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DxD Chapter 60: Crutches
🕑 Added 2024-08-13 21:19:23 +0000 UTCIt was as usual, after my business in school was done I went down to my workshop to work on enchanted items while my drone worked on potions, I donned my boosted gear as usual but...
This can't be real.
The ground beneath my feet cracked as my dragon's aura ran wild.
"What the fuck is this?"
I stared at the crimson gauntlet strapped to my hand in disbelief. This had to be a joke right? There was no way this was happening.
I dispelled the Boosted Gear and recalled it again.
"{BOOST!}"
My eyes twitched, again. I felt my power increase, yet...
I easily calculated it.
My stats had risen...
By 1.9x
I felt disbelief bubble up in my throat as I stared at the Boosted Gear. 10 seconds had passed.
"{BOOST!}"
"Heh... fuck me."
2.8x
"{BOOST!}"
3.7x
"{BOOST!}"
4.5x
"{BOOST!}"
5.2x
"{BOOST!}"
5.8x
"{BOOST!}"
6.3x
"{BOOST!}"
6.7x "{BOOST!}" 6.9x "{BOOST!}" 7.1x "{BOOST!}" 7.2x "{BOOST!}" 7.3x "{BOOST!}" 7.4x "{BOOST!}" 7.5x
"What the... fuck? Ddraig, could you please explain before I lose my goddam mind?" A moment later Ddraig's voice sounded in my head.
{Well partner, that's diminishing returns.} I know that, I went to college, I want to know why my Boosted Gear suddenly decided to crash out on me!
I heard Ddraig sigh.
{Partner, just check your status.}
I did as he said.
____________________________
Statistics:
Vitality: 623
Mana: 1012
Endurance: 398
Strength: 256
Agility: 230
Magic Power: 1233
____________________________
My stats had been massively improving since I had changed my heart into a dragon and let it gradually improve my body alongside my daily basic training. Especially my mana and magic since Dragons are magical creatures and I have been using my Mana 24/7 since a few weeks ago.
{Since you are in denial. I guess it's up to me to teach you. Takumi, you boost works by channelling the mana of the universe into your body through the boosted gear to double yours stats right.} I nodded, that was right so far.
{The difference now is the stats you started with and the stats you have now. You have to understand, that the Boosted Gear was made for humans, my own boost doesn't even work in 2x increments after all. And your specs have left the range that humans that can reasonably achieve. For comparison, the Boosted Gear can channel at most about "1000" Mana per boost. It physically cannot channel enough mana to keep up with your ridiculous mana reserves, and as a result, it gives diminishing the more you use it.}
So it's a hardware limitation huh? Thats disheartening.
I am not strong enough to feel confident against someone like Kokabiel. Sure I could avoid the fight altogether by calling Sera and Grayfia beforehand and making them kick his ass to oblivion but I won't be able to do that forever, because after Kokabeiel? Everything starts ramping up to a ridiculous degree.
...I can no longer rely on Boosted Gear as a crutch.
I slapped my forehead in frustration, of course, you mentally impaired fucking idiot. Did you not watch the anime? As time went on a single boost meant piss all, it was all about the power armor the boosted gear gave. How do you keep yourself alive when you are this fucking stupid?
This is all right, I am not a one-trick pony. I can pivot, I have ways to improve my stats even further, I should get to working on that body even faster huh? No need to worry, it only stopped working when I would be facing things that will get stronger and stronger!
{Takumi, calm down. You aren't thinking rationally.}
Dddraig's voice snapped me out of my trance as I saw that the floor was completely demolished as I was pacing around my training room.
I used magic to forcefully cal myself again, shit, I was really losing control of my emotions recently. Especially negative ones.
It feels like someone constantly poking and prodding at you whenever you are thinking negatively, your very own mind whispering into your ear to let your vices take a hold of you.
And I knew the reason.
The disrepaired Boosted Gear, remnants of previous users are stuck inside of the boosed and as you might imagine, prideful wielders of the longinus were probably not very sound of mind as they were dying. And their remnants affect my mind as well even more than previous users.
Because I had all but jailbroken the Boosted Gear just as I had more access to it, it had access to me. I had to get rid of those remnants somehow.
{That's not all of it.}
I raised a mental eyebrow at Ddraig, what did he mean?
{Takumi, you are excluding stress as a possible factor.}
Stress? How would mere stress affect me?
{Partner, you sometimes live in your own world. Literally, sometimes you do nothing but just sit down and study a book nonstop for literal days to weeks. You constantly push your mind and brain to the point where you bleed but you don't care.}
But that's what I chose Ddraig, I took on the mantle of Red Dragon Emperor knowing the horrors I would have to face. I cannot fall behind.
{Pal, you are already ahead, it's okay to take it slow sometimes, paranoia and stress drove many conquerors to their doom. And pal, the time you spend doing nothing but studying and training compared to literally anything else is gargantuan.}
...It's not that bad.
{Pal, let me put it into words you can understand. You have been working the equivalent of a wage-slave job for all 168 hours of the week and only get a day off every month. It's honestly an actual miracle that you are still even relatively sane.}
{My recommendation for you right no? Just take the day off and work on that meditation upgrade quest. I am not asking you to stop working hard, but remember to have fun.}
Sigh... as much as I hate to admit it, Ddraig is right, I can only push myself so hard so much before I crack. Some meditation should help clear my mind. Besides, I wonder what the evolution of meditation will be.
