The Over-Break System

With his legs firmly planted up to his knees into the terrain, Brance began activating his [Radient Tower].

“My Terra lays the stone-like foundation to support me in my efforts to protect those I love,”

“My foundation is guided by the steady bellows of my Wind, allowing it to soar to untold heights,” as he spoke the second verse of his Mantra, Brance extended his arms out to either side and turned his palms downward before kneeling down and gripping the air just above the ground his feet were embedded.

Unlike the first time he activated this skill, Brance was CONSTANTLY churning Mana inside of his body and around him, forming a virtual vortex of tri-Affinity Mana around his body.

He was unaware that his eyes and hair had changed color, and his markings had begun glowing on his face with constricted pupils.

Feeling all the energy leaving his body at a rapid pace, and without missing a beat, Brance quickly withdrew several stamina potions and chugged them down without losing focus before continuing to channel more Mana.

This was the most crucial step, the formation of the pseudo-Codex, along with determining the build of the Tower. Unlike the first time he activated the Tower, his eyes didn’t reflect his Affinities and instead were golden as his Nephilim Mode Triggered subconsciously.

Slowly bringing his arms up in a pulling motion, a fierce gust erupted, visibly manifesting the normally invisible Wind Mana particles. His eyes locked on a large open clearing nearby the closest mountain since this was his targeted building location.

“My foundation shines in the radiance of my Light, allowing it to break the sky and reach the heavens! Tri-Fusion Affinity Skill: [Radient Tower],” calmly speaking over the deafening winds, Brance clenched his hands into fists and thrust his arms up.

Suddenly the earth shook as if a magnitude nine quake was occurring, with Brance as the epicenter, forcing stone pillars and slabs to explode out of the mountain and the ground simultaneously, forming a perimeter of 100×100 meters that would be the foundation of the Tower.

The ring link perimeter only took a quarter of a second before a blinding light erupted from the ground, shooting toward the sky and taking the shape of a majestic and ancient five-story stone tower.

With the completion of the five-story [Radient Tower], Brance extended his arm and pulled forward, summoning a fist-sized golden orb from the top of the floor.

This golden orb happened to be the Pseudo-Codex, that upon creation, would ride the Tower toward the sky, fighting against gravity and, in a sense being the force behind drawing the construct from the ground as it rose.

Flying through the air like a fastball pitch, the Pseudo-Codex landed squarely in Brance’s palm as he immediately extricated his legs from the ground and sat down. Feeling dizzy from the massive expenditure of MP and STAM and holding the Pseudo-Codex in his right hand, Brance spent about a minute slamming one potion after another until his resource stats were back to their max capacity.

Once finished recharging, Brance moved on to his next idea. Looking down at the perfectly shaped golden orb in his palm, Brance used [Inspect] and frowned.

-Pseudo-Codex: This object can be housed within the Command Column. Its Available Mana Points are Equal to 2.5 times the Tower Creator as it absorbs ambient Mana during the creation process. The Pseudo-Codex can be upgraded if proper resources are acquired, turning it into a true Codex, and allowing the Tower to become self-sufficient. Otherwise, when its MP hits Zero, it will dissolve, and the Tower will Collapse.-

-Current Tier= Pseudo Peak Tier-2.-

-This Object needs to reach the Peak of Tier-2 and evolve into Tier-3 to be transformed into a permanent fixture; however, be aware that once it breaks through and becomes a true Codex, its power will drop to Tier-0, and it will significantly reduce in size and strength.-

-Items required to increase Tier.-

-30 Tier-2 and 5 Tier-3 Light Codexes,-

-30 Tier-2 and 5 Tier-3 Terra Codexes.-

-30 Tier-2 and 5 Tier-3 Wind Codexes.-

Clicking his tongue, Brance sifted through his unorganized inventory until he located all the necessary resources to stabilize and evolve his Pseudo-Codex.

Aside from the memoir and sub-class resources, Brance had pressed Tobs for the necessary items to evolve a Pseudo-Codex during his shopping spree in the Obelisk.

His reason behind wanting this information was, after using the Tower and being forced to release control over the already unstable Pseudo-Codex, Brance felt it was simply a waste of energy, time, and MP always to be forced into recreating a Pseudo-Codex. Thus, not wanting to be forced into recreating the orb continuously, Brance decided it was better to go ahead and form a permanent construct, no matter the cost.

Withdrawing the necessary prepurchased Codexes, Brance sorted them into appropriate piles and paused in thought.

“How do I do this, Tobs?” Brance asked the AI while rolling the golden orb in his palm.

-Trace the runes along the left and right faces of the Pseudo-Codex, and it will unlock the mechanism like a tool and open up. After you have opened the Pseudo-Codex, place the materials inside the orb, and allow them to be absorbed.-

Nodding his head, Brance followed her instructions and charged a minute amount of Tri-Affinity Mana into his index finger on his left hand and began tracing out the intricate patterns running along the sides of the orb until…

Click, tssss

Hearing a small click and an exhale of pressure from the Pseudo-Codex, Brance’s eyes widened as it opened like a perfectly split orange and lost its golden shining luster.

Tilting the orb around and examining its internals, Brance was amazed to find that contrary to what he expected, the powered down and opened Pseudo-Codex appeared to be a higher form of Mana-based technology.

