Achievement Unlocked - Exterminator (World First)

  A sad truth to existence is that sacrifice is required for growth. Awarded for claiming the lives of five hundred creatures of the same or higher grade in the same day. This act of destruction has added weight to your soul. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.

  Effect: +2 Agility per level, +2 free attribute points per level

  After the fervour of chasing the achievement wore off, I found myself unsettled. My hands were shaking, even after using Meditate for a while. Now pacing, I was trying to shake off the vestiges of discomfort. The mana channels which I had overused burned like sandpaper had been pulled through them. Which, it basically had. My mana was flooded with particles from my Aspect of the Dragon’s power. Even sparing use of Dragonburn during the battles had led to an accumulation which scratched along my insides. I couldn’t argue that my manic slaughter had come with rewards, and I was glad my Agility would now climb with my level, but…

  Was this who I wanted to be? Something was bothering Merownis. My fear was that my actions had caused him to be scared of me, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask what was on his mind. We had returned to an empty cavern while Naea “cleaned” the final one. Trying to justify my choices, I looked back on the last few hours. They were a haze. After pacing a little more, I returned to my seating position.

  I didn’t want to separate myself from my actions and deny them, but at the same time I was working with strange magic. A combination of the Jingu Bang’s energy, the thrill of so many attribute points at once and the pull of my Spirit Well had been egged on by the Aspect inside of me. My soul had sensed the potential for another achievement and I had chased the feeling until it popped. Something had cracked within me during the first Serious Swing. Had my behaviour truly been my own?

  It had, I decided, but it wasn’t going to happen again.

  Dropping into my inner world, I moved decisively. I appeared facing my core. The white star bathed everything else in its glow. For now, all that light hit was the surface of the Dragon world. Far off in the distance, sparks of similar energy were aflame. They gained intensity as my skills continued to grow in strength. Within my mental image, the blazing sun at the centre of everything contained all of my mana as well as the Spirit Well with which I could affect said magic.

  Apparently, I had let it affect me, too.

  As I began my work, I heard a low growl reverberate the space around me. I’ll get to you next, I promised myself. I wasn’t surprised the wild side of me didn’t like this. Encapsulated in the destructiveness, greed and pride of the draconic Aspect, the Dragon would happily let me chase power at the cost of all else. However, the rational human who was in charge didn’t want that.

  With an effort, ironically fueled by the Spirit Well I sought to bind, I created a massive cage. Though it was imagined, it needed a firm structure, so I slowly formed the lattice with care. All the while, the rumbling Dragon at my back voiced its wordless disagreement. I mentally stamped my foot, sending a thunder crash through my inner world and silencing the dissent. This was my power. It would work for me or I would get rid of it. Eventually, there were no more finishing touches left and I was forced to concede I had done as much as I could.

  Landing on the crust of the Dragon world, I looked at my work with a critical eye. A net of immense proportions was wrapped around the core, swaddling it and no longer allowing the influence of the Spirit Well to affect my actions. At least, that was the hope. I had to admit, I had done a good job at making it pretty, at least. Every few seconds a shadow crossed over me as the mesh of Spirit rotated slowly. Or, perhaps it was the world of the Dragon which was now orbiting the celestial body? Hard to tell. I grunted and shrugged. It would do for now.

  “Your turn,” I declared, turning my attention to the ground at my feet. All over the Aspect’s world were cracks and damages, brought on by my forcing a little too much strength into one attack with the Jingu Bang. The upgraded Heavy Blow was a large upgrade to the force I exerted, going from sledgehammer to wrecking ball, but that same damage had been reflected on the world here. It was crumbling.

  Though it was now fettered by access, I could still pull on Spirit from the well, and I drew some to me as I began to walk the world of the Dragon. “We haven’t spoken much,” I said aloud. It didn’t feel silly, because I knew the Aspect could hear me. “I’m not sure if that’s my fault, or if it’s even a problem, but I’m here now.”

  The world responded, as I moved from place to place. The distance was malleable between areas, so I quickly saw the whole world. A surprising contrast to this place was my core, hovering in the black sky like a sun. Under that harsh light, I saw this world for what it was. It was a small, petty thing. It was a rock, formed from the ideas held within the Aspect that had given the place life. It had to be more.

  With a wave of my hand, I began plastering over the cracks and rips in the world. I needed this place to be powerful, and that started from the foundation up. So, upon the dead rock I placed dirt, and within that dirt I infused life. Within seconds, a grassy plain appeared around me. In a distance which didn’t really exist, I installed mountains and in between there were rivers. It was all fake like a painting, but it was better than it had been, and much like the cage around my core, it would do for now.

  The System likes Creation and Destruction, perhaps equally. It certainly encouraged destruction more. Except, was that true or just my assumption? I sat in the grass and pondered. Each time I had made something new, the System had rewarded me with a larger amount of experience than any single enemy kill except perhaps Master Thorn. The philosophy behind the System wasn’t important to get right, I supposed. What mattered was making the choice here and now. Changing the world of the Dragon to better fit that choice was symbolic and necessary.

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  The path of the destroyer had been laid out before me. All I had to do was take it. Except I believed a barren existence would come from a barren world. The System would have happily continued leading me towards more slaughter, granting me achievements for whatever its reason. Such gains had to come with a cost, and on the scale of the System any cost was beyond astronomical. Whatever the System received when I brought ruin was enough for it to reward me.

  By adding beauty to this inner place, I rejected the road laid out and paved a new one. This new version of things might be painted on, but it was healthy. The facade wouldn’t fade over time either. It was the intent of my actions which mattered here. By intending to change the world permanently, I had. The grass was fake for now but it would grow and germinate. The world breathed and a breeze tingled over my skin. I believed the choices I made held importance beyond my own conscience. However, even if it was just for my own peace of mind, I was glad for the effort.

  “I hope you like the changes, too,” I said to the world around me. There was no response, but anything which wasn’t an angry growl had to be considered progress. Not wanting to wait for another change, I opened my eyes in the real world.

  I scoffed. Real world? The term was becoming looser by the day. A magical sheen appeared over my sight so I could see the underground tunnels created by giant scorpions underneath the forest I had claimed by killing a ratman. I turned to my bipedal humanoid tiger companion and saw him talking quietly to Naea, the fairy who had trained me in the first days of the System.

  With that out of the way, there was only one other thing bothering me. Merownis and Naea were nearby, talking quietly. “What are Grades?” I asked the pair. They both looked over at me with a jolt, apparently surprised I had spoken. How long had I been fixing myself with Meditate? I gestured to the empty air. “My last achievement mentioned ‘creatures of the same grade or higher,’” I explained to ease their apparent confusion.

  “Oh aren’t you a clever one,” Naea joked while hovering over to me, “always finding out new things. Grades are a bit like levels, but bigger. You’re nearly at the point where you’ll get the answer yourself, are you sure you want to spoil the surprise?”

  I curved an eyebrow but said nothing. Naea hadn’t held back information before and I didn’t think she was being insidious by holding this back. “What grade am I now? And you,” I asked Merownis, “didn’t you evolve? Is that the same thing?”

  “Zero,” he answered, “same as me. No, evolution is different, though I could have opted to become a Grade One instead of the choice I made. As Naea said, it’s similar to levelling and the two are entwined. Level thirty is the first bottleneck. Passing into Grade One is how you break the barrier. Most are unable to pass through the threshold to gain more power than that.”

  I nodded, listening with interest. People would be stuck at level thirty? Considering I was already at superhero levels of strength, I guessed that wouldn’t be much of an issue in the short term. Though, if monsters as strong as me became commonplace…

  As though drawn by my dour thoughts, a stampeding rush began to fill the cavern. I opened my eyes wide and quickly allotted my free points, of which I had fifty. The additional capacity from the base levelling attributes had been enough to keep me well ahead of the curve, but whatever was approaching sounded big. There were multiple sources, too. The staff at my side thrummed with anticipation. “Quiet, you,” I muttered.

  Alongside the fifteen points in Command, Strength, Recovery and Regeneration and five for Power and Resilience simply for levelling, my free points initially went to shore up the places I felt held back. Three points for Perception increased the clarity of the darkness around me, extending my senses slightly. Six points went to Agility, as I knew I would be happy for the extra mobility in any situation, but especially while underground. I placed eight points into Dexterity, which the Jingu Bang seemed to both notice and approve of. I hadn’t been able to keep up with its intentions on occasions. That wouldn’t be a problem now.

  While I would ideally just not get hit, I placed a whole level’s worth of points into Resilience. The immediate gain of fifty health points and another level of durability made my body feel stiff for a moment. My muscles constricted tightly before relaxing. I felt sturdier than ever. It was a little surreal to think I had just added more than two standard human’s worth of health to my pool, but I tried not to think about the reality of things so mathematically. I still only had one head, and I doubted I’d survive a truly mortal wound.

  Another ten points went into Power, which was the fulcrum for my fighting style. Every activation of Haste, Mana Bolt, Mana Shield or Serious Swing would be improved by the boost. None of them were small either, even compared to my growing attribute total. Even as I struggled to decide where to place my final thirteen points, the incoming assault arrived and there was no more time. I flared my magic, now a mighty river compared to the trickle I had at my command when this all started. Naea vanished into her invisibility as large chitinous legs tore through the tunnels towards myself and Merownis.

  “Ready?” I asked, pouring my mana regeneration into the staff. An array of glittering Magic Missiles appeared in the air around him, which was all the answer I would get before battle started. With a wailing screech, the Scorpion Princes arrived.

  A note from M T Conboy

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