A Novel Concept - A death a day, MC will live anyway!-Chapter 355: The Way of the Pacifist

The Wandering Islands formed a vast region drifting across the surface of Elysium’s outermost layer. The archipelago consisted of floating islets that followed a precise route over six other regions. At the rear of the procession, on the opposite end of the Empire of Knaya, was an island roughly the size of Cyprus. Near its center, nestled in a sunken valley once covered by dense jungle, stood a towering tree—Log-a-rhythm.

As tall as a thirteen-story building, its sprawling branches cast a serene shade over the surrounding glade. A river sliced through the clearing, curling around the roots of the Tal Quercus. The name of the species evoked deep respect among elves as each of those trees was a relic of local royalty.

This particular one had been resurrected by Priam, Lord of Oasis. Across the ten-hectare domain, every plant pooled its Potential through a drya ritual. Log-a-rhythm was the warden of that shared resource. This forest-wide symbiosis had been Dishnu’s first gift. Three weeks ago, the Guardian’s generosity had struck again.

Before his Tribulations, the drya had helped Priam graft an alien Concept fragment into the Tal Quercus. It was Valaryth’s mutated form of Adaptation, a Concept perfectly tailored to Log-a-rhythm. Jasmine had pointed out it could have benefited Priam himself, but the young man had refused for three reasons.

First, he already possessed two Tier 1 Concepts. Accepting a third would significantly raise the odds of a spontaneous fusion between two of them—an event that would birth a Tier 2 Concept, something his soul couldn’t yet bear. Like Kazuki before him with Micro II, Priam would then face a High Tribulation to survive the evolution. That wasn’t part of his immediate plan. The mere idea of leaving Tier 0 before fully climbing the Colosseum ranks or maxing out his Tribulations left him seething. He wanted a rock-solid foundation before even glancing toward the Zenith.

Truth be told, the Juggernaut was obsessed with min-maxing.

The second reason for boosting his tree was that Log-a-rhythm was no longer just a sanctuary. It was the home of his family, the protector of Oasis, the rallying point for his friends. Skimping on its defenses would be like shooting himself in the foot.

Finally, Dishnu had hinted that the Concept would allow Log-a-rhythm to get the most out of his Tribulations. He had been right. Thanks to this new feature, the Tal Quercus had naturally upgraded Tribulation Resistance and Guardian of the Forest after enduring the drya’s brutal trials.

The mere thought of that moment still gave Priam chills. Even now, reading the summary written by his add-on felt wrong:

[Dishnu’s Sextuple Tribulation

5) Fire Elementals; destruction of plantlife

6) Symbiotic bond between plantlife and Dishnu/Log-a-rhythm

7) Necromoon’s light overclock

8) Corruptive fungal; plantlife infestation

9) Boss Lumberjack

10) World Lock (NEW)]

A sextuple Tribulation, cleared with insulting ease. That day, the Guardian didn’t just win. He dominated, proving he was in a league of his own. The Tyrant was probably up there too, but the Juggernaut knew he was still outclassed. For now.

At the start of Dishnu’s trials, Priam had been in denial. Everything had unfolded as it had before Back in Time, except for the weaker drya’s presence, and the System announcing the temporary closure of the Valaryth rift. Toward the end, Dishnu’s resistance to the fire elemental king had raised some eyebrows, but Priam chalked it up to solid prep.

Still, his gut wouldn’t let it go. So he asked and Dishnu confirmed that his sixth Tribulation had isolated Oasis from the rest of the universe during the ordeal. Awed and humbled, Priam accepted the explanation without a word.

Since then, he had thought about the purpose of that particular Tribulation. Dishnu was clearly at his peak in a forest. Could the drya possess an internal world filled with trees? Or was his power somehow linked to the trees he planted in Elysium?

Setting his speculations aside, Priam had waited for the Guardian’s departure to spend Log-a-rhythm’s stored Potential. In addition to strengthening its wood—the raw material for Oasis’s artisans—with Protection V, he bolstered its resistance to Necromoon influence. Finally, he purchased a much-requested feature: Abundance - Life IV. This boosted the tree’s sap regenerative power, a godsend for those who couldn’t reset their body daily like a certain Juggernaut.

“A hundred thousand undead outside, and somehow boredom’s gonna be the thing that kills me.”

A grumbling bear brought Priam back to the present.

“Sorry, bro,” he chuckled. “You’ll have your fun in a sec. First, I wanna test the auto-defenses. Rose?”

“Let in a hundred, please.”

Priam opened a few gaps in the protective field, allowing a horde of undead to slip through before sealing it again.

