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Chapter 903 - One shard
Published 08/11/2026, 08:28:54 AM · Edited 08/12/2026, 08:39:47 AM
POV Ceruleran Parlor
“10 million shards on him dying,” a mora woman in an all-white sundress says.
“10 million he takes one of the Champions with him,” the man with a bear face counters.
“Lady Kindness, are you not going to join our bets?” the woman with a half-spider body asks with a polite smile on her human face. Her spider face unblinkingly watches the Ruler with all its eyes.
“It would be unfair to bet against you kids,” the Ruler waves it off and rests against the person who is Nathaniel Gwyn’s handler, a woman with black hair with bits of red in it. “And what do you think? How will your ward do?”
“Adequately,” she answers.
“How very serious,” Kindness smiles even more, leaning against her friend.
“Seeing what he has done as of late and how he did against Nyssa Volare, he could probably face one of the weaker Handlers, couldn't he?” This time it is a lynthari, uncharacteristically entirely covered in fur. Body, face, all of it. That lynthari man even has a slightly more cat-like mouth he smiles with as his fluffy tail swings.
“Thankfully, there are no such people accepted into this parlor,” the demon man with glasses sitting near him snorts. “The human has guts.”
“If even you say so,” the lynthari gives a quick flash of his fangs. “How is your buddy, the Hornless, doing? Not scared he will be next after Envy?”
“How brave of you to talk about him that way when you wouldn't even be able to stand in his presence. Or did you hide your heartbeats from us? Are you at the level of Lord Wrath to talk that way?” the demon returns.
“You, my handsome fellas, can fight once this is over. Do not ruin this rare opportunity for the others, especially as I'm putting on a show for you.” A feylith woman with huge wings wearing a sleeveless dress smiles at the two men and then gestures at the spider woman. “My dear, we haven't heard your opinion.”
“Oh, Lady Lust, my opinion does not matter in comparison to everyone present here,” the spider woman gives a gentle smile. “But since it's you who asked, in my humble opinion, the human will make it out alive. As for his state, I'm not sure about that. The Champions he has decided to challenge seem like a great fit, but we all know there are always surprises.”
“I wonder what Diligence would bet on. Kant, what would your Colony leader say?” the man with the bear head asks another member of the parlor.
In reaction to that, the vessel of the Ruler of Diligence lifts his head from the device he was toying with, something akin to a far more complicated Rubik's Cube.
That vessel is a huge, muscular velnar man sitting there hunched over, timidly giving a quick, nervous smile. “The First One wouldn't care, I guess, but I personally hope he gets crushed. Though Zant seems to like him, so maybe not? He could be a decent guy I could befriend, but he made fun of the First One, so he can die too. It's complicated!”
The voice that comes from him is soft too, unfitting of his muscular body or the words he just spoke. Then, ignoring everything else, he looks back down at the device and continues to tinker with it.
At that moment, the door opens, a new figure stands outside, simply giving a nod, one of the local employees taking care of the place and the needs of the people inside.
That selari man giving a polite nod says, “The Ruler of Greed has sent a message that she is betting 100 million shards on the victory of attendee Nathaniel Gwyn. An anonymous Ruler has also bet 1 shard on the attendee Nathaniel Gwyn.”
With that, the doors close to an explosion of muttering once the selari man leaves.
“It can't be.”
“It wasn't him, right?”
“There is no way.”
“It has to be a prank. Possibly Humility? She likes those kinds of jokes.”
“As if he would ever notice someone like that human.”
“But isn't he his Adept?”
And then the Ruler of Lust snorts, “That high-nosed bitch Greed once again doesn't even show up and just sends a message like we are some trash.” The feylith flickers her wings in annoyance.
While hiding the gesture, Kindness gives a big smile to the Handler she rests against, who rolls her eyes.
Then the attention of everyone turns back to the screen just as the man in huge armor takes a step onto the 5th floor, once again sacrificing 15 stats of Constitution.
"Now, I am curious what-" the words of the bear man cut off.
That man then leaves, returning to the 4th floor.
"Oh, did our attendee get cold feet?" the lynthari gives a chuckle that shows his fangs in their full beauty, but his words also halt.
