Mornn
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Chapter 775 - Creating money and grudges by just existing
🕑 Added 2025-10-20 16:00:23 +0000 UTCWith her helmet’s buffs, Sofia read and memorized the entire spell schematic almost instantly.
However, memorizing and learning were two different things, a week later, she still failed to even fully activate the starting sequence. It was not an issue of lacking mana but rather of having too much, making it hard to control the flow into the different distinct channels. While Sofia felt that she would manage with just a bit more training, time was running out.
At least, Mr.Scribe had been working on decoding the spell on his side, and came up with a clear description of what it should be capable of.
[Archangel’s bolts]:
An advanced version of Angel’s bolt, reworked from the ground up to better accommodate high-mana usage.
Estimated skill slot usage: 2.4 (Overrides Angel’s Bolt)
Form 1: Archangel’s Piercing Bolts
Channel an array of piercing plasma bolts, all aimed at the same target.
No array size limit.
The array moves as one, all bolts benefiting from the spellcasting weapon and catalyst, but the entire array crumbles if the central bolt is dispelled.
Base channeling speed: 100 000 mana per second per bolt
Form 2: Archangel’s Explosive Bolts
Channel a single powerful plasma bolt that explodes on impact or when triggered.
Base channeling speed: 1 Million mana per second
Form 3: Archangel’s Skewering Bolts
Invoke a single target-seeking skewering plasma bolt that embeds itself into the first target it hits, dealing continuous plasma, fire and lightning damage.
Base cast speed: 1 second
Fixed cost: 10 Million mana
Cannot multi cast
Sofia seriously read the descriptions as she picked her clothes for her date with Speed.
The piercing bolt array is just an automatic multi cast, no limit is pretty great, I can use that to almost instantly drain my mana if I need to. Considering the cursed ring and my scepter’s casting speed buffs, they go up to 368 thousand mana per bolt per second. So an array of about 550 piercing bolts drains my entire reserves in a single second.
Great way to get mana sickness, too… Five hundred piercing bolts in one go though? That’s some insane destructive power!
It all getting dispelled if the middle bolt gets countered is a serious weakness though. Especially if I ever invest all my mana in a single attack.
Exploding bolt at 3.68 million mana a second with the buff, my two hundred million mana gets eaten through in under a minute… But realistically that means now I can’t ever channel a bolt for more than a handful of seconds unless I’m in a wasteland or trying to create one…
And that’s only if the mana to energy conversion hasn’t been improved!
Being able to trigger it whenever is pretty nice too. It can still explode even if it misses the target.
Then the skewering bolts. With both casting speed buffs… I should be able to cast one in under a tenth of a second?! 0.08 seconds? For ten million mana?
This is truly…
I would destroy both level 299 Tartaros and Sen in under a second with that, wouldn’t I? The filter gap is truly monstruous…
But this one should fall off in power at higher levels since it’s a fixed cost and can’t be multi cast. Still, even with no multi cast I can theoretically cast more than twelve a second.
I have enough for an entire second and a half of sustained skewering… At this point I can’t even use the black sun Atlatl for those, I don’t think I can move my arm that fast.
That all being said, as long as I can learn this, plus what I already have, my attack skills basically need nothing else. In terms of utility, I also have almost anything I could wish for. I can just focus entirely on stacking more defense now. I can never be unkillable enough.
During her internal ramblings as Sofia adjusted her robes, she made the mistake of noticing that she hadn’t seen the Abereth in a while, so it spontaneously appeared between her and the mirror she was using.
“Tssk. This thing… Can’t believe I had to go through all the mana hearts of those black market guards to check their aura in the skill description! All to only keep two of them! What a waste of money!”
Pushing the money sink to the side, Sofia brushed her hair while re-reading through the Abereth’s ‘new’ auras.
♢ [Abereth of Greed] ♢ :
This curse is now yours to bear.
Summon or recall the Abereth of Greed.
The Abereth cannot be escaped.
Inserting the mana jewel of the recently deceased inside of the Abereth of Greed grants it power.
Powers gained depend on the ‘jewel’s previous owner and the Abareth’s current owner.
Powers gained by the Abereth of Greed can be discarded, but the jewels will be destroyed.
Jewel slots : 5 (4+Skill level).
Current owner:
Sofia Aphenoreth : Aura of just deserts
Current jewels:
Jer Blackhand (Lvl 288, Lightning mage) : Aura of stormeye
Name unknown (Pre system, data missing): Aura of silence
Roman (Lvl 267, Magic archer): Aura of arrowing
Empty
Empty
Aura range is always equal to the owner’s.
[Aura of stormeye]: Lightning strikes are absorbed by the Abereth of Greed within aura range, storing their power. When fully charged, the Abereth can release a [Higher Paralysis] shockwave on command.
