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Chapter 80: To err is human
Chapter 80: To err is human
Chapter 80: To err is human
As Priam fled in the direction of New Earth, the wave of locusts reached the wyvern's corpse. The hive mind created by the Tribulation was programmed to pursue three objectives. To increase the volume of the swarm. To devour everything in its path once it had reached a certain critical mass. To focus on the one who had triggered the Tribulation.
That's why the locusts stopped for a moment, hesitating between pursuing Priam and devouring the wyvern's body. The insects' ability to split was linked to their energy consumption. As a Tribulation, the System allowed them to absorb ambient aether to use their Talent, but this aether was not infinite on the Moon. Although not unlimited, the amount of energy contained in the corpse was colossal. Enough to considerably increase the size of the swarm.
Finally, the hive-mind decided that the current priority was to increase the number of locusts. The insects began their feast, devouring the exposed body parts of the monster.
A second later, most of the grasshoppers exploded. The energy in the wyvern's meat was pure enough to kill them in moments. The next second, the locusts swarm doubled in size.
A cycle was created. The swarm proliferated, multiplying its initial numbers a hundred times over in just a few minutes. Tens of thousands of insects blocked the sun, artificially creating an impenetrable cloud.
While the Sun's rays could pierce the Damocles cloud, they were unable to penetrate the locust's metallic body. The Sun's protege thus lost its regeneration power.
Soon, all that remained on the ground were the wyvern's scales and bones. Defeated by thousands of insects, the mythological animal died for good. The satisfied swarm flew off in Priam's direction, letting the deadly rain wash away the shiny bones. Only one locust remained behind.
Drawn in from the start by a shadow, the insect slowly disappeared, as if consumed by a puddle of liquid night. Pride's Shadow, the shadow of one of the seven deadly sins, digested its prisoner, analyzing and blocking its power.
The locusts' power had succeeded in killing its host thanks to their immortal spirit and adaptation. This power interested it. Pride's Shadow, like its origin, had to be the best. Its host had to be at the peak of evolution. If a locust could resurrect and double its power, so could it.
As the cloud of insects disappeared over the horizon, the shadow of the carcass trembled. A second later, two Heaven Wyverns appeared on the desolate plain. Their glare was brighter than before and their power was greater. One of the reptiles pounced on its clone to devour it. Its black shadow seemed to be sleeping, exhausted.
Purifying it bloodline by absorbing the others, the Heaven Wyvern roared with rage, then took to the air.
Priam had been running for half an hour. Behind him, the cloud of locusts had disappeared, masked by the hills. Only the rain now kept him company. Or rather, the downpour. The young Earl was now running in a deluge. Head down, he drew on his Potential to keep running, while his skin was falling apart.
Lvl Up: [Perforation Resistance] lvl 10,11,12
CONST +3
Lvl Up: [Hemorrhage Resistance] lvl 2,...,6
VIT +5
Twenty minutes earlier, the raindrops had become too numerous to avoid. Priam had tried to use [Kinetic Control] to repel the drops as soon as they touched his skin. It had only half worked.
The water brushed against his peach fuzz before being sent off in another direction. Yet Priam continued to be wounded. The water wasnt the problem: it was the supernatural power. The drops were chemically made up of H2O molecules. Their piercing power came from a conceptual fragment.
Would you like to absorb the Concept fragment - Steel?
Priam accepted once. By spending a single point of Potential, the drop that hit him returned to normal, and Priam gained a - small - Concept fragment that joined [Mirror of the Soul]. The Tribulations were both a test and a reward. Unfortunately, he didn't have infinite reserves of Potential. Priam had therefore chosen to refuse to accept the other fragments. As a result, his injuries had worsened.
The young Earl continued to run in the rain. If it hadn't been for the other three Tribulations, he would quickly have taken shelter under a rock or tried to dig an underground shelter. On their own, the Damocles Tears weren't that dangerous. But he knew that death was on his heels.
Lvl Up: [Perforation Resistance] lvl 13
CONST +1
Lvl Up: [Hemorrhage Resistance] lvl 7
VIT +1
As he ran, Priam reviewed his various Trees of Merit. The torrential rain was eroding his skin and flesh. The only way to stay alive was to create a Domain or resist the rain.
Priam had little hope of unlocking his Domain quickly, but he knew how to survive. He summoned his Trees of Merit.
Trees of Merit
Each new Title opens a new Tree of Merit and allows you to upgrade a Tree of Merit once.
