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The Gamer Chapter 1316 – The Artificial Spirit Patch and the Wind Quest
🕑 Added 2022-10-31 13:05:43 +0000 UTCJohn stared at the window. Usually, the first thing in the morning he saw was nothing. This was an expected subversion. The implementation date of the patch had been an approximate time scale. For it to occur first thing in the morning was pleasant.
Moving the window to the side for the moment, the Gamer let his morning routine commence first. That was to say that he had to guess whose mouth was around his cock that morning. The fervour indicated Aclysia, Claire, or Nightingale. By the way she deliberately targeted his favourite spots along his shaft, it became swiftly apparent that he was dealing with Aclysia. A confirming little wave reached his mind.
The Gamer smirked; his streak continued. He had only been wrong once so far and, to be fair, who could have guessed that he was dealing with Gaia herself?
John enjoyed the typical advantages of the harem life. Thirty minutes and four orgasms later, he was in the bath. Another twenty minutes and one orgasm later, he was at the breakfast table. Another thirty minutes and six orgasms later, he was on the Couch. It was almost eight in the morning at that point. A time where, typically, work began.
Before the haremettes headed out for their daily duties, hobbies, and projects, they should be present for the patch. It was going to be a nerf of some description, as these usually were. “Alright, let’s see what Gaia has in store this time.”
John blinked a couple of times at the number. Was it manageable? Yes, extremely so. Admittedly, only thanks to the Creation Master 3 Enchantment. Without that, the cost would have been a whooping 218,33 per second, which was about two thirds of his current mana regeneration. John quickly ran the number of what a new addition would cost him right now. The answer was 157,2, so about 70 more, if he kept Delicia on his level (which was the reasonable assumption).
A bigger problem was a secondary calculation he made. Continuing from the previous assumption, he would currently need an extra 0,17 mana regeneration per second per level to keep up with growing demands. Translated into Wisdom, that was 1,97 Wisdom per level he needed to put into the Stat. Combining that with the 2,98 he needed for the elementals, he was around 4,95 Wisdom per level only to meet demands. In other words, 5 out of 8 Stat Points per level were now spoken for.
Was this reasonable? Absolutely, it was reasonable. The argument could be made that this was still way too cheap. In the fight against Arkeidos, Metra had single-handedly defeated one of his bodies and three maids had taken on another body. That was only the combat utility of those four, Delicia was excluded from that. As were the countless non-combat benefits those five brought to his life.
The problem got more intense at 6 Spirits contracted. That kicked the cost per level up to 0,3, due to the sharp rise per member. That translated to 3,54 Wisdom per level for contracts and 6,52 in total. 7 out 8 Stat Points per level, taken out of the equation, just to keep on as he was.
Was that reasonable? Probably, yes. At that point he had an alchemist more. Honestly speaking, the Artificial Spirits remained absurdly powerful for the cost. Even if it was reasonable, it did make John’s situation difficult. He would need to find another way to make his build more efficient. That was always the race in video games though: upgrading the build and getting the resource generation to match the demands of that build.
The good news for this update was that the jump in cost was not so steep he couldn’t handle it. The upkeep cost went from 32 (10% of his mana regeneration) to 87. That was not too far from a tripling of the cost, but it also left him with 90 mana per second surplus. He was as well prepared for this as he could have been.
John tapped the window and the next one opened.
This was a copy of the commonly unused mechanic that the elementals had. Commonly unused did not equal useless. Solo missions or select circumstances made this worthwhile to have around. The core shattering part made it really unlikely to be employed though, even with the countdown.
That was simple enough, John had no questions about any of it.
And that was just the expected stuff. He wouldn’t see the new UI until the next selection rolled around, so that didn’t matter for him at this moment.
His Gaia Dependency Factor was now down to 40. Still a stretch to go until his powers were well and completely his to take care of. Made him wonder what more was going to be patched. Then again, who knew what all was going on under the hood. If his own mana eventually would have to pay for the creation of items in Instant Dungeons, then that would doubtlessly put a tax on it all.
