I have held a few rings of power in my day. We system users have a knack for making powerful and dangerous artifacts. Originality is dead, and Tolkien’s books are the backbone of human fantasy. So the odds were always high that eventually, someone would make a ring of power.

The number of fighters among us isn’t as many as most might think. This is because humans didn’t become the dominant species on our planet by being the biggest and strongest. Instead, we built the spear to attack dangerous animals and each other at a distance. Slings, bows, and guns are merely an evolution of that sentiment.

Parameters and skills both influence the mind and body. While parameters are a minefield, skills can be a game of Russian roulette with infinite rounds; eventually, a user will get a bad skill. On the other hand, items made by those individuals inclined to craft are some of the most beautiful, twisted, and powerful tools to exist.

Well, what is a ring of power? Are they rings with powers like invisibility, or are they like a Lich’s phylactery? If they are so dangerous, then why wield them at all?

They are skills and parameters innocuously sealed within a band of metal. A wielder of a ring can level up the skills within the ring, increasing the parameters and passing them to another. Thus, even those outside the system can wield rings of power.

Imagine a user slipping on a ring, and suddenly their mind and body are assaulted by unknown parameters and skills. Some hosts can’t bear the strain and become mindless husks of instincts forged by various skills placed in a ring.

…

My eyes never stopped searching the crowd around us. On occasion, I’d see a flash of HP mixed with dozens of people. The clones knew how to blend in, most likely thanks to memories from King’s other. While I couldn’t lock on to the clones, they weren’t brave enough yet to attack in the middle of the day. Either King didn’t see me as enough of a threat to risk it, or killing me was only a bonus to his plan. I’m confident he already knew about the sorceress and may have already subverted her. Hell, he might go underground for a while just to shake things up.

I doubted it; subverting slaves sounded like positioning for the finishing play. A single exposed clone wouldn’t slow King down. Four clans rule this city. The Spotted Pack, the Blue Blood Clan, and two others. While the governor gave orders, it was the four that truly led Flank town.

We found a single slave, who’s to say he didn’t steal any other identities within the Spotted Pack.

After a long ride through Flank Town’s winding bazaar and into the poor side of town, we arrived. The tower came into view near the western wall of the city. Unfortunately, it looked less stable than a house of cards. Every time the wind blew, the tower rocked and creaked dangerously. Every window for nearly a hundred feet up had a crack in it.

“Some of these look pretty old. Did you ever come here and chuck a rock at the tower?” I asked.

“The 24th floor to the third right window is where mine landed. It was a tricky shot, and when Mother found out, I was grounded for a month. Hers is a floor lower. And Mischief the poor thing only managed the 21st floor. So she was grounded for 3 months.” Silent said.

I shook my head. “So this tower isn’t very popular,” I said.

“We only use it when we have to ask a foreign land for help. I think it reflects our collective embarrassment perfectly.” Silent said.

The interior of the tower was covered in rotten wood and fallen scaffolding. Steel beams shown through the walls like the bones of deer left on an anthill. We entered a rusty elevator, and she handed me a set of chains hooked up to a wench.

“You get the first dozen floors, and we’ll switch.” Silent said.

I stood over to the side, stretching after the latest switch. We hadn’t even cleared the broken windows yet, and the sorceress clearly wasn’t meeting us halfway. I stared over at Silent working the chains in her tight black dress and realized something. She wasn’t that much taller than me anymore.

That was neat.

Somehow my parameters had increased my height. I stared down at my body and noticed a few things. My arms were jacked, and so were my legs. While before I’d begun gaining weight, now my body rippled with muscle and a bit of fat. I didn’t look like a work of art; no, I was unfinished. Whatever the parameters were doing to me was incomplete.

On the top floor, we hooked the chain to keep our elevator from dropping back to the ground. “Why isn’t this thing enchanted or something?” I asked.

“I learned about that from a tutor. The Owl a Blue Blood and our governor at the time needed to cut the budget on upkeep charms to pay for his high-class blood whores. The governor who replaced him didn’t see a reason to sacrifice her new bribing money on something as frivolous as the upkeep of our village’s only sky tower. It was an eye sour from a greater dynasty. So, windows remained broken, and the elevator’s charms wore off.” Silent said and shrugged. “This is the first time we’ve used it in nearly ten generations. We can normally handle our own problems.”

“Let’s hope she didn’t leave instead of risking our rickety perch,” I muttered.

To be fair, the tower rocked back and forth like a boat on a lake just after two racing speed boats passed. I wouldn’t want to stay up here either.

We crossed the room of the highest floor with our feet following the steel frame. One misstep, and it was a long way down. Eventually, we made it to the greeting room.

An Asian chick armored to the gills in chainmail and mismatched samurai armor was Hovering on a legit broom and green in the face. It weighed on her like an anchor nearly pulling her from her broom. At seeing us, she slowly lowered herself but clearly couldn’t quite find the courage to land.

Ito Rin hovered above her head. It was strange seeing someone use their real name. Below her username was the nickname Iryoku.

