It was a short amount of time before Vick and Cekrass returned with their patrols. They both gave the same accounting as Shaggy had. Dozens of Bunch patrols were out on the streets either retreating from the botched deli attack or searching for the patrols. Cekrass’ group looked a little weary, but happy. The big lizard alien explained he had pushed deeper into Bunch territory than intended. But it had still been fairly fruitful.
Such as with Nate. The young boy had awakened and could now shoot energy blasts from his hands. Which, according to Cekrass and his team, the boy did until he passed out from exhaustion. Which is why their team walked themselves back when they did. Carrying an unconscious Nate the whole way. Shaggy gave the team some props and then listened to Vick’s story.
Vick’s patrol had been almost the exact opposite of Cekrass’. They had patrolled the very edge of where their turf and Bunch turf met. Vick had walked the border like an old rancher protecting his home against wolves. Most of his team said it was pretty boring until the failed deli attack. Then they started getting more and more thugs coming their way.
Whenever they’d spot a pack of thugs, Vick would fall back to an elevated position and Mari would lead the ground assault. It apparently worked. Shaggy wondered about letting a little kid lead in combat. But, what the hell, she knew what she was doing. But by contrast, Vick’s team seemed in much better shape than Cekrass’. They weren’t as run down and even seemed ready for more. Shaggy made a note of it as he shooed the teens away.
After he explained the plan to both Cekrass and Vick, they both agreed to take part. But they both wanted a few hours’ nap. Which Shaggy figured they had time for. So, while those two headed to the dorms, he went to collect some food. Rita and Ephemara could work out the crews. He needed to focus on what was important, keeping his healing topped up.
While he waited, Shaggy decided he needed to go over his Evo trees. It had truly been a while since he last looked at them. But he wasn’t expecting much, he’d only being taking on a bunch of scrub gangsters. Maybe he had enough to raise a few things here and there. But every little bit helped before a big fight.
Lycanthropy Mutation Tree
* Attack Lvl 15
* Canines Lvl 2
* Claws Lvl 15
* Demon Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 10
* Serrated Edge
* Convex Edge – Lvl 3
* Bone Claws -
* Defense Lvl 15
* Tough Bones Lvl 4
* Enhanced Evasion Lvl 2
* Utility Lvl 15
* Partial Transformation Lvl 8
* Limb transformation Lvl 4
* Regeneration Lvl 26
* Limb Regen Lvl 2
* Pain Suppression Lvl 3
Points: 352
* General Tree
* Toughness Lvl 28
* Thick Skin Lvl 15
* Skin Resistances Lvl 5
* Skin Durability Lvl 3
* Dermal Armor Lvl 3
* Reflexes Lvl 25*
* Quick Hands Lvl 15
* Manual Dexterity Lvl 2
* Shadowboxing Lvl 1
* Quick Feet Lvl 3
* Mind Lvl 25*
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 4
* Mental Defense Lvl 3
Points: 417
“FUCK! ~”
Shaggy swore so loudly that he was sure people from both buildings came rushing out to see what was the problem. But he ignored them. He had hundreds of fucking Evo points just sitting there waiting for him. He had over three hundred points for his Mutant trees and over four hundred for the General one? That was crazy! What had he been doing? Fighting random street thugs and other gangs? Quinica elders and hybrid alien races. Were other players leveling like this?
Shaggy ignored his in-game trees and dove into the forums. He found plenty of talk about efficient builds and ways to game more points. But apparently the system tracked and reward the points based on what the player was doing. So gaming the system was incredibly hard, if not impossible. But all Shaggy had been doing was playing. He hadn’t been focused on points or efficient builds. It took him a few minutes, in which he had to calm Rita and Ephemara and send them back to work. But he found a forum post that theorized on how the games AI distributed points.
xXx_Points_Hoarder_xXx
Don’t try to farm points! The games AI watches everything and if it discovers you are doing that, it’ll nerf your fucking point totals. Instead, set your notifications to off and play the game. Literally, that’s it. Don’t worry about max builds and efficacy tables. The game literally rewards you for engaging with it. But not only engaging with it, but by engaging in the game like it’s a real world. So do what your in-game character would do. Save little kittens, help little grannies across the street, punch a bunch of gang members in the face. You’ll get points and their worth will be surprisingly accurate to the point totals. But if you are constantly in your menus, worrying about point totals, I think the game sees that and lessens the value of your points.
