Chapter 173

Chapter 173

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Luna got everyone's attention with a clap. Okay, I won't go over all the challenge rooms and their rewards right now, because theyre far too numerous to cover in time, and you get a good idea as to what theyll be when you approach the entrance, but the floor themes and their corresponding rewards are definitely worth memorizing.

With that, the slide changed once again, showing a collection of diagrams and images depicting a series of corridors, paired with two main blocks of text.

Essential Dysfunction: Turns natural essence powered attributes, like allocated strength or flexibility, into depletable resources. As you lifted things or ran around, strength would effectively de-Tier until the essence provided no benefit. Regenerating mana would slowly be less effective, and mana pools would shrink. All aspects of cultivation are affected by this and only once you finish the floor are your attributes returned to normal. This theme possesses the most direct traps, such as pits, spikes, and rolling boulders, with a large array of monsters.

Reward: Mana and stamina regeneration is increased. On the first floor, this is about a five percent increase separate from essence, which slowly falls off with advancement. This scales until at the seventh floor, where its approximately a two times multiplier, cutting non-wound recovery time in half and has a noticeable increase forever.

Wait, Matt frowned, Will that affect my mana regeneration?

We dont know, Kurt wrote in response. We dont have any records of a Talent affecting regeneration quite like yours, let alone getting this theme on Minkalla. It doesnt work in the same way as the mana-concentration potions youve been taking, theres no actual essence involved. That means it might actually work even though your Talent directly overrides your normal mana regeneration and capacity. But at the same time, Minkalla doesnt change Talents, so its really anyones guess. Erwin spent a bit of time trying to simulate it, but he didnt come to any real conclusions. This could either be the very best floor for you to encounter or do functionally nothing for you, we dont know.

Huh, Matt wrote a big question mark on his notes for that floor.

Wait, who's Erwin? Susanne asked.

Hes a researcher weve worked with in the past, Liz explained, And I think the only researcher actually read in on Matts true talent.

Ah, okay. She nodded back to Liz before they went back to the slideshow.

The next slides illustrations predominantly featured a few vague sketches of treacherous walkways and sudden drop-offs.

Eternal Darkness: All physical senses are completely blocked, rendering everyone on the floor blind, deaf, and with physical touch and even proprioception sharply muted. The only sense that isnt blocked is spiritual perception. There are many dangerous areas on the floor, not hidden by anything more than the floors natural theme, and simply walking in a straight line can be dangerous. Monsters largely favor ambush tactics, making it even harder to detect danger.

Reward: Spiritual Perception is improved. On the first floor, it slightly increases resolution and adds faint additional feedback, such as color perception. By the seventh floor, it returns almost perfect, detailed feedback on everything within its range and is substantially better at bypassing any blocks.

Doesnt spiritual sense already naturally increase with Tier? Wont this eventually become useless? Susanne asked.

Yes and no. Most of the more ephemeral rewards Minkalla provides are eventually eclipsed in some form or another by simple advancement, Carol explained, But Eternal Darkness definitely scales quite well into the higher Tiers. Even at Tier 40, the spiritual senses of people who got a floor four or deeper Eternal Darkness on their Minkalla run are notably sharper.

The next slide was unnerving. Strangely organic-looking metal banisters, water animated in ways that looked all wrong for elemental's, and precariously balanced blocks of stone all loomed in ways that just looked wrong.

The Hills Have Eyes: Everything is alive, aware, and trying to kill you. Everything. Anything not spiritually bound to you gains a faint motive spirit and begins trying to kill anything alive. Air will avoid lungs, stone will deliberately fall with the intent to crush, water actively attempts to drown. Its best to avoid having to eat or drink while on this floor.

Reward: A growth item gains its own motive spirit. On the first floor, it becomes able to automatically activate itself in accordance to some stimuli, akin to a very basic [AI], but by floor seven it is as intelligent as whoever its bonded to, and is even able to absorb and utilize skill shards of its own.

Thats still oh so disturbing, Susanne noted, watching a simulation of living steam condensing itself inside a persons lungs before tearing its way out.

