They may spook you when you make eye contact, but go easy on them, okay? They’re just pranksters!
But don’t let them get into staring contests. There’s no guarantee that their opponent will walk away unscathed.
Evil eyes: Distant evil eye
Wicked eyes: Gaze of fear, gaze of standstill, gaze of lethargy, gaze of death
Normal eyes take the same color as the player’s eyes. Evil eyes change colors with different effects.
With each level of upgrade to status ailments, staring time required decreases. Breaking eye contact resets the status ailment strength and timer.
There’s three whole lines of flavor text for this skill. That’s unusual. The name makes it sound like a joke skill, but this is serious stuff. I’ll check the help menu next.
* About: Evil eyes and wicked eyes
Eyes that possess magic powers are called evil eyes.
Most evil eyes belong to high-ranking monsters, but they have been found throughout civilization on extremely rare occasions. Alchemists even attempted to create artificial evil eyes, however…
Humanity decided to call evil eyes with the most negative effects “wicked eyes” to distinguish them.
Do they really need to put such frightening information in the help menu?
Anyhow, it seems you still call them evil eyes when you’re referring to them in general. However, it seems to come down to whether they’re being used by a friend or a foe. From my perspective, inflicting fear on a target with this “gaze of fear” is a good thing, so that would just make it an evil eye. It all comes down to perspective, which means I can use it to enforce justice however I please.
Okay, let’s see what my new work of the gods is.
Scale of Judgment
The gods have granted this skill to arbitrators of the Nether.
If a target’s karma is within range, you may inflict this curse upon their soul as punishment.
Connect their soul to an arbitrator’s and you can meddle with the gods’ domain, if ever so slightly, through the use of this scale.
Sure, in other words, my work as an arbitrator so far has received approval.
I’ll definitely be able to play as a Nemeseia easier this way, but the gods certainly prefer those of us in the living realm to take care of our own business. Oh well, at least I have more options for arbitrations now.
Okay, I could return to the Nether and test my skills on dummies now, or should I see Cyäegha first? He did ask me to show him this kind of thing. I think I’ll head to the balcony.
“I’ve evolved, Cyäegha. Please come and see.”
That should do the trick. While I wait for his arrival, I’ll keep reviewing my skills.
My aura, which was my method of inflicting status ailments, has changed to those different gazes. I’m glad I have some autonomy in how I use them now. The counter resets when you break eye contact? That sounds hard to use, but I suppose it’s a common ability in video games.
Whoops, I forgot to check the race skills all inhumans unlock when they hit level 50.
Long Game
Increases automatic regeneration for HP and MP.
The exact amount depends on your base level and skill level.
Your automatic regeneration skills are outstanding. You can make moves for much longer periods than other players.
Blessed Child
You are a blessed child of the sun or the moon.
Bathing in the light of the sun or the moon grants you stat bonuses.
The exact amount depends on your base level and skill level.
Blessed children of the sun are no longer blinded by light. Blessed children of the moon are granted night vision.
Blessed Child of the Midnight Sun
Bathing in the light of the sun or the moon grants you stat bonuses.
The exact amount depends on your base level and skill level.
You will no longer be blinded by light. You will obtain night vision.
Perception Difficulty
Grants a buff to skills such as No Tracking and Stealth.
The exact amount depends on your base level and skill level.
Hmm. I don’t need Perception Difficulty, but I’ll take Long Game and Blessed Child of the Midnight Sun since I have plenty of SP to spare. She Who Reigns seems like it could hurt my stealth abilities, and I can always rely on subspace for stealthiness when all else fails.
I take the two skills, costing three and six SP respectively. Blessed Child of the Midnight Sun is a bit costly. The effects sound like they merge unique abilities, so that’s just the price I have to pay for something so special. I doubt it will work in caves, and I’m not sure about dungeons either.
“Thank you for waiting! Now show it to me already.”
“There you are. Shall we head to my main body?”
“At once.”
I use the Silver Key to bring the green-eyed Cyäegha to my main body.
“Oh!”
He’s started looking it over closely, so I’ll wait for him to reach his conclusion.
Cyäegha circles around it, gives it a sniff, and grabs a sphere to assess it more accurately. It’s strange seeing a small sphere and a large sphere staring each other down.
I also tell him about the roles I’ve been granted.
“I see. Space-time, life, and death. What are these eyeballs?” he asks.
“Supposedly, it’s the result of practicing the discipline of going without my eyes.”
“Each discipline comes with a different result, yes. You’ve lost your aura, haven’t you? That means it’s been transferred to this body if you can’t use it above ground any longer. Yes, I see.”
My main body lost Bringer of Madness and only has Unknown Structure to form a membrane now. The body is slick to the touch, almost like an aquatic animal. I can easily imagine a human losing their fingers the second they lay them on me, however.
“Do angels carry meaning in your world?” Cyäegha asks.
“They’re messengers of God.”
“So that is why you look like this?”
Perhaps that’s why my body resembles an angel.
“Angels and demons have a high magic aptitude. Fairies and wraiths are still higher, but this is most intriguing.”
“My tentacles resemble wings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m an angel, I suppose. My silhouette also looks like that of a fairy.”
“The structure has a much higher magic aptitude than even fairies or wraiths. However, it is heavily inclined toward magic and it is weak against the physical. What a strange balance.”
It seems I am just “meat” after all.
There’s a reason that high zombies regain the looks they had before they were undead. That’s because the rotting flesh of the zombie receives the power of an undead and turns back to fresh meat. Zombies have such high regenerative power due to their rapid rate of cell turnover. That’s also why they have perfect skin.
Magical energy is the fuel that keeps these cells alive. Becoming a “high” ranking race comes with power, including magical energy to maintain the body’s cells. However, the cells themselves also evolve so that they can use magical energy more efficiently. In other words, a zombie’s regenerative powers come from their cells each evolving on an individual level.
“Zombies lose their blood and outer ones lose their bones on top of that, as they’re mere lumps of flesh. It’s a similar makeup to that of a slime. Every last one of their cells is highly optimized for magical energy,” he explains.
“So we’re more like slimes than mollusks? Now that I think of it, we don’t have organs either.”
“Slimes are able to mimic other beings if they possess the proper skills. The ability to make an avatar is also a skill, in which a shape is ‘granted’ to you. Maybe there is no meaning to be found in these forms.”
“Yes, since you can simply change forms into whatever you need, whenever you need it, right?”
“I wonder why your body took this form. Are you an angel, a fairy, or a copy of a god? Very well. It does not matter so long as this form allows you to use your abilities.”
Really? I could be a copy of a god, and it wouldn’t matter? No, anything is fine so long as I’m strong. With great power comes…more power!
I was already strong due to my regeneration power that came from my life and death aspects, but once space-time was added to the mix, I got even stronger. How strong, you ask? Well, look no further than the mascot of those who are reborn over and over again: the immortal phoenix.
“The bird is visually appealing and popular throughout humanity. They are also followers of Sigrdrifa,” Cyäegha explains.
“Because they’re animals, right? And they’re also associated with fire.”
“Yes. However, the phoenix is still flawed.”
“Flawed?”
“Or, in a different way, you could view it as a positive thing. Phoenixes don’t retain their memories. Their minds reset with each death, and they are restored to their base instincts of devotion to their goddess. This also influences their actual strength.”
“Yes, I see how it’s hard to decide if that’s a downside or an upside.”
“They do retain any memories involving life, death, and space-time. For those, there are no limits.”