“Hello, my name is Ito Rin. Are you the greeting party?” Ito Rin asked. I watched her bow deeply on her broom even as it lowered to the ground. She stepped off her mount and tapped the ground a few times, checking for stability. Once she was sure she wouldn’t fall through, she pulled a business card from her inventory.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do. The sorceress handed me the card, and I looked it over, took out my phone, and snapped a picture of it. The woman stared at my naked body before looking away.

“Miss Ito, it’s good that you arrived so promptly the situation has escalated quickly. We were told to brief you about the situation.”

The woman turned to Silent, bowed, and handed over a second business card. Silent blinked once the twice at the card before tucking it between her breasts.

“How much do you know about our situation?” Silent asked.

Miss Ito remained silent for a moment, only staring between us. “I was told there is a flesh mage in the vicinity. Do you have any leads?” She asked.

Had I done something wrong already? Japanese bowing wasn’t really something I knew much about. While my history videos sometimes talked about the country and I was a weeb, I didn’t know much about the finer points of the culture. I knew abstractly that business cards and bowing were essential to the Japanese and their business practices.

“Yes, you could say he’s one of us. He also has the training of a magic engineer.” Miss Ito turned away from me and looked to Silent for answers.

“He’s a human male and has developed the ability to copy himself and shapeshift into other humans. Red my slave can normally spot them if they’re out in the open, but they blend into crowds. He also has experience hiding his scent from hyenoid scouts.” Silent said.

“We don’t know if he’s limited to humans or if it’s a trick to lower our guard later. We’re dealing with an intelligent enemy who has some pull with the Blue Blood clan. That’s one of the four major powers in our city.” I said.

“I was briefed on the power structure of your city before arriving. So there is no need to explain redundant details to me. Let us leave this tower; its state is a disgrace.” Miss Ito said.

We returned to the elevator and took the iron death box down. This time all the chain work was mine. I understood; Silent couldn’t show that she held me in too high a regard. Ito kept her eyes turned away from me and focused on watching the terrible state of the city. Although to be fair, we were in the bad side of town.

“This is an unacceptable state of affairs.” Miss Ito said.

While Miss Ito sulked over the state of our city or most likely picturing how horrible her hotel will look, I started thinking about King. What was the likelihood he’d let us walk out with a professional flesh mage killer? If I were him, I’d wait until we’re about mid-point…

The tower gave a great lurch; the elevator jumped, and for a moment, we were all weightless. Hundreds of tons of rotten wood shook loose as the tower fell. Silent was scrambling to find a way out. Miss Ito grabbed her broom and shot hard into the side of the elevator, knocking us swinging around a steel beam. I held Silent and ripped my fingers through the metal sides of the elevator and made my way to a now unconscious Miss Ito.

Once they were both under me, I activated Force Aura and held on tight.

Hundreds of tons of rotten wood smacked into our elevator and snapped the cords. I felt every ding as our little iron death coffin smashed into each steel beam like we were in a pinball machine. The elevator shot out of the tower as it fell; I felt us sail far away from the tower before we crashed into a five-story duplex nearby. The elevator rolled, ripping through cheap plant fiber pulp walls until we finally rolled to a stop.

“Why doesn’t anything ever go as planned?” I muttered.

“I don’t know; everything seems to work out well for me,” King said as red scythes ripped through the side of the elevator. I turned my gaze to my two dependents. They’re both breathing which means King hasn’t won yet. Miss Ito’s eyes fluttered open, and I put my finger to my lips.

“Did you really think I wasn’t ready for any eventuality?” King asked.

My hand shot out through the iron door of the elevator and smashed into the clone’s chest. Spectral arms unleashed themselves, ripping open a hole in the side of the elevator. I rolled out just as the scythe came down where I had been. The girls were still out of range as well.

King’s Clone

HP 180,000/180,000

Status: Cursed X1

It slashed with its claws, only for my spectral arms to catch them. Then, scythes made of bone slashed down edged with viscous red energy from its larger upper arms. Not even my Force Aura could defend against that, so I caught them with my other two spectral arms.

A fireball gathered quickly in my hand. I knew the mantra for it, thanks to Silent. Her prayer had saved me before, and it would kill this piece of shit now.

“Do you think I’m not ready for this? Any fire you can make, I can drown it in blood.” King declared.

King’s Clone

HP 179,500/179,500

Status: Cursed X1

A smile tugged at my lips. King hadn’t noticed yet. Maybe he should be more perceptive. I pushed my fireball into the clone’s chest and detonated it. The monster roared in pain and expanded like a balloon before rapidly shrinking. In the explosion, it lost both arms and its scythes to my spectral arms. Those arms glowed with cursed energy and stuck hard and fast.

King’s Clone

HP 100,000/130,000

Status: Cursed X5

While it was distracted, I wailed on it. Every blow increased the degree of the curse.

King’s Clone

HP 25,000/55,000

Status: Cursed X25

“Enjoy it while you can. My new body is a real Chad.” King’s Clone said as it turned black and withered. It was almost as if it couldn’t recognize its own demise. Or maybe it didn’t matter, and this was just a distraction. I turned my head to see red-clawed hands rip through the windows.