How do the skill slots of the item work? Liz asked, clearly interested in a potential workaround to her Talent locking her into blood skills.

Luna nodded to the question and said, On floor seven, it has roughly half as many skill slots of each type as a person of its Tier, and theyre independently absorbed by the item. It can also use any mana stored within the item, if there is any, or use whoever its bonded to, like it has those skills enchanted on it. The intelligence will always be loyal to you, as well, and may or may not actually express a distinct personality, so theres not really a meaningful distinction between using the skill yourself and having the item use it, other than a minuscule loss of efficiency. If you get that it would be an excellent work around to your Talents limitations Liz.

Are there any limits to the kinds of skill that the item can absorb? Matt asked as he wrote that down.

No, but there are some practical limits on the kinds of skills it can use. Any skills which must be channeled through an item, like [Mana Slash] will only manifest through the item. That can have some weird results if its a ring, or armor. Theres a few more nuances, but they arent that important unless you actually get this theme on floor six or seven, and we can cover them afterwards if you do. Just dont have it absorb any skills until after you leave.

The next slide was fairly generic, but featured a lot of monsters known for their powerful presence, like Warp-Spasms and their fear aura.

Conceptual Lock: Concepts are affected as though by a very strong concept suppression, making them very difficult to utilize. Monsters lean strongly towards those with powerful Concepts or presence abilities of their own and have no suppression from the floor.

Reward: Any ability which a Concept possessed prior to entering Minkalla become stronger and more resistant to being suppressed, scaling to twice as strong at floor seven.

Now, the pre-existing abilities which this strengthens doesnt include any generic uses of a Concept, like flight or locking down space, its just the direct abilities which the Concepts visualization and phrase provides. So for you, Matt, that would be your mana-granting and repulsion. Liz and Aster, everything your Concept does for your elements would be enhanced, and Susanne, your sword would be about twice as tough and half as hard to maintain. Its called pre-existing because it doesnt interact with any other Concept-enhancing rewards you may find on Minkalla, like Folded Reflections.

That sounded quite useful and Matt hoped they encountered it. Doubling the rate at which he could provide mana would make a huge difference in any fight, and making it more resistant to suppression was always welcome. It wasnt nearly as fancy as some of the other rewards, but Matt knew firsthand just how valuable a flat doubling to something could be.

And if his repulsion effect grew twice as strong he had dozens of ideas for using it.

The next slide was covered in abstract symbology, and depicted several groups of regal-looking humanoids in elaborate gear.

Courtly Warfare: Instead of directly fighting monsters, find and join a faction known as a Court, and do whatever is required to ensure they win their floor-wide war. The Courts are unusually sapient for a rift or ruin monster, and centralize themselves around a seemingly-random theme, with a variable number of factions thematically related to that theme. Previous common appearances have featured the four seasons, the four level 1 elements, Day and Night, Mages and Warriors, Stars, Moon, and Sun, and more. Generally, the sooner the floor appears, the more sides there are, but it has also appeared on floor one as Ocean versus Land versus Sky and on floor six as a massive web of alliances with every known mana aspect having a representative court.

Reward: A growth item gains a new effect. For the first floor, it mostly seems to accelerate when the growth item would get new abilities. Instead of Tier 25 where a growth item would gain a new effect, now the effect is unlocked before then and shifts all the upgrades the item would get corresponding down by the same margin. By floor seven it adds a completely separate set of powers which grow at the same rate as the original growth power. In addition, Boons are available to the winning side.

The boons, Luna explained, Are something partway between a theme reward and a normal monster drop. Its always connected to the theme of the court, and how strong it is varies depending on how influential you were to the Courts victory. No, we dont know how its tracked, but its very accurate and accounts for working in logistics, hunting other Court members, tactics, or any other role. Also note that unlike every other floor theme Minkalla has there is only one floor and not three sub-floors.

I hope we get winter or ice! Aster yipped excitedly, Were going with winter if we find winter, right? You promised!

Matt chuckled and stroked his bond, Yes, were going with winter or ice if we somehow have one of them as an option. And get this as a floor.

Good, she put her nose up in her best haughty impersonation, Winter is the best.