[Aura of arrowing]: Projectiles within aura range fly 50% faster.
Not great but at least I can hit the damn thing and my scepter’s [Thunderbolt]s charges the shockwave. It doesn’t even absorb them otherwise… Meanwhile, Arrowing is a double-edged sword, but my bolts already fly so fast, this should make them almost impossible to avoid as long as I aim correctly.
I should really contact Kuli and see what th-
Sofia’s train of thought was interrupted by the feeling of something impaling itself onto her right horn.
Another brush ruined…
Rolling her eyes, Sofia threw the bone brush with a large burned hole in the middle back into the painted halls and grabbed a new one from there. She had a large stock ready, as this tended to happen often.
At the same time, she looked at the floor around her, thin strands of hair were everywhere, illuminating the stone tiles with a gentle glow.
Am I going bald? That feels like a lot.
Staring at her hair on the ground, Sofia started to wonder if, like Dragons, she was becoming one big walking pile of crafting materials. She got much stronger with the last trial yet her hair still felt about the same from her perspective. This could only mean that for a normal human, those thin, almost translucent strands of yellow light were probably about as easy to handle as a thick bar of steel.
My nails are the same, and at this point my bones with all the buffs are basically as durable as Mithril, if not better…
Am I even going to need armor anymore when I hit the higher filters?
Well, the buffs are pretty insane. The helmet alone is creating so much interference though… I can maybe afford to wear a second piece like that before it starts being a real handicap and derailing my casts.
It is reassuring knowing even the old monsters like Richard can’t wear too many of those insane items at once, I guess. Otherwise it would be basically impossible to ever catch up.
Finally ready after dealing with her hair, Sofia left Zangdar, reappearing in front of Speed’s mail booth.
Not here…
I guess I’m a bit early.
Sofia took the occasion to walk around a bit in her own city. It was the middle of night but the central district wasn’t sleeping. Lit by the warm glow of Lumian bone lampposts, the streets were still bustling with activity. Teams of Kidjikkik skeletons ran left and right, carrying materials. The people were already so used to seeing them everywhere day and night that they no longer even stopped to observe them.
As Ihuarah was getting busy approving rental contracts, many people had already started renting the houses and buildings in the central area several years in advance, and were busy moving in. The vast majority of them were organization representatives or people over level 200, so sleep was optional. Some shops were even already open.
Sofia was having a pleasant walk through the streets, trying and failing to get a feel for the ratio of race distribution within the central district as some races she did not even recognize. She still had a hard time believing so many people had already made the decision to uproot their life to move into this barely functional project of a city, but she was glad for it. The worst part of it so far, after the paperwork, was being recognized by literally everyone. It made Sofia’s introverted bookworm bones crawl, but she knew that it couldn’t be helped.
As she read the name of the shops, she marked a sudden stop.
‘Evan’s spatial baubles’
Evan’s… Didn’t I…
Seeing the man inside of the shop, neatly lining up artifacts and pocket watches inside of a glass cabinet, Sofia’s memories became clearer.
I remember! That’s him! The guy who sold me the ugly anti-magisterium bracelet! Eight hundred gold coins!
Woah that feels like so long ago… I don’t even know what I did with it. I don’t think I have it anymore.
Does Valeure know I’ve been unknowingly poaching her city’s merchants?!
Comments
Matt Grayson
“Some anti-magic detection bracelet! The whole Crossroads thinks I’m the Truman show!”
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
Matt Grayson
That’s what most people think about while preparing for a date.
Tom Asciola
Oh that's fun. I wonder if he remembers selling it to her? Also, those new bolts are WILD
AnyDT
A bit over 600 Chapters ago Karlson explained that the higher levels don't bother searching for the precious metals because their own bodies are better. I suppose we are reaching that point now.
OmniGlitcher
Thanks for the chapter! Mhmm yes. Unlimited Bolt Works. >‘Evan’s spatial baubles’ Wow. That's a throwback. :)
Mornn
She makes 'money' by creating magical materials (her body) and 'grudges' by poaching talented people from all over the world with her city, neither of which was really what she was aiming to do, hence the title
Matt Grayson
Sofia Unrecognizability: 0.
Mornn
It is max level for her filter, aka level 1, not noted anywhere but obvious from the description :>
Cyclone001
I don't remember Sofia ever getting rid of the bracelet. Good to see Evan again. But the title of the chapter I don't get. Some media reference?
Dan N
I noticed last time we saw Sofia's full stat sheet the Abereth didn't have a level listed but since the description directly mentions the skill level it probably should have? Also, shouldn't the Abereth have more slots since it's at max level for her filter... level 4 or 5 right?