“So, you found a way to kill one of my clones. It doesn’t matter. I have more than you can imagine. Don’t you get it? I’m Alucard, and you’re just a random dipshit. There’s nothing you can do to beat me.”

Miss Ito chose that moment to roll out of the elevator. Her eyes lit up with green light before dark green beams shot from them. In a few quick bursts, she damaged the clones but lost her surprise advantage. The clones withered and blackened where her beams struck, only for red vessels to spread through the dead flesh.

The clone in front of me finally melted into a black puddle on the floor.

Ding!

White/Black Hawk Assassination lvl3

Rank: B+

Type: DEX/QI

Description – A terrifying strike used by cultivators of the white hawk clan. They strike with deadly speed and precision to deliver a single death blow, steal the core of their prey, and escape. It’s a striking skill all about precision and timing combined with an indomitable qi flow.

ATL – Assassinate and steal the treasures of your targets as viciously as a true hawk.

Abilities

Flow Of The Hawk – The user’s qi has gained a pattern to copy and empower the body. Though it is young with the training, you will become much faster. AGL increases by 5% of QI for every ability in WHA. Timing And Target – The user’s qi has adapted to the views of a hawk on the wing. PER increases by 10% of QI when monitoring a target. Cursed Blow – A corruptive qi gathers around your fist for a single devastating blow. Once struck, the target suffers the status cursed. Once cursed, the target suffers irreparable damage to their lifeforce. If the corruptive qi isn’t expelled quickly, the curse will build until the target expires. Stolen Years – Every 10,000,000HP destroyed by the curse increases the user’s QI by 1.

Ding!

White/Black Hawk Assassination has reached lvl2

DEX/QI +1

DEX 8

QI 19

Ding!

Close Combat lvl15

Type: STR

Rank: D

Description – A blundering struggle to fight at close range with any means necessary.

ATL – Any fight in close quarters.

Abilities

Beginner’s Guts – +10% chance to resist fear skills Haymaker – An all-out attack +100% damage. Rhythm Break – When an opponent’s attack rhythm is recognized and broken, the user’s next attack has a 10% to stun the enemy. Grappler – Holds become 10% more effective.

Ding!

Close Combat has reached lvl10

STR +2

STR 8 (9.9) (19.8) (22.8)

Ding!

Close Combat has reached lvl15

STR +3

STR 11 (12.9) (25.8) (28.8)

Ding!

Fire Manipulation lvl4

My body spasmed as more strength poured into me. There was so much power just at my fingertips. If I wasn’t careful, I could kill someone very easily. Right then, it hit me that I needed dexterity, or this would be a problem sooner rather than later. I needed to control my strength and only use what I needed. Ripping Silent apart or eventually, Kale couldn’t be tolerated.

I shook my head at my own thoughts. When had I decided that Kale would be my lover? Didn’t she intimidate me with her gaping horse? I looked around; this was no time to daydream. Red scythes ripped through the ceiling and up through the floors. Already a few jumped through the hole left by the elevator.

Fireball formed in my hand more quickly than it had before. The concept felt so right in my hand it was inconceivable that it had ever been difficult. Just as one clone leaped in, I shot the fireball into his chest. The clone left the ground and flew out of the building before exploding in a shower of gore. It didn’t have the HP to survive such an explosion. Not all clones were made the same, it seemed.

“If you think backup is coming, you’re mistaken.” I looked around. He was right; this position was unsustainable. There were clones on every floor and outside the building. Tagging them with curses wouldn’t be enough, and my fireballs would exhaust my mana eventually, and then my Force Aura would fail.

So, he planned for the tower to fall and even predicted we’d land in this building. The Intelligence stat was really broken. At this point, I had to question if winning was possible.

“Miss Ito, if I give you an opening, could you fly out of here on your broom with Silent.” She turned to me and nodded.

I raised my hand and unleashed three devastating fireballs. They collided with the opposite wall and ripped open a massive wound in the building. Wasting no time, I tore open the elevator's remaining side like a soda can and handed Silent off to Ito.

“I don’t understand. You’re a slave; why do you care about her at all.” Miss Ito said.

“Slavery is a state of mind. I can remove my collar anytime I want.” I said. She nodded and shot off with Silent leaning back on her.

“What will you do now, Red? If you run, you might escape me. But, you were right; I’m not ready to reveal myself yet.” King said.

I laughed, and as one, the clones froze. “You were always funny. Even when you were just King the crazy Bleach and Naruto obsessed drug dealer, you were hilarious.” I wiped a stress tear from my eye. “You were the last one I thought would go mad with power. But here you are nutty as squirrel shit and drinking people like gogurt talk about a subversion of expectations.”

“I made a promise to Fister to spare you. But, unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going to keep it. These people aren’t real; you wouldn’t get mad at someone who kills NPCs in video games. But you had to ruin my fun, and so I’m going to ruin your whole game.” From my inventory, I pulled out a golden die and tossed it on the ground.

The vast golden die had over a hundred faces, and it quickly settled on 78.