Startled, the corpses sniffed the air for living prey. Spotting targets on the ramparts, they charged.

A hundred turrets lining the ramparts powered up in unison. A snowflake of light formed in front of each, then snapped into a light beam.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Rose announced. “I present to you the latest model of our auto-turrets, the Eiffel II!”

“The Eiffel Tower doesn’t shoot lasers,” objected the Frenchman.

“Which is why my model’s better. Now watch.”

Each turret locked onto a target. Beams of energy tore through rotting hide, necrotized flesh and broken bone to strike necro cores. In two seconds, the undead wave was annihilated. Priam noted that the defenses only targeted Tier 0s.

Ignored by the energy barrage, four Tier 1s barreled across the no-undead’s-land, straight into the bio-trap field. One by one, they tripped on hidden roots and were snagged by vines tougher than steel. Dragged into waiting maws that looked like something between a venus flytrap and a kraken’s mouth, their fate was to be crushed, liquefied by potent acids, and recycled into nutrients—fuel for evolving Oasis’s defenses.

Impressed by the display, Priam turned to Rose.

“Sorry for the pun, but you killed it! That was awesome.”

“Thanks,” the teen murmured, cheeks coloring.

Her blush under his praise gave Priam pause as he had a delicate question to ask.

“I noticed the turrets don’t target Tier 1s… was that intentional?”

“They’re not strong enough to kill without overclocking, and doing that is more dangerous than useful,” Rose explained, animated now that she was talking about her work. “Kazuki, Hyshana, and I crunched the numbers: it’s more efficient to let the Tier 1s die in the bio-traps. Most of them already evolved once from feasting on zombies, and Tier 0 grunts aren’t even worth the calories anymore so we kill them before they can fill vegetal stomachs.”

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“So turrets for the fodder, and traps for the elites. Clever.” Priam looked toward the horde screaming outside the dome and saw a goldmine of Sun points. “How many corrupted can our defenses handle per minute?”

“It depends,” Hyshana replied. “Might I inquire as to your intentions?”

“What’s stopping us from opening controlled gaps in the shield to let them in ten by ten? With auto-defenses, we’d easily farm Sun points.”

“Currently, approximately eight percent of the necromantic forces consist of Tier 1s,” Hyshana stated. “They represent a bottleneck as bio-traps have a ten-minute cooldown between kills due to digestive processes. Turrets and traps combined would require months to neutralize the army outside. This calculation ignores the occasional Tier 2 our defenses can’t handle.”

“Guess we’ll have to take matters into our own hands,” Priam grinned. “Who’s up for a little warm-up?”

A thunderous roar answered him, and Priam turned to Kazuki. The general was their best strategist.

“My hoplites and I can hold three choke points spaced a hundred meters apart,” called the Hoplite Champion.

Priam obliged, opening a fourth breach for his friends and Prometheus’ subordinates.

“Nothing like a good brawl to stay sharp,” Louis chuckled, charging forward without hesitation.

“And to work up an appetite!” added Blueberry.

For the next few hours, Priam played lifeguard. Eyes on the siege, he was ready to dive in if needed. Of course, with Jasmine and Kazuki on the front line, his job was mostly redundant, and boredom quickly set in. When the local artisans turned down his invite to kill time with a round of cards, he resigned himself to watching the chaos unfold from the sidelines.

Around the fiftieth yawn, his high perception caught a flicker of movement beyond enemy lines. Summoning three giant runes, the mage bent light to recreate the magical equivalent of a telescope. A multicolored colossus came into view.

“Looks like a unicorn took a rainbow dump on the Statue of Liberty…”

Priam squinted as hostile undead closed in on the newcomer. Curious by nature, Priam decided to investigate. Channeling a trickle of Heroic Aura into his eyes, he activated a recently upgraded skill. Though it had cost him a Seed of Potential, the result was worth it.

[Heroic Identification]

[Destroyer, flesh golem - Tier 0 - Legendary] - Creation of a Fleshwarper.

You lack the nobility Title required to identify the creator.

Sculpted from modified necro drake cells, this siege golem possesses raw physical stats rivaling those of a Tier 2 Baron. Lacking both mind and soul, it is immune to mental and spiritual attacks.

Attributes:

Strength (3000), Constitution (3000), Agility (2000), Vitality (4000), Perception (3000)

Weaknesses:

No autonomy.

Low meta-endurance.

When the thing one-shotted a hostile Tier 2 with a punch, Priam let out a low whistle. The Destroyer was a physical monster—but with no meta-endurance, there was nothing stopping him from unleashing Pyro inside the thing.

“Kazuki, we’ve got a third party in play. I’m on it.”

“Understood.”