The next slide showed a metaphysical examination of the way essence interacted with skills, but there were a number of differences that led Matt to realize what it was an instant before he read the actual title.

Genesis Cultivation: All spells cost Genesis Energy instead of mana or essence. The monsters on that floor drop more Genesis Energy per kill, but the floor remains heavily rooted in resource management.

Reward: On floor one, the most recent Tier of essence thats been cultivated is converted to something similar to Genesis Energy, enhancing all aspects of cultivation, but particularly in the stacking bonus that comes with cultivating the same areas for multiple Tiers. By floor seven, not only is all essence converted to Genesis Energy, but the effect lingers until Tier 16.

Now that he knew about Genesis Energy, not only did the floors name make way more sense but so too did the restriction. The math behind the reward also promised some serious benefits, giving them essentially a full Tier boost in cultivation. It would probably be even more for Matt, as having all his essence in his physical body meant the stacking boost would be even more potent.

The next slide showed a whole host of magical beasts, elemental animals predominantly.

Blood is Thicker: Bloodlines, and other innate non-talent abilities, are drastically improved in strength. Most enemies on the floor will have bloodline equivalents.

Reward: Change your mana aspect. On floor one, it's a minor change from a level 1 element to a related level 2 element, all the way up to floor seven when you can out and out have three complete high-end aspects perfectly merged or separated in the mana pool perfectly. Or you can change your mana type to Arcane or Void.

Matt wanted to find that floor for Liz and Aster as it would be great for their own plans. He didnt think hed take the mana aspecting unless they found the floor theme on floor seven where he could get Arcane mana. Now that would be incredibly useful for his enchanting and general boosting of his skills.

As he was musing over the potential applications of Arcane endless mana, which would just be better in every way, he noticed Aster and Liz were engrossed reading something on their [AI]s.

Whats up? he asked.

Sorry, cant say, Liz apologized. It doesnt really affect you, though.

Reward: Remake a part of your body. On floor one, this is replacing your eye or a hand to be better than perfect, a bio-mechanical substance that grows, heals, and for all intents and purposes is alive despite also for all intents and purposes being artificial, with the remade body part functioning similarly to a growth item. On floor three and deeper, that body part can be enchanted in addition to generally being made of higher-quality stuff than your baseline body. By floor seven, the entire body was remade into the strange biomechanical substance as a perfected being.

Wait, what? Liz blinked, Also, will my blood magic still work if Im artificial?

Matt echoed the sentiment, and it looked like Aster and Queen were similarly trying to process it.

It will. You will lose nothing, but your body will be made of metals rather than tissues, despite behaving almost the exact same. Minkalla's rewards are never detrimental.

Almost? Liz didnt seem content with that vague of an answer and neither did Matt on her behalf.

Some of the organs which regulate internal stasis are removed, and the digestive system functions completely differently, but as far as youll be able to tell anywhere other than a healers table, youll be completely normal, Luna confirmed, The remake will also make your healing cooldown lower as well as raising your baseline above even what the normally perfected body which comes after Tier 15 can provide. Thats without even touching the enchantments you can put on yourself. Self-repair is particularly common among that group. Well, as far as anything could be said to be common in a group that contains hundreds. It has a very high Genesis Energy cost, but is considered one of the best final floors. I dont believe there has yet been a fifth, sixth, and seventh floor of Opposite Day, Genesis Cultivation, and Self-Identity in that order, but its speculated to be one of the strongest possible combinations of the last three floors for physical fighters.

New Growth: Only things which have been obtained on the current floor can be used. Skill shards and items can drop at an increased rate on this floor, and skill absorption is increased. Monsters usually have highly adaptive defenses, swiftly gaining resistances to attacks they are exposed to.

Reward: Skills become quicker and easier to absorb, modify, and move. By floor seven, absorbing skills is instantaneous and modifying skills is roughly as easy as if it were one stage closer to the core.

Matts mind immediately returned to his dream of having a modifiable Innate skill, but even faster? Unfortunately, Luna dashed his hopes almost immediately.

