Chapter 205: Aftermath (1/2)

Kessiah stood there stunned into silence. I cupped my chin, thinking about the message, ”You know, that sounds like you guys are a part of Schema's system now.”

Althea looked over there heads and checked out their titles. I did the same.

Chrona Carsiary, The Realm Wielder(lvl 12,823 | Race: Gialgathen | Class: Chronomancer | Guild: None)

I took a second look at Krog's right after

Krog Borom, The Enforcer(lvl 11,021 | Race: Gialgathen | Class: Enforcer)

Althea crossed her arms, ”Wow, you guys will be ridiculous with the system.”

Chrona squinted her eyes at the status screens, ”It's a bit...overwhelming.”

I pointed at them, ”Just answer the messages with your thoughts. The status screen will respond.”

”Er, it's changed. It's showing a long list of basic skills now,” Krog mumbled.

”It's probably just showing you your skills.” Althea murmured.

”Skills? I need no one to tell me what I know and what I do not.” Krog grumbled.

Chrona blinked, ”I forgot all about my sculpting days.”

”Ahem,” Krog said with a cough. ”As did I.”

Althea grinned, ”More useful than you thought, eh?”

”Maybe,” Krog said.

”Let us know if it changes,” I said.

”It just did,” Chrona mumbled. ”It's saying something about choosing a path?”

I pointed at her, ”Choose the Mind of Iron and Mind of Steel perks. You're more of a mage anyway. Krog should probably choose Body of Iron and Body of Steel.”

Althea turned to me with an eyebrow raised, ”You remember that stuff?”

”Of course. Perks are extremely important.”

”Er, I guess so.”

Krog sighed, ”Thank you for simplifying this. Mini-novels popping up in my vision is disorienting at best and disturbing at worst. They seem so useless as well, wasting my time with text.”

”Make no mistake,” I said with a stony voice, ”Those boxes and the words in them can turn you into much better fighters than you are now. Infinitely better. Maybe even better than me if you think through them.”

Chrona raised her eyebrows, ”Are you certain? These are just words after all.”

”Those words hold power, like a nation's anthem or a dying man's last words. Treat them like that. Please.”

I got Krog and Chrona's attention at that point.

”Besides, that's how I was able to beat both of you in combat. You should be able to catch back up rapidly now,” I said.

”How so?” Chrona mumbled, ”The difference between our abilities is vast, and to shift that rift would take equally vast stretches of time.”

Althea shook her head, ”No. It won't. You'll become much tougher and stronger here soon after gaining just a few levels.”

Krog's eyes widened, ”Will we rival this darkened one?”

Althea weighed her hand back and forth, ”You mean Daniel? If so, then no, but you'd be amazed how much the gap will close.”

”Show us the secrets of these mystic texts, if you would,” Chrona said while gawking at her.

Althea and I laughed a little, but in a way, Chrona was right. Helping them make the right choice with their builds would make a world of difference. Considering we just fought a Hybrid that nearly killed us all, a boost in our party's power was essential. So, we went about the business of drawing up a detailed graph of the basic perks they needed.

We ended up isolating three main points of concern. The first was constitution. Though sturdy, they gialgathens didn't have maxed out damage resistance. This was because their constitution was divided by ten, making the number much lower than usual. In fact, they had all kinds of strange values involved with the system that were unusual.

For starters, they had next to no endurance or willpower. We set out a leveling protocol to fix that. This involved giving them attributes to invest into to shore up these weaknesses. With that handled, we moved onto their lacking constitution scores. To fix it, I sent them invitations to the Harbinger's Legion, allowing them to select one of my legacies. Althea and I guided them through the process of choosing the one for constitution.

With the extra stats it gave along with a few choice trees and perk selections, we got both of their damage resistances capped. As they went through over a dozen trees each, I jotted a few of them down in a personal message. I might try to unlock a few of their trees later since some of them sounded so useful. Their classes were interesting as well.

Chrona's enhanced her time dilation in its size, mana efficiency, and intensity. That alone was useful, but it gave her better focus and reaction times while in the time warp. Combine those boosts with a general set of stat buffs while in her zone of control, and Chrona was a complete monster.

Krog wasn't that different in that regard. His class, the Enforcer, gave him stat boosts, damage resistance cap increases, and enhanced his alteration magics. With his new level of control, he could mold his skin into an iron hide and clot his wounds in seconds. His newfound control allowed him to even mold the material that composed his enemies.

You'd be surprised how little of your body needed to be turned to dirt before you died. It was a lot like arcane magic, but more efficient. The name of the class made it seem like a variation of the Breaker class, just more personalized for him.

After finishing those aspects of their builds, we made them decide their strengths. For Chrona, it was intelligence, willpower, and strength which allowed her to function. Her time field was the ace she worked around, so having the mana regen and pool to maintain it was vital. The strength just let her abuse it further.

For Krog, it was willpower, strength, and dexterity. His flowing style of fighting would benefit quite a bit from extra dexterity, his reaction times as well. It would make him a tornado of claws and tail whips, something the eldritch would fear.

With all that grinded out, I watched on as they selected finalize.

”I...I'm melting.” Krog whimpered.

Chrona glanced at us, ”Did you poison us? Is this illusion magic?”

They groveled on the ground, deluged by the rapid changes Schema enacted. Althea held back a laugh, snickering. I laughed from my chest, ”Aren't you both supposed to be generals? What's with the panicking for a few level ups?”

Alright, maybe it was a bit more than a few technically. Our gialgathen buddies weren't putting massive amounts of attribute points into themselves though. That meant most of the changes were due to perks and skill trees they unlocked retroactively. It was an imperfect process no doubt, and they didn't get as much out of the system as they deserved. The shift would be monumental no doubt, however.

That being said, it was still hilarious to see the two giants rolling on the ground like cats with itchy backs.

It took many minutes before they finally stopped moving. As they did, I locked onto a few key differences from before Schema's augmentations. Their skin was a few tints grayer, their bodies leaner. They seemed more robust, like moving stone compared to the flesh and blood of before. They reflected their levels much better now, both of them far fiercer.

Althea actually pursed her lips at the sight of it.

”You guys look...intimidating.”

I nodded, ”Yeah.” I walked up and gave Krog a light punch to his chest, ”You don't look or feel squishy anymore.”

Krog stared down at the place I hit, ”Is this the power of that AI?”

”Yup.”

”It's...it's...I'm at a loss for words,” Chrona gasped.”

”Insane? Ridiculous?” Althea offered.

Krog growled, ”Unfair perhaps. How did the espens not evolve further with such might at their disposal? I am moving metal now.”

Kessiah spoke up with her arms crossed, ”The same reasons that you gialgathens weren't put in the system. You have to be more industrious; otherwise, Schema won't invest into you. You both proved yourselves though, so this set a precedent - Schema's willing to give you guys a second chance.”