[Name: Ozymandias]
[Title: Monster Hunter II, Demon King]
[Talent: Soul Overlord]
[Perks: Tier III, Perfected One III, Angelic Flame, Shrine]
[HP: 3400/3400]
[MP: 3400/3400]
[CE: 3400/3400]
[Strength: 100]
[Agility: 100]
[Physique: 100]
[Intelligence: 100]
[Wisdom: 100]
[Sorcery: 100]
[Skills: Expand]
[Immunity: Psychic V, Poison III, Radiant III, Acid III, Necrotic III]
[Resistances: Thunder III, Lightning III, Fire III, Cold III]
[Weaknesses: None]
[Currency: 1027522 Dream Points]
Eden had skipped straight through Tier II, reaching directly Tier III. That was not unreasonable, considering he had already been killing Tier III beings, and that was before absorbing the power of the Abyss.
His Perk list was no longer a whole paragraph in size, and had mostly been absorbed into his new Perk, Perfected One.
[Tier III: All attacks, defences, effects and skills from beings under Tier III are 25% less effective per Tier. All effects from equipment under Tier III are 25% less effective per Tier. All skills under Tier III are 25% cheaper, and those above Tier III are 25% more expensive per Tier.]
[Perfected One III: All Attributes now have an effectiveness of 340%, and are synced up. All beings find the Perfected One naturally attractive, seeking to grow closer to this state. Perfected One faces no language barriers, is not bound by space, time or fate, does not need to sleep, breath, eat or drink, can see through the invisible, is 100% faster and can always regain his prime physical form, no matter the injury. Mana regeneration is ten times faster. Attack and Defence are 30 % stronger, energy is 30% more efficient and all damage received is reduced by 300. Ignore up to Tier IV Magical Physical Resistance, all physical attacks are considered magical physical. Tier Suppression is ignored for damage calculations. The Perfect Form resists any Attribute bonuses from equipment, nor can it be protected by it.]
Tier III was no surprise, though half of it was now useless as his second perk nullified Tier Suppression for damage calculation. This meant he could punch as high as he wanted, but also that he would not receive any bonus for punching down. It also appeared that attacks he received would no longer take the Tiers of beings into account, which was nice.
That aside, Perfected One III was still quite something though. It more or less merged all of his past Perk, and also added some new ones.
This 340% effectiveness was a sort of hard limit for Tier III Perks. Back in Tier I, Eden's Intelligence Points were worth 18 instead of 10, and that was with his Source of Mana brought to its absolute peak. From there, each Tier added eight, so Tier II Perks were between 19 and 26, or 190% and 260% effectiveness, while Tier III was between 270% and 340%.
This meant that each of Eden's attributes were at the absolute peak of what they could normally be. Of course, there were some extraordinary circumstances, such as back when Eden had gotten Sukuna's Fingers and the Tier III Perk Immense Cursed Energy, but these were the exception.
As for the rest, they were pretty much his old Perks merged.
Of course, since this transformation was the product of a Binding Vow, the law of fairness still applied, and there had to be downsides, which came last. And even then, they were very tame thanks to all the power residing inside him, and the souls he had sacrificed.
But in reality, Eden did not really care about not receiving bonuses from equipment. To start with, bonus attributes from equipment were not boosted by Perks, so the boost would have been minor anyway.
As for losing the defence value on armors, his Perfected One III Perk offered a far better protection anyway. Reducing any damage by 300 meant that any attack under Tier II in power would be completely nullified, and even stronger attacks would have a large chunk taken out of them.
And that was without accounting for the fact that he was either Resistant or Immune to every type of damage except Force and the three Physical ones, and all of them scaled with him.
Also, since all of his attributes were synced up, raising one meant raising them all, so even though he had used up all the souls he had attached to him, Eden could still continue to raise all of his attributes, including Sorcery.
Then, there was his new Title, that of Demon King.
[Demon King: Reputation gain increased by 1000% with all demons. All beings instinctively fear you, even those incapable of feeling it. Gain a level of control over all demonic dimensions.]
Just the written description was good already, so including in the part that was never shown, the actual reputation that came with it, it ought to be worth all the trouble. Curiously, it appeared to have absorbed his Demon Lord and Omen of Death Titles.
