The Extra's Odyssey

The possibility I came up with had a low chance of being true. Yet, it was terrifying enough that I couldn't ignore it.

'A Monarch will descend in 7 months and he is after me.'

Goddammit, there was no time to rest!

The seven figures that appeared in my dream came from the innermost River of Ruin. They had to be Seven Demon Monarchs, and the black figure showed one of those seven figures coming for me while hoping that I remember the dream after waking up.

Maybe this was why I was given [Chains of Order] with the [Synchronization] skill.

"Should I run away?" I pondered, but I knew the answer already. "No, that isn't possible."

Until the Great Barrier is lifted, there were only two ways to escape: Rifts and, well, Destroying whatever the Monarch, aka Demon King, is using to pinpoint my location.

Our Universe was not the main Universe. It was a pocket dimension, a so-called hidden dimension, which was concealed inside the Great(main) Universe.

This was the reason the races had to use portals to invade Earth. Consequently, the Great Barrier, the boundary between our Universe and the Great Universe, was thinning. Ultimately leading Aether to seep into our Universe.

The barrier would dissolve completely after 10 years, and then other races will locate Earth, allowing them to travel here through space.

But the order was now  reversed.

The Demon King was coming first, in less than a year to boot!

'The being inside me didn't tell me what was going to happen later this year, only that it will most definitely kill me. But the dream gave me an idea.'

So, maybe the being had nothing to do with the dream.

"Argghh! It's overloading my brain to think of an answer!"

The threat was beyond anything I could fathom, even remotely. Since I was short on time and this needed more careful planning, I decided to move it to a few hours after.

'Let's get out of the Tower first.'

Rustle-

I was about to start analyzing my new abilities when Susan returned.

"I will leave with you."

Exchange was short, but she ultimately decided to give her answer later. She would leave with me and decide on how to proceed from there on.

*

Huff! Huff!

"Damn…these upgrades are crazier than I thought them to be."

I couldn't help but gasp in surprise while looking at the section of forest razed to the ground.

Susan had left with Caim to kill monsters and level up. In the meantime, I was confirming my stats. We had decided to rest for 3 hours before leaving.

Flicker-

The fire dancing on my body subdued and was reabsorbed into my body.

Snap-

Snapping my finger, a small frozen tempest burst from my body and froze the flames burning the forest.

These were a few of my 'Transformations'.

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[Igneel]

Affinity: Fire

Type: Self-Enchantment

-Increases Attack Power by 400%

-Increase Fire-attribute damage by 200%

-Applies Fire-attribute to attacks

Duration: 30 minutes

Cooldown: 30 minutes

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[Azhdaha]

Affinity: Earth

Type: Self-Enchantment

-Increases Defense by 650%

-Increase Durability by 650%

-Applies Earth-attribute to attacks

Duration: 2 hours

Cooldown: 24 hours

------

[Dvalin]

Affinity: Air

Type: Self-Enchantment

-Increases Speed by 900%

-Applies Air-attribute to attacks

Duration: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 30 minutes

------

[Baqiu]

Affinity: Water

Type: Self-Enchantment

-Increases Recover Rate by 200%

Duration: 3 hours

Cooldown: 6 hours

------

These four were my 'Modes', or 'Transformations', when I used [Enchantment] of different elements on myself. The stat boosts propelled my combat ability to another level!

But there were three more Modes, and they were even more powerful!

------

[Yule]

Affinity: Ice

Type: Self-Enchantment

-Increases Water and Ice attribute attack damage by 900%

-Frozen World: Decreases movement speed of enemies in a 10-meter radius by 60%

-Decreases Durability and Ether by 10 per second. Durability and Ether will decrease by 100 per second upon successful activation of [Frozen World]

------

[Nova]

Affinity: Light

Type: Self-Enchantment

-Increases Speed by 900%

-Glory World: Stuns enemies within a 30-meter radius for 5 seconds

-Decreases Durability and Ether by 10 per second. Durability and Ether will decrease by 100 per second upon successful activation of [Glory World]

------

[Eclipse]

Affinity: Darkness

Type: Self-Enchantment

-Physical damage Nullification

-Shadow World: Move through the shadows

-Decreases Durability and Ether by 10 per second. Durability and Ether will decrease by 100 per second upon successful activation of [Shadow World]

------

[Yule], [Nova], and [Eclipse] were different from other enchantments in terms they decreased my durability and Ether upon usage. Other than these I also had [Eternal].