The player described several scenarios where his hypothesis proved true. But the follow up posts were a hodge-podge of personal attacks against the poster and thankful Mutants. It seemed to Shaggy that of course you were going to rack up points if you didn’t constantly watch the point totals. Watching a clock always made it seem to move slower, so watching your point’s values probably made it seem like you weren’t gaining any. He sighed and turned off the in-game forums. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter. He had a shit-load of points to use and some ass-kicking to do tonight. First up was the mutant table. Shaggy leaned back on his half-finished porch and brought up the table.
Lycanthropy Mutation Tree
* Attack Lvl 15
* Canines Lvl 2
* Claws Lvl 15
* Demon Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 10
* Serrated Edge
* Convex Edge – Lvl 3
* Bone Claws -
* Defense Lvl 15
* Tough Bones Lvl 4
* Enhanced Evasion Lvl 2
* Utility Lvl 15
* Partial Transformation Lvl 8
* Limb transformation Lvl 4
* Regeneration Lvl 26
* Limb Regen Lvl 2
* Pain Suppression Lvl 3
Points: 352
First thing was evolving his sharpness up to fifteen and getting a new Evolution for his claws. Once he dumped the points, the cell grew and stretched until a new one appeared. But this one differed from the rest. It was darkened and had bright green lettering across it which read, Burning Edge. Shaggy quirked an eyebrow, but quickly moved on next as he raised his Convex Edge to five. But no evolution came. He guessed that was as deep as the evolution went. He could still strengthen his claws, but he wasn’t going to get an evolution off that cell. Shaggy checked his work before he moved on.
Attack Lvl 15
* Canines Lvl 2
* Claws Lvl 15
* Demon Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 15*
* Serrated Edge
* Convex Edge Lvl 5*
* Burning Edge Lvl 0*
* Bone Claws -
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If he had to guess, Shaggy was sure the Burning Edge Evo cell was because of his demonic ties. He left it alone for now and hurried to look into his Defense Tree. But other than raising Tough Bones to see what new cell he’d get, he thought he was fine in that department. So he raised it five and waited. Soon the cell reacted, and another one grew nearby. Reinforced Bones. Shaggy wasn’t sure how that was much different from Tough Bones. But more defense was more defense. He moved on again to Utility and immediately raised Regen and its subordinate cells.
Defense Lvl 15
* Tough Bones Lvl 5*
* Reinforced Bones Lvl 0
* Enhanced Evasion Lvl 2
* Utility Lvl 15
* Partial Transformation Lvl 8
* Limb transformation Lvl 4
* Regeneration Lvl 28*
* Limb Regen Lvl 3*
* Pain Suppression Lvl 5*
Shaggy checked his point total and grinned.
Points: 103
He still had plenty of points left, and two shiny new cells to grow out. He cautiously raised Reinforced Bones to two and sat back again. His grin faded as he noted his points were now down to sixty-four. He sighed and dumped them all into Burning Edge, getting one whole level from the points.
Shaggy paused as his fingernails started to glow and pain pulsed through his hands. It wasn’t debilitating, but it was annoying. He shifted his hand into their claw forms and looked them over. They still had a reddish-black sheen to them, but now the sharp edge of his claws glowed slightly green. He wasn’t sure what that was going to do, but he was sure it was going to hurt like hell.
Shaggy waited for his nails to stop hurting before he moved on to the General Tree. This one had even more points to spend. He rubbed his hands gleefully as he brought up the tree and perused his choices. He brought his Toughness to thirty for the added HP and gave Dermal Plates enough to Evolve, which gave him the new cell labeled Shifting Plates. Not reading into anything yet, he moved to Reflexes and moved Manual Dexterity and Shadowboxing up to level three and Quick Feet to level five. Getting the new a cell called Slide Move. Finally, he leveled Mental Defense up to five and got the cell Psychic Barrier.
General Tree
* Toughness Lvl 30*
* Thick Skin Lvl 15
* Skin Resistances Lvl 5
* Skin Durability Lvl 3
* Dermal Armor Lvl 5*
* Shifting Plates Lvl 0*
* Reflexes Lvl 25
* Quick Hands Lvl 15
* Manual Dexterity Lvl 3*
* Shadowboxing Lvl 3*
* Quick Feet Lvl 5*
* Slide Move Lvl 0*
* Mind Lvl 25
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 4
* Mental Defense Lvl 5*
* Psychic Barrier Lvl 0*
Points: 221
Again, Shaggy couldn’t help but smile at his point total. He still had three new cells to grow out and maybe he’d finally take Enhanced Focus up to five. Get another cell there. But this time, he was overly cautious. He put enough points into Shifting Plates to get it up to one and waited. Nothing happened, so he did the same with both Slide Move and Psychic Barrier. Barrier was the biggest point suck of the three. But Shaggy really didn’t want to deal with any mind-control fuckery. So he bit the bullet and raised it to three while bringing both of his other new skills to two. With a little over a hundred points left, he focused on Enhanced Focus and raised that one to five, evolving another new cell. This one was called Perception Manipulation, and it brought Shaggy up short.