Priam’s thighs tensed before the explosive power of a hundred men launched him from the rampart. He shot straight through the dome, which offered no resistance. Not a single speck of dust lifted when he landed as [Kinetic Sovereignty] absorbed every last vibration.

Looking around, Priam found himself surrounded by a thousand undead. A split second before all hell broke loose, he hesitated to unleash his flames but held back. Massacring a million mindless zombies might rake in Sun points, but his allies were leveling up out there. No point in hogging experience by killing the golden necro goose.

“Gotta leave some for the others.”

Choosing the way of the pacifist, Priam took a step toward the Destroyer. The path wouldn’t be easy as thousands of furious undead were standing between him and his target.

“As the hoplite would say: where others see an ordeal, see a chance to train.”

Perhaps annoyed by the human’s monologue, a jawless monkey shrieked in outrage. Mid-screech, the baboon lunged at Priam, claws out.

Battle-lust surged through the Juggernaut. His hearts pounded, his lips curled into a joyful grin, and his draconic vivacity split his mind into two distinct streams. The first locked onto his Domain, scanning for threats and plotting enemy trajectories. The second synced with his Mist Concept.

The baboon was nearly within reach.

[Matrix Dodge] whispered to lean a few degrees sideways to avoid the blow. Priam ignored the advice of his maxed skill, preferring to turn his torso into mist. The baboon’s claws passed through like smoke, landing no damage. A second later, the mist reformed into flesh.

Priam hoped repeating stunts like this might tempt the System into gifting him an upgrade like [Mist Dodge], or something in that vein.

Unaware of the futility of its efforts, the necro-baboon threw an uppercut. Once again, Priam’s head became vapor, and the strike hit nothing. Screeching with frustration, the enraged beast clawed and slashed, never touching more than fog.

Seeing the corrupted masses preparing to pile on, Priam decided to retaliate like a pacifist.

His Domain pressed down on the simian enemy. Backed by his high meta authority, his sphere of influence overwhelmed the monkey’s natural resistance. Using an aether proficiency sharpened in dreams, Priam altered the necro core, sealing its output meridians.

Like a car without fuel, the beast froze. As it now possessed only the shadow of a soul, it was the light of the Necromoon that supplied its core with aether. However, without meridians, its instinct was unable to use this energy to move its body.

Through [Ideal Aether Perception], Priam watched as primordial fluid was building up inside the tiny necro core. Pressure spiked for a second before the container failed. Crack.

Just before the rupture, Priam removed the core’s contents and etched inside a single Kinetic rune. The aether surged into the sigil, converted into kinetic energy, and detonated like a shell. The resulting shockwave leveled a chunk of the undead horde.

Lvl Up: [High Aether Manipulation] lvl 51

META (Affinity) +3

META (Focus) +3

META (Endurance) +3

Amid the scattered corpses, mist condensed back into Priam. He grinned at the wreckage he had wrought without spending a single drop of his own aether. Using one enemy to obliterate another, recycling resources, bending reality to his will… In Priam’s opinion, there was something beautiful about walking the mage’s path.

A low grunt pulled him back. A Tier 1 boar was charging at him, flanked by a bipedal skeleton and a hundred other abominations. The forced suicide of the simian Tier 0 didn’t kill the strongest Tier 1s. Just before calling down flames hot enough to melt their corrupted bones, Priam remembered the way of the pacifist.

[Phantom].

The undead froze, sniffing the air like confused bloodhounds. From their perspective, the living prey had simply vanished.

Priam ignored them and advanced toward the flesh puppet. He wasn’t invisible nor could he use Heroic Aura to mesmerize the horde like Conquest had done to the Arkanians back on Proxima. If the Necromoon’s minions struggled to find him, it was thanks to Breath. The utility Concept let him mask both his soul and vital energy.

Tier 1 undead could still see him, but their minds were too primitive to associate a soulless vessel with the prey they had been chasing a moment before. To them, he was no different from a rock or a cloud.

Of course, the trick only worked on brain-dead foes—but Priam had another card to play against smarter enemies: he was monstrously powerful. A Tier 2 banshee locked eyes with him, sized up her odds, and promptly flew off toward the dome in search of an easier target.

Summoning a kinetic cone to part the tide of zombies like an icebreaker, Priam advanced through the chaos until he reached the flesh golem. The creature’s chest split open, revealing a familiar boy within.

“Tell Seth I appreciate the free Sun points,” Priam said, gesturing to the soon to be slaughtered army.

“He’s hibernating. I came to take Jasmine to the tournament,” replied the teen while casually conjuring a bouquet of flowers.

“…”

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/ANovelConcept