I sent a mental message to all my servants that I would be in the garden and that I did not want disturbances before doing precisely that. I walked to my garden, which contained a large and beautiful pond full of fish being fed alchemical vitality pellets.
Shrugging, I carved an earth transmutation circle under my feet using Dominator's Touch and making a large rock grow in the middle of the pond, just enough for me to sit on as I floated toward it using my ability again before plopping down and getting into a lotus position.
Then I started meditating, taking a deep breath and then releasing as I let go of the world around me, no more mental partitions, no mental acceleration. Just me and I.
I focused on my breathing, the flow of mana throughout my body. I had been too strung up. So instead of forcefully controlling my body I just let it return to its natural state.
Instead of forcefully diverting my mind and controlling it with mind magic to deal with my problems and... well... ultimately failing I just did nothing but mind my mind.
And after an unknown amount of time, I noticed how little control I actually had over my mind. I had just been brute forcing everything and most importantly myself.
How laughable, a Dragon Emperor of Domination who had zero control over themselves?
What a joke.
I noticed my real problem. I was trying to control the world before even learning to control myself.
Well, it was not something that could be done overnight, to say the least. But I could take steps toward it now. Especially toward guarding my mind better against the influence of the Boosted Gear. But for now, I was just relaxing.
I felt calm waves of mana roll off of my body with every breath as I took in the world around me. It was almost like dosing off, for some reason, with the sense of the mana around me I felt like I could observe even the world around me as I tried to do my best to take in my surroundings.
Basically, I abandoned all thought and just let my body flow naturally before...
____________________________
[Skill Promotion Complete!]
[Meditation Lv 10(MAX)] has evolved into [Focus Lv.1]
[Focus Lv.1]
Allows you to enter a state of heightened focus and awareness.
____________________________
It was a tad underwhelming but I suppose that was to be expected from one of the first skills I had ever gotten. Focus was pretty decent all things considered, it did as it said on the can but as always, the less verbose the description the stronger the skill, usually.
Also, while I had been meditating I apparently received some more notifications, funnily while I had been trying to avoid, well, focusing on progression I had actually progressed more.
____________________________
{Dominators Touch Lv.6} has levelled up! =>{Dominators Touch Lv.7}
{Draconic Aura Lv.4} has levelled up! => {Draconic Aura Lv.5}
[Mind Magic(Adept) Lv.9 ] has levelled up! => [Mind Magic(Adept) Lv.10(Max) ]
[Sense Mana(Intermediate) Lv. 10(Max)] has evolved into [Sense Mana(Adept) Lv. 1]
____________________________
What the... had I been stifling myself that much? To the point that letting go of the iron grip on my mind, I had levelled up all of those skills? Well, I suppose the revelation I had probably had an effect on it too.
But boy do I feel good after meditating for 24 hours straight, but the fact still stands that it didn't really help me fix anything. I still have to plan, I can just plan with a better mind now.
The first and the biggest issue I have. The decreasing yield of the Boosted Gear. I can just Limit Break with it still so my combat efficiency isn't completely tanked but I really need other things to rely on.
Diversifying my assets if you will.
First comes my new and improved body, I am about 55% of the way there in terms of the ingredients I need for it. My new body would be the perfect vessel for the amount of shit I was planning to stuff into it.
Starting with the Sitri Family affinity, then the Bael power of destruction if I can decipher it. And one with equal importance was Baraqiel's Holy Lightning, for that to work I probably need Holy and Light Affinity. I would also like Ravel's healing factor if I can get to it but I can live with the Hydra healing factor. Then ingesting one of each stat augmenting potions.
Then collecting the Forbidden Balor View which would evolve into Aeon Balor. I don't really feel any attachment to the Vritra gears so I will probably give it to a homunculi after asking Azazel for the rest.
I may not have the plot armor or the shounen talent of Issei but I do have something that can more than match it.
Cheats, baby.
A/N: You might not have realized this due to Takumi's PoV but he is basically abusing himself constantly, he has literally spent more time studying and working than not ever since he came here, sleeping and eating included. There is no one that Takumi treats worse than himself.
At least now he has a better grasp and control of his mentality since he realized he has been abusing Mental Magic as a crutch. Speaking of crutches the Boosted Gear finally gave out, this isn't a Nerf, Takumi didn't get weaker he just stopped getting as stronger.
He still has a lot of use for the Boosted Gear and Limit Break is still strong but he realizes that unlike Issei who fuels his sacred gear with Boob Power he can't rely on it as a crutch forever, he has to get stronger. And the moment he gets his new body, he sure will be.
As always what did you guys think about this chapter? I would love to hear your thoughts about it so leave them in the comments below, they help fuel my writing.
Comments
Chichi son
I used magic to forcefully cal myself again, shit, I was really losing control of my emotions recently. Especially negative ones. calm myself {My recommendation for you right no? Just take the day off and work on that meditation upgrade quest. I am not asking you to stop working hard, but remember to have fun.} right now?
Rauko the varment
Honestly, I was sort of expecting something like this due to how much he has been pushing himself without proper rest or even collecting himself; it is fine to push one's body and mind, but given his character, Takumi would've broken down eventually at his pace. still, I like this take on the story! it's something relatable and makes him not so all-powerful to the readers, looking forward to the next chapter and the quick fix on the dominator's touch skill level~.
GigaChad
Thanks 😊
Genkiz
Dominators touch leveled up from level 6 to level 6 lol.
clagann
Nice