Upgrading a Tree of Merit to Tier 9 uses 10 Titles and thus condemns 9 other Trees. Be careful which trees you upgrade...
[Double Heart - Silver] - Tier 0: Once a day, one heart can regenerate instantly.
[Brainless] - Tier 3: Locked. Requires a Silver Title.
[Questor - Silver] - Tier 0: Your instincts are sharpening.
[Infantile Phoenix - Silver] - Tier 0: Your flame affinity allows you to manipulate fires.
[Three-headed Hydra - Silver] - Tier 2: When your body is in perfect health, your Vitality accumulates. The subsequent injury you receive will be healed all the faster because your Vitality has accumulated.
[Apprentice of Hermes] - Tier 0: Future messenger, you are temporarily accepted when traveling to other worlds than Elysium.
[Moon Earl - Gold] - Tier 4: The mist becomes a part of you. You are the mist, Mist Adept.
[Upgrader] - Tier 0: You begin to feel the aethereal workings of your skills
[Forerunner - Silver] - Tier 0: Your META (chance) increases temporarily when you work on a project capable of improving humanity's standing.
[To the Moon] - Tier 0: [Bullet time] is automatically triggered when you are in danger of death.
[Admirer of Atlas] - Tier 0: Your power works miracles. You can temporarily double your strength.
[Veteran] - Tier 0: Your resistance is even more effective.
[Threat Killer] - Tier 0: You feel people's hostile thoughts toward you.
[Iconoclast - Gold] - Tier 0: You're beginning to feel your soul.
[Fighter of the Depths] - Tier 0: You are more resistant to the corruption of the Depths.
[Supersonic Boy - Silver] - Tier 0: Passively modifies your aethereal code to make you more aerodynamic.
7 Unused Merit Points.
As usual, Priam's greedy side awakened as he looked at his options. There were so many exciting Merits! For example, [Veteran] could save his life, depending on the Merit's effectiveness. Unfortunately, Tier 0 was unlikely to be immensely powerful. Priam needed power now.
Some of the Merits had changed with the upgrading of his Titles. Some now seemed rather... useless. Starting with [Three-Headed Hydra]. Thanks to the Title upgrade, Priam could regenerate one of his limbs almost instantly. Moreover, thanks to his unique talent, he could restore his body every day.
Above all, Priam was not a hydra. He had only one head, and losing it meant a quick death.
On the other hand, other Merits seemed incredibly valuable. For example, [Iconoclast] allowed one to feel one's soul. In the future, the Title would certainly enable Priam to better understand [He Who Eludes Death]. It also seemed evident to him that feeling and protecting one's soul was essential in this new world. The soul, and therefore the uniqueness of a being, had to be paramount when ascending to Tier...
A drop fell into his eye, and Priam screamed. Stumbling, he fell to the ground. Panting, exhausted by his run, Priam lay still for a moment. Mud smeared his wounds. He could feel the pebbles rubbing against his raw flesh, as the rain continued to flay him.
Dying slowly, Priam decided to take care of the rain. He wouldn't make it to the dome if he continued like this. The young Earl quickly analyzed his options. [Veteran] could be good, but Priam didn't want to spread his Merits too thinly. The further a tree progressed, the more influential the Merits became. Giving up his future for a few minutes of life was pointless.
Especially when there was a better option.
[Moon Earl - Gold] - Tier 4: The mist becomes a part of you. You are the mist, Mist Adept. ACQUIRED.
[Moon Earl - Gold] - Tier 5: Locked. Requires a Legendary Title.
6 Unused Merit Points.
Lying on the muddy ground, Priam shielded his face with his arm. The mist had changed again. Within a hundred-meter radius, Priam could feel everything. Every falling drop. Every blade of grass torn up and destroyed. The blood flowing from his wounds.
Lvl Up: [Perforation Resistance] lvl 14
CONST +1
Lvl Up: [Hemorrhage Resistance] lvl 8
VIT +1
Lvl Up : [Moon Mist] lvl 26
PERC +4
CHAR +2
META (AFFI) +3
Priam concentrated. The wind stopped for a moment. In the sphere of mist, nothing moved. He gave an instinctive mental command, and the fog converged on him. A half-sphere, about ten meters in diameter, formed. The mist swirled gently, creating an artificial current that deflected the drops.
Lvl Up : [Moon Mist] lvl 27
PERC +4
CHAR +2
META (AFFI) +3
Priam opened his good eye and stood up. Bloody, half-naked, he felt dirty and weak. Like a protective cloak, the mist drew closer and enveloped him. Its embrace was both soft and wet. Priam felt as if he were cuddling a cloud. A cloud that caressed his skin and pushed the world away. The opposite of a cyclone or tornado.