The armored man on the screen enters the 5th floor again, only to instantly leave so he can enter the 5th floor again while the people present watch in shock.
"What the actual fuck."
And again.
And one last time.
POV Nathaniel
I take my time, getting used to my lowered constitution while I look around. As always, I appear in a different spot from before, so I pull up the map in my mind and try to locate myself in relation to the two Champions I want to face.
The ones I picked are not that far from each other. There is only one other Champion somewhat close-ish, but they are known for having poor perception.
So far everything goes according to plan, and as I use mana and kinetic energy to move my armor, the earth shakes under me. Through so many layers of defenses, the air smells weird. Too clean, maybe?
After ten or so minutes, I’m somewhat adapted and begin to trigger the preprogrammed skills I have stored in the vast archive of my unique pristine passive. One after another, these intricate steps activate, requiring me to fuel them.
Useful for sure, but not as fun as having to adapt and actively do it. But it is fun in its own way. Humans are just built to strive for convenience, efficiency, and ways to game the rules, from the intern trying to find ways to slack off at work, to some asshole CEO thinking about how to avoid taxes just a little bit more.
An [Empyrean Lance], unlike any I have made before, stretches as tall as I am in my Regalia. It then launches high into the air, tied to a thread I [Weave] for connection so I’m ready to pull it back, plus some kinetic propulsion nodes glued to it to add more oomph.
[Empyrean Lance - lvl 71 > Empyrean Lance - lvl 72]
I watch that lance disappear beyond the fake clouds, thinking it might be one of the last times I see it. After all, [Empyrean Lance] is something my current class gave me, and it will be gone once I get a new one. Though I have my plans here, too.
Multiple normal projectiles form all over, floating near me, each half my height and as dense and heavy as I can make them.
Continuously, I allow my eyes to take in more and more information while doing a last check-up and fine-tuning the movements of my armor.
It might be because I’m dallying a little, but I open my status to give myself that last boost of confidence.
Name: Nathaniel Gwyn
Title: Absolute Candidate
Difficulty: Hell
Rank: S, Radiant Gold
Guild: Primordial Knights
Floor: 12 - Ancient Weapons of War
Time left until forced return: 1y 176d 19h 10m 3s
Traits (3/3): Preeminence Eyes 3/5, Mana Vessel 2/4, Empyrean Ichor (Purity: 36%) 2/5
Lvl 443
Strength: 395
Dexterity: 379
Constitution: 10
Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 2536 + 2536
Primary Class: Mana Weaver (Unique Arcane)
Sub-class: [Adept of Pride]
Active skills (9/10):
Focus - Lvl 86
Redistribution - Lvl 84
Eclipse (Pride) - Lvl 79
Empyrean Lance - Lvl 72
Manifestation - Lvl 69
Weave - Lvl 55
Selective Adaptation - Lvl 49
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 88
Attunement - Lvl 29
Constructs:
Kinetic Mana Heart
Sealed Ignition Heart (Partially Sealed, 1/3)
Sovereign Chassis
Passive skills (4/5):
Heat Resonance Restoration (Low Pristine)
Cognitive Vector Module (Unique Pristine)
Adaptive Defense (Low Pristine)
Mana Tempering (Low Pristine)
Tokens:
Send a single item to your disciple (up to epic rarity)
Beyond visitor token - 1 year (unlocked after tutorial)
Beyond 14 day stay token (x 22)
Ten minute Disciple Communication token (x3)
Mid Pristine item
Shards: 6,123,923
There is, obviously, my new construct that went much smoother than expected. As silly as it is for me to say, I’m just an attendee using a shovel to recreate something the system integrates on microscopic levels with eons of data.
Yet, I’m very happy with this one.
Congratulations, you have created a new Construct. The name will be kept as such and will be shown in the status under active skills and over passive skills. Well done!
Sovereign Chassis (construct): A controlling chassis integrated deep inside of your body and mind. It is directly connected to your Cognitive Vector Module, allowing for scaling up that is limited only by your mana.
It does all it could previously, just better, and most of it is thanks to my passive and the vector module it created deep inside of me that I connected to.
