Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 203: Duplicity

Zac was quite relieved when he put away the half-absorbed crystals. He had already expended most of his stock of Divine Crystals, and he was starting to fear that his core was simply a bottomless hole. But now he knew there truly was a limit to it.

Zac closed his eyes and focused his senses on the core, trying to understand what it did. It had undergone quite a change unbeknownst to him the past week. Before he started to absorb the E-Grade crystals it had been a chaotic jumble of gold interchanged with black, likely representing life and death.

Now the chaos had given way to order, and there was a clean line of demarcation, which each of the halves of the Core seemingly consisting of one of the colors. This only was the surface though, as Zac’s mental sight had no means to penetrate the surface of the Specialty Core.

Covering the core were dense patterns of inscriptions, but even after looking at them for half an hour he didn’t really find out anything of use. Calrin had said that Specialty Cores served a special function, but Zac simply had no way to discern what this one would do from his clues so far.

He knew that the fractals were created by the Apostate of Order to follow a certain ruleset, but as far as he was concerned it was all unreadable hieroglyphs so far. He had rather hoped to receive some sort of information burst to explain the core when it was done, but there was no such luck.

The core also didn’t respond in the slightest when he tried to infuse it with Cosmic Energy or his Dao, no matter how much he tried. It felt like he was staring at a treasure trove just out of reach. With a sigh he opened his eyes, admitting defeat for now.

The good news at least was that he probably wouldn’t be in any danger any longer when he traveled the Dead Zone. Since his Core was satiated it shouldn’t absorb any more miasma when killing Zombies or other undead.

The bad news was that his gambit to get stronger before the Treasure Hunt through the core seemed to be a wash. However, there still was a week to go, and he could at least work on his Dao. Zac opened up his status screen to take another look at his Seeds, but something odd made him stop in his tracks.

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

61

Class

Hatchetman (F)

Race

Human (E)

Alignment

Port Atwood - Lord (Earth)

Titles

Born for Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer, Child of Dao, The Big 500, Planetary Aegis, One Against Many, Butcher, Progenitor Hegemon, Core

Dao

Seed of Heaviness - Middle, Seed of Trees - High, Seed of Sharpness - Early

Core

Duplicity (F)

Strength

344

Dexterity

162

Endurance

231

Vitality

201

Intelligence

90

Wisdom

85

Luck

93

Free Points

3

Nexus Coins

20 853 653

There actually was a new row for his core, right beneath his Dao Seeds. The System had named his core duplicity, which felt like a clue. Zac didn’t think it meant that the core would help him become a better liar, but rather referred to the two halves of it.

Unfortunately, there was no menu for him to go further, such as his Dao Screen or Title screen, and that simple line was his only clue. But Zac remembered he actually had a title about his core, and perhaps it might give him some answers.

[Core: Successfully form a Core. Reward: 5% Strength, ????????]

To his surprise the Title had actually changed, now giving out a pretty good reward. When he first received the core it had given him nothing, only displaying a line of question marks. The question marks were still there though, making Zac a bit confused.

As he saw it there were two possibilities. The first possibility was that the core simply wasn’t complete yet, and it being satiated with energies was just the first step in building it. That would explain why it was completely inert even though it was complete.

The other possibility was that the question marks showed that the Title could keep improving. In the status screen the core was shown in the same way as his Class and Race, with an (F) behind it, showing it likely could be upgraded in the same manner.

Or perhaps it was something else entirely, he was simply speculating at the moment. But seeing the title made him remember something he had forgotten in all the excitement, something that might spell trouble down the line.

Until he met Greatest he had been operating under the assumption he was essentially growing a normal cultivator’s core ahead of schedule. He based this on the fact that it was positioned right where a normal core would appear when reaching D-Grade, and it being tightly integrated with his pathways.

But from how Calrin explained it a Specialty Core was like an add-on to a warrior, rather than swapping out the core. What would happen to him in the future when the spot for his normal core was already occupied? Was it possible to move his new core?

Various thoughts and scenarios whirled in his head, but finally he reluctantly tabled the matter. He simply knew to little about the situation, and there was nothing he could do at the moment. In any case, a 5% boost to his Strength wasn’t shabby, making it well worth the week he spent on nurturing the core.

Zac put his three free points into Endurance and closed his menu. He was initially going to make a decision on his Dao Seeds, but he felt he needed to clear his head first. For the first time in almost a week, he stood up and stretched his stiff body before leaving his courtyard.

It was around midday, and neither Kenzie or Emily was at home. He was a bit bored so he decided to head to the Academy. He wanted to see his sister, and Alyn would perhaps have some helpful knowledge about Specialty Cores.

The academy had changed quite a bit the past weeks, forming a compound of its own. Before it had simply been a large field of gravel where the Valkyries trained, but now it felt like a real place of learning.

There were over ten structures that held either classrooms or training facilities, and the large training field had been turned into five fields, each with different settings for the gravity array. He was planning on taking a tour but stopped when he passed the field with the lowest gravity boost.

Emily was currently facing a demon warrior, holding a small tomahawk in each hand. The demon was unarmed, and simply blocked her strikes by redirecting their trajectories.

“Your strikes still lack ferocity,” the demon said. “You and your attacks need to be indomitable. The axe is not like a sword, where there exist myriad techniques. The axe is a simpler tool, with fewer ways to attack. It is easier for me to block you because itʼs easy for me to guess your attack patterns.”

“So what should I do? And don’t say change weapon,” Emily huffed.

