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  You have reached Level 17 as a Dark Mana Knight

  +30 Aura, +20 Mana, +60 free Attribute points to assign

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  Possibly I went into overdrive clearing the planet of its highest Level Monsters rather than just sticking to the island I picked, but compared to clearing out the whole solar system in less than six months it didn’t seem that taxing. I left creatures Level 50 and under alone for the most part on the island so there’s some hunting for the people that arrive, but nothing out there should be too scary. The next move was to check out what might migrate across the water to threaten any Settlement, and I just went from there. I’ve decided to rename our settlement island Bonavista. Why not?

  I decide to split my free Attributes between Constitution, my biggest advantage, and Aura, which drives my connection to my biggest differentiator, Dark Mana. Thirty to each and the last five to Agility this time. I’m planning to stay on this path I’ve been on for a while unless something changes my mind about where I need to focus. There’s still another 13 Levels until I reach the peak and that means another 780 free Attributes available at most, until they really slow down at the Ascended Level cap.

  There’s no opportunity to spend my unallocated Class Skill points right now since I’ve Evolved all six of my Ascended Class Skills to this point, so I need to wait until Level 20. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Starfire Scourge, Temporal Anchor, and Reality Shaper can do and I’ll already have 16 Class Skill points to use when I get access to them. That probably means at least one of them Evolved. Plenty of time to think about that before it becomes a real choice to make.

  With Bonavista secured and a few hours to go before I Portal back to Logan and Jeff, I use Dimensional Step to appear on the largest continent near a group of the last few creatures on this world over Level 300. They’re so different from the other life here that I wonder if they were a Teleport from another world long ago, and a big part of the reason the Verdrelith are the main species on Zeroth-9… or why there are none of them that seem to make it over Level 200.

  Five of them seem to be based together among a massive, thick forest with trees that tower over 100 meters with dense foliage that somehow stretches all the way down to 10 or 20 meters above the ground, where ground-based plant life takes over. The spot the creatures spend most of their time other than when they’re roaming out hunting is the intersection of dozens of Mana ley lines.

  They’re each about 20 meters long and 3 meters in diameter, and look like a cross between a rhino and a centipede. Many eyes and sensory organs cover their long bodies and they practically swim through the treetops at high speed using their many, powerful legs. I’ve seen them hunt using multiple special legs placed up and down the length of it that can spear out at high speed for well over ten meters to skewer their prey, and they have a comprehensive bunch of stunning and hunting Skills. Their very front limbs are plated hammers ending in dense knuckle formations which seem perfect for smashing through things if needed. I haven’t seen anything fight them yet, but I’m betting their skin is super tough and resilient.

  I’ve also checked, and there are only males which is perhaps the only reason they haven’t overrun the entire planet.

  Jarnedrellmor (Level 372)

  Health: 22770/22770

  Mana: 7890/8110

  Conditions: On The Hunt, Razor Sharp, Penetrating Gaze, Share The Load, Tremor Detection, Ablative Memory, Instinctive Lure, Territorial Awareness, more…

  I’m almost positive they know I’m around based on their movements when I appear nearby, whether it’s because of their Perception or their passive Skills I don’t know. I’ve been around high Level creatures enough to know when their behaviour changes as I appear. Although I’m not particularly worried about taking these five on, I do pay special attention to Share The Load in their Status and wonder if it means they can transfer Health, Mana, or other things between each other or what it might mean. I assume Ablative Memory helps them form resistances to damage, a variation on what I have. Sometimes the only way to find out is to dive in and mix things up.

  I haven’t used Iron Mandate much since I took it on as a Skill and I’m curious about what it can do. As a Tier 2 Ascended Class Skill, it should pack a punch. These are powerful creatures so this should be a good test. I trigger it and my Stamina plunges then rockets right back up again. Forming the outcome I want in my mind, I release the Skill and feel it war against the Resistances and Level of the Jarnedrellmor. A second later, my Skill rolls over them and I can feel it lock in to remove their access to Share The Load and Ablative Memory. Only two of their Conditions, but powerful ones, and I feel there was much more room in my Skill to dictate the terms of this encounter if I had wanted to stretch it.

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  I drop Tempest Siphon on all of them to increase my regeneration even further and they seize up, curling into themselves, and then I follow it up with two Resonant Strikes which chain back and forth between them and spread out across the trees. Hundreds of creatures including the Jarnedrellmor fall down to the forest floor with tremendous impacts. I dart forward and Loot them, then it’s time to rinse and repeat on the rest of the Jarnedrellmor. When did hunting Monsters with Levels in the high 300s become boring?

  I finish off the others a few minutes later and return to the site I’ve picked to build our first MIS Hub on this planet, then trigger Omnipresent. My thought process around killing Level 400 Monsters has made me curious as to what the most powerful Monsters in the Universe are. What’s the highest Level Monsters out there? My Skill scans across the Universe and I filter the Level higher and higher as it finds more and more and populates further threats. I wonder if my Skill can find anything, or if there are things out there so powerful that they can easily avoid detection.