Eden doubted he would ever be seen as a saintly figure, but it was not like he would ever bother attempt to portray himself as one either-way.
With this, while Eden might not have attained the absolute peak of power, he was no longer a speck on the radar for Guilds. Among Tier III Players, he doubted anyone could truly endanger him. He wondered how his new form would fare against a Tier IV Player.
Closing his status, Eden looked around at his deformed room, which had its ceiling automatically shoot up because of his rising size, but his room now looked weird because of it.
With a thought, Eden reduced his body to a human size, and got his room back to normal. Yet, it still felt weird. He had spent so long away from it, yet, somehow, it still felt like home.
It made him feel fragile. It made him feel good.
He was the Perfected One, yet, as Eden looked down at his own body, pinched his impossibly tough skin, the absurdity of it all slammed into him like a freight train.
He had never hesitated to cast away his humanity, and for the first time, he truly felt it. How monstrous he had become. And somehow, across it all, this room was the only thing left that made him feel human.
No, actually. The room itself was a replica of his old room back on Earth. That was truly the last human part of himself.
Stepping in front of the mirror, Eden observed his perfect form in detail. It was not the divine, otherworldly beauty of it that made him feel strange. His Solar Form already looked similar, and it had not affected him.
Rather, it was the fact that he had constructed his body himself. He had become his own progenitor, in a way.
Shaking his head away from these thoughts, Eden draped the Robes of the Archmagi back on himself. He did not particularly enjoy looking at his naked form. As for the robes, Eden could feel the enchantment on them faltering the moment he put them on.
It was a bit of a waste, but they would make do until he got himself something more suitable.
Turning his attention to the loot he had gotten, Eden did not spend much time on it, since nearly all of it would just get sold. Armor had become useless to him, and he would only keep the best weapons.
{Ozy, I see you're still as much of a troublemaker as always!}
Eden stopped what he was doing, before smiling as he replied,"I strive to be."
{Clearly! Tier III after two missions? You blew past all records. Even the Tier II record was after the third mission.}
Eden rolled his shoulder-blades, his wings feeling slightly different from his old ones. Heavier, more powerful.
"So, 666, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
{Can't an operative just congratulate their favorite Player anymore? Sigh, how far has this world fallen…}
"Did you just write down 'sigh'?"
{Always so quick to judge big man. But since you're no fun, yes, I did have something to tell you.}
Eden waited for him to elaborate, which he did, after a few seconds.
{You did not get to spend much time in the Nexus, so you may not have noticed, but Tier III Players no longer get much assistance from the System. All Tier III Players lose the protection of the System, even if they are in protected zones, your personal room being the only exception. Also, you will have to find your own way into mission worlds from now on, and in there, the System will no longer compensate you with rewards. Oh, and you can no longer access the Training Grounds.}
Eden blinked under the several revelations thrown at him at once, and only mustered up, "Care to elaborate?"
{Under Tier III, Players play under the rule of danger equals opportunity. In Pirates of the Caribbean, the System offered you the Fruit of Life and Death for freeing Mictlantecuhtli, and in Baldur's Gate, killing gods got you Perks. This stops with Tier III. From Tier III onward, there are no more side missions, and your main mission will only award you Dream Points. It also means powerful items will no longer necessarily be protected, though.}
Eden thought about these new terms for a moment, before asking, "What happens if a Player doesn't manage to reach their mission world? I don't suppose every Player has access to the same set of skills. Spatial magic has to be quite rare, right?"
{You lose access to your personal room until you enter a mission world. As for those who don't have the skills to get there themselves, they can always ask for help. Besides, the Nexus helps with inter-dimensional travel.}
Eden nodded to himself, his vision telling him so as well. His passive sight had reached Tier III as well, meaning it was on the level of Divine Sight, and he could see that the space in the Nexus was particularly malleable.
"Does that mean I can go back to worlds I already visited?"
{You can, but you will no longer have the protection of Dreamland from Overlord figures. Not all universes have them, and they differ in power, but for those who do, they generally don't take too kindly on strangers invading their worlds, especially ones known as multiversal Demon Kings.}
"So, when is my next mission?"