“Make it so that it doesn’t matter if I know what you’re about to do. Crush all resistance, break all defenses. Does Lord Atwood hide his intentions in battle? No, he simply pushes forward, crushing tactics with power,” the demon said, clearly with some approval in his voice.

Zac scratched his chin with a wry smile as he walked away. While what the demon said at the end sounded like a compliment, it also made him sound a bit like a simpleton who only charged straight ahead. He really needed to add some brains to his brawns.

It seemed that Emily hadn’t listened to either Alyn or Alea, swapping to a more magically inclined class. But Zac wouldn’t stop her from following her convictions. If she felt that strongly about using axes, it probably was for the best if she kept it up.

Zac didn’t interrupt the training and let her be since he knew that Emily was working extremely hard in preparation for her sixteenth birthday. She had been hungering to get stronger since Fort Roger, and she was almost there now.

Instead, he headed over to Alyn’s. The schoolmistress still chose to stay inside the academy, though her simple house had received an extensive upgrade. Recently he had learned that the reason so many demons helped Alyn out with various things. She had quite a few suitors.

It appeared that the combination of ruthlessness and graceful and intellectual demeanor made the schoolmistress quite a catch in the eyes of many of the demonic warriors. It was even to the point that a few of the warriors had mainly stayed behind on Earth because she did so.

“Lord Atwood, what brings you here?” Alyn said with a smile as she opened her door and indicated him to sit down in a chair on the patio.

“I simply wanted to take a look at the progression of the academy,” Zac said as he sat down. “It looks you have everything in hand.”

“Everything is proceeding fine. It turns out that you stopping me from whipping the children did not lessen the children’s productivity. I still have much to learn it seems,” Alyn said.

“We have also found a few islanders who were teachers before your world got integrated, and we are currently teaching them a revised curriculum along with the children. Within a year we will have operations running for children between 6 and 18.”

“That’s great. And the armies?”

“Apart from the Valkyries there currently are around 2500 humans in training. Around half of them are cultivators coming from Refugee’s Harbor. However, they’re still mostly a hodge-podge group of people of various strengths and weaknesses. They lack structure and discipline,” Alyn said with a sigh. ”Currently they wouldnʼt be any use in assaulting an Incursion.”

“I’m sure you can whip them into order. No need to be as lax with soldiers as with the children,” Zac said with a small smile. “What about the beastmaster I sent you?”

“You mean the pet caretaker?” Alyn said, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I think she should get some sort of class choices related to beasts. We are currently getting her acquainted with barghest and the Ayr hive in hopes to improve her choices before rushing her to level 25. She was a bit reluctant at first but she came around after I explained about the bond between a beastmaster and its horde.”

“Great, keep me posted on that,” Zac said with a nod.

The two kept conversing about various topics for a bit, and Zac even broached the subject of Specialty Cores. Unfortunately, Alyn knew even less about them than Calrin, only having heard that stronger forces sometimes depended on Specialty Cores for their advanced Heritages to work.

“Where does Kenzie usually train?” finally asked, after having gone through everything he needed for the moment.

“She’s over at the fourth quadrant. She’s quite impressive, you know. She has a mage-class, but I’ve never met someone with such amazing reflexes. She’d make a great swordfighter or pugilist as well,” Alyn said, her eyes brightening up. “Perhaps a hybrid Class at E-grade, like I’m pushing for with Emily.”

Zac was a bit confused, but then it hit him. Kenzie had never displayed any particular feats of athleticism back in the day, though she played a bit of basketball in school. But now she had an AI helping out. Perhaps it could provide her with similar features as his [Axe Mastery], except that it also worked in battles.

He realized his sister might even be able to help him train his close combat. From what he understood Jeeves refused to help others, but if the two sparred the AI would help both of them out whether it liked it or not.

Zac walked over to the field, and soon found Kenzie sit in a corner of the field. She was currently wielding a Fireball in one hand a floating Icicle in the other as she ran through an obstacle course. There were targets planted at various places, and it seemed it was set up so that she was supposed to shoot an attack of a specific element depending on the markings on the targets.

Zac let her finish her run, after which she came up to him, a slight sheen of sweat covering her.

“Impressive,” Zac said with a smile.

“You’re finally out of your hole?” she said with a slightly accusatory tone. “I thought you would stay in there until the treasure hunt.”

“Honestly I’m only out to take a breather. There’s still a lot to do. What are you doing?” Zac asked, changing the subject.

He knew he hadn’t spent a lot of time with his sister since he saved her, and he felt bad about it. But at the same time, there was simply so much to do. He was desperately struggling to keep his edge in order to keep himself and the citizens of Port Atwood safe.

“I’m training coordinations. Jar… My friend said that a big weakness for mages was adaptability and close combat. He designed this course so that I will get better at adapting my attacks, and to better handle myself while fighting. He says that standing still and shooting fireballs is the same as waiting to be killed,” she explained.

Zac had to agree with the AI after thinking back to his fights with mages. They were quite annoying and their attacks were often very strong, but usually when Zac caught up to them the fight was over. One swing or two and they were dead. It felt extremely prudent to learn some footwork in conjunction with the spells. If she could keep shooting fireballs while running to maintain her distance from her target she would be far safer.

“Sounds like a smart idea,” Zac said approvingly.

“More importantly, you should go see Hannah,” Kenzie said. “I tried to tell you three days ago but you were unreachable.”

“Hannah?” Zac said with a frown. “What’s going on?”

“I think she’s in trouble,” Kenzie said, looking a bit concerned.