Only his leveling kept him sane, and the essence gains from this dungeon run were immense. He had shot up through the three-sixties, and was now standing at level 377, more free stat points that he knew what to do with waiting for his clash with the Stillborn Hegemon. His martial pathway skill had advanced by a single point, and his runecrafting, by two. As it turned out, horrors from beyond the stars tended towards one sided expressions of a conceptual identity, and Divinity was extremely well suited to dealing with that.

  Jonathan Harlowe

  Tier 4

  Void Human(Exalted)

  Divinity Aspect: Void Hegemon

  Elemental Mastery: 17%

  Elemental Juggernaut: Tier 4 Legendary

  Active Blessings: The Third Eye of Exal’drin

  Level 377

  (1620 free points)

  Strength

  5215

  Dexterity

  4371

  Constitution

  4139

  Resilience

  4175

  Intelligence

  4102

  Wisdom

  3589

  Divinity

  40

  Health: 93128/93128

  Stamina: 117338/117338

  Mana: 92295/92295

  

  
• 
  
    Titles
  
    


  

  True Unbound Spirit: Unique

  Second Circle Breaker: Unique

  Nascent God: Transcendent

  Supreme Initiate: Ancient

  Prodigy of Fusion: Mythical

  Lesser Xenocide: Legendary

  Greater Giantslayer: Legendary

  Iron Will: Epic

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Leader of Men: Epic

  Refined Form: Epic

  Avenger: Epic

  Lineage Hunter: Rare

  Righteous Killer: Rare

  

  
• 
  
    Skills
  
    


  

  Maw of the Void: Ancient

  Aegis of the Void’s Dichotomy: Ancient

  Void’s Hunger: Ancient

  Ephemeral Trifecta: Mythical

  Greater Smite: Mythical

  Void Piercer: Mythical

  Void Missile: Mythical

  Runic Overcharge: Mythical

  Flame of Judgement: Mythical

  Rune Savant: Legendary

  Void Drill: Legendary

  Channeled Basic Truesight: Legendary

  Sense the Weave: Legendary

  Fists of the Maelstrom: Legendary

  Minor Enlightenment: Legendary

  Void Slipstream: Epic

  Warrior’s Trance: Epic

  Battle Focus: Rare

  Impact: Rare

  Focused Scry: Rare

  Runes of Power: Rare

  Redirect: Uncommon

  

  
• 
  
    Pathway Skills
  
    


  

  Blunt Weapon Mastery(Advanced): Expert 6

  Runecrafting Expertise(Advanced): Expert 6

  Energy Manipulation(Advanced): Expert 2

  

  
• 
  
    Martial Path
  
    


  

  Flowing Maelstrom: Expert 2

  

  
• 
  
    Weapon Domain: Expert 6(Advanced)
  
    


  

  Metaphysical Domain: Expert 6(Advanced)

  Energy Domain: Expert 2(Advanced)

  

  
• 
  
    Quests
  
    


  

  The Strongest: ???

  Hellbreaker: Impossible

  Pathway of the Titans: Heroic

  Jonathan’s latest, and final challenge was by far the most difficult. Georgescu expected him to complete a labyrinth of horrors, filled with monsters and non-euclidean spaces. It had been built out of the void, similar to how most of the locales of the dungeon challenge had been made before.

  A twisting structure of obsidian and mossy, ancient stone, it was too large for Jonathan to see from his limited vantage point. Standing at the very start of the labyrinth, all that was visible were the first few passages. With nothing behind him but emptiness, he had no choice but to enter.

  As soon as Jonathan stepped foot into the maze, the entrance disappeared, leaving him standing in near pitch blackness. Luckily, with his enhanced senses, it was more like gloom than anything else. Striding forwards, he almost immediately encountered the first obstacle. A patch of the floor was untethered from reality, and upon stepping into it, he felt his foot change locations, disappearing from his view. Immediately, something bit onto it, and a snapping tentacle wrapped around it, trying to pull him down. Rather than succumbing, Jonathan simply gritted his teeth, and pulled, wrenching his foot free. A deluge of slime and shattered teeth followed his leg out of the dimensional hole, spilling across the ground.

  With a sigh, he continued on his way. It looked like this challenge would be a long and tortuous one.

  Jonathan was proven right over the next few hours, with dozens of similar traps appearing, some more dangerous than ones. One had transported his entire body, save for his head, into the middle of a nest of mutated scorpions, with diamond hard stingers that had been able to penetrate his armor. The effects of the venom were still with him, and every now and again, he felt dizziness overtake him. Had he not had thousands of points in Resilience, the venom would easily have killed him by now.

  As it was, it was merely an inconvenience, similar to most of the monsters encountered within the labyrinth. The first section was clearly meant to be more of an annoyance than anything else. After all, his enigmatic host was looking for entertainment over all else. What good was simply killing that source of entertainment before anything interesting could happen?

  Gradually, the difficulty spiked, with stronger monsters appearing, and more complicated traps. The devices filling the narrow hallways transformed from simple spatial holes, into intricate designs that had a multitude of effects, ranging from temporary paralysis to summoning cosmic horrors from the beyond to blast Jonathan’s mind with concentrated madness. Such was the disturbing nature of these visits that he had gained a new skill for his efforts, one that would most certainly come in handy for the rest of the dungeon challenge.

  You have gained a new skill!

  Anchored Mind: Legendary

  Effects designed to warp your perception of reality or render you insane will have reduced effectiveness against you. Honed upon a host of horrors, your mind is far more resolute than before against the corrupting forces of madness.

  It didn’t have any sort of fancy effects, instead operating on a purely passive level. All it did was prevent the more insanity inducing aspects of his current dungeon challenge from permanently impacting his mind. They were still highly disturbing regardless.