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Ch206-Rematch 

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[??? (???) Defeated!]
[Due to defeating an enemy 50 levels above you, additional experience will be awarded!]

[Swamp Lord] has reached level 46!
+5AP

[1 perk available for [Swamp Lord]]

[??? (???) Defeated!]

Between the various explosives going off, Sylver’s eye-bulging pain of having his mana channels deep-fried and repaired, and the blinding influx of notifications, he just barely managed to spot the newest addition to his choice of perks.

All at once the swamp went silent, as the shades disappeared into the shadows, and returned to Sylver.

He had spent an entire day wandering the swamp, spreading carrion, making noise, sending waves upon waves of shades in different directions to massacre whatever poor creature happened to be present, and in an almost trance-like state, fiddled around with his ever-increasing botanical mushroom garden.

[Seed Store] came with the convenient function of sidestepping Sylver’s memory issues, and instead gave him a nearly eidetic memory when it came to which plants he was capable of creating out of nothing.

Which was very appreciated, given the sheer amount of “duds” Sylver had created and unwillingly added to his [Seed Store].

“What’s wrong?” Ria asked, as she descended from the sky, and flicked away the bloodied filth that had collected on her staff.

Given that the system didn’t regard her as a separate person, every monster she impaled might as well have been killed by Sylver’s own two hands. Off in the distance, Sylver heard the sound of a very large quantity of water splashing into the swamplands, and vaguely felt a wave pass through the water underneath his feet.

As it turned out, Cory and Uri were a perfect combination. 

Cory was small enough that she could comfortably fit inside Uri’s soft inner body, and Uri discovered that her spikes were significantly deadlier when the monster she was impaling was confused and trapped in a whirlpool of floating water.

Sylver watched them for a while, at one point Cory was just sucking up those weird naked birds into her watery sphere, and then she simply pulled them towards Uri and impaled the monster before it had realized what was going on.

Aleri and the snake thing were a similar deadly duo, although admittedly, the snake would be a deadly duo with just about anything. The tiny beetles on its back figured out that very few monsters have something protecting their eyes, noses, and ears, and went to fucking town.

Sure, a couple might die during the attempt, but the shade beetles didn’t care, they were immortal.

And once one was inside, and scratching, biting, and tearing at the delicate flesh that contained a creature’s eyeball, sinus, or whatever their equivalent of an ear canal was, the monster was pretty much done.

Especially when the beetles ignited the small ball of explosive, they carried around with them. Sylver gave the snake 3 bombs without the trigger, and the snake used its tongue to gently mold the clay-like explosive into small balls, each one about the size of 3 peas. 

The beetles had a very convenient empty space on the bottom part of their abdomen, and like a bee, they pushed the explosive into their bodies, and as Sylver discovered, could get it out of themselves and build something akin to a cocoon out of the clay-like explosive. He wasn’t sure how this could come in handy, but now Sylver had a way of delivering explosives to very small and confined spaces.

Like cracks in a wall, the inside of a small chest, the inside of a helmet, the inside of a sword’s sheathe, a mouth, ear, eye, or one of the holes down below. The one people tended to protect with underwear and fancy armor, but very rarely actually plugged up, in the event of small exploding insects.

And these beetles weren’t weak, clenching will at most deter them. Once they start biting and cutting, it’s a choice between killing them, losing focus, or getting killed by whatever else was attacking the person while they're too distracted by the beetles trying to crawl up the last place anyone wants anything to crawl into. 

There were a few monsters that were tough enough that the beetles couldn’t do anything to them, even when they were inside the body, but those were the exception and not the rule. In this particular swamp, fangs, stingers, claws, spikes, spit, glands, oil, and slime were the preferred method of defense and attack, the vast majority of which was utterly useless against an undead creature.

Doubly so, when Aleri flew around with a dagger, and either slashed something to create a hole or simply stabbed it, by colliding with it directly. A couple of times, he managed to cut something important, and the monster just died from its venom sack being sliced open, or in one case, it popped like a balloon, on account of being inflated with air to appear bigger than it actually was.

Spring purposely scared away the ones that looked difficult to kill and herded the soft and bright colored ones towards the shades’ killing field. He kept the ones with armor, rough scales, or anything that seemed like it could move very fast, as far away from Sylver and the shades surrounding him as possible.

[Undead Mastery (VI) Proficiency increased to 11%!]

[Mirage (III) Proficiency increased to 100%!]
[Mirage (III) rank up available!]

[Draining Blight (VI) Proficiency increased to 37%!]

[Necrotic Mutilation (III) Proficiency increased to 100%!]
[Necrotic Mutilation (III) rank up available!]

[Mutating Override (III) Proficiency increased to 52%!]

Sylver looked up at Ria, as he ordered the various [Corpse Blossom] flowers to stop pumping him full of mana and wiped the blood and sweat away from his face.

His conditions had swapped places.

Before Sylver was fine on the inside but looked like shit on the outside.

Now he could feel his internal organs struggling to stay “alive,” but appeared to be in peak health on the outside. 

Sylver had refrained from fighting anything directly. He instead sucked the health out of various monsters using his [Draining Blight] skill. Specifically, he imbued a long vine with his mana and absorbed HP through it.

