NOVEL NEXT Chapter 22: Hard Drive.
[STATS]
[LEVEL: 2
EXP: 38/100
MANA: 49/50
MENTAL STRESS: 91/100]
[SKILLS]
[DUNGEON SHAPER: 2/20
SPACE SHAPER: 6/20
MATERIAL CREATION: 4/20
UNDO: 1/20]
I looked at my system carefully. I was annoyed, after all when I leveled up I didn't get any increase to my 'Mental stress' like all other stats! And since I needed the stuff to make rooms and big projects, I had to find a way to circumvent it.
On the surface, it all looked simple; Mental stress was a way to quantify just how much stuff he could make before he hurt himself from overloading his mind. The ability to feel all of my dungeon at all times came with a price. He just had to find a way to get through it and get more 'Mental stress' capacity.
I had tried countless things but didn't manage to make anything worthwhile. I had tried to use Runes for it, but they simply wouldn't connect; Too different from dungeon cores as they were. Then I tried to use a 'Process-Core' to interface with my own core, but it wouldn't work effectively. They required Mana to work and at most increased my 'Mental stress' capacity by 1 but also took up 3 at the same time!
There was something obvious, I just knew it. But try as I might, nothing worked! And so I turned to Lethe, maybe she'd have some fresh ideas for me.
I went to look at Lethe, but was caught in my tracks as I saw the 'reincarnation-cat' doing something strange to the single man left from the invasion; It was drawing on him, his wounds somehow closing faster than they were made. But the end result was terrifying, the Rune for the word 'Owned' was perfectly inscribed into his neck.
I took a moment to compose myself and looked away; I shouldn't worry about this too much.
Finally looking at Lethe properly, I could tell she was drawing once more; Her fingers swift in motion, sketching out the design for a rather strange room containing a giant ocean.
"Hey, Lethe!" I called out, "I'm stuck on something and need a fresh view of it!"
Lethe looked up quickly before going back to finish drawing a line and then turned around to face me. "W-What is it?" A look of determination in her eyes.
I quickly noted the fact that her stutter didn't seem as bad as before, and went on to give her the details of what I was doing. Like how my 'Mental stress' was way too low and how I tried to make use of my Process-Cores for it.
Once finished with my explanation, I saw an intense look of concentration appearing on her face; It looked kind of silly.
And then she came up with an idea that made me kind of confused, "Why not use both?" she said.
"Well, I already told you, they don't work. I doubt using both of them at the same time would work."
Lethe shook her head and somehow didn't stutter a single time in the following sentences. "I'm thinking about making a rune out of one of your 'Process-Cores', Runes are more direct and should use less mana while the Core would help it adapt and overcome unforeseen things."
I was dumbfounded, why hadn't I tried that before? And so I gave Lethe my best equivalent of a hug(warming up the air around her) and made my way back to the test room, overlooking the bloody scene that the 'reincarnation-cat' had made in the despair-hallway.
Making what I now call a Living-Rune was quite easy actually, all I had to do was go through the normal way to make a Process-Core but then carve in the rune and also imprint onto it precisely what I wanted it to do.
The result was a glowing, floating, rune that looked magnificent. I gently guided it to my core room and made it hover right above my core. I then connected myself to it using a small stream of Mana and felt my world become lighter. I truly didn't know just how much the Mental-stress affected me, I had just become used to the pressure it gave; To have it gone was incredible.
[MENTAL STRESS: 91/200]
It gave me a whole hundred more! And it only took 10(continuous) Mana from me!
[MANA: 39/40]
This was perfect! All that I needed to do was level up and get more Mana to sacrifice to my Mental-stress! However, it would probably become a difficult thing to manage just how much Mana I was willing to lose out on.