The speed boost mostly only caps out at Core skill speed. Core skills do also get a boost in modification speed, especially with later floors, but Innate skills, so far as we can tell, dont benefit at all.

What about instantly absorbing skills? Isnt that just a thing that higher Tiers can do normally? Liz pointed out, Or is this something that falls off as you get to higher Tiers?

It sticks around. Even past Tier 40, it can still take a few fractions of a second to absorb a Tier 8 skill, and much longer for higher-Tier skills. With the seventh-floor reward, that becomes functionally instant almost regardless of how high a Tier you or your skill are.

Ive definitely seen Uncle Moon absorb a skill just by tapping it. Liz raised an eyebrow at the cat.

I do believe that Harvest Moons party encountered New Growth on the fourth floor when they ventured into Minkalla, which was as deep as they went, and would cut skill absorption time in roughly a quarter. At his Tier and for a Tier 8 skill it would be functionally instant.

The next slide turned into a man in a glass shop breaking everything as he turned around.

World of Cardboard: All items become exceptionally fragile and can break under the slightest touch. This does not apply to magic, to which the area is highly resistant to. Monsters are frequently those which use the terrain to their advantage, and heavy on ambushes, in particular.

Reward: Item-enhancing Concepts are enhanced at floor one, scaling up to a three times increase in strength by floor seven, and if the Concept didnt initially possess such an ability, it gains that usage, up until floor seven when it is as strong as the initial Concept.

Matt looked over at Queen as Carol explained how it also applied to Manifested items. Their fellow Pather didnt say anything, but he knew it would work perfectly for her.

Okay, so this one works the other way. Would this apply when Im using my Concept internally? Liz asked, I know it will be useful when I make weapons out of my blood, but will it help me when I reinforce my body?

Just like with Back to Basics, it should apply even when youre using your Concept, just not as directly or strongly, and likely only help with strength and durability. Carol answered.

Liz nodded and scribbled more notes down. Thats all Id be looking for from it. This one would push me even further.

Liz shot Matt a look like she was eager to beat him up if they got that reward.

He blew her a raspberry in return.

Wasteland: No healing or regeneration. Monsters are numerous, weak, and frequently pack monsters, often willing to use suicide tactics to deal even the slightest injury.

Reward: Concepts that aid in healing, regeneration, or repairing are enhanced, up to a three times empowerment by floor seven. Those which did not have an aspect along that theme have it added.

Matt rubbed his arms. Wasteland was considered one of the most dangerous floors for a reason. Any wound would refuse to heal even slightly, but [Bandage] would almost certainly be invaluable on the floor as it didnt heal anything but paused the injury. Honestly, it was probably one of the best floors for them to encounter- Liz would absolutely adore a floor where even the smallest wound would never stop bleeding on its own

He couldnt help but feel like the reward would be useful even for him. If his Concept incorporated healing aspects, it would likely work similarly to the way the mana generation functioned, namely acting as though the person regenerated it themselves. So, would that mean his theoretical Concept-healing might bypass cooldown, like how [Endurance] worked?

Matt made a note next to Wasteland marking it as potentially one of the best floors to get. And if they did get it he had a lot of testing to do.

Folded Reflections: Fight lots of mirror versions of yourself and other people, similar yet different in some way. It culminates in a fight against you as you are right now. Incredibly dangerous final fight.

Reward: Experience a number of other lives equal to the floor depth, change your Concept to one of them, or fold their effects into your current Concept.

Matt was still dumbfounded at the ability that Minkalla provided to see entire other lives. Illusion or not, that was still orders of magnitude more complex than any other illusion-caster he knew of. But there wasnt much they hadnt already covered, so they moved on shortly thereafter Carol restated the fact that the lives weren't real and not to get hung up on what happened in them.

Spirit Journey: A psychedelic journey through your own mind, facing inner demons in the form of monsters. Perception matters as much as reality, and ghosts from the past are the greatest danger of all. It is extremely challenging to remain in groups, though technically possible for those who are exceptionally close.

