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

to overflowing, but I don’t even notice the overload. I pretty much always have a load that’s just 10% from the maximum. Lots of the things I picked up in the other circles went to boosting my sewing, and it took me just three weeks to get my carpenter profession to 250. I need to sew myself a new bag now. It’s so nice not having to carry it around with me - technically. It hangs in the air, completely invisible. If I want, I can grab it or make it visible.

But for that, I had to risk a ritual sacrifice. I needed a really big bag, and the ones you normally make just don’t cut it. Blood magic and ritual magic are the only things that help.

I changed the seal again, wondering if that would have any effect on the item I’m creating. A hundred and eight victims fit in a four-level pentagram, and I decided to go with mages.

Dirac spatial bag

A great artifact mage decided to make an entire laboratory in his bag. He went missing, but the bag is still with us.

Effect: 100 item slots. Identical items can be combined in one slot, and each slot is a dimensionless shelf.

Requirement: Scalable item

Durability: Indestructible, with damage to it taken out of the owner’s health

∞ ∞ ∞

What’s a week of punishment in comparison with picking up something like that? Nothing! I can carry a metric ton around, and I don’t have the normal restrictions on how many items I can have in one slot. Of course, I decide not to push my luck and earn the next punishment, which I’m told will be an entire month. But I so want to…

I kind of got hung up in this circle of Hell. It’s been twelve months in the game for me, and four and a half of them have been spent here. I turned thirteen. It’s going to be another two months, and that’s no good.

It’s like rage gives me power. Yes! The fortress is in sight, and the mental damage I’m taking is skyrocketing. Everybody’s always fighting, and I can barely get around with all the bodies on the ground.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 801100 (ignored: 333878)

363226/780130

Resistance to mental damage: +0.01%

Mental damage ignored up to 334771/second

I can heal a whole 89000 health every second. It’s a madhouse all around me though, and I’m feeling so aggressive that I just want to kill everyone. Meditation is all that helps me get through the outbursts of rage. I know how I’m going to get even with that crystal on top of the fortress. I’m going to steal it! After cutting down the island, I grab the diamond. What’s a beauty like that doing up in the sky anyway? It won’t do any more damage in the area, but I can definitely use it to store mana.

A month! This really is Hell. The only way I’m able to make it through is by focusing on how much I want that crystal. Finally, I’m standing under the walls of the fortress, taking aim at my target. Just in case, I boosted the number of victims I sacrificed to get my health to two million. Fire! The island is reduced to rubble, though the gem isn’t harmed. The same isn’t true for me though: the recoil takes off a million and a half health.

Scattered rock is all that’s left of the island, and the crystal, whole and intact, comes flying toward me. The damage from the aura is gone.

Fly to me, my precious!

I dig down into the ground up to my knees, and that’s with my demon appearance! Then, I have to break the artifact into eight pieces so I can get it into my bag. Finally, I turn to the fortress.

It turns out to be abandoned. There’s nothing and nobody inside, just bare stone walls.

On the other side, there’s an enormous hole. That’s where I’m going! Climbing down would be silly, so I just leap in.

∞ ∞ ∞

Current location: Fifth Circle of Hell. Stygian swamps.

Crossing

What do you think when you see a river enshrouded in murky darkness? Do you want to go for a drink, dive in, or try some fishing? Well, the name of this one, the Styx, practically screams at me to try drinking from it. I find myself on a small island. On the one side, there’s darkness, on the other, the river. I look for a dock, figuring that the guard will be coming that way in a boat. I’m exactly right.

Stygian Brigand, Flegius, Level 450

He’s a guy wearing a gray chlamys and holding a large oar.

By the time he gets there, I’ve figured out that I can step into the river. I completely ignore the 500000 mental damage, and the souls that brush against my body just tickle. It’s a deep river, which I use to my advantage.

When Flegius gets to about thirty meters from the bank, I jump in. I’m in my demon appearance, and I’m completely strengthened. I’m also great at my zigzag jumps.

“Pay the toll” is all he has time to say. My blow is terrible, landing with my knee just as he tries to use a fist. We both topple into the water with a splash.

I’m not sure if he’s ever had anyone fight back like me, but nobody’s going to be giving me a second chance. I dolphin-kick over to him and grab him by the leg.

I can go without oxygen for four and a half minutes, which is what I’m counting on. It works. As the second minute ticks away, Flegius starts flailing and gulping water. He jerks, trying to break free, though I keep pulling him down to the bottom. My demonic appearance in the river of souls is far more terrifying than the old boatman. I’m using every advantage I can to beat what is a powerful enemy. Finally, I’m successful.

The loot I get from him is…a ticket.

Ticket

Gives one soul the right to cross the Styx River in Flegius’ boat.

∞ ∞ ∞

He’s even