Lvl Up : [Moon Mist] lvl 28
PERC +4
CHAR +2
META (AFFI) +3
In the distance, the sound of the locusts closing in eclipsed the sound of the rain. Priam stood up and activated the regenerative power of [Three-Headed Hydra]. The ability could target an organ or a limb.
Priam imagined his skin healing. Of his original seven kilograms of skin, he had certainly lost four. This organ would protect his body and allow his flesh to heal. It would also enable him to conserve his blood, which was currently flowing freely. Anemia and dehydration were still problems, despite his attributes.
The Title triggered, and Priam winced at the tingling sensation. He felt as if a million invisible nanorobots were helping his skin renew itself. Ten seconds later, Priam looked human again - at least on the outside.
His flesh was still bruised, and he was now bleeding internally. He finally swallowed a few gulps of the Spring's liquid. Stretching, he smiled confidently. In a few minutes, his only injury would be his punctured eye.
Seeing with only one eye impacted his estimation of distances, but it wasn't vital thanks to the information gathered by his mist.
Looking back at the vengeful clouds, Priam continued on his way. His mists cloak now protected him.
A quarter of an hour later, the silver dome of New Earth sparkled before him. Rain fell on it before trickling helplessly to the ground. Priam caressed the protection for a moment. Under his fingers, it seemed indestructible.
"I only need half an hour. Just enough time to evacuate the ducal palace and defeat the Lord," Priam murmured.
Welcome, Moon Earl. Would you like to enter New Earth?
Priam turned around briefly. The horizon was black with locusts. The swarm must now number in the millions. The sky was black, too, covered with clouds thick and vast enough to cause an ice age. The rain fell harder and harder, gradually eroding the mist.
The only speck of light was a lightning bolt, steadily breaking through the cloud. Yet Priam heard no thunder. The wyvern was alive.
He couldn't keep running away. The Tribulations were accelerating and would remain for at least another twenty-three hours. Plenty of time for him to die many times over.
Decisive, he turned and accepted the proposal.
...
Error.
Tribulations in progress.
Please finish your Tribulations before entering the dome protection.
Priam's eyes widened. The world was now invaded by the whirring of the locusts. If he stayed here, he wouldn't survive more than a few minutes. He had to get into the dome! There was only one way: find an entrance guarded by a Baron. But how?
The situation called for him to use his penultimate question.
How do I get into the dome?
Answer: 8 o'clock, a guardian is waiting two kilometers away; run!
[Kinetic Control]. Priam dashed in the direction given by his clones: 8 o'clock. Without knowing whether there was a north, how to give an indication? With a clock. Noon meant ahead, 6 o'clock behind and 3 or 9 o'clock, the right or left respectively.
The landscape unfolded as Priam's meridians screamed. His running was barely controlled, but a few uses of [Kinetic Control] were enough to keep him from falling.
Lvl Up: [Iron Marathon] lvl 2
AGi +3
After a few seconds, Priam saw a promontory of some kind before him. The structure looked strange and he headed towards it. Unfortunately, the swarm of locusts arrived first.
Fifty meters from the cape, Priam was advancing towards a veritable wall of insects. Gritting his teeth, he accelerated, surrounding himself in a cloud. A fraction of a second before contact, his mist detected the entrance.
Pulling the pin out of a grenade, Priam threw it into the mist before teleporting it in front of the cavern entrance. He couldn't teleport in place of the insects, so he had to create a space for himself. The grenade's explosion would do the trick.
Lvl Up : [Moon Mist] lvl 29
PERC +4
CHAR +2
META (AFFI) +3
The next instant, the cloud of locusts crashed into its cloak of mist. Priam, wielding Promesse, pierced ten of them in less than a second. Twenty more appeared, and he swore. For a second, the insects tried to penetrate his protection, but Priam manipulated the mist to make it swirl around and annihilate their effort. Glancing at his enemies, Priam swallowed. They were more imposing than before.
Suddenly, one of the insects swallowed a tiny part of his mist. Priam wouldn't have noticed if the thousands of other insects circling him hadn't then had the same idea. They share the same mind!
Priam turned livid. After just one second, a tenth of his haze had disappeared. If it went on like this...
An explosion sounded, and Priam straddled his mist.
The explosion had released a pocket of air in the middle of the insects. It only took a moment for Priam to teleport again. He arrived in a cavern at the heart of the promontory. The room appeared to be a carbon copy of the one occupied by Anne, Albin and Claire when he had defeated the first two Barons three days before. Only three days...