Reward: Gain a pseudo-bond spirit guide familiar. On floor one, it's little more than a mote of light that points out things of interest. By floor three, it's a small animal-like spirit that can be directed to do basic things. By floor five, it's fully sapient and able to fight independently. By floor seven, it's an extremely powerful accompanying spirit on the level of a dragon that has its own Talents and skills. It remains fundamentally a part of the person and can turn immaterial to reside inside their spirit. If killed or destroyed it will reform given enough time.

Kurt explained that even bonds could get that reward, but most people found the tiny little mote of light awarded at the first floor so annoying they actively avoided getting the reward if it appeared as an option. Though any time it was found on the seventh floor, a bloodbath ensued as the Genesis Energy needed to take that reward was insane, though no Tier 11 had ever gotten it to see how much of a discount they got. The problem was that it was almost impossible to have accumulated enough Genesis Energy just by killing monsters to earn it. You basically had to earn more by taking half of someone else's Genesis Energy after killing them.

Overall it was one of the strongest single rewards Minkalla had to offer, but it was still very, very rare for anyone to actually get it. Usually only one or two people any time it appeared as the seventh floor. Mostly because it meant everyone else was dead as a result of the final few gathering enough Genesis Energy.

Matt was dumbstruck that Minkalla could do all of that and said so. This seems like too much. The rewards are too strong.

Kurt answered him. Yes, and also no. Anything but the seventh-floor rewards and Innate skill slot are available out here, even if they are rare enough to be little more than rumor or not found for many more Tiers. We theorize you could probably get the seventh floor rewards elsewhere, but the best accepted guess is not until you are Tier 50 and in the higher Realms. The Concept enhancements are an excellent example, theyre entirely achievable by anyone, but outside of Minkalla its just not worth spending that much time expanding them in new ways instead of developing an Intent, or really doing anything else with your time. But yes, it's incredible what Minkalla can offer. But the dangers are equal to the rewards. The lower the Tier you go in, the more danger you are in. The four of you will be targets because of your Tier. The other Great Powers know the same thing we do. Its generally assumed that any Tier 11s are future Ascenders, and they will do anything they can do to kill you if possible. That means you will also need to kill anyone who sees you use any unique skills that could identify you. If that happens, leave no survivors.

That brought Matt and the others back to the real world and the dangers they would face.

The rewards were sweet, but they would only get to eat them if they could reach an exit floor and escape. Seven of those floor themes would be what they faced in Minkalla's depths and they would have no choice in the matter.

Still, Matt wanted them. He wanted them all and wished he could enter Minkalla more than once and farm the place for every unique final floor.

But he couldn't, no more than a Tier 15 could enter Minkalla. Once you were forged by the place, once it had tempered you, that was it. There were no second chances.

After asking more questions, Luna and the others started drilling them with the small details of the floor themes and their challenges. After confirming they understood what they were going into, they started on the floor challenges and what they could expect to face in them, whether it be monster types that were generally seen or puzzle types.

Lastly, they went over every recorded challenge room and what the survivors reported facing inside.

None of them minded the long days spent studying, reviewing, and of course practicing together. This was information that could prove useful to them but their teamwork would make or break them.

Two weeks later, the message came. The previous cycle had ended, teleporting the last few stragglers- as well as those paid to stay inside the planet specifically for that purpose- outside the planet. There was a mad scramble as everyone rushed to the mass transit platforms to take people into space so they could fall onto the planet, but the four of them bypassed the rush altogether.

Luna took them out into space with her own flying house, out over the massive planet of copper and steam, and just past the planets atmosphere where she parked them. There they waited, the tiniest specks right on the edge of the eternal vastness of space and what may well have been the mightiest thing in the realm.

Exactly twelve hours after the previous cycle ended, a gentle golden glow blossomed from the heart of the planet, piercing metal and steam as if they weren't there, before spilling outwards and refreshing the enormous machine planet in a wave. The once dull metal became shiny and new, the planet-sized gears ticked faster, smoother, and the entire world radiated with power.

Clad in nondescript masks, the four of them joined hands and stepped off the platform. As soon as they left the enchantments holding them above the planet, gravity reasserted itself and began pulling them down to the surface of the grand world below.

To Minkalla.