But the advantage they could give was undeniable!

Above all, these three didn't have any cooldown or activation duration!

All the abilities granted by [Self-Enchantments] were techniques, not skills. In simpler terms, I had to execute them myself, so though they were amazing, using them required a great amount of concentration.

"The stats changed for the better, too."

I finally had a rough estimate of my stats. Except for Luck, all my new stats equaled 100:1 to my previous stats.

An example would be: My 5800 Ether stat would be roughly equal to 58 stats for awakeners.

Becoming an Overlord removed the stats cap, but I had yet to know if my new stats were linear or parabolic.

Durability was a sort of health bar. (Pretty weird that I had a health bar in reality)

Speed was similar to agility, with minor differences. Unlike agility, which increased reflexes only by a small margin, speed had a major effect on reaction speed and cognitive abilities.

Defense was probably the amount of damage reduced before being transferred to me. I needed more observation on this.

'The loss of Stamina and Intelligence was surprising though.'

I don't get exhausted no matter how long I run, though it decreases my durability after a certain amount of labor.

Intelligence was a necessary stat that increases one's magic output and maintains one's internal energy. Its job was to keep the flow of energy flowing inside an awakener's body, flowing smoothly and unconsciously.

Thus, even Aura users needed to invest in Intelligence or they would burst like a watermelon popped open on the beach party if they invest too much in Aura stat and too less in Intelligence.

'Yeah, and I don't have Intelligence stat anymore.'

For a moment, I imagined myself replacing the watermelon and shuddered.

'Forget it, the mechanism must have changed. I better focus on other stats.'

The best advantage I got was not my [Modes] but my [Stats].

Why was I saying this?

'Attack Power is simply overpowered!'

Phzzzt-

Schwing-!

Grabbing hold of the sword, I swung it at the tree.

Thud-!

The tree was cut in half with a clean cut and fell off. Another thing I noticed was that my fighting techniques became more refined after that dream of hell. But maybe I was confused due to my evolution and mistaking it? I shook my head. It was beside the point I was trying to get at.

Phzzzt- (x3)

Fwosh- Fwosh- Fwosh-

Three swords flew and punctured holes in the trunks of three trees.

Bam-

As the trees fells, I smiled. This was what Attack Power stat did.

It standardized the damage output between my weapons and myself.

Didn't understand? Heh noobs, Let me explain!

Before Evolution:

Let's say with my strength stat I could create a damage output of 30 units. And one common-grade sword does 20 units of damage on its own.

Shooting the sword would do 25 units of damage, thanks to the force gained due to velocity.

If I swung the sword myself, I could reach 45 units of damage(A portion from 30 units of myself and a bit from 20 units of the sword's individual damage combines).

After Evolution:

If my damage output is 30 units, with the previous measurements, if I now 'shoot' my sword, the damage output will be 50 units and so would be when swinging it. Why?

Even without touching them, my attack power was being added to my weapons and as a result, the damage output was increasing further. Pretty neat, right?

Needless to say, it was the same as swinging every weapon myself at the same time.

It wasn't an Iota-ranker firing 100 weapons anymore, but 100 Iota-rankers attacking together.

This would increase further as I rank up. In the future, I could do carpet bombing quite literally!

'The weapons are still Common-grade, but the damage increased by at least two folds.'

This was what I meant by saying [Stats] evolution was more amazing than [Modes].

"I think I should be able to fight Tesla-rankers with my stats and enchantments."

Actual battle results still needed to be checked, though. After all, there is always a difference between theory and practice.

Sadly, the monsters on Floor 15 were barely a challenge.

"Should I enter 3rd Trial?" I denied the idea myself. "I don't know long it will take, and Leon might have exited the Tower already."

The reason I waited till now was that I needed to know my abilities after evolution. I might need to fight the moment I leave the Tower. In that case, it was better to know what I was capable of.

"Outside, the Tower would have been flooded by people when cadets died. There is a high chance I might need to make a run for it immediately after leaving."

As I tested my skills and new abilities, Caim and Susan eventually returned.

"Should we go?"

It was time I returned.