The main difference with the last time was that the guardian was present, and a hundred insects had already found the room. The giant pig was being devoured. Priam gave him a quick glance before hurrying towards the sealed door, hoping the locusts would forget about him.
Placing a hand on it, he ordered it to be opened.
...
Error.
Tribulations in progress.
Please finish your Tribulations before entering the dome protection.
"FUCK!"
The noise of the locusts became deafening. The perception that the mist offered him within a sphere of fifty meters radius was terrifying. Millions of insects had gathered. They were following the passage leading to the cavern and would arrive in the room in a few seconds.
Priam knew that staying here meant his death. Then, half an hour later, he would rise and die again. For good this time.
As panic mounted inside him, Priam forced Micro to calm him down. [Focus]. Some clones had made it through the Tribulations. He could do it. Taking a second to observe his surroundings, Priam sprang into action.
Five of his grenades flew toward the entrance to the room. The priority was to keep more insects out.
The giant locusts in the room began to approach Priam. Manipulating his new cloak of mist, Priam protected himself while summoning an inverted steam vortex around him. The reversed tornado repelled the locusts.
Lvl Up : [Moon Mist] lvl 30
PERC +4
CHAR +2
META (AFFI) +3
Priam then turned to the sealed door and contemplated his new abilities. He could fire spears at almost three kilometers per second. The dome was too resistant for him, but a few centimeters of rock should no longer impress him.
[Tribulation Piercing Spear].
Promesse reduced the central part of the sealed door to dust. Priam grimaced as he looked at his aether reserves. He couldn't use this skill more than three times without recovering his strength. Behind him, the locusts were already devouring his mist.
Priam teleported into the dark passage, then began to run through the path leading to New Earth. Behind him, the grenades exploded, partially destroying access to the cavern.
The Locusts Plague could no longer enter the cavern, but a few thousand locusts were still following Priam. The young warrior pulled the pin on his last grenade as he ran. Seconds later, he threw it behind him.
Boom. The explosion triggered another collapse, and Priam stopped to watch. The rockfall stabilized after about ten seconds. By chance or coincidence, several meters of the passageway were now blocked. Priam could no longer hear the insects behind him.
He sighed with relief. His goal was to survive his Tribulations, not to take millions of carnivorous insects into the dome. Turning on his heels, he headed for the city. There wasn't a second to lose - after all, the System wouldn't accept Priam unfairly dodging his Tribulations. He didn't think he had more than an hour before the System got angry.
A few minutes later, he arrived at the replica of the underground temple where Claire had betrayed him. Two Barons were waiting - bat-like creatures - and Priam one shot them.
Leaping to the top of the stairs, he opened the temple door.
A market awaited him. The colors of this dome were green and silver. Its protective barrier, which illuminated the city, was the color of a leaf. New Earth was covered in trees and greenery. The dome was sublime, but Priam had no time for sightseeing. He turned in the direction of the ducal palace. He had to kill the Lord quickly.
A hesitant voice stopped him just as he was about to go for it.
"Lord Priam?"
"I'm in a hurry," Priam replied quickly.
"Please forgive me, I'll be brief. My master, Mercury, has found your father. He is in this dome, and I can take you to him whenever you like."
For a moment, Priam froze. He must have heard wrong. The chances of his father being in that dome were minimal. Unless... Dad was looking for me! he realized. That was just like his father.
"I..."
Without warning, the city's light intensity increased tenfold. The dome barrier was blinding, and most of the market's shoppers and merchants shielded their eyes.
Priam looked up, his heart beating heavily in his chest. A shadow loomed outside the dome. The wyvern wouldn't wait for him to kill the Lord. Priam had made a colossal mistake...
"The dome has to be evacuated!"
"Where?!" shouted the Mercury man. Where indeed? Outside, millions of locusts waited. Every drop of rain would kill any human. Only the barrier protected its inhabitants.
The dome lit up again.
A crack appeared.
Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0)
PHYSICAL:
Strength 170
Constitution 289 (+5)
Agility 204 (+4)
Vitality 308 (+9)
Perception 368 (+24)
MENTAL:
Vivacity 183
Dexterity 234
Memory 50
Willpower 306
Charisma 172 (+11)
META:
Meta-affinity 178 (+15)
Meta-focus 111
Meta-endurance 101
Meta-perception 51
Meta-chance 114
Potential: 3876 (+29)
Tier 0
[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED.