Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

[Congratulations! Rising Emperor's Domain Milestone Reached!]

[1002098/1000000 Links of Loyalty Created]

[New Perk Unlocked: Rising Emperor's Dominance]

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Info:

All links of loyalty under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor will now be granted permanent Daily Use Tiered buffs, and a custom interface with the Rising Emperor as its admin. [i](Expand for more info)

The caster may borrow 10% of all Base Stat Points and Mana Control efficiency from Party Members under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor. In addition, 10% of the caster's Base Stat Points and Mana Control may be temporarily distributed to any Party Members under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor.

The caster may only borrow or share exclusively; both actions cannot be performed simultaneously.

Members affected by this perk are not required to be within range of the Rising Emperor's Domain.

This additional buff stacks with the [Authority] perk, [Power Holder] perk, and [Ruler's Gaze] perk if used simultaneously.

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The first thing my eyes lock onto is the fact that I've received another 10% stats and mana control to share and borrow.

This brings the total amount I control up to 30% and makes me wonder if there is even a limit to how high this will go in the future...

The average links being created in the city today aren't much higher than the surrounding villages, as most people in this world never make it past the E-Class rating.

However, this is the second strongest city in both the 8 great regions and the Dark Continent by pure volume of hunters alone. There are thousands of D and C grade hunters, along with dozens of B grade hunters that greatly skew the numbers, even with the hundreds of thousands of newly awakened.

On average, the links here are around [Lv. 60].

This half a million hunters have granted me access to a similar amount of stats as the entire island of Palmyra and surrounding villages combined.

Raising the amount of stats I have available to me up by 80x of what I had less than 3 days ago.

This is only the first of many cities I have on my tour list today, but it is one of the biggest.

My smile grows as my eyes track to another feature in this new milestone unlock.

It is a description of the daily tiered buffs now available to all loyal hunters.

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[Buff Timer: 1 hour]

[Cooldown: 24 hours]

Level 1-100: +100 All Base Stats

Level 101-500: +250 All Base Stats

Level 501-1000: +500 All Base Stats

Level 1001-10000: +1000 All Base Stats

[i](Expand for more Tiers)

*This stat buff affects the user's base stats, allowing all percentage-based gear worn to significantly raise in efficiency for a limited time. These increased stats cannot be borrowed through the Rising Emperor's Domain Interface; only the user's original base stats are available.

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Considering my Absorption skill is the only skill I have that allows me to permanently upgrade my base stats by stealing from strong opponents, this is an enormous buff for the average hunter.

Most gain 1.5-2.5 stat points per level up, making this boost in base stats near 50% for most tiers. That's the equivalent of giving every single link of loyalty a Greater Demon's Core that directly affects base stats that they can use for an hour a day.

My attention shifts to the custom interface feature next, and I'm equally shocked by the 5 empty skill slots available for each and every link within my interface.

I can select all, or edit them individually, and I'm able to add 5 skills to share with each and every link of loyalty, but above these 5 slots, there is a single greyed-out slot where the active skill can be moved up into.

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Quickly, I add swordsmanship, body hardening, extreme strength, extreme speed, and self-regeneration—all at the mythic grade level—into these slots.

Now, without me actively granting individuals skills, they can select one of these 5 at any time to add to their status without directly communicating with me.

While there are surely better options suited for individual members, on a broad scale for millions to instantly have available to them, simple is better.

By the time I look back up from my interface at the active crowd down below, my links of loyalty have already hit 1,042,877. They're still rising extremely quickly, and after this region-wide notification and availability of a new permanent timed buff for people to activate, and the option to add a temporary skill at the [Mythic Grade] level, excitement only roars more.

I whisper under my breath, more so talking to myself, but for Maria to hear as well while we bask in the glory of the capital city of the region our journey started in.

"This was far more successful than I thought it'd be. Jumping from a few thousand links up to over a million in a short few days has definitely given us some more options... but I'm not convinced it's enough yet. It's time to wrap this up and do it again for all the other great regions and Dark Continent Sectors."

I smile under my mask, and project my voice out to the crowd one last time.

