Eden immediately recognized the fancy notification box, and if that was not enough, only one 'person' called him Ozy.
{It is I, Operator 666!}
Softly breathing out through his nose, Eden opened his eyes, no longer focusing on his Talent or flame.
He caught the shadows of a few regular notifications appearing, but they were pushed back by 666 before he could read them.
{I can't read your mind, you know. You can speak, I froze the world.}
Eden glanced up, and the first thing he noticed was that his vision seemed to be much clearer than before. Also, the few clouds remained stationary in the sky, and the necrotic miasma was no longer rolling outwards in an effort to destroy life.
"So you can freeze time?"
{Ah, there you are. Is that really much of a surprise?}
"I suppose not. So, what owes me the pleasure?"
The response was instantaneous.
{I knew you were an interesting seed from the get-go, but you've still managed to exceed my expectations. You're headed in a quite unique direction, but it pales in comparison to this. It's been a while since we've seen such a thorough evolution.}
Eden internally noted the use of the word 'thorough', and asked, "Any advice for such an interesting seed?"
This time, Operator 666 took a few seconds to reply.
{Sorry, I was laughing. Cute attempt, but the System isn't a fan of cheating. Last one to do so didn't end well.}
"Then why appear?"
{Let's just say I was curious about a candidate who advanced with two attributes. Besides, I'm sure your perks are going to be interesting. Well, so long, Ozy!}
The world returned to its normal pace before Eden could say anything, and 666's messages were swept away, giving place to normal System notifications.
[You have gained the Perk 'Tier I'.]
[You have gained the Perk 'Spirit Flame I'.]
[You have gained the Perk 'Will of Steel I'.]
[Your Title 'STD Free' has become a Perk.]
A small smile formed on Eden's face as he read the notifications. Before choosing either of them, he glanced at his Status.
[Name: Ozymandias]
[Title: Monster Hunter II]
[Talent: Soul Overlord]
[Perks: Tier I, Spirit Flame I, Will of Steel I, STD Free]
[HP: 120/120]
[MP: 522/522]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 11]
[Physique: 12]
[Intelligence: 26 (29)]
[Wisdom: 25 (27)]
[Skills: Analyze (Support), Demon Claw (1st Circle), Dark Pool (1st Circle), Evil Possession (1st Circle), Strengthened Fireball (2nd Circle)]
[Currency: 8545 Dream Points]
His attributes had suddenly experienced a drastic increase. Not only had all three of his physical attributes been increased by two, but his Intelligence and Wisdom had reached 26 and 25, increasing by 7 and 6 respectively.
His MP had also more than doubled, which Eden guessed had to do with the new entry in his status, Perks. He had four of them, and as he read them, Eden could not help but chuckle aloud. STD Free was the same, but the others…
[Tier I: You have reached the next step in evolution, and are thus at an advantage against lesser beings. All attacks, defences, effects and skills from beings under Tier I are 25% less effective per Tier. All effects from equipment under Tier I are 25% less effective per Tier. All skills under Tier I are 25% cheaper, and those above Tier I are 25% more expensive per Tier.]
[Spirit Flame I: Your Source of Mana is abnormally large, granting you a greater amount of Mana than those at the same level. All Intelligence Attribute Points are now worth 18 MP.]
[Will of Steel I: You have tempered your will through the harshest of trials, and earned a greater level of control over your Mana. Mana is easier to manipulate.]
Now Eden understood why Tiers were such a big deal. Ignoring the Perks he had earned from what he assumed to be his attributes evolving, just the Tier I Perk was enough to make a large difference.
Even though Eden's Strength, Agility and Physique were still well within Tier 0, most Tier 0 Players, even with higher attributes, would be helpless before him. Not only would they deal less damage, but would also receive more from him.
This explained why Drakon seemed so certain they had no place in playing around Shipwreck Cove. After all, even if he still had Guardian, Eden doubted he could have done much against Tier I Players.
Maybe he could have taken one with good strategy, but Eden doubted they would be fools, since they would not only be Tier I, but also part of large Guilds.
Now though, things had changed. Tier I was something shared by all Players, from what Eden could gleam from the description. However, it looked like his other two Perks were more potent than others' would be.
After all, Eden doubted many Players had managed to grow their Source of Mana to become abnormally large, as he had.
Speaking of which, Eden finally had a name for the embers turned flame in his heart. The Source of Mana. It made sense, and was pretty self explanatory.
There was also Will of Steel. While it did not have any numbers, Eden could already feel his Mana in a much clearer way, and he could tell that manipulating it would come to him more easily.
As for his spells, their description had not changed, but looking up, Eden spoke softly, "I cast Strengthened Fireball."
His mana moved with an unprecedented ease as the magic circles formed with much less mana than they should have, and a fireball was shot out.
Indeed, instead of the expected 50 MP required to cast the spell, Eden had only used 38.
Lowering his hand, and the Necronomicon with it, Eden looked down at his left stump with his only remaining eye, clicking his tongue as he could only imagine how it would feel to be at true full power.
Still, this represented a massive power up, and offered new possibilities to Eden.
Feeling curious, Eden used the Necronomicon to summon Guardian back from the dead.
The giant knight manifested himself in the middle of the necrotic miasma, seemingly still immune to its effects.
But while his figure remained as large as ever, his armor was nowhere to be seen, and his Stats were no longer what they were.