  As the Levels of the creatures I’m scanning grow, I get less and less information about them even when I push hard with my combined Affinities, Evolutions, and my Dark Mana. There are still a sea of dots at Level 800, but they’re spread out across the whole Universe. Mostly solitary and some groups that seem to be more prevalent where there are significant stellar features like stellar flares, starspots, pulsars, supergiant, 0-type stars, and neutron stars. I wonder if there’s any relation between these kinds of Universal phenomenon and Mana, but wonder is all I do.

  By the time I exceed Level 1000, very few of the Monsters are located on planets; they mostly seem to be truly enormous deep space leviathans the size of planets. I push it further past Level 1200 where there are less than a thousand dots in my expanded vision of the Universe and I’m tempted to take a peek at them, but I’m not sure considering the Levels I’m dealing with if it will alert them. None of them are close to Earth or Zeroth-9 and that’s the way I’d like to keep it. No use poking the bear until I’m ready to back it up.

  I release Omnipresent and return my attention to my surroundings.

  The spot I’ve picked for the first MIS Hub is close enough to the forest that hunting will be readily available. It’s near a fresh stream of clean water, there’s plenty of clear space to detect anything that’s approaching, and ample room to grow as the Settlement builds. I’m tempted to lay down the Settlement right now, but I feel somehow like it’s not something that I should do alone. It seems more momentous than that. I decide to wait until, at the very minimum, Jeff and Logan are here with me. Maybe I should bring over everyone who’s committed to spend time carving out a new life for humanity and do it then. That feels more appropriate.

  A whisper of a feeling from my Dimensional Manipulation Affinity ripples around me and I instinctively reach out and lock down everything around me, too late. It’s been a long, long time since something happened in dimensional space around me that I wasn’t completely in control of and I instantly trigger all my defensive Skills including Perfect Focus.

  “You’re not easy to find without my Mark, and yes I do realize that’s mostly my doing,” says the deep, powerful voice of Tenebris to my left, and I can hear him at normal speed despite my sense of time being stretched out significantly. My Danger Sense is pushing on me but it’s not a shove, more a nudge, and I turn slowly without making any hostile moves. I’ve taken on a lot of powerful people and Monsters, but I’m not keen to test myself against Tenebris unless it’s absolutely needed, and he hasn’t made any hostile moves.

  Both of us stare at each other for a few prologed seconds. He still seems powerful, immensely powerful, and it’s not just his dark crimson scales or physical build. Now that I’m higher Level myself I can feel how strong he is in a much more discerning way, not overwhelmed by the force of his presence. I’m ready to take on pretty much anything in the Universe, but I still sense that I should be very cautious with this Dragonkin.

  “Tenebris,” I greet him, with a slight tilt and nod of my head.

  “You’re about to sabotage everything you’ve worked for on Earth,” he tells me, his powerful voice reverberating even in the outdoors and without any force behind it. He can see I don’t have any idea what he means.

  “Despite what you might think, I expected at some point you would remove my Mark. I didn’t think it would happen so soon, but then why would I? I’m certain, Bronwic, that you’ve somehow come further, faster, in your Levels than anyone in recorded history.”

  It’s interesting to hear, but I’m more interested in what he said before.

  “What did you mean about Earth?”

  “I’d prefer we were allies, Bronwic. And so I am here, when I could be… should be… in so many other places. I can only assume you are not aware that if you establish a MIS Hub here, on a second planet where humans are majority owners, then the remaining protections Earth enjoys from the SSA will no longer be in effect.”

  I frown at him, confused. I’ve never heard of anything like this and Druvalna didn’t say anything about it… but then, why whould she? While I held a gun at her head and told her to find me another planet. Tenebris continues just to make his point.

  “All Legendaries, and even Ascended allowed on planet with no penalty. Withdrawl of the SSA Strike Forces. Clauses in the Protocols relating to predatory trade expired. Restrictions on Guilds lifted. You have years, perhaps decades, of protection left if you choose. But perhaps you know all this and you’re doing it anyway? Time for Earth to fly or fall on its own?” he asks. I can’t tell if he’s genuinely curious or mocking me. I think it’s the first.

  “Is this secret information?” I ask him.

  “Not to anyone who has been around long enough, Bronwic. There’s no reason to throw away all my investments on Earth, but of course you can cripple them and your planet if you want to. I won’t try to stop you. In the end your planet is just a rounding error in my Empire.”

  I grit my teeth. Hate being referred to as irrelevant. Maybe I know it’s true.

  “Oblivion Shroud’s Ancients are waiting for you to do this. To make a mistake like this. They’re hoping you will. Others are hoping for it too.”

  “The Ancients?” I ask. I know that I bloodied Oblivion Shroud’s nose and had a brush with one of the Ancients, but to hear they’re actually aware of what I’m doing is feels extremely threatening at the very least.

  “And others,” Tenebris rumbles. “There’s a whole lot you need to know. After I tell you, it’s up to you whether we become allies or you carve your own path. One day perhaps you will look back on what’s happened since your Mana Influx with a different point of view.