----------------------------------------
Jace barely saw an arcing stream of blue electricity streaking toward him. It slammed into his torso…and hit the Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3).
Surprisingly, Jace did not feel any energy drain. “What was that?” He asked as he turned to look at where the bolt came from. A small drift of snow off in the distance.
“It was a Skill,” Ollie stated. He chuckled, “But Dark Matter is not affected by electricity or magnetism. He could shoot you without your shield and you would just feel a slight irritation on your skin.”
“It didn’t make me more tired, either.” Jace glanced at Ollie, “I’m guessing that’s because of the nature of Dark Matter, also?”
“Yup.”
Jace frowned, “I’m too tired to deal with this,” he muttered. Raising his voice he shouted, “Hey! Stop that!” There was no response. “Fine. Ollie, dust this thing please.”
<<<<<>>>>>
[Stardust Acquired: 600.]
<<<<<>>>>>
Another bolt of blue streaked out and slammed into him. It did not just impact once and stop, though. It spread around his body and formed some type of cage. Jace just walked through the electric bars. “Seriously, knock it off,” he shouted over the tundra.
Again, only silence answered him.
Ollie frowned, “I cannot see them. They must have equipment appropriate to cloak them.” He put his paw to his chin and frowned, “Whoever it is must be a Nebula user. Mage Class, for sure, given the nature of the Skill he is hitting you with.”
Jace winced slightly at another bolt that impacted him – but he couldn’t see where it came from. Just the general direction “Then we get close and find him. Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3).” He felt woozy and almost fell over from the energy loss, but he vanished from sight.
----------------------------------------
Flosho ground his teeth in anger. I’ve put almost every Skill Rank into Lightning Bolt! All but three! How is he so damned resistant? Even with the [Piercing] Evolution!
“Ribbit.”
“Dark Matter? What’s that.” Flosho asked as he looked at his Wayfinder who was hidden just next to him, behind a small snowdrift.
“Ribbit.”
Flosho frowned, “Not affected? That’s not fair! I thought only Nebula wasn’t affected by electricity!”
“…Ribbit?”
“If I can’t hurt him with lightning my only chance would be waiting until he tires out and then killing him the old-fashioned way. You sure it’s full immunity? Or just a lot of resistance?”
“Ribbit.”
“Highly resistant…I can work with that…” Looking back up he felt his heart skip a beat. The figure was gone. So was his Wayfinder. The fur-covered eel.
“Rib-”
“What?” Flosho looked back to his Wayfinder and saw to his shock that the other Aspirant’s Wayfinder was punching his companion. “Hey! Stop that!”
“Consecutive otter punches!” The little, furred creature didn’t stop despite the protestations. His frog was being slapped by the repetitive impacts; prevented from interfacing with The Cosmic System to provide information.
That means the Aspirant is-
Flosho felt something grip his shoulder – hard – and he let out a cry of pain as his limb was wrenched from its socket. Not ripped off – just dislocated. But the pain was intense. He looked over…and saw nothing. Heard nothing. Smelled nothing. Just the pressure on his shoulder.
Something ripped his wand from his grip before he could react, and he was shoved forward into the small snowdrift. He felt his bag ripped from his back, ripping the cords keeping it tied to him tearing in twain…and he finally heard a voice aside from the two Wayfinders engaging in their mutual combat. “I caught you.”
Flosho felt his other arm snap, and he whined out in pain. “