Although a Mana construct, it felt smooth and cool to the touch, and with a peek at its internals, Brance spotted a small ring dead center of the Pseudo-Codex.

Glowing in a light golden radiance, Brance recognized it as the device’s core and slowly placed one of the Light Codexes onto the ring.

-You have inserted a Tier-2 Light Codex into the Mana Construct known as a “Pseudo-Codex.”-

-Would you like for the Mana Construct known as a “Pseudo-Codex” to absorb this Codex? (Y/N)

-Your Mana Construct has Absorbed 1 Tier-2 Light Codex.-

-Current Light Mana Power, 2.5%-

-Current Terra Mana Power, 0%-

-Current Wind Mana Power, 0%-

When Brance read the notifications, he realized that each Tier-2 Codex represented 2.5% of this so-called “Mana Power,” He quickly crunched the numbers and figured the Tier-3 Codexes, of which there were only five in each Mana type, would boost the meter by 5%.

Testing his theory and adding a Tier-3 Terra Codex into the mix, Brance’s thoughts were soon confirmed.

-You have inserted a Tier-3 Terra Codex into the Mana Construct known as a “Pseudo-Codex.”-

-Would you like for the Mana Construct known as a “Pseudo-Codex” to absorb this Codex? (Y/N)

-Your Mana Construct has Absorbed 1 Tier-3 Terra Codex.-

-Current Light Mana Power, 2.5%-

-Current Terra Mana Power, 5%-

-Current Wind Mana Power, 0%-

Pleased that he figured it out, Brance set to work, allowing his Pseudo-Codex to absorb all the Affinity Codexes, but as he did so, he was sure to keep an eye on his rapidly draining resource stats.

Keeping the Tower active without a power source put a lot of strain on his resource stats, as each floor had a cost to maintain. Floors 1 and 2 drew 200 MP and STAM per minute, 3 and 4 pulled 600 MP and STAM, and lastly, floor 5 took 900 MP and STAM.

Brance lost 1700 MP and STAM every minute he spent working on the Pseudo-Codex. Even if he currently had nearly 12k MP and STAM, as the minutes ticked by, he was finding himself in a difficult position as he was drinking down potions left and right to recoup his losses.

These losses were far too extravagant as it took nearly 15 minutes for Brance to get the final Codex into the device.

However, when he did so, it lit up like a Christmas tree, with all the intricate runes glowing in the three colors of his Affinities while snapping shut like a bear trap, nearly causing Brance to drop the golden glowing orb.

-The Mana Construct known as a “Pseudo-Codex” has absorbed the required amount of Mana and is undergoing an evolution. Please place the device down on the ground and step away. This process will take a total of six minutes to complete.-

Reading the notification and feeling a searing heat in his palm Brance nearly yeeted the orb across the mountain range but could control his initial instinct and gently place the Pseudo-Codex on the ground.

Opening and closing his scalded right hand a few times, Brance drank down a Healing potion. This action was because he was already in a war of attrition with the [Radient Tower] and didn’t find it necessary to expend Mana to heal a burn, even if it was so bad that the skin was peeling and bubbling in his palm.

Watching with bated breath, Brance looked on as the fist-sized construct pulsed with Light and burned the ground it rested upon before slowly condensing and shrinking.

The glowing runes came to life as they wiggled and slid across the surface of the Pseudo-Codex, slowly extending away from the shiny golden orb.

‘Eh? Is that what I think it is?’ Squinting against the flashing multi-colored light, Brance was shocked to witness the runes changing and forming four thin wings, extending from two points on either side of the orb, giving it a specific appearance that Brance was amazed to recognize.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought that if Cynrik were here, he would be jumping up and down while screaming, “IT BECAME A GOLDEN FUCKING SNITCH AH HAHAHA!”

Shaking his head to clear the thought away, Brance continued to drink one Stamina potion every two minutes to curb the rapid decline in his resource stats until Tobs sent a wave of notifications.

-Your Peak Tier-2 Mana Construct known as a “Pseudo-Codex” has evolved, becoming something unseen by the many races of existence in tens of Eons, a Mana Codex Core.-

-Unlike a regular Mana Codex, a Codex Core has both higher output power and an increased storage and absorption rate.-

-Mana Codex Cores are solid permanent Mana Constructs that can act as the purest form of Power Sources, generating a power output five times that of a standard Mana Codex.-

-Your Mana Codex Core is currently at Tier-0.-

-Your Mana Codex Core has a Mana Pool of 1.5 Times your Current MP, 17,970.-

-Your Mana Codex Core has a Mana Regeneration rate of 269.55 MP per 10 seconds or 1617.3 per minute.-

-Having accomplished something beyond the scope of the many lifeforms in the universe, you are being rewarded.-

Breaking into a broad smile, Brance was wholely satisfied by how close his Tower would become to a perpetual motion machine due to how close his Codex Core was to regenerating the total amount of its current cost.

“Tobs, hold the other notifications about rewards for a moment; I will go over them inside my Tower.-

With that thought in his mind, Brance scooped up the golden snitch like Codex Core and teleported to the top of his [Radient Tower] to the Central Command Center.