Gestation by John Gold (love books to read .txt) 📗

gargoyles and Haron for my rituals.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 193216 (ignored: 163792)

12422/82720

Resistance to fire: +0.02%

Thermal damage ignored up to 164851/second

This time, I leave only Harol stunned; the gargoyles are awake the whole time. They stoically endure the pain, the same way I do. Now, I’m taking 29457 damage and can heal 60600. I need a reserve just in case something happens. The demons turn out to be awfully talkative, and I learn quite a bit, also, beefing up my knowledge of the demon tongue, over the two days we spend together. Fifty hours later, I’m forced out of the game. The capsule, apparently, has a restriction on how much time you can spend in it, and I just have time to kill the trio and hide deeper in the cave before I log out.

After sleeping for eighteen hours, I wake up hungry. I decide to eat before jumping back into the game.

As soon as I arrive, I realize that I’m being hunted. Demons are flying everywhere, darkening the sky, and scouts are running to and fro. I meet one right at the entrance to the cave and simply toss his body into the lava.

I don’t know how much damage the aura of pain does, so I have to give the fortress a wide berth. But when I do ultimately get to the center, pretty close to the fortress, I have to slow down. I was right; the aura is especially painful here. Ten days are spent boosting my resistance as I gradually take one step closer after another. The aura does 70000 damage, 40% of which is mental, the rest physical. Hell is a terrible place if this is what just the auras are like. What about the local bosses?

Again, I hit the effective ceiling. I can no longer boost the amount of health I have; all I can do is work on the amount I can restore per second, a total of 60000. The fire teaches me that lesson very quickly.

I can’t find a good place next to the fortress to work on my resistance, so I have to get smart about it. The aura doesn’t destroy items. I pull on a full load of armor and all the jewelry I have, giving me enough stamina even with the penalty I get for not having the right level for it all. Regardless, I’m able to get to the pit.

Well, it’s more an enormous hole than a pit. All of Imir and the surrounding lands would have fit into it. I can barely see the other side. Did I really make it here? It’s hard to believe. No, I’m better off climbing down slowly than jumping, but first…

“Attribute window!”

Name: Sagie

Level: 0

Experience: 0/100 (100 left until the next level)

Race: Human

Class: None selected

Basic attributes

Strength: 200

Agility: 200

Stamina: 200

Intellect: 200

Wisdom: 200

Available attribute points: 0

Additional attributes

Speed: 200

Athleticism: 200

Morale: 200

Survivability: 200

Derivative ratings

Physical damage: 100 (strength/2, but no less than 1)

Carrying capacity: 500 kg (strength*10/4)

Mana: 2000 (wisdom*10)

Health: 2000 (stamina*10)

Strength: 2000 (stamina*10)

Health restoration: 2000/minute (survivability*10)

Mana restoration: 2000/minute (morale*10)

Strength restoration: 2000/minute (athleticism*10)

Running speed: 76 km/h (1+speed/10)

Defense: 1

Resistance

Physical damage: 10.01% (damage ignored: up to 45077/second)

Poison: 1.27% (damage ignored: up to 211/second)

Mental damage: 8.69% (damage ignored: up to 26700/second)

Fire: 26.21% (damage ignored: up to 280515/second)

Skills

Cooking: 25

Trap setting and disarming: 19

Archery: 2

Swimming: 4

Breath-holding: 5

Stealth: 250

Life Magic: 250

Mind Magic: 250

Space Magic: 250

Earth Magic: 250

Water Magic: 250

Fire Magic: 250

Air Magic: 250

Light Magic: 250

Dark Magic: 250

Meditation: 250

Hand-to-hand combat: 92

Perception: 166

Necromancy: 250

Blood magic: 250

Ritual magic: 250

Professions

Herbalist: 2

Fisherman: 16

Tailor: 23

Blacksmith: 8

Carpenter: 16

Passive skills

Imp eye

Undecuple consciousness

Demon possession, complete

Gifts

Meeting deferred

The numbers are great, of course. I haven’t spent these five months suffering for nothing. How long is it going to take me to get through all eight circles? Or does the hole drop straight through to the bottom?

As I think, I crawl. It’s an odd feeling, letting yourself down into a bottomless opening. It’s almost like signing your own death warrant or cutting off your head. I have the wild idea of taking the leap, fortifying my body, and seeing if I would live. The swarm of ants meandering across my back tells me that it’s a terrible idea, and I’m inclined to agree with them, so I keep going. It gets really scary when the magic torches start disappearing. No, I didn’t let them go; they just melted away two meters below me. In fact, that scares me so badly that my fingers relax and I slip into the abyss.

The shock wears off quickly. As soon as I hit the ground, I have to dodge a strike; some kind of naked girl with a whip is chattering away in demonic tongue.

Come at me with a whip and you’ll die by the whip.

Demons, Dust Succubus, Level 177

Killing opponents who have no idea what battle tactics are is easy. It was harder with the gargoyles, though the good part here is that I know what she’s trying to say now.

“Time to punish the bad boy! Get on your knees so I can spank you.”

What did I do to her? Why beat me? Just to make sure, I take the whip away from her. It’s rare, so I don’t destroy it. I have room.

At first, I thought that I was still in the first circle, but I was wrong.

∞ ∞ ∞

Current location: Second Circle of Hell. Lust.

Rock wasteland

If I were an adult, the girl probably would have spanked me, and I would’ve been only too happy to die. But my attitude to girls is a little different: I want to kill them all.

Suddenly, it occurs to me that most demons don’t wear armor, and very few of them use weapons. I wonder why that is.

I take off at a run, notwithstanding the hurricane-force gale blowing in my face. Sometimes, my body is taken and thrown against the cliff, but that’s okay. My resistance to physical damage is plenty high enough.

The closer I get to the center, the harder the wind blows. Sometimes, it seems like there’s a blade cutting through my