That is why my constitution is now ten. My construct, with the help of my specially dedicated submind and my unique passive, takes care of it all. It does body reinforcement, it helps with Mana Cycling, it helps with primordial energies, it keeps the mana inside of me mine, and all that stuff.
And this isn't the end of it. I saved space for future improvements.
Taking a breath of overly filtered air, I move my hand, just the one of my real body, not the armor. The layer of woven mana threads opens a spot as I grab the syringe Doc and I prepared and modified for gradual activation. I inject it into my heart, which, according to our design, begins to speed up. I boost myself into the air and begin to run in that huge armor.
Slow at first, but with time, as I pick up momentum, I speed up, breaking through the trees and crushing huge stone boulders as the earth cracks and shakes under me.
More breaths, all slow and steady as my thought acceleration begins, and I concentrate on all my preparations.
[Focus - lvl 86 > Focus - lvl 87]
The area where I’m heading is ten minutes away moving at this speed, so I scan over my status again.
I had hoped to purify my Ichor a bit more than by 6%, but despite all the attempts I made, it refused to budge. I suspect it will require trait strengthening before I can do it again or just much more time.
There are also new passives.
Incredibly, an Adaptive Defense appeared in the list of buyable passives once I got [Attunement].
Adaptive Defense (Low Pristine) - Each incoming attack registers its damage profile upon impact. Subsequent strikes of the same nature suffer heavy, stacking mitigation, while associated status effects lose their effectiveness.
Since I have [Selective Adaptation] and all that, my future goal is obvious. If I fail to get [Adaptation], I might as well lie on the floor of the sacred machine and let kindred children paint on me until lead poisoning from the paint, in combination with my inborn mana deficiency, takes me.
Just for a moment, I allow my Ignition Heart to pick up and direct the thermal energy it generates through the nodes I built into the armor. Flames spark and then burst from the back and the bottom of my feet, sending streams of fire as long as a bus and pushing me forward faster.
I crash against a giant tree without so much as slowing down. I cross a river with water spraying everywhere and boost myself up a hill that breaks under me, causing a small avalanche that I ride on before boosting myself half a mile through the air.
After landing on a mountain, I run across the peak and jump off, adding another boost onto the trees in the middle of the forest and shattering them.
The flames boosting me ahead spread between the trees, raising the temperature, setting them on fire, and burning them to ash. Even as I get further away, the flames continue to spread, setting the forest ablaze.
When I step back onto the rock, the accumulated heat at the bottom of my feet from the nodes heats up the stone, partially melting it.
I open my status again and read the description of my other passive obtained by using a reward, and not by using 24 million or so shards like in the case of Adaptive Defense.
I also sold Mana Wave Predation, which I quite liked, but it had long been lagging behind now that I can do all these things actively to a greater extent, all thanks to what I've done to my body. Without it, there isn't even that little bit left to rely on, which will force me to push my active mastery further.
And then there is my newest passive, picked out of the three I was offered, with the others being Mana Permanence (Low Pristine) and Corrosive Current (Low Pristine).
Mana Tempering (Low Pristine) - The user's mana aggressively tempers with every impact it takes, meaning active manifestations grow drastically more unyielding and destructive the harder they are hit.
I wonder if there has ever been an attendee with four Low Pristine passives, one of them even being unique.
My scan detects the presence I’m going toward, and it detects me. Knowing what will attract the second Champion, I weave a powerful flame orb and launch it in the direction of its territory. That guy hates flames, and his detection range and reaction to them are very wide. He will be here soon enough.
Of course, the Champion grade being I’m currently heading toward awakens too and begins to shake up from its slumber.
I sacrifice a few huge chunks of mana required to move me along with the huge mecha and perform three very long range teleports, with the last one bringing me high up.
Appearing in the air, I release thermal energy through the nodes in my back and boost myself toward the ground at a speed I increase with kinetic energy.
I break through the top of the mountain, which explodes across the area, and the rock melts around me as I pass down and break deep into the cavern.
There, I slam against the still barely awake hydra that lifts its five heads up in confusion, right as I crash against its body and pin it against the ground.