Galaxy's First Ruler

Aldrich had always wondered what was the nature of RECORD.

What was the reason for its existence? What was the underlying principle of its working? Why the color of the notifications felt sometimes blue and sometimes green was also a question that he thought about often.

So when the sudden notification of ERROR, in menacing red, surfaced in front of him, he couldn't take his eyes off it. Aldrich never believed that there was any being in the world who was truly impartial until the RECORD presented itself to him. So, for it to show ERROR to him could only mean one thing.

Aldrich looked at the red hue of the notification vanishing after it had flashed three times in front of it. And a series of notifications appeared in its place.

[…

Anomaly detected in the System

Scanning Dreamer's Record…

Dreamer is found to have tempered with Attributes using Unnatural Lifeform in the Dungeon

Penalizing Dreamer…

Warning: All Active, Passive, Item-specific Skills will be 50% less efficient

Warning: Rewards and ExP gained from Crawler will be halved

Warning: All Titles are invalid

Warning: Further use will cause a gradual increment in the penalty

…]

"This…"

This was a complete and utter nightmare.

Aldrich had theorized that if RECORD truly worked as a system, then it must have a set of principles according to which it governed all the Stats. And like any other system, it would prioritize eliminating any flaw or error which could cause it to produce unexpected results.

The three words Anomaly, Tempered, and Unnatural Lifeform kept repeating themselves to him. It didn't take long for him to realize what had changed since his last raid. The Shadow Homunculus had eaten the Devil's Oldest Change, which granted him the ability to transfer his Attributes values from one to another. And then, it had somehow evolved into a real intelligent being, Sha.

"Aren't you a cute one…"

The coarse metallic voice attracted Aldrich's attention, and he saw the Crawler looking down at him from afar.

"… I have been guarding this place for 10 raids continuously. Dreamers like you come full of themselves, but never alone. The level of your ignorance and selfish pride is even a step higher than the worst I have seen."

Aldrich could have analyzed too many things from that sentence if the change in the Crawler's Stats had not captivated his eyes.

[…

Record of 'Lord of the Woods' Basajaun

Status: Healthy

Level: 32

HP: 1950/1950

SP: 2085/2085

MP: 1400/1569

Rank: Viscount

Attributes -->

Strength: 120

Defense: 130

Agility: 75

Vitality: 80

Perception: 70

Correspondence: 83

Active Skills -->

?????????????????

Passive Skills -->

?????????????????

…]

For the first time, Aldrich couldn't see the entire Stats of any Crawler. The Skills' names had become blurry and gibberish. It did nothing but prove Aldrich's guess that the reason he could see others' Stats was because of the Passive Skill, Shared Vision.

Aldrich had just taken a perfunctory glance at the Crawler's Stat. Otherwise, given his photographic memory, he would have remembered the Active and Passive Skills. But Aldrich didn't get to feel the regret for long.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! …

Dozens of booming sounds made Aldrich look around and he saw the megaliths had again turned into Cannons at some point. The Mana cannonballs, like a laser, came rushing towards him along with the mockery-filled voice of the Viscount Crawler.

"Oops! I forgot to mention they can fire twice."

Aldrich didn't have the time to think about the cunningness of the Crawler and as he had already asked Sha to turn into a different Item. The use of penalised Megaton Crusher seemed insufficient to thwart all those globs of Mana again. The Buster-Sword in his hand vanished and the vein from the mask that had reached towards the palm of his hand went towards his back instead.

As the vein bloomed, two batlike mechanical wings appeared on Aldrich's back. This was among the plethora of Items that Sha had eaten in the last six months.

[…

Item: Wings of Bat-Lord

Type: Weapon

Rank: Rare

Durability: NA

Minimum Usage Condition: Agility 60

Description: Provide Batlike flying capabilities to Dreamer, Agility +10

Warning: Because of the lack of skills of the maker, Item has lost its Item-specific Skill

...]

At any other point in time, Aldrich would have considered it a worthless weapon. But the lack of Item-Specific Skills meant he won't have to use his penalized All-Proficient Skill anymore. Which made this Item an excellent source of additional Agility.

Thap! Thap!

Aldrich flapped the wings and flew up. The yellow laserlike cannonballs changed their trajectory to follow him. Aldrich skillfully maneuvered himself in the air, dodging many of them, but it was only a matter of time before one of them hit him. Aldrich knew of the dire circumstances he was in, but there was a smile on his face. Unseen by the Crawler, he took out a surgical knife and threw it in the air.

He made a roundabout turn in the air, barely dodging two of the Mana cannonballs, and headed towards the towering Crawler. The 30 ft tall Lord of the woods was playing with his crown, watching Aldrich getting chased by the yellowish streak of lights. As Aldrich dropped towards the sky, the Crawler let out a hearty laugh.

"Haha! You aren't the first one to try that."

The dozens of cannonballs were only a few inches away from Aldrich as he neared the Crawler. The thrown knife had fallen in the range of Aldrich's Divine Sense and he had already marked it. Although the effect of the two Skills that Aldrich took pride in had halved, it was enough for him to do what he did next.

Aldrich and Crawler's eyes met and words escaped Aldrich's mouth before he could collide with the behemoth.

"Change. Target Lock."

[…

The Skills Change and Target Lock are under Penalty

Change: Transfer 35% of any Attribute to another Attribute

Target Lock: 15% increment in Agility while dashing in the 'Marked' target's direction

…]

[…

Agility: 204 (+10 +98 +26)

Perception: 182 (-98)

…]