Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]

Unlike Chloe, I am selfish, at my core. I don’t have her compassion, her deep love for humanity and society. More than once, I’ve wished I could burn it all down and start anew. And when places like this exist, it fuels a certain anger in me, reminding me of the pain and wanting of my own past.

In many ways, this castle and these possessing specters are a manifestation of the darkness within us all. Painful memories and chains of grief and guilt that paralyze us, the demons of greed and addiction and fear and loss which turn us away from our better natures. The grief and guilt are obvious, the others only slightly less so. Greed for more power, the addicting thrill of gaining new Skills and new Skill ranks and levels and watching those stats slowly ticking up, point by brutally-earned point in the crucible of battle. Both existed in the old world too, only the thrill was money and houses and status symbols and so forth.

Right now, that greed is taking the form of a desire to learn something from incorporeal entities. What kind of magic allows them to possess others? What allows them to phase through reality as they’ve demonstrated? And could that power be put to my own ends? Those questions have lingered in the aftermath of my dream, but no longer. For right after that dream with Madison and the discussion of void beasts and layers of reality, Providence has seen fit to deliver me a test subject on a silver platter.

Providence, the System, the Goddess(-es). I don’t know which. Honestly, I’m not sure it matters. All that matters is not losing the opportunity handed to me, and hopefully not irritate Chloe too much in the process. I do care about her, in a way I must admit is also borne of selfishness rather than compassion. If I do upset her, well, I’ll just have to find a way to make it up to her later.

For now, I have several empty Skill slots burning holes in my pocket. Time to fill them.

I step into the room, Chloe following unamused, as we stumble upon what looks like either an elaborate throne room or maybe some sort of desecrated cathedral hall. Considering the fire and brimstone stained glass windows and the altar lined with symbols unholy and profane, I’m strongly leaning toward the latter.

What proves even more intriguing is the spectral mass floating above the chamber. It’s big— bigger than a small house, filling out much of the upper half of the chamber. Bits and pieces break off into specters of their own; the wise ones phase through the walls in an attempt to escape. The less wise ones go after me, giving me a chance to study their magic in detail for a couple of brief moments before I disintegrate them with my trusty swordstaff. The undead, as a rule, are vulnerable to [Light] and [Healing] magic, and with my ability to infuse my strikes with the former at will, they don’t last for more than a strike or two.

The most foolish of all see Chloe as an opportunity, rather than a dangerous crackle of potent [Light] and [Healing] energy barely reining herself in for the sake of my idle curiosity and experimentation. The ones that go after her don’t merely disperse. They shriek in pain.

I’m content for a quick kill as I observe them with a scientist’s detachment. But Chloe’s compassion is fading away into a sea of murderous, sadistic intent toward the wraith-spawning creature above.

My [Artificer’s Glasses] do not avail me. I’d hoped that perhaps I could take advantage of a loophole in the description; they don’t work on living beings, and the undead can’t be considered alive. Unfortunately, though, the glasses simply spit out error messages telling me, in slightly different words, that I’ll have no luck breaching these creatures’ secrets in this manner.

But, with Chloe’s magic still sending my [Mind] into the stratosphere, not to mention [Reconfiguration] working its subtle threads on me, I’m starting to see the ripples in the fabric of space just before the creatures slip into the immaterial. Or out of, as the case may be. It’s like the shimmering haze of a mirage, except there’s something real behind the illusion.

Ripples to both my left and my right at the same time. These creatures are learning— or maybe it’s the orb above that has enough sapience to think and adjust its strategy. I only have one swordstaff, one chance to strike at a time. Maybe the earlier failed possession was just a fluke, something attributable to luck. Try again, maybe they’ll succeed.

Of course not, and I don’t give them a chance to do that much. My right hand glows with [Light] energy, my [Elemental Ether Strike] bubbling forth to exorcise the creature foolish enough to strike me where my weapon isn’t.

The attacks break off for a moment, giving me another chance to observe with the same impassivity as before. It’s a new challenge for me. Normally, I either find or learn new glyphs and then I have to figure out what they do, how they function, and how they connect with other glyphs. In the process, I expand my spellcasting repertoire and my flexibility both on and off the battlefield.

Now, I’m trying to do the opposite, reverse engineering some sort of glyph that will allow me to pierce the dimensional boundary. In theory, it’s impossible, but an offhand comment from Madison gives me a clue. Gravity literally bends space; I know this from my science courses on Earth. Too much bending and you tear a hole in space— I don’t think that’s exactly what a black hole is, but I can’t imagine the mechanism is too far off.

I start with that, still watching the ripples as they emanate outward, waves which reverberate and dissipate faster than I can see, probably right up to the speed of light itself. I try to re-create them. And I can’t help but chuckle as I do. [Gravity] was so hard to manipulate just a couple months ago, when I first learned the shape. So many twists and turns, the depth and complexity that underlay one of the fundamental forces of the universe. I still don’t fully understand the implications myself. But what I can do is manipulate the fabric of space, just a bit.

Another wraith dives for me. This time I don’t spear it. I let space distort around my exposed right arm and yank it right off its present course, allowing it to pass harmlessly by my own body and smack into the face of Chloe’s barrier, where it decomposes into a puff of black smoke.