"Again, thank you all. The time is near where I shall fight for your freedom in this new world. I hope my words, and the gifts of power I grant, are enough to earn your loyalty. Everything comes with a price. There will be times that you feel me borrowing your power, and other times where I grant additional power to you all. You are always free to sever the link, and to those that have not created one yet, all you must do is think of the face you see in the sky, and allow your body and mind to trust in the Flame Emperor."

There is a final rush of pure mana expelled into the atmosphere, and in turn, another surge of tens of thousands of links being formed.

I nod and take Maria's hand, and we both float back into the open window of the Vice City's Association headquarters.

Bri stands there to greet us, clapping, and her assistant holds up a containment case with more teleport crystals leading to the other cities scattered across this dual nation.

"Fabulous speech, are you ready to do it all over again?"

As we touch down and walk over, I take a deep breath and take the crystal to crush it in my hand.

—

Over the next 5 hours, we put on many more performances all throughout this side of the world.

The next great speech takes place in the Apex Region, bringing another 1,287,090 links of loyalty in less than an hour into my interface. Their average level distribution is slightly higher than the Vice Region, around [Lv. 83], as the bulk of contracted hunters here are C and B class elites, skewing the data.

The Veridian Region, now run by Nat, the new Regional Director, adds 828,324 more links, coming in third, but the average here is lower, but not weak, coming in at [Lv. 56], slightly below the Vice Region.

My visit to the Bedrock Region is one of the most exciting events, as Regional Director Maylack sent out transmissions all over the region to many of the mining towns who stopped their work from all of the surrounding mountains and come to listen to my speech, netting another 735,260 links at an average of [Lv. 48].

The Silca and Raya Regions congregate together with Dane's help, bringing in 404,889 links at an average [Lv. 39].

The Talton and Phantom regions are not populated enough for my time and effort for a grand speech in their regions.

Once I come back to the Dark Continent, Lith and Chester work together with the large businesses and Rodrigo uses his old connects within the Association to notify and get all of Solara's surrounding towns in Sector 4 to hear my speech, bringing in another 504,072 links at an average [Lv. 61].

Lastly, I visit Valor City and hold another performance above the mountain for those within the walls, but also for all of the many surrounding trade towns that are full of merchants, forming 233,199 more links at an average [Lv. 28]. Even the elite fighters don't skew the stats up enough from the massive amount of low levels that make their living from trade and not hunting.

However, every little bit counts.

In every city I leave, more and more loyal followers from the past speeches and Crimson City are brought along, hand-picked by Bri to answer questions, and control the crowds.

The more tours I do, the more word spreads.

Every new city I fly to, there are already more and more people linked to my domain even before the speeches begin.

Word is being spread of the stat buff and availability of mythic grade skills through trade channels, local news, and personal transmission tablets.

Widespread excitement floods through the nation that once held uncertainty of why the walls were being torn down.

This too, is paired with the undertones of fear, as this message is being shared with the common knowledge that another great war is near...

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Once I finish my final speech in Valor City, Bri deploys the last of her recruited workers, and I thank her, telling her to go rest back in the Crimson City.

"Your efforts have been immense. I couldn't have done this so smoothly and efficiently today without you."

She heads back to Sector 2 in a flash of light, and this leaves Maria and myself alone in Sector 1 as the crowds begin to disperse and go on with the rest of their day.

I check my Rising Emperor's Domain interface to see my links surpass 5,000,000.

However, even now, I feel more and more links forming all over the 8 Great Regions and Dark Continent as word of mouth spreads.

I managed to give large-scale talks in the major cities, but this hardly reached more than 10% of everyone in this nation. It would be physically impossible to reach everyone and give the same grand display; however, I've made my mark in the epicenter of each region.

This is clear as thousands of links continue to be created every minute all over this side of the globe.

I turn to Maria and open my [Authority] perk that I received once I hit 50,000 Links just 2 days ago, then speak up while appointing her as the first General.

"Check your status. I've granted you a new power..."

I look around, then mentally map the dead zone of Sector 2 where I had my fight with Raven last week, then speak again.

"I want you to take the full 1% of stats and mana control from every one of my links so we can go to a place far away from here and spar. This will be important data to see the difference in strength between divine energy and pure mana based stats. It will be a good chance for you to get used to your new power as well... Maybe you'll be strong enough to face a True Core even before you compress yours."