“All in all that wasn’t so bad,” the Gamer decided. “Worst news is that I have to direct even more points towards Wisdom, but that’s just the drawbacks of a mage build.”
The Gamer had recently (as in: yesterday) reached 500 Agility. The reward Perk had been rather underwhelming: an increase in immunity against cutting attacks from weak opponents. With Particle Skin, he was already practically immune to any offensive manoeuvres from people notably below his power level. It was essentially a dead Perk. Saddening, but those happened in these general categories.
‘I suppose I might as well use the Skill Evolution Point now,’ he thought. With his mana all back and the patch through, he was almost back to full power. Only the Mandala Sphere was missing now and that was only another week away. The recuperation period was over with. It was time to get back to doing Gamer things.
As for what he was going to evolve, the choice had already been made. He wanted to evolve Interface, as it had the promise to become his most important utility Skill.
All three were highly interesting.
As a child of the internet, it naturally drew John to Travel Computing. Being restricted to only one digital extension of his will was a tad annoying, yet not the greatest sacrifice. Although that partly depended on what the Sticking Bonus of the related Class was.
The follow-up Class of Unfound had not seen any love so far, mostly because technomancy was a side-project to John. He knew about the utility of the Skill and that was why he wanted to have it bookmarked for a time in his life when there was nothing left to threaten him.
If the Sticking Bonus was either the Cast or Tether Range, then the Multi-Interfacing evolution went up in value immensely. If it was Digital Extensions, then Travel Computing would be the best.
‘I suppose I should start with excluding Permanent Connection. There’s an upside to it, namely that I could connect myself to my work PC and use it to call for help if I get stuck somewhere. I already have other means to circumvent that problem. The Harem Comms should take care of it.’ “Say, Scarlett, how big is the difference between entering the internet with my mind and just pushing buttons on a browser with it?” he asked.
“You remember SNES controllers?”
“Faintly,” the Gamer responded. His dad had owned one of those, so he had played on them sporadically.
“Imagine you go from using one of those rectangular pieces of shit straight to a modern Xbox controller.”
That did sound like quite the upgrade. Of course, through Travel Computing, he should be able to access his work computer through his smartphone, if both were switched on and part of the same internet connection. Not necessarily advisable. As secure as Abyssal connections attempted to be, John would need to rely on the wider internet to establish that link, and if he could do it, so could every technomancer between his and Scarlett’s skill level – which was all of them. Then again, they already had safety precautions against this. John would need his own access code.
The more he thought about it, the more he was drawn to Travel Computing. Multi-Interfacing would be more efficient when he was actually doing the work, while Travel Computing gave him more wiggle room. As was typical, John was drawn more to the universalist option than the specific one.
“Travel Computing it is,” the Gamer decided and pressed the button.
“Alright, guess that’s it for the morning,” John told everyone. “I’m sending Jake to work now, while I go and check out what Tempesta wants from me, Quest wise.”
And that was exactly what he did.
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The Gamer was a tad nervous. A rare emotion, yet one he felt was adequate when he was about to reach out to the Mother of Air. He had heard her speak before, briefly. That was all the interaction he had. Sylph described Tempesta as an older version of herself. That was its own cause for nervousness, John may return only after thirty minutes of constant babbling.
“Alright, ready?” John asked himself more than Sylph.
“I was born ready, John, ready to see my mom, who I have not seen in a couple of weeks. Maybe she’ll have forgotten the appointment? Who knows. She probably didn’t, she has Oxygorn to take care of stuff.”
John spared himself the question of who or what Oxygorn was. The answer would be long-winded and not particularly helpful. Besides, he was certain he would get a warm welcome. Better to just find out for himself.
Kneeling down by the summoning circle, John let his consciousness reach out to the plane of air spirits. The connection was established swiftly. His mind dropped out of his physical form. Freely, he fell. Fell into this different realm.