{The next Tier III Wave is in two months, bad luck. On the plus side, you don't get the temporal stasis from lower Tiers.}
Of course, it was not really luck. It was simply how Dreamland worked. It was arbitrary.
Dreamland worked in waves. Tier I Players had a mission every month, Tier II Players one every three months, and Tier III Players every year.
Back when he had gotten to Tier I, for Eden to get his full month of preparation before his Tier I mission, he had skipped over a wave, and left a week before everyone else for the next mission.
This time, instead of skipping the Tier III Wave in two months to give him a full year of preparation, and thus place him in a stasis two months before the Tier III Wave after the next one, he was just being sent to the one in two months.
Eden guessed that many Players timed their promotions just right to have as much prep time as possible, falling in with the waves.
His case was certainly unique though, as he doubted many Players could have skipped a Tier. If any. Not that he minded, he would fall in sync with his next mission anyway.
{If it is of any consolation, the time spent in the Nexus becomes largely irrelevant by Tier II. Progress at that level takes time, and Players usually spend more time in mission worlds of that level. That's even more so the case for Tier III. Some advantages also get stripped in the Nexus.}
Eden nodded, "I figured when I felt my time-stream align with my Simulacrum."
Most of Eden's demiplanes, or pocket dimensions, had been created inside the Forgotten Layer of the Abyss, where time passed 666 times faster. This meant that every second in the normal world represented 666 seconds in those demiplanes.
However, when he entered Nexus, he felt his connection to his Simulacrum strengthen, and the time inside his demiplanes align with the one of the Nexus.
His thorough understanding of spacetime also allowed him to grasp the reason why. The Nexus operated on a different time than the world of Dungeons and Dragons did, and so any difference in time-streams between the different dimensions of that world meant nothing for the Nexus.
Time either did not properly exist in the Nexus, or it was infinitely stretched, which was why the time spent in missions would translate to a mere instant inside the Nexus. So any dimensions that had their times stretched or compressed would be the exact same once inside the Nexus.
Unfortunately, the odds were that it would not work in other mission worlds either, as they had differing time streams as well. Being able to keep them was good enough already, he would have to improve on the spell to create truly independent spaces. Still, since he was not sure, he asked.
{No, if these dimensions of yours are still tethered to another universe, then the time compression would only take effect in that universe. Entering them inside another mission world would essentially be returning to that first universe, and time-streams would be synchronized. Also, while you are waiting for your next mission, if you do manage to return to that universe, and use the time compression, the time between missions is set on you, meaning that it is two months of your time, not two months of the Nexus time.}
"Is this multiverse travel truly without any limits? If so, what stops higher Tiered Players from joining the missions of those lower Tiered than them?"
{It's all about synchronicity. There are infinite universes, all working on different timelines. Different timelines do not really flow at different rates, they simply are completely separate. Whenever Players are sent to a mission world, that universe gets synchronized with the Nexus, thus allowing for a connection. However, that synchronization is not instantaneous, and takes the time of the missions. Trying to enter a world that was synchronized with the Nexus would require one to breach into that particular timeline. And even if they managed to do so, the synchronization takes the time of a mission for the Players involved, but for those in the Nexus, it is instantaneous, so there is no way for an external Player to intrude upon a mission. Although, from Tier III on, whenever there is a Tier IV and above wave, it gets merged with the Tiers below, down to Tier III. You don't have to worry about that though, the next Tier IV Wave is in four years and two months, so there will be four more Tier III Waves before the next Tier IV one. Seeing your progress so far, you might have already reached Tier IV by then.}
Eden rubbed his nose, humming to himself. This was important information, and interesting as well. After a moment, he asked, "What about worlds I did not go to, but other Players did?"
{Since they would be synchronized, you can get in them. However, Players are always sent in one version of a universe among an infinity, so without the coordinates to that particular version, it would be like searching for a needle in an infinite haystack. You would either need a Player who participated in that mission assisting you, or be good enough at divination to find it yourself. That's easier said than done though, as the truly good ones are used by stronger guilds as bases.}
"Is there anything I should know?"
This time, it took a second for the answer to come.
{You can also return to Earth.}