Godfather's System

172. Augmentation - 15

Stepping through the magic gate to the dungeon was a strangely familiar feeling, though it took me a while to understand exactly where that sensation was coming from.

Then, I realized why it took that long. The last time I had felt it, I was trying not to bleed to death, right when this mess had started, and could barely pay attention to my surroundings.

I didn't have too much time to compare, as the sensation of traveling through a tunnel of light lasted for a fraction of a second. Without my Perception, I wouldn't have even had the chance to observe.

However, the moment my feet touched the solid ground, I was attacked by a shadow of some sort. I stopped thinking about the similarities between the dungeon entrance and the hero summoning — not that I didn't feel it was important, but it was better to discuss it with Zolast — and focused on the more immediate threats.

[+11,820 Experience]

A slash of my sword was enough to take the shadow down, shattering its existence.

Zolast wasn't joking when he mentioned the mana shadows being far easier opponents. I wasn't an expert mage, but my stat combination still gave me an ability to observe mana unmatched by all but the best, allowing me to see through the structure of the shadow easily, a cloud of mana, held together with some solid lines.

Breaking one was enough to destabilize the monsters completely. The mana that created the structure gathered into a small ball, creating a mana stone.

However, as I examined the result, I received another attack … then another.

[+10,309 Experience]

…

[+9,644 Experience]

Zolast wasn't exaggerating when he said a dungeon without limiters was a dangerous environment. Without the awareness given to me by the combination of Agility and Perception, I would have received several painful attacks.

However, that was only theoretical as I danced between the attacks, dodging them as I countered. A mana attack would be enough to kill all that surrounded me, but I decided against it, instead, using it as a chance to train.

I used Charisma to pull the shadows toward me. My attackers multiplied, rushing from every direction and angle.

With Intelligence, I was getting better and better at putting my fighting style together, and the endless attacks were quite useful for that. And, since my enemies would die from a glancing strike, I focused on my Agility. The fight with Limenta showed that I wasn't as good at dodging as I wished.

Of course, he was receiving double Agility for every level up, making our stats a complete mismatch. Before my long rest, I would have just dumped some stat points to balance it, but my discovery with Strength tempted me to experiment first.

The more I experimented with it, the more I realized I was just scratching the surface about Stats and their benefits. I wondered why I was able to discover things that others didn't even think of. Was it my outsider perspective, my class, the fact that I wasn't linked to the gods…josei

As more and more mana shadows were rushing toward me, I ignored those thoughts, and focused on the present. The declaration of the war, just days after the cultist threat lost its biggest momentum, was a timely reminder that free time was a luxury that I needed to enjoy.

So, I focused on my Agility, trying to replicate what I had done with my Strength. But, even as the shadows piled against me, I failed to resonate with it the same way I had been hoping for. Something was missing. Something important.

It suddenly clicked.

I was lacking a sense of urgency.

My Perception was too high, giving me the awareness of every single shadow. Perception wasn't some kind of incredible shortcut in melee combat … when fighting against an opponent that could react and adapt. However, the mana shadows had a simple approach, with even fewer self-preservation habits than the ordinary beasts, making them extremely predictable.

Suppressing my Perception completely wasn't too difficult. After constantly suppressing my Concealment for long stretches, I was too familiar with the sensation.

"Frustrating," I muttered as I suddenly started moving faster and faster to avoid the attacks, especially ones that were coming from behind. Without Perception, I felt blind.

Yet, even with that limitation, none of the shadow creatures was able to touch me, Agility allowing me to react in ways that were supposed to be impossible, countering their attacks. The moment I noticed a new attack, my body was already moving.

With a sudden wild decision, I closed my eyes, limiting the inputs even more, all the while trying to reach my Agility. A minute passed, which turned into five…

Something clicked.

It was an ephemeral sensation, like a dream. Like I was floating on the clouds, untethered… Like rules didn't apply to the way I moved. It wasn't just some kind of crazy flexibility, but something different.

A fight was never a series of disconnected moves. The momentum of the body and the center of my weight mattered. And, while the way Strength worked helped me to deliver some devastating hits from terrible angles and poorly balanced stances, it was still a problem that required compensation.

That suddenly didn't matter. The balance and momentum of my attacks started shifting almost magically to compensate, accompanied by near-instantaneous reactions. In a way, it felt like using a Skill, but without the sense of suddenly losing control. Using a skill was restricted, choppy, almost like autopilot. Master skills were much better in that aspect, but it still had restrictions.

Agility didn't have that problem.

Only when the density of the mana shadows around me lessened did I stop suppressing my Perception once more, focusing on my surroundings? There hadn't been one of those giant shadows that Zolast warned me about, but that wasn't too much of a surprise. After all, their presence would be caused by overflowing mana. And, after I swept the floor with Charisma and pulled all of them toward me, there wasn't much mana left.

Understandable, and this floor barely existed for a few hours, with no chance to accumulate enough mana. A good way to test a dungeon run, but even as I depleted the shadows, it gave me less than a hundred million experience, not even enough for another level.

It was getting harder and harder to level up.

With a sigh, I turned my attention to the next aspect. The loot.

Around me, there was a pile of skill and mana stones, mixed with occasional stat stones. At one point, it was an unmatched treasure. Now, it was merely a nice payout. Just like Experience points, what was valuable and what was not changed continuously.

As I collected them, the odd shadows had been conjuring near me, allowing me to watch the process now that I wasn't distracted by exploring the limits of Agility. After some observation, I realized there was some kind of precursor to them appearing. A subtle flicker in the mana cloud, a second before the mists rushed toward it and formed another shadow.

I would have just assumed it was a weird mana reaction, but after Zolast's explanation, I could see that it was the mysterious energy that Zolast had mentioned. Not because I could actually detect the energy, but thanks to Awakened Intelligence and Attunement, I could predict the way mana was supposed to move, and was able to notice where that pattern broke.

Interesting, I thought even as I continued to fill the sack I had brought with me with loot, watching to see if I could catch something like that. Soon, I caught a pattern. Whenever there was a higher density of mana, it gathered into a secondary clump, and turned into a skill stone.

"Curious," I thought, and the next time it happened, I used my Speed to move next to it, and tried to push my Mana into a hit, trying to create a bigger Skill stone.

Only to connect with the System.

[Skill Stone Formation Detected: Stab. Enhance?

Accept / Reject]

It disappeared before I could decide, not that I actually wanted to do so. The reason was simple. I could feel the same blockage that had been preventing me from reading the notifications related to Authority.

Interfering with Skills was most likely related to Authority — or Zolast would have mentioned its possibility — so it made sense that it was blocked by the same method. Yet, the fact that I could read it in the first place raised two possibilities. Whatever was blocking my reach was weaker for skill manipulation.

Or it didn't work well in the dungeons.

Luckily, testing that wasn't too hard. I closed my eyes, trying to recreate the same feeling I had when I had reached the Astral world next to the Breach.

And, I found out that I could replicate that feeling. There was some sense of a barrier, but it didn't feel strong. Like I could just push and reach the other side. Tempting, but I decided not to take the risk.

Instead, I stayed near, curious whether I could catch the creation process of Stat stones. Unfortunately, after fifteen minutes of observation, I failed to do so.

A task for another time, I decided.

I gathered my mana, and activated the exit.