His mind’s eyes opened just in time to see him slowly sail down to an emerald green pasture. The grass enveloped a pyramid-shaped, smooth mountain. Flying circles around him, Sylph guided him down to the base of that mountain, a structure growing up one side of it. “So this is where the court is today, interesting, very interesting,” the arcvolt elemental babbled.
The structure, the court, was a fascinating display of vibrant plants and crystal formation interweaving. Small and large humanoids fluttered around the place, accompanied by hummingbirds, dragonflies, and other creatures of the fast variety. Their sizes were just as inconsistent as that of the humanoids, ranging between one of John’s nails all the way to a school bus.
A staircase cut through the centre of the structure. “Come along, come along, Mother is at the top.” Sylph guided her summoner along eagerly. They ascended the stone staircase, inviting attention as they proceeded. Chatter of expected arrival held even sway with the confused utterings of the uninformed. Everyone spoke loudly, with no shame or regard. Constant winds rustled chimes hidden between the leaves.
A wall of fern blocked the final stretch. Sylph pushed through, then stuck her head back out. With inviting winks, she got John to follow her. On the other side of the green was a large courtyard.
The floor there was flat, made out of various crystals that appeared to have grown together into a pattern that reminded of swirling gusts. Structures of stone, covered with vegetation, surrounded them on all sides. Each of them was covered in holes and other entrances, resembling a mixture of beehive and tribal architecture. Bright flowers bloomed on various surfaces.
The most vibrant of all was the massive, bright pink flower at the opposite end of the courtyard. It appeared to be less of a flower and more of a flower-shaped pedestal, such was its size. At its centre was a yellow cushion of plant-matter, on top of which a woman lay. She wore naught but swirls of green and blue, that slowly shifted in patterns of moving air and electricity. Rather small, exactly Sylph’s size, she was surrounded by a carpet of her own, extremely long, green hair. Amber eyes sat in a beautiful, adorable face, that could have been anything between twenty and thirty years – even if the being it belonged to was much, much older. Embedded in her collarbone was a prismatic stone, the centre of the entire plane.
Tempesta truly did look like an older version of Sylph, to the point that it was almost unsettling. She opened her mouth, closed it again, then looked over to a tall, serious looking being. It looked like an armour created from vibrant red energy, holding a long spear forged from lightning. “Do the thing!” she demanded. “Come on, we have guests, very important guests, they have to know who I am!”
“With no due respect, everyone knows who you are.”
“Well, duh, I am the greatest of great elementals and the cutest too, but we have this whole list, you know, read the list!”
“…May I only read the first page?”
“Urgh, fine, but you are such a party pooper. A big pooper. When you don’t even poop! I will have to install toilets in the realm, just so you can be the biggest pooper that has ever pooped on this whole plane of existence.”
With a deep sigh, the being, doubtlessly Oxygorn, stepped forward. With a wave, he manifested a binder of documents. A curious sight in a fantastic realm such as this. John could guess what came next and he still was not entirely prepared.