“What the fuck does that mean?” He said aloud.
He wanted to bring up his notifications and see, but he knew he would be inundated with the other notices for the other skills. He wanted to wait to read them all at once and get them out of the way. So he instead dumped a few points into the cell and waited. But nothing happened. It looked like Perception Manipulation was going to be another point sucker. Shaggy sighed and let loose with his remaining points, raising the cell to the second level.
Shaggy checked his point totals were empty and looked over his trees again.
Lycanthropy Mutation Tree
* Attack Lvl 15
* Canines Lvl 2
* Claws Lvl 15
* Demon Claws Lvl 15
* Sharpness Lvl 15*
* Serrated Edge
* Convex Edge Lvl 5*
* Burning Edge Lvl 1*
* Bone Claws -
* Defense Lvl 15
* Tough Bones Lvl 5*
* Reinforced Bones Lvl 2*
* Enhanced Evasion Lvl 2
* Utility Lvl 15
* Partial Transformation Lvl 8
* Limb transformation Lvl 4
* Regeneration Lvl 28*
* Limb Regen Lvl 3*
* Pain Suppression Lvl 5*
Points: 0
* General Tree
* Toughness Lvl 30*
* Thick Skin Lvl 15
* Skin Resistances Lvl 5
* Skin Durability Lvl 3
* Dermal Armor Lvl 5*
* Shifting Plates Lvl 2*
* Reflexes Lvl 25
* Quick Hands Lvl 15
* Manual Dexterity Lvl 3*
* Shadowboxing Lvl 3*
* Quick Feet Lvl 5*
* Slide Move Lvl 2*
* Mind Lvl 25
* Enhanced Focus Lvl 5*
* Perception Manipulation Lvl 2
* Mental Defense Lvl 5*
* Psychic Barrier Lvl 3*
Points: 0
HP: 497/497
Shaggy sat back on the deck of his log cabin and sighed. It was overall a good spread of abilities, and he even had a bunch of new ones. He still needed to read through the notifications and see what they all did, but he was happy to take a second and just bask in the feeling of being powerful.
“C-Tier threat, my ass.” Shaggy grinned as he laid back on the hardwood floor. “Old robot didn’t know what he was talking about. I’m Billy Badass incarnate.”
Shaggy felt his inner wolf howl, and he sat in the feeling of ultimate power for a few more seconds before he came crashing back down. His mind went to the disintegration weapons and how painful they had been. Not to mention any heavy artillery or powers other Supes could have. Then there was anyone with Magical abilities. All his own power meant nothing if some jumped-up mage could toss his ass into another dimension. His wolf howled angrily at the thought of anyone trying, but Shaggy clamped down on the animal. He needed to keep his ego in check. There was always someone tougher out there.
Shaggy busied himself by checking his skills tables and seeing how they had changed. If his points were that high. What were his skills at?
* Werewolf
* Werewolf Senses – Beginner Level 4
* Werewolf Form – Beginner Level 3
* Demon Wolf – Beginner Level 3*
* Werewolf Speed – Beginner Level 3*
* Werewolf Durability – Beginner Level 4*
* Werewolf Bite – 5/5
* Normal
* Claw Fighting – Intermediate Level 2*
* Leaping – Beginner Level Maxed*
* Enhanced Senses – Intermediate Level 1*
* Endurance – Beginner Level Maxed*
* Fight Like An Animal – Beginner Level Maxed*
* Pack Hunting – Beginner Level 4*
Shaggy swore again. Although this time he was careful to be quieter about it. He had three skills at max level. That meant that any experience those skills got after the fact was wasted. He groaned as he set about combing and ranking them up. Endurance he immediately raised to Intermediate rank, while he combined Fight Like An Animal and Leaping. He didn’t know what those two would produce, but it was bound to be interesting, at least.
Pounce
You are capable of launching yourself great distances and catching your prey unaware. Your leg strength and attacks will be enhanced when you throw yourself at a target. Be mindful of where you are jumping, though. And mind your head.
Shaggy snorted at the text box before he pushed it aside. Fight Like An Animal and Leaping dropped to level one again. But Shaggy was sure pounce would make up for it. He already had a tendency to launch himself at his foes. So a skill that made it more beneficial to do that was a boon. He gave a last glance at his werewolf abilities and sighed. They really went up slower if he wasn’t constantly in his werewolf shape. Still, he would take the levels he got and be happy.
