Buttopia
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Chapter 33: The First Long Night
🕑 Added 2024-12-03 00:00:08 +0000 UTCI had managed to accumulate just over nineteen hundred unused attribute points in my recent rapid leveling. The speed I was acquiring them now compared to before without my core made it even more obvious why virtually no one waited. The first thing I did was immediately max out my new mana backlash attribute. I was able to get that to one hundred ranks. The same held true for cheat death. I was reasonably sure that it was likely the only thing that had kept me alive a few times now, that and mana backlash were a key part of my plans for the next many nights.
Following that, I maxed out my soul and core attributes, and each was able to hit fifty ranks. As I moved onto my actions and reactions, I unlocked several sub-attributes. Below generalized physical use, I now had access to six different attributes: strength, speed, and accuracy, three for my arms and three for my legs. A similar thing happened with generalized body toughness, where I gained resistance to bite, energy projectiles, electricity, and impact. While I was very happy to have them, I no longer thought I had enough unused attribute points to go around, especially as fifty was not the cap for any of them.
Before I tried to find a cap, I spent some points on a few of my senses, specifically visual and olfactory. Since I planned to continue the simulations without my hearing, I needed to boost those up in hopes of compensating. Learning from the last time, I did each one at a time. While nothing was unlocked below either of them, I suspected I had to encounter a use for the sub-attribute before it actually became available, as all of my resistances were things I’d experienced over and over in the simulations.
I had to move arm strength all the way to five hundred points before I hit another cap on the stat, which meant I didn’t have enough to max any other sub-attributes at the moment. I instead divided the remaining points between arm speed, leg speed, and leg strength. I figured this would at least give me a good boost in how fast I could take things out.
As for skills, I was still stuck at the twenty-five maximum ranks cap I had been before. I knew how to break through this for mana skills, but the rest were a mystery at the moment. Speaking of mana skills, another goal of the next bit of power leveling was to unlock more of those. I needed to look deeper into the elemental and body-enhancing mana orbs. First up, though, was getting my three combat skills maxed out: close combat, malleting, and stomp. Following that, I maxed out dungeon simulation and body temperature regulation.
That left me considering just what mana skills I still needed. After my massive meal, my core felt full enough to unlock a couple more, and the obvious choice at this point was pain management. Would that count as magic use? That multiplier, while useful initially, wasn’t worth worrying about long term. I had yet to unlock a simulation modifier that would double it, so it was probably best that I start down the path of magic use.
That was the second factor that drove me to my next decision. The first was that, apparently, I couldn’t unlock any tier-three mana skills yet. I likely needed to rank up the orbs. I chose strength training instead. Now, the big question would be how well my core handled passive mana use for three different orbs. I already knew I wouldn’t have been able to manage three active uses, and flipping between the orbs fast enough to make it viable otherwise wasn’t going to happen yet, either.
I toggled the three orbs on, making sure to keep elemental and imbuing off for now, and tested the flow. So far so good, and my mana wasn’t dropping at an alarming rate either. That probably had a lot to do with my further investments in core and soul regeneration. Was there a way to get more numerical readouts than just going by how full something feels? I was sure that actual numbers would make this much easier for planning purposes if I could unlock that. Annoyance with the lack of data aside, it was time for another dungeon run.
The two new modifiers were poisoned and starving, both tempting, but for now, I wanted to experiment. So, with everything as far as I could push it, I tried nearly the same thing that had earlier almost killed me. I figured with my changes, I should be able to survive this, plus it wouldn’t be as bad this time, as there was a good chance I was now using magic.
I wasn’t sure if it was the third eye that had appeared in the back of my head at the start or the fact that the fall felt painless despite being a couple of feet in the air, but the dungeon started off much easier than the previous time. While some of my skill additions were lost thanks to the level decreases again, which seemed to be somewhat random, as I was pretty sure I was missing some of the earliest skills I had put points into rather than delivering the most recent changes, the difficulty had radically dropped from those that I kept. I was out and back to the rewards screen within a minute.
I had gained slightly less experience this time, due to the active magical effects. That was too bad, but I had expected it, so no real setback. The good news, though, was my head was fine. The bad news was that Elicec was underselling the level one hundred threshold. It had taken me a little over ten thousand experience to go from level ninety to one hundred. It will take me over one hundred thousand experience to get to level one hundred and one. The difference was staggering. If I wanted to go further, I’d have to push the multipliers even more.
I ate some of the food I’d had delivered just to be sure I wouldn't pass out while I distributed more of my new attribute points. Strength and speed were now both maxed for my legs and my arms. I decided to hold onto the few remaining points for now.
There still wasn’t any pain in my head, and that reassurance gave me the push to start looking over the other modifiers I hadn’t used yet. I needed to push my experience gain even further if I wanted to continue power leveling, and considering what the very near future for me, I did. With the level loss modifier in place, I didn’t think I could use any further negative level scaling just yet, but there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t make the enemies more difficult. I figured I could reasonably lose twenty levels again and stand a chance. I just needed to stay above fifty to keep some of my stuff active.
With that all in mind, I added on doubling the enemies' levels, turning them all into bosses; the walls are lava, and I figured I’d risk being poisoned. Mostly because I figured I’d win quickly enough that it wouldn’t become a real issue and that I might gain a new resistance for it to make it easier to use in the future. The walls being lava worried me more than any other change, but I figured that was just as dangerous for all of the enemies as it was for me, hopefully, more so with my ranks in temperature regulation.
When I spawned into the dungeon this time, it was the first time that the mutation had been a very clear detriment. One of my feet had been replaced by what felt and looked like a block of wood. I spotted all twelve of the rock snails, some as they crashed to the ground but most as they started to quickly move away from the walls. The lava had started to slowly flow into the room. Within seconds, half the snails were already gone, which was a good thing as I could feel the poison working through me. I was able to handle the heat mostly at the moment, but I was growing weaker fast. With no more time to waste, I moved as quickly back and forth across the room as my new wooden block foot would allow. Snail after snail fell to my wrath; their double levels did nothing against my mallet.
Despite how quickly I was going through them, by the time I reached the final one, the lava had already encircled us. I was having trouble breathing, and my body felt ready to collapse. I didn’t know if it was the overwhelming heat or the poisoning coursing through me. With few options left, I leaped onto the snail’s back instead of taking a mallet swing. I felt it crack below me as the lava flowed over it. The jump had likely won the run for me. The experience box popped into view, and I felt my head begin to hurt again.
