Day 22
Engineers, chemists, alchemists, and Dr. Raito watched with her from the safety of the bunker as data filed in as they worked. Her army's R&D worked with injected amphetamines, working on real-time data to conjure a miracle if brave Saito, her 9th strongest praetorian guard, fought with a bestial cunning against the Calamity. Real-time data from engravings on her guard's bones connected to machines told them what was happening behind the scenes. Her Minister Farnsworth shook beside her as the reality of their situation sunk in. There was no way out, and as a battle chicken born of common stock, her minister struggled against his natural instincts to flee from a mighty predator. On 8 operating tables, her strongest guards were operated on by a team of doctors cutting open their bodies. At the same time, enchanters engraved their organs before using imperfect healing potions to ensure the cuts were scarred. The smell of antiseptic filled the air as all of Dr. Raito's staff worked tirelessly while he gave commands to prepare their bodies for the changes. Even they were only used to buy time for her to go under the knife. Every second the 9th bought them was another moment to prepare to take in the evolution solution. Vats of inky black substance waited in various ways of administration to test and see what gave the best results.
Dr. Raito burst into the command bunker of the imperial palace. "Intelligence must be preserved to prevent the 8th from falling the same way the 9th will."
"He hasn't lost yet," Akane said.
"I like your optimism, young lady. When the 8th finishes, it will be your turn to go under the knife as more hands are freed. We must prepare you to be the final defense of our nation. I wanted more time to perfect the procedure, but all I could do was test my hypothesis 8 more times. We will better the process before we get to you. Our understanding of the substance has increased in recent years. My staff has only improved this mixture touches upon the limits that our floor allows." Dr. Raito said.
"Isn't there some way to get out of this? We can find a body double to take her place." Minster Farnsworth said.
Akane shook her head. "I will be the final defender of our nation as the Empress."
"I admire your sense of duty. You shall be the strongest. And the Calamity may be stopped long before you must fight." Dr. Raito said.
Her long, fluffy tails wagged at the man's words even if she knew it was only to keep morale alive. One of the doctors was losing his fur, and some of his teeth were falling out as the stress ate him alive. The drugs pumping into his system were the only things keeping him moving. If not for his steady hands, she would have had him removed already.
"You don't have to do this." Minister Farnsworth said.
"Everyone else is putting their lives on the line for me and the empire. I know you were always more loyal to me than our nation. You have to let me go, little chick. This is for the best." Akane said.
The rooster crowed out of his frustration and anguish and tore had his feathers. Akane watched as the Calamity cackled while burning alive fighting the 9th. He wouldn't die, not when the ceiling dripped molten rock or when claws met primitive chainswords.
Slowly, the minister put himself back together and focused. "He relies heavily on his weapons, but the old models were prone to breaking without regular maintenance. Can we destroy them?" Minister Farnsworth said.
"200 moves," The Calamity said.
She felt a chill run down her spine as a wound appeared on the 9th, then another. It looked like they were dancing as the air lit on fire while the Calamity counted down. Bloody steam shot out of the 9th's wounds until the Calamity took a tendon. That she knew was the end of the fight. Burned skin peeled away to reveal new pink flesh underneath the Calamity's body. Like a gator shedding, the monster seemed invigorated as his snarl split his face upward. Laughter ran through the audio as the Calamity took the 9th apart before finishing him.
"I don't know." Dr. Raito said.
"We finished closing on the 8th; vitals are recovering we're ready to administer the substance."
The firm hands of the medical staff grabbed her shoulders as the Calamity cleaned and sheathed his weapons. From different perspectives, cameras showed him reclaiming his bag.
"You need to drink this before we begin to operation." An alchemist said before practically pouring a red mixture down her throat. The 7th finished then and another doctor joined the team working on her while the other moved on to the 6th.
"Drown him in the substance until his lungs are full, then resuscitate him."
Before Akane blacked out, she prayed they didn't choose the drowning method for her.
…
My nakedness was a cause for concern. Skin flaked off of my body onto the expensive carpets of richly furnished rooms. Staff fled before me as I yanked down a curtain and tied myself to a kilt from the Verdant territory. I remembered the video I watched once and managed to tie it right. Luckily, my belt and sheathes survived the battle. The heat had been intense, and I could only really protect my eyes. Burnt hair fell off my head, leaving me bald at age 16.
I bet I was quite the sight, but at least I wasn't completely covered in blood. That was something, at least. Well, most of the blood went to my blood temple skill. I shook my head. My blood skills had been useless in that fight. My Regeneration was also moments from breaking, and my Avatar melted like a snowman in a volcano.
There were weaknesses I had to deal with, and I didn't want to use the solution I knew was obvious. My ultimate weapon wasn't my amazing skills; it was my skill block. Regeneration, Training, Adapt, and Berserk formed a tight combination of skills that empowered all my other skills. Some of my skills could be replaced with the dungeon, but with the changes, some couldn't. What kept me in the fight was my Regeneration and Berserk. Everything else played second to those two skills. From what I could tell, I needed to use Skill Fusion on my Regeneration and blood skills to tie them into something more powerful than either.
Blood Temple was tied to my Vitality, Constitution, and Endurance attributes; the higher they were, the more blood I could store. If my Regeneration was tied to my blood, then I could fuel it to reach greater heights. Instead of merely keeping me in the fight, I could heal faster than the fire could burn me.
Skill Fusion was the equivalent of breaking skills and making something new out of their pieces. From what the skill memories told me, the dungeon and my system would help when I used Skill Fusion. More importantly, I could learn from it. Skills were still a mystery to me, and learning what made them tick was a step in the right direction.
Doing this held some risks: I would lose my Regeneration for a new, if similar skill that relied on blood. Parts of my other skills would be lost, but the combined skill would be much stronger than the sum of its parts. I would have to rely on Scout's access to get a Regeneration skill shard. My block would become a triangle if my new skill didn't fit right.
On the other side of this my new skill could fit the role of Regeneration better than the original skill. A fuel source like blood would allow the skill to use resources to heal instead of manipulating my body's metabolic rates based on my Vitality, Endurance, and Constitution attributes.
My stomach growled, but the quickly rotting corpse of the nine-tailed fox didn't look appetizing. Ash rolled off of it as whatever protections it had against its own flames in life disappeared in death. I went through a few doors and found a kitchen in the servant's quarters and raided their pantry. A few dried blood eels in a can be good if a bit salty. Bread wasn't a thing here, but they had a kind of cracker made from chicken meat that paired well with the eels.
I sat on the kitchen counter while I ate and thought out what I wanted to do. Skills gave memories and brief descriptions of what they could do. This was a big undertaking, but I was confident I could pull it off. Taking a lvl1 Regeneration skill shard after this felt like it would be a hassle, but clearing up some skills for better ones felt like the right thing to do. Combining my skill square was an option, but Regeneration had a fuel problem.
I tore off the top of a large can and smelled water. That was lucky I was feeling thirsty after the fight, and all I had to drink was blood from Blood Temple. Berserk could keep me going on anger alone, and I wanted to pair it with my fell skills. Adapt would work well with psychic skills, and training would go with my cosmic or relationship skills. I haven't decided.
There were too many skills to keep up with despite the use I had for the skill points and extra attributes that came from skill trees. My skills had become too complex, and my mind was having trouble running them all, even if my body could take it. In a sense, I was an overclocked computer with nanites replacing parts as they broke down. Nanite cooling was very useful in extreme temperature environments. Still, it was better to be in a situation where it wasn't required. That's why I felt it was necessary to completely overhaul my skills until I had less than 10 that didn't come from my class. Until I could greatly raise my Intelligence to handle far more skills, that was the best decision.
My skill points were going to take a hit, but my mind would become clearer than it had been in a while. I sucked in a breath and let it out. I opened a file in my system interface and began moving skills until I had less than 10 in total.
Skill Sight and Skill Sight were left out of the fusions, and I chose to add every offensive and weapon-based skill to Berserk. Regeneration would take Avatar, Silver Strings (UC), Blood Drain, Blood Lance, Blood Manipulation (UC), Cold Blood (UC), Blood Temple (R), and Blood Malice (R); then, for added flare, I added Lightning Strike.
With that list done, I created the list for Berserk. Before I started Skill Fusion, I needed a plan. Since my enemies were happy to leave me alone for the time being while my Fell Cyclone tore a perimeter around the palace, I used my time wisely. Berserk was going to be my largest fusion by far. Lingering Will, Chainsword Mastery, Blitz Kick, Crow Step, Final Blow, Drill Spear Mastery, First Strike, Rising Valor (R), Fell Slash, Fell Wind, Fell Blitz, Fell Manipulation, Fell Lance, Fell Whirlwind (UC), and Fell Mastery (R) would all become a single skill.
Adapt was the key to fast leveling my skills, and somehow I felt that it kept my mind from falling apart. It could have Counter, Telepathy, Psy Lance, Psy Bolt, Telekinesis (UC), and Psychic (R). This one would be the second skill I fused after Regeneration.
After giving it some thought, I decided to combine all my relationship skills together by themselves.
Training would have Specialized Workout (UC), Gemini Waltz, Gemini Blitz, Cosmic Tempo, Behind the Curtain (R), and Starlight Burst (R).
Even while my chainsword ran hot and I killed with impunity, I knew there was something wrong with me. Humans weren't supposed to adapt and recover like I did. Not just with my skills but my mind. The skill square worked better than I imagined, and if I were to start getting better, I would have to keep using it.
I activated Skill Fusion and felt the world slow to a crawl. The world around me vanished, and I felt my system and the dungeon itself turn their attention to me. From me I pulled free Regeneration and all the skills I wanted to fuse with it. From there, I studied the various fractals, mathematical symbols, and connections that allowed the skill to function. There was so much information that went far over my head until all I could do was rely on my system and the dungeon to see me through the process. I began cutting parts of my skills and fitting them into place, learning by doing only for my system to tell me the effects. Dungeons could dilate time in local areas, and it seemed that as a moderator, I had premium access to that phenomenon.
Time slipped away as I studied and focused on each fractal, resetting my work repeatedly and starting again, always checking to see what action changed what. I opened multiple screens until they filled my vision with data, illuminating the blackness.
I spent over a week bumbling my way through, understanding not what skills were but how they functioned. Skills appeared as 2d circular planes when removed from my body, and they could be fused in multiple ways. Any skill with similar words in their names or connections could almost be stacked by design, becoming singular skills with the added effects of multiple skills. Avatar was the opposite; it could pair with nearly anything because it was like an empty vessel. If I wasn't careful, I would create a regenerating avatar of blood and lightning. While useful, that wasn't what I wanted.
Parts of the Avatar skill had to be removed to make it less of a body independent of my own. I had to figure out which part of Regeneration connected the skill with myself. I chopped the skills apart and reset them repeatedly until I got it right and ran a simulation. When I saw my blood turn into frozen lightning and my body stretch to proportions like the Avatar, I knew I needed more work. The knife was the most useful tool, after all. This was one of the easier skill fusions.
I learned to merge my blood skills together first since they were the easiest to combine, leaving only Regeneration, Avatar, and Lighting Strike as the odd skills out. My Berserk fusion was going to be a nightmare, I could tell. Fortunately, I could tell my blood skills would remain mostly intact. When combined and no longer each using up their own separated spaces, I could tell my mind would be far less taxed, and there was a measure of continuity with the blood skills. Even the memories from them would fit better in my head.
The problem remained the same, and if I wanted to make Avatar and Regeneration cooperate, I had to, in a sense, keep the form my Avatar wanted to become. Avatar was a skill that was ultimately an empty vessel; it was the blood skills that gave it shape and my own preferences. The skill even fused wanted to become the 12ft tall behemoth. Mind death was a certainty before the transformation finished. I could live with being a 12-foot-tall behemoth just fine, but I couldn't survive the process if it was instant.
I studied the fractals around the activation of the skill. They were on nearly every skill, but some activated instantly while others had to be activated. Regeneration would simply regenerate any problems with the skill. I had already connected the blood supply with the energy requirements of the Regeneration skill. As it worked, my pillar skill was integrating well to the point I could hardly tell they had ever been separate.
A month flew by before I believed I figured out how to solve the problem. I could have thrown away Avatar at any time. Still, instead, I extended the time it would take to become the giant. I connected it to the cut-off metabolic rates from Regeneration. This would change an instant transformation into a process that could take decades to complete. By the point it became a problem; hopefully, I would understand skills much better.
Lightning Strike took even longer. I had to eventually break the skill into individual fractals and place them individually in the layers of blood skills. Simulations cleared showed blood lighting connected by forced electron changes in blood. It would turn my blood supply into something of a battery.
I ran multiple simulations and looked over my new skills. Then, I slowly began condensing it, marveling as the pieces fit into place until it became a tiny disk no larger than the tip of my finger. Still, I shrank it more until it became a tiny drop of blood and let it sink back into my body.
Reality slammed back hard and fast as my heartbeat raced. I was back in the servant quarter's kitchen, sitting on a kitchen counter after what felt like a year.
Ping!
New Skill
Sky Fiend Apotheosis (O) lvl1
Rank: 3
Description: Almost Legendary but only Obscure from the days of powerful female blood drinkers raping young sky gods and bearing divine offspring. The demigods born were blights on mortals with their endless hunger for blood and control over lighting; they were a sign of the Sky Father's displeasure. The shame often kept the Sky Fathers from defending their worshippers. This powerful blood belongs to you; it will show signs of what skills are needed to further enhance it down this path. While none of the species between blood drinkers and Sky Fathers reached their full potential, perhaps you will do what they could not and survive.
I blinked at the skill and rubbed my cheek. The difference was night and day. Also, what did Rank: 3 mean? I haven't heard of that context before. Did I receive a new update from the government, or did the dungeon do something to my system?
Even with my mind feeling far clearer than before, my work wasn't done; there were 4 more skill fusions to complete, and the easy part might be over.