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

form. All you can see are my eyes. It’s a nice look, but I’m not planning on the grim reaper. I don’t want to disappoint my parents. Mama would frown; father would say that I made a poor choice.

But what should I do about shoes? I only have one pair, and if I give them an effect that isn’t for my attributes, they’ll be what I have to use. On the other hand, when will I have this many spiritual creatures to play with ever again?

Lord sandals

…

Effect: Let you walk on water

Requirement: Unique item

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

∞ ∞ ∞

I take one look at them and kick myself for wasting my most valuable sandals—I already have a seal that lets me walk on water. And what about the description? I half expect some god to walk up, demand that I give him back his sandals, and send me to Hell. “Although, no, you’ll just run away again.” I’ll have to see what happens. Maybe, I’ll be out of mana, and I’ll have to traverse the valley of the shadow of death. Phew, I need to stop reading so much.

There’s nothing for it but to keep walking toward the center of the desert wearing the sandals.

The farther you go across the desert, the more you start to wonder what’s in the middle. Could this really be a pathway to Hell? Or does that river of souls lead to the Gray Lands? There isn’t much longer to go. I can already see the mountains, and the souls flow on the other side of them.

From fifty kilometers away, I see that the road is blocked by the mountain ridge. Everything is on fire, literally. Flames shoot out of the earth, the air is alight, and the rocks crack from the heat. I’m surprised I can breathe. It’s a cool feeling.

The first cliffs appear, jutting out of the earth like needles of rock. I dig a hole for my cart; The burning earth is starting to destroy it. Everything I don’t need, I leave inside, taking the rest with me.

It takes some time to find a path through the mountains. Two days go by, and finally, I’m in a cleft in the mountains with the path to the center of the desert opening up in front of me.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 88200 (ignored: 86611)

211/2370

Resistance to mental damage: +0.01%

Mental damage ignored: up to 87090/second

At this point, the mountains look bathed in a shroud colored in all the shades of fire. Even the fabric of reality is quaking from the intense mental aura. The shroud itself is visible in the aura, which does 50000 damage and more. The higher your resistance, the more damage you need to see the shroud. Mages can use magic vision to see what color fields of strength are.

For the first time since I was in Hell, I see creatures higher than Level 600. They’re something like birds, only much more majestic with fire erupting from their plumage.

Monster, Roc, Level 602

Complete immunity to Mind Magic! A strong hide! I have to smack it with a dwarf hammer to bring it to earth, and then peg it with spikes smeared with a paralyzing poison.

I can’t look for victims and work on my resistance at the same time, so I have to move to 50-hour days.

The farther I go, the stronger the aura is. Now, it’s the aura of regret. That’s the feeling it gives me.

Before I saw the difference in the items I can make with blood magic rituals, I thought I could use that to work on myself. Now, even beating creatures six hundred levels higher than me is a big achievement.

What’s on the other side of the mountains? Everything. One interesting point of reference is the enormous hole in the middle. At first glance, it’s about fifty kilometers in diameter. It’s like somebody used a thermonuclear bomb to see how deep they could go in search of minerals. That thing is huge. It looks to be two or three kilometers deep, and the center is a ways away. I can’t tell what’s at the bottom. The river of souls splashes right into the middle, and there’s a thick shroud down below. That’s what’s keeping me from seeing anything.

It takes me almost two weeks to cross those kilometers.

Two guys with terrifying faces wearing nothing but ritual slings notice me. They’re five-meter giants rippling with muscles, and they move toward me.

Monster, Great Sinner, Level 677

A double meteor takes off a big chunk of health, but it doesn’t kill them. I have to finish them off with my dwarf hammer. If it weren’t for the ritual that got my health up to four million, I’d be a goner.

∞ ∞ ∞

Damage taken: 2315200 (ignored: 2308077)

3824831/4101200

Resistance to fire: +0.01%

Thermal damage ignored: up to 1158570/second

Resistance to mental damage: +0.01%

Mental damage ignored: up to 1152901/second

All I can heal is 51000 health. I can’t go any farther. Whatever’s in the center is so scarily powerful that I don’t even want to think about it. My perception is superb and I can see from a kilometer away, so I notice where the fire elemental is disembodied, having come too close to whatever is over there. The only things here are ghosts and other disembodies creatures. There aren’t many semi-material monsters like the sinners, and I’m only too happy to see that regular ghosts don’t attack me. The rest only attack me after a short delay.

Having gone this far, I decide to get a little closer to whatever’s in the center. It turns out to be an enormous stone body whose chest is pierced by a perfectly round, polished, red stake. The river of souls flows into the wound. I’m stunned by the size. I can see it all from three kilometers away. The giant’s face is recognizable, too. It’s Bernard.

∞ ∞ ∞

Bernard met everyone coming in from the front with all the clan leaders. The arrivals had all done some leveling-up and skill-boosting.

“Bernard, you