[Guardian of the Underworld]
[Title: N/A]
[HP: 110/110]
[MP: 60/60]
[Strength: 12]
[Agility: 9]
[Physique: 11]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Wisdom: 6]
[Skills: N/A]
[Resistances: Necrotic I]
[Weaknesses: Radiant I]
As expected, the knight was only a shadow of his former self. Still, Eden did not discard him. After all, even in his current self, Guardian still had stats close to Drakon's. Last time Eden had checked, Drakon had 12 Strength and 10 Agility, with only his Physique being an unknown.
So, with the exception of Physique, Guardian more or less tied with Drakon's attributes, and was still much stronger than the average man.
Of course, Eden doubted Guardian could defeat Drakon, be it because of the complete lack of equipment or lowered intellect, but he would do well enough as a protector for now.
As for dispelling the connection with Guardian to regain the initial spell of the Necronomicon, which would allow him to summon a Lesser Demon, while Eden now had enough MP, he did not know for sure whether breaking his hold over Guardian would return him that old skill.
And once he destroyed the connection with Guardian, chances were that link would not be possible to reestablish, so Eden preferred not to take any risks for now and keep Guardian. He could always try things out once he found another worthy Evil Servant.
Closing his eyes, Eden meditated to recover his mana, feeding his Source with mana. Although he now had much greater reserves than before, his recovery was just as fast as his body was capable of absorbing more mana at once, and a more concentrated version of it without collapsing.
Then, once his mana was back to full, Eden put the Skull and Necronomicon back in his Inventory, handed the Shadow Gladius to Guardian, and stepped out of the cloud.
Drakon and the three pirates had grown used to seeing him come in and out of the necrotic miasma, but they were shocked when they saw Guardian following him. Although they all knew he was capable of magic, this still went beyond their expectations, especially the pirates.
While they gawked at Guardian, Eden used Analysis on Drakon and Barbossa, now capable of seeing their full stats.
[Hector Barbossa]
[Title: Pirate Captain]
[HP: 167/190]
[MP: 0/0]
[Strength: 18]
[Agility: 18]
[Physique: 19]
[Intelligence: Locked]
[Wisdom: Locked]
As expected of an important character, Barbossa's physically attributes were all at the peak of Tier 0.
[Name: Drakon]
[Title: Ironside]
[Talent: ?]
[HP: 170/170]
[MP: 60/60]
[Strength: 13]
[Agility: 10]
[Physique: 17]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Wisdom: 4]
Apart from his Talent, Eden was now capable of seeing all of Drakon's attributes, and they did not disappoint. Eden also noted that his Strength had increased since the last time he had used Analysis on him.
Sitting against one of the trees, Eden drew their attention away from Guardian as he said, "I'm going to sleep, warn me if you spot any ship."
They nodded briefly, and Eden finally got to sleep.
It was a dreamless slumber, and as he heard Ragetti calling out to him, he barely felt like he had any sleep.
Still, as he opened his eye, Eden had to shield himself from the sun for a moment, before he spotted a ship in the distance. It was hard to say whether it was coming their way from that distance.
On the side, seeing he had awakened, Barbossa asked, "Any chance you could use a spell to warn them?"
Eden nodded, and fully cast a Strengthened Fireball into the sky. Although it only went up thirty or so meters into the sky, it was still better than nothing.
And fortunately, they apparently were in luck as the ship quickly approached the island. As it did, everyone recognized the flag it was flying.
"Pirates."
It was a small vessel, with only a couple dozen men on board. As they got closer, Eden used Analysis on them, and none of them stood out, their captain being the only one with a Strength at 7, which was the highest attribute among them all.
Eden did not recognize them, but the captain of the ship called out as he approached, "Barbossa! Ya old cunt, who'd have thought you'd be at me mercy someday!"
His men laughed, causing Barbossa to place a hand on his hip, where his cutlass would usually be. Unfortunately, it had been lost in the battle.
As for Eden, while he was confidant any fight would go their way, they could not kill them all, as they would be unable to man the ship by themselves. So, Eden went with an intimidation tactic instead.
Stepping in front of the rest of the group, Eden saw all of the pirates' eyes trail on him, and he raised his opened palm towards the ship, chanting, "I cast Demon Claw."
Several of the pirates stepped back in fear as they saw the black magical circle manifesting in front of Eden, before noticing a claw had appeared on the railing in front of their captain.
Before the later could defend, the claw lashed out, tearing his throat open. Blood showered down, but what should have been a vivid red was rapidly turning black, and so was the skin around his throat.
His body was rotting at a visible speed.
And while the pirates looked at their dead captain with terrified eyes, Eden stepped forward once more and threatened loudly, "You either work for us and drop your weapons, or end up like your captain. You have five seconds to decide. Five."
Eden barely got to four when all the pirates had dropped their weapons, shivering from utter terror. They looked at Eden as if he was the devil, a few of them drawing crosses on their chests and visibly praying.
Like that, the five stranded men, and one Guardian, got control over a ship.
Their destination, Shipwreck Island, on which the Cove was located, was normally secret, and only privy to the greatest of pirates. The Pirate Lords that as few people as possible knew of its location, to avoid having it get leaked to the Royal Navies.
The pirates whose ship they had hijacked were no different, but thankfully, Drakon knew the way.