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

My second set of clothes will also be focused on magic use. It’ll be unique, not scalable.

It’s hard to find the monsters I need to create unique items with the right attributes and ratios.

On earth, there were tribes of Bedouins who lived in and regularly crossed the desert. Earth is now a reserve where they don’t even let tourists go, and I’m a sort of neo-Bedouin crossing this world’s most dangerous desert on my own two feet.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 28400 (ignored: 24547)

108/2370

Resistance to mental damage: +0.01%

Mental damage ignored up to 24811/second

The center of the desert gives off an aura that does mental and fire damage. Using dragon breath, I boost my resistance to fire so high that I can use all eleven streams without threatening my health. The damage from the aura is half-thermal, so I’m fine so far.

I find out something interesting: the whitish veil I noticed back in Hell is the limit of my resistance. As soon as I cross it, the damage from the aura starts taking off health. The higher my resistance, the farther off the veil is. Thinking through things logically, the veil is where my perception of the concentrated energy field begins. Different kinds of energy impact the body differently. For example, the first time I used dragon breath at maximum power, I got a blinding debuff, with the fire being bright white in the middle and changing shades as it expanded outward. It doesn’t blind me anymore, however, and I’m fine even standing in the middle of melting sand.

There are about five hundred kilometers to go until I get to the center of the desert, and the monsters here are around Level 550. I can’t stun them, so I have to kill them with a single powerful attack or paralyze them with poison. My spikes laced with blood malachite need recharging every once in a while. It takes a lot of strength to paralyze these kinds of monsters.

I can already see the river of souls in the sky, though it doesn’t much look like a river. It’s more a cloud dousing the sand on the horizon with rain. That’s where the center of the desert is, so I’m going to get a better look.

Every evening ends with me digging the cart into the stand, sitting down on top of it, and logging out of the game. Mornings are for exercise: digging myself out and then digging the cart out.

The terrain changes quickly along with the monsters. It looks like they’re all here, all the different kinds. The closer I get to the center of the desert, the stronger the aura is, and today I’m starting to see semi-astral creatures floating above the ground. They don’t attack right away, so I’m able to kill them. And while they have wings, they don’t have bodies, and their faces are covered with hoods. The lower part of their bodies looks like a breeze or smoke.

I use them to make myself a pair of gloves.

Soul-catcher gloves

There was once a mage who hunted monsters and had an interesting hobby. He skinned everything he killed and made gloves, selling them at the market when he returned from his excursions. The gloves he himself wore gradually took on their master’s qualities over the period of his long life.

Defense: +5

Effect:

Morale +5

Intellect +2

Wisdom +4

Requirement: Scalable item

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

∞ ∞ ∞

It’s the first item I have that isn’t linked to a killer. Although, there’s no telling what kind of monsters the mage hunted. What if he preferred vampires and werewolves? My enemies are getting too strong for me, so I need to make gloves and a cloak.

It takes me two days. In a way, I invest a part of my soul into every item I create. I don’t make personal items anymore for two reasons: first, it’s scary to think about cutting off a finger for something that simple. Second, I don’t even know how I would. Here I am planning on being able to survive a direct hit from a meteorite, and I would need to find a way to… No way. Because of that, everything I make is just unique or scalable. And what would happen if my pants, for example, embedded themselves in my body? How would I take them off? And what about my cloak? Would it embed itself in me and form a cocoon?

I really am horrible! I’m prepared to kill monsters by the dozen for just one ring. Although, everyone else in the game would kill a hundred times more just for one of them, only not created with blood magic.

I could have created a pack animal with necromancy, but that would have attracted Eliza’s attention.

Death cloak

Everyone knows that death never shows its true appearance. Darkness itself hides beneath its cape, looking deep into your soul, and sometimes cloaks like this one are found after great battles are fought.

Effect: Your face is not visible under this cloak

Requirement: Unique item

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

∞ ∞ ∞

It’s the first item that gives me an effect that has nothing to do with my attributes. The only difference between the ritual I completed to create the cloak and other rituals I’ve done is the victims. I used completely spiritual creatures called live armor. Apparently, that means that the effect victims like this give doesn’t boost your attributes.

Unlucky death gloves

Death sometimes takes people unawares. Years go by before the undead regains consciousness. They realize that they have died and been reborn when they look at their hands and see nothing but bone.

Effect: Your hands look like those of a skeleton

Requirement: Unique item

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

∞ ∞ ∞

Suddenly, I realize what kind of weapon I’m going to make myself. Even without the cloak, I can use my shroud of darkness to give myself a terrifying appearance. Even monsters are afraid of me when I look like a blob of darkness in human