Having said that, Sylver wasn’t so much damaged as much as he was tired. He felt drained, oddly enough, even though his body was overflowing with mana and life force.

Sure, with every single 2nd tier spell he cast, with every single new point of intelligence and wisdom that he gained, his mana channels expanded and healed into an ever so slightly bigger and more accepting state, but Sylver was exhausted from the task.

He felt like going to bed and sleeping for a year or two.

“Your eyes are bleeding,” Ria said, as Sylver reached up with a hand and wiped the blood out of his eyes with his sleeve.

At least he had trained his body to stop shutting down after a measly 2nd tier abyss magic spell. Now he could cast it as many times as he wanted, provided he didn’t have a problem with the flesh around his fingers being vaporized in the process.

Sylver preemptively peeled the skin away, to stop it from being burned, so it wasn’t that big of an issue, but it was still annoying.

“Are you alright?” Ria repeated, as Sylver brushed his hair out of his face again and moved the position of the strands around until they were comfortably sitting at the back of his head.

“I’m fine thank you for asking. But while you’re here, you should probably use your various sensors to check to make sure,” Sylver said, as Ria made that mix of whirring and clicking noises that told Sylver she was doing something.

He wasn’t sure when he would be able to discuss Ria’s findings with her, but he wanted to give her as much information as possible. Sylver had stopped killing monsters and pulled his army back for 2 reasons.

The first was that they were starting to lose, the level of the monsters was starting to get too high for the shades to deal without Sylver being nearby, or with a [Corpse Blossom] boosting their stats.

And the second was that Sylver saw a perk he really wanted to get.

Partially because he was curious, but mostly because he was hoping this would be the boost he needed to figure out how to create mushroom teleportation rings.

All the other perks predictably increased his water and earth manipulation, another offered a 20% strength increase, in exchange for a 20% dexterity decrease, another offered a slight boost in mana and health regeneration while standing perfectly still under direct sunlight, but came with a reduction in both when not under direct sunlight.

This was the only perk that was all positives, no negatives, and more importantly, might give Sylver a clue as to how exactly the “mages” of this era function and use their magic.

[Perk: Novice Chloromancy]
-User is able to cast 2nd tier Chloromancy spells.

Some part of Sylver had expected for this to be the moment the system fucked up, and he felt a rush of power and information. But it was so subtle that if he didn’t feel the reaction in Ria’s soul, he wouldn’t have had any idea as to when exactly the perk had come into effect.

Once again, the line between what Sylver knew before the perk, and what he knew after accepting it, was blurred to the point Sylver felt sick at the level of precision and smoothness.

There wasn’t a eureka moment, nothing so unrefined, Sylver simply saw the flaws in his plant magic. Without having to think about it, the thorns buried in the ground beneath his feet altered their shape, just the slightest amount, their angle was adjusted, the thickness, sharpness, how spread out they were, it was as if a master Chloromancer walked into Sylver’s head, and ever so gently provided him with advice.

Sylver continued looking at his feet as he raised his hand, and a bright white bulb sprouted out of the muddy ground. It grew until it was at the same height as Sylver’s head, and as Sylver slowly opened his hand, the bulb opened, and a blinding white light started to shine out of the flower.

Sylver continued opening his hand, and the intensity of the light increased with every second until Sylver started to feel his robe reacting to the light. He backed away from the blossoming plant, even as he continued supplying it with mana, and found that it was now bright enough that he could see it with his eyes closed.

Out of pure curiosity, Sylver kept giving the plant more and more mana, as he felt its roots hungrily slither down through the moist dirt and could almost feel every stone and pebble that got in its way. With his body safely hidden behind a tree, Sylver continued increasing the intensity of the light, up until he felt the plant itself tell him to stop.

It was so bright, that even this close to nighttime, it looked like it was the middle of the day. Sylver continued pushing it, and then felt something akin to a crack, as the plant simply fizzled away into nothing.

Although it would take some experimentation and getting used to, Sylver now possessed the ability to create flora that could cast spells. His sigil carved mushrooms contained a spell, but now Sylver could make something that would follow his instructions the way a shade or zombie would, while being able to use the mana it sucked up from the ground, and air.

“Bruno said as much, but the mages in this era are essentially the same as you. They’re given a box full of building blocks, and then need to figure out how they all fit together… Theoretically, if I knew exactly which blocks they were provided, I could create something to cancel all of their spells out… But I don’t know what I know, and what I’ve been made to know, you know?” Sylver asked as Ria nodded.

“You need something to compare it to. You need a second [Swamp Lord] to check which building blocks you were given, and which ones you already had,” Ria said, as she floated over to Sylver’s back, and settled down inside his robe.

During their “walk” towards the heart of the swamp, Ria had learned that flying around did tire her out, although she couldn’t explain how or why, only that she needed a couple of minutes to sit around motionless.

Sylver’s best guess was that the SAM worm golem part of her that could cast magic had some sort of built-in overheat prevention, so Ria didn’t use too much mana too fast and became damaged.

