Chapter 3: Experimentation with Obliteration
Before all you chef lovers burn me at the stake, let me explain myself. Right now I am operating under imperfect information, especially when pertaining to the world that I come from. If and when I beat this tutorial, will I go home, or will I go to some fantasy realm where I have to beat the demon lord or some shit like that? If I do go home, will it be the one I left, or several eons after everyone I knew died of old age? Finally, if everything does go well and I am back home with little to no time having passed, what threat is looming on the horizon that makes these tutorials and this system a necessity, and what will be left of the world in its wake? These questions are all things that matter to me more than cooking, and though presumably quite powerful, the [Transcendent Chef] does not seem to offer solutions if any of these questions do not have the answers I am hoping for. In contrast, the open ended nature of [Arcane Innovator] means that no matter what happens, I have an avenue to explore possible solutions. This class, to me, represents hope. Hope that in the endless possibilities of magic, there is an answer for every obstacle that stands between me and the loved ones I left behind. With that said, there are a couple blue windows that just popped up, so I suppose I’ll take a look.
I can’t help but be a little disappointed at the lack of starting skills, but I suppose I did sign up for this. The title is definitely nice though. I quickly take a look at my updated character sheet.
It still feels a little strange to see the numbers that high, but whatever. I suppose I should select a title next. Let’s see what’s available.
Huh, I wonder where I got all those? Oh, look at that, I can press on the title to see what achievement it’s from. Don’t worry, I’ll save you all the reading. Basically, the first few are all from maxing out the related skills ([Meditation] and the various levels of [Cultivation]), and all the paragon ones are from hitting milestones with all of my basic stats, where [Paragon I] came from hitting 100 in every basic stat, [Paragon II] from hitting 1000 in every basic stat, all the way up to [Paragon VIII] which I got from hitting 100,000,000 in every basic stat. It seems like I was the first to get 1,000,000 in every basic stat and the [Paragon V] title as well as every level above that, so I think it’s safe to assume that I am considerably stronger than most other humans by this point. I’m… not entirely sure how to feel about that. I have no interest in being famous, much less a savior or messiah figure that fanatics would no doubt label me as if the power disparity is as large as I think it is. I guess when (if) I manage to get back home I’ll probably have to hide my power as much as I can, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Actually, I feel like I’m getting ahead of myself. I don’t really know how strong I am. So far, to be honest, I haven’t felt that different from how I remember. Welp, I suppose it’s time for an experiment!
“Experimental Trial 1: The Basic Punch”
I figure a good baseline to see how much stronger I’ve gotten is to throw a punch as hard and fast as I can with my new stats, and see how it feels compared to my memories of throwing a punch before. Luckily, I had a brief stint in a boxing class in middle school, so I am somewhat familiar with throwing punches. Still, it has been a while. I take a couple steps forward and suddenly all of the strange scaled dog creatures turn to look at me. I stagger my feet, put my hands to my chin, square my shoulders, and start to punch forward, twisting my hips and shoulders in line to throw a textbook straight punch. As soon as I think about initiating the punch, everything changes. It feels like a floodgate opens inside of me and the strength I’m used to drawing upon feels like a drop of water compared to the ocean I now pull from as my arm surges forward.
Calvin’s fist moves through the air at approximately 40% the speed of light. In comparison, the world might as well be perfectly still. Even the vibration of air molecules is practically stationary in front of the approaching punch. The fist collides with these air molecules so hard that the atomic nuclei in the air fuses, releasing gamma rays and scattering subatomic particles. The gamma rays and debris begin ripping apart the molecules in the air, turning the area around Calvin into an expanding bubble of incandescent plasma. The hospital gown Calvin is wearing is instantly disintegrated, as is anything the plasma touches. For the briefest of moments, a light several times brighter than the sun shines from this bubble, before it bursts into a massive explosion of heat and force. A mushroom cloud of fire, smoke, and ash rises into the air, and a shockwave blasts apart everything in range. Moments after Calvin throws his punch, he finds himself in the center of a massive crater, hundreds of feet in diameter.
You Have Killed [Scalehound Lvl. 1]
You Gain 7 exp
You Have Killed [Scalehound Lvl. 1]
You Gain 7 exp
You Have Killed [Scalehound Lvl. 1]
You Gain 7 exp
…
You Have Killed [Scalehound Lvl. 1] x 235
You Gain 1645 exp
You Have Killed [Woodland Nymph Lvl. 2]
You Gain 8 exp
You Have Killed [Woodland Nymph Lvl. 2]
You Gain 8 exp
You Have Killed [Woodland Nymph Lvl. 2]
You Gain 8 exp
…
You Have Killed [Woodland Nymph Lvl. 2] x 112
You Gain 896 exp
Congratulations! You Have Killed the Floor 1 Hidden Boss: [Elder Treant Lvl. 6]
You Gain 3750 exp
You Have Leveled Up!
You Are Now Level 2
You Have Leveled Up!
You Are Now Level 3
You Have Leveled Up!
You Are Now Level 4
…
You Have Leveled Up! x8
You Are Now Level 9
“Uhhhhhhhhh… whoops?”
