned into a field of metallic white, as a constant deluge of needles were flung into the air in an attempt to destroy him.

Luke needed to control his new Skill, pulling the activation of it closer and closer to his body. He was concerned that he wouldn't be able to react in time, if some of them did manage to get through farther down the slope, but it wouldn't be able to handle everything within range. The only needles that got redirected were the ones that would have directly struck him, but not a single one of them managed to return through the wall of metal flying upward.

Even so, that wasn't his main focus.

Between his constant bounding off of enemies or increasing his velocity using his Skills, Luke was soon flying at a terrific speed. Realizing that he needed to be able to see the spawn beacon, or whatever it was, he chain-activated Bum Thunder until he was scores of meters into the sky. There was one hundred and three miles of land going width wise, and nearly fourteen hundred until the edge of the next Zone. Still, he maintained his vigilance as he flew for several hours.

Between his speed, vantage point, and near endless mana, he was able to float along until he finally spotted an anomaly in the distance. At first, he assumed that the Sentinels in that area were simply standing on a hill or something similar, but as he got closer, he could see that the T.O.E.S. were in fact nearly twice the height of the others around them. “Well, doesn't that seem suspicious.”

He activated his Soul Brand, reaching out to Cookie and sending a call for her to start catching up. Luke felt a slight tug at his movement speed, as some of his momentum was transferred to begin the initial process. It would be several hours at the minimum until she managed to catch up to him, but he didn't mind. Really, he only wanted her to witness his triumph when she showed up. Angling himself to slam into the big T.O.E.S., he equipped his Chain-Link Scourge in his right hand and a long spear in the left.

Luke flattened his body, spread his arms to the side, and leaned into the spear. The mana manifestation penetrated directly through the sentinel, followed by Luke's face. Thanks to Feather's Fall’s special ability to translate momentum into penetrative force, the Murderhobo blasted directly through the leading monster and into a box that was slightly smaller than his own body, even if it was several times harder.

He found out that fact by slamming into the artifact and bouncing off with a resounding *crack*. With the world around him spinning, he pulled himself to his feet and started battling the big T.O.E.S. Unlike their smaller counterparts, these ones didn't merely jab their needles forward like spears, instead skillfully using them as actual melee weapons. They had a greater flexibility in their bodies, allowing for more fluid and acrobatic movement, much to Luke's disgruntlement.

Damage taken: 16 penetrating damage! (186 mitigated by Promiscuous Stud Pauldron).

“That wasn't very nice!” Even as he roared at the creature's featureless face, a manic grin was spreading across his own. Luke flashed across the distance between them, whirling his Scourge above his head and wrapping it tightly around the creature's body. This removed the use of two of its ‘arms’, and the Murderhobo yanked on the manifested weapon to both pull himself closer and activate the blades hidden in the long length of rope.

The Scourge dug into the creature's body, tearing through large swaths of metallic bone, then the Murderhobo landed on its chest and shoved the spear up through the joint where the creature's spine met its head.

A moment later, it stopped moving and collapsed. Then Luke was slammed to the ground as an undamaged version of it appeared just above him, having been respawned in an instant.

“Oh, come on!”