Total Level: 156
[Koschei-10]
[Necromancer-100]
[Swamp Lord-46]

CON: 200
DEX: 110
STR: 110
INT: 314
WIS: 255
AP: 75

Health: 1,921/2,000
Stamina: 995/1,000
MP: 7,462/12,560

Health Regen: 23.34/M
Stamina Regen: 20.00/M
MP Regen: 7206.30/M

Sylver’s face contorted into an almost disturbing grin, as he silently placed all 75 points into intelligence.

It felt like someone held Sylver down by the neck, pulled out his nervous system with the back of a knife, and simultaneously shoved a new and shiny collection of strings back inside. If Sylver had been breathing, his breath might have caught in his throat, but as it stood, he merely made a very odd sounding “oamp” sound, as if he had just swallowed something.

His hearts felt like they would tear their way out of his chest from the pressure, his knees buckled, and it felt like someone hit him in the forehead with a sledgehammer, but before Sylver could even fully react, or register the “pain,” it was done.

CON: 200
DEX: 110
STR: 110
INT: 389
WIS: 255
AP: 0

Health: 1,923/2,000
Stamina: 996/1,000
MP: 9,731/15,560

Health Regen: 23.34/M
Stamina Regen: 20.00/M
MP Regen: 8,927.55/M

Sylver rolled his head and relieved the built-up pressure in his neck, as he opened his eyes and with a single wave of his hand, tore the muddy earth apart, as a giant house-sized cube floated out and flew away from Sylver.

He looked down at his hand and saw faint wisps of smoke coming from the tips of his fingers, but after wiping them on his robe, was overjoyed to see the damage was just barely skin deep.

Sylver’s earlier exercise hadn’t been for nothing, the system didn’t heal his stretched thin mana channels, but it did stretch out the new ones just the same.

If his conductivity had been 50% before he placed 75 points into intelligence, it was now 51%, purely because the “new” mana channels were given to him pre-stretched.

Sylver’s smile became even wider, as he was pleasantly surprised by the two effects offered by Mirage.

[Mirage (III) rank up available!]
Choose 1 from the following:
Mirage (IV)
-Cost of illusion magic decreased by 20%.
- Deceive C rank or lower sensory skills/perks/traits by increasing the amount of MP per illusion to 1,000%.

Even if the system meant that all of Sylver’s illusions now cost 1,000% it would be worth it. He wasn’t certain what tier most people’s sensory abilities were, but one perfect, well-placed illusion, was a hundred times better than a million obvious illusions.

[Skill: Mirage (IV) [A]]
Skill level can be raised by using illusion magic.
I – Create visual and auditory illusions.
II – Create translucent illusions.
III – Cost of illusion magic decreased by 10%
IV – Deceive C rank or lower sensory skills/perks/traits by increasing the amount of MP per illusion to 1,000%.
*Quality of illusions dependent on caster’s ability and understanding.

With an optimistic smile, Sylver created his normal illusion, and couldn’t feel anything amiss.

As he found what could be described as a mana input spot and fed the illusion 10 times the MP it had originally cost him to create, even Sylver thought it was real for a moment.

He was very clearly not standing opposite himself, and yet there he was, a perfect copy of Sylver, that looked just as mildly confused and alarmed as he did. It was like staring at a handsome mirror. 

The copy didn’t have a soul, obviously, but even the way it moved was different. like it actually weighed something. Sylver could feel it with his mana, it was right there, if his hand didn’t pass through it, he would have thought there was an actual, real, physical copy of him standing in front of him.

It wasn’t even all that absurd of a cost for something so real, if Sylver struggled to figure out that it was a fake, everyone else didn’t have a chance.

[Necrotic Mutilation (III) rank up available!]
Choose 1 from the following:
Necrotic Mutilation (IV)
-When worn by allies, decrease the weight of armor by 50%.
-increase maximum density by 25%.
-Increase [Blood] duration by 100%.

Three decent choices in a row…

Is this a reward for going on a swamp-wide massacre? I’ve done little in the way of killing recently, aside from these very same swamp monsters.

To Sylver’s eye the only one that wasn’t really worth it was the first one, the weight decreasing effect. Armor was largely useless to shades, and Sylver didn’t have any zombies that were worth protecting.

It was between blood duration, and density, both of which would be a short-term and long-term help. Every time Sylver moved he burned through a small amount of [Necrotic Mutilation] armor.

It wasn’t a real problem at the moment, because he had a literal ton of it stored away in his [Bound Bones] storage, but it was annoying to have to constantly top himself up. On the other hand, there were more than enough corpses to go around, having more room when it came to density was the better effect to take.

[Skill: Necrotic Mutilation (IV) [F]]
Skill level can be increased through use.
I – Manipulate biological matter.
II – Empower a creature or item using manipulated biological matter.
III -Increase the range of [Dead Dominion] by 50% for [Necrotic Mutilation].
VI – increase maximum density by 25%.
*Quality dependent on biological material being used.
*Quantity of [Flesh] increases power.
*Quantity of [Bones] increases durability.
*Quantity of [Blood] increases duration.

As Sylver moved the armor around and condensed it past its previous limit, he had a big wide smile on his face.

Everything was finally going his way.