Shaggy felt another pulse of energy surge through him. Getting a new skill and seeing his gains in the other areas made him smile and feel invulnerable again. But he tamped that down quickly. It was probably just the increase to his stamina from raising Endurance. Instead, he braced himself and dug into his menus. He wanted to see what the various evolutions he unlocked did. So he needed to unleash the floodgates on his halted notifications and read through them. He could still sift through them and pick and choose, but it was still annoying and tedious work.
He brought up the list of back-notifications and began sifting. Soon he found the latest notices and narrowed them down further to the cells he had recently unlocked. He pushed all those notifications through with a mental shove and waited for all of them to pop at once. When they did, his vision was obscured by a bunch of blue windows. Shaggy sighed and started reading.
Burning Edge
The edges of your claws have been touched with a demonic blight. Your claws now burn the very soul of an individual. NPCs will feel the pain of the tearing of their souls, while players will be rendered immobile from the pain. If a Player or NPC has the appropriate defensive skill or a deity’s protection, the blight on your claws won’t work as well.
Reinforced Bones
Your bones’ weak points are now reinforced with more bone or cartilage. Making them tougher and harder to break. Your movements and agility might be a little stiff, but your bones will thank you in the long run.
Shifting Plates
The dermal plating under your skin will now shift to the oncoming attack. You have to be ready for the attack and it takes a bit for the plates to gather. But once they do, they form an enhanced shield capable of blunting the sharpest knife. Just don’t get caught unaware or the whole thing is useless.
Slide Move
You glide across the battlefield like a ballerina. You are capable of shifting your weight around, past, and sometimes over a target. Your feet must start on the floor, but with careful practice and judicious application, you can weave with the best of them. Now get out sliding, Weaver.
Perception Manipulation
Your focus is so enhanced that you can momentarily mentally detach from your corporeal form and look around the area. The image that you are exploring is a mental diagram of the area your senses have perceived. So some things might not be what they appear to be. But you will still have precious seconds to spot and call-out potential threats. Be warned: detaching from your own point of view can be jarring.
Shaggy blew out a breath. That was a lot to take in. Perception Manipulation alone was a beast of an ability. He would need to practice with it and see what it was like, but it could be really helpful for spotting priority targets he missed with Enhanced Focus. Slide Move, Shifting Plates, and Reinforced Bones beefed up his defenses while Burning Edge was going to make him an utter terror. Being able to immobilize other players, even for a few seconds, could be huge.
He got to his feet and brushed off his pants. Checking the time, he saw that less than half an hour had passed. He sighed. They needed to wait until nightfall to make their move. So he had to pass the time. Training with his new abilities seemed like the obvious choice. But most of his pack was resting or wrangling the kids. Of course, Tom was nowhere to be seen and with Shaggy's emotions and thoughts echoing through the link, the lanky man was probably going to keep himself scarce.
“Boss?”
Ephemara’s voice brought Shaggy around and he saw the pale woman grinning at him. Shaggy returned the smile and gave her a head tilt.
“We need your help with a dispute between the kids. The short one is complaining about not getting to go to the gambling den and she’s not taking to Rita’s orders.”
Shaggy groaned. “Mari?”
Ephemara nodded. “That’s the one, boss. Big pain in the ass for being so short. Kind of like you.”
“Eat me, Ephe.”
“Oooooo! I’m going to tell your wife!”
Shaggy slapped a hand to his forehead as he followed his Number One henchman to the teen dormitory. He was going to be really happy when he didn’t have to deal with all this teen hurt feelings nonsense. Mari was most definitely not coming with them to the gambling den. Her abilities aside. Shaggy wanted it to be mostly his pack with a couple of kids to watch the door. Mari would not watch a door all night while a fight was going on. Shaggy knew that for sure.
The sounds of raised voices emanated from the dorm building, and Shaggy sighed. Ephemara put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Shaggy gave her a thankful look, but the tall woman shifted the weight on her hand and pushed him through the door. Surprised, Shaggy went tumbling through the door and into the common room. The sounds of the teen’s shouting over Rita’s calm tone filled Shaggy’s ears, and he turned to see Ephemara closing the door roughly.
“Oh, you fucking bi-”
The door slammed into Shaggy’s face as the entire room went silent. Mari glared at him from beside Rita and Shaggy sighed as a wave of teens came crashing toward him. Nighttime could not come quick enough.