“You are standing before Lady Tempesta, Stormy, the Whisperwind, the One-Who-Walks-To-Furry-Creatures, Enjoyer of Sugar, Slaughterer of Tyrnoin, Ravager of the Plains, Tamer of Gummy Bears, She-Who-Makes-Clouds-Travel, the Tempest, Dancer of Fairy Courts, Mother of Wind, Queen of Blowing Your Mind, She who has firm breasts, Challenger of Waters, Electra, The Unsilenced, The Stormblessed, the Blesser of Storms, She-Who-Is-Shockingly-Beautiful, The Bringer of Storms, Winner of Mario Party in the Time Tournaments of 2007, Wrecker of Expectations, Wearer of Cat-ears, Self-declared Patron Saint of the Weebs, CEO of Airter, Endless Clouds, She who always shines with a bright smile, Rainy Days and Good Moods, Enjoyer of Cakes, She who hungers for Pretzels, Slayer of the Army of the Darkest Court, Chosen of the World Soul, Dancer of the Fairy Twilight, Musician in the Silence, Creator of the Sounddrowned Wastes, Bird of Beethoven, Mother of the Chattering Ones, Palavering Palaver Lover, Audible Gasper, The untameable thunder, Also the unstoppable force, Nothing to Fear, The Lady that tricked the Moon, She who makes some awesome pancakes, the Infinite Dictionary, The Occasional Cocksleeve, She who gets flamed by the Mother of Flames, the Heartfluttering, the Hurricane, the Uncaring Wrath of Storms, the Heroine of the Tales Untold, the Day Dreaming Lady, she who snoozes again twenty minutes after waking up, she who takes three naps a day, the Last Songstress of Indus, the Roleplaying Master, the Infinite Energy, the Cleansing, the reason why Bob Ross’ hair was so fluffy, Scythe of the Last Breath, Spark in the Starless Sky, Amazing Fuck, Supersonic Speaker, she who is really annoying the ever-loving shit out of me and I am sure she is going to make this one of her fucking titles that entitled bitch – signed by the Mother of Fire, Consumer of ALL the cookies, Laughter of Adorable, Honorary mother of Fae-kind, Little Gappy Butterfly, the End of all Lungs, Dry-Cleaner of Corruption, The Eternal Chatter, End of the Empire of Blue and Purple Sands, Terror of the Dreamless, Reality of the Poisoned, Mind of the Gusts, Desirer of Milk, She who likes the sound of moaning, Tempesta ezt Tempesta cla, End of the War of Planes, Eye of the Ceaseless Writhing, Honorary Members of the Applebee’s Fanclub, Death of Silence, The First Scream, and the last Whisper.”
Tempesta nodded approvingly numerous times, then stared expectantly at John. Luckily, he was the Sylph-whisperer, so he knew exactly what to say.
“A great many titles, truly they encompass your brilliance, Mother of Air. I don’t have to hear any more though. Can we get to the point?”
“Okay, sure, so, here’s the thing… what was point of order number one?” She looked to Oxygorn, who was about to respond when she continued, “I’m just kidding, I remember! I totally remember, alright, I’m not that stupid. I’m not stupid at all, just, you know, this and that. Whimsy! That’s the word. Hihi, I like that word. Ehem, point of order number one is that I want you inside me.”
John could not say he was surprised, considering certain titles in the list.
“Just not today, I have stuff to do and that stuff is not you. After the Quest, we’ll have a threesome. Sound good?”
“Sounds great!” Sylph answered in his stead. “Does sound great, right, Johnny?”
“What the concubine wants, the concubine gets,” John told her.
“Audible gasp! That’s right! I am THE concubine!”
“So what about that Quest?” John asked. “I’ve been informed that you wish to be the first to give me what is necessary to bring my elementals to the next level.”
“Indeed, indeed, quite to the point, I like it! So, technically, there’s nothing you need to do for any of us. This is an exercise of our powers, that we can employ however we want. That being said, I do want a token favour, just a teeny, tiny little thing you have to do for me. See, there’s a hurricane dragon forming in your territory. Could you make sure the poor guy doesn’t go on a rampage?”
John was taken aback by the revelation. A hurricane dragon was the same subspecies as Tilgun, which made it a rather big deal. A manageable deal, for John, but a big deal regardless. “Any information on where exactly?”
“Just check where there’s a bunch of tornadoes, that’s all I have.” Tempesta waved at some servant and was brought a golden chalice. Lying on her flower pedestal, she sipped on the wine. “Their species is so rare to form, especially inland, I do not wish to see one felled by Gaia because it goes on an instinctual rampage. That’s such a waste.”
“I’ll do what I can,” John promised.
“Nice! Bye!” Tempesta clapped her hands and he was suddenly ejected from her court. While he disconnected his mind from her plane, he heard her voice one more time. “We’ll fuck next time I see you!”
That sounded like a good time.
Comments
Quyan640
I wonder if Gaia would have accept John pressing on the word button the notifications sentence instead of the one that was framed.
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