“Making any progress, dear?”

“A little, yes. And I appreciate your patience as I work through this.”

The response is nonverbal. Resigned acceptance alongside a hint of irritation. I appreciate it, Chloe. Really, I do.

I can imitate the ripples just fine, but how do I go from rippling space to peeling the boundary back and diving back in? [Valkyrion’s Perception] has been showing me the what, but the how still eludes me. How do I slip in-between the layers? Or stated another way, what combination of glyphs allows me to match the shifts in [Ether] that follow the spatial distortion?

Inverted [Light] doesn’t work. I don’t have a glyph for the concept of [Space]. Maybe I can create one? Except, how would I do that?

And then an idea hits me with all the force of a lead anvil. [Multidimensional Glyphcasting] allows me to build glyph arrays that extend in three dimensions. With a bit of jiggling the coordinate geometry around, there’s no aspect of the Skill that outright prohibits me from creating an arrangement that extends into a fourth dimension as well.

Everything starts clicking into place, my mental processes aided by some unseen force, nudging me with the correct configurations. So strange, having what feels like a second sentience in my head, moving glyphs into different positions. Runes slot in between them, including some that I’ve never before seen.

As strokes tumble into place like a metaphysical lock coming undone, I pull out my sketchbook for the first time in some time, trying to make sense of how everything is structured together. The new runes, as well as the new glyph that is Manifesting in my mind, need to be analyzed and thoroughly dissected, their functionality categorized and documented for those who will follow in my footsteps.

Graphite dances on paper as Chloe takes the lead in the fight, piercing through the horde of spectral would-be terrors with ruthless efficiency. Meanwhile, I try to make sense of what I’m drawing, barely coherent glimpses of what the fourth dimension might hold for me, and for the world as a whole. Madison said that this was the key to traveling at speeds which map to travel faster-than-light in ordinary space, but more than that, it’s… It’s–

I’m attacked by a pair of what feels like psychic assaults. My body remains healthy but my [Ether] declines by a modest amount. Not the first time I’ve dealt with such attacks, though I should hurry up now that I know these creatures are capable of actually harming the two of us.

“Chloe? Can you do the honors?”

Chloe’s unamused expression metastasized into a rictus grin as holy energy emerged from her core. Shrieking specters, sentient enough to sense and respond to danger, charged at her like moths to an open flame, only to meet exactly the outcome expected of such an endeavor. One cast of [Radiant Burst] and all of the floating abominations evaporate. Even the spawning core, far larger and more resilient, suffers a significant wound, shrinking in size by about forty percent.

Another interesting phenomenon, which I store for later: Chloe’s [Light]-based attacks don’t care if the wraiths are corporeal or not. It burns them all the same. An aspect of slipping into subspace, or a weakness of the undead? Things to test in a safer environment.

For now, the spell has finished rearranging itself. The shape is exquisite, a masterpiece I’ll spend months trying to decipher, years fully reverse-engineering, probably learning new first-principles multiple times along the way. As for trying to extend this spell further? Just getting an appreciable part of the way there would mean a Ph.D. in Etheric Studies; I’d sign the paperwork myself to make it official.

Before I can fully grasp all aspects of its design in my mind’s eye and commit them to paper, the glyph matrix evaporates. I curse and nearly spit in frustration, right up until I feel its presence weaving its way into my subconscious, just waiting to be used.

[You have gained the General Skill [Dimensional Slip (Rank I)].]

[[Dimensional Slip]: You have gleaned the first insights into the underlying structure of the world. This Skill allows its wielder to slip into the subspace layer of reality, becoming temporarily intangible and immune to all physical assaults on the principal layer while activated. While on the subspace layer, non-[Light] magical damage taken is halved, but [Light] damage taken is increased by 50%. Cost to maintain intangibility scales quadratically with time spent in subspace.]

Having gotten what I wanted out of the deal, I stop screwing around and stop wasting Chloe’s time and the last shreds of her patience. I give her the signal, and together, the two of us throw down beams of [Light] energy like we’re partying at a rave. More infernal wailing, more spectral assaults, more wisps of darkness dissolving as undeath burns to death.

With the two of us no longer screwing around for my sake, the spawning core doesn’t last for more than a few seconds. It tries another two of those psychic attacks, but with both of us being second ascension fighters and with plenty of [Ether] capacity to spare, it doesn’t do much to affect either of us.

One final deflated cry of resignation to oblivion and it, like the wraiths it spawned, dissolves into the wind. A small service to the world. Maybe I’m not quite so selfish after all.

[You have slain 313 Guardian Wraiths (Levels from 51 to 55). You have gained a boosted 750 Experience.]

[You have slain a Wraithspawn Core (Level 57). You have gained a boosted 4,000 Experience.]

[Level: 67; Experience: 6,225,044; To Next: 167,546]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 11,974 / 12,731; [Ether]: 6,147 / 9,583]

[Current Stats: [Strength]: 269 (Base: 118); [Speed]: 271 (Base: 119); [Vitality]: 324 (Base: 142); [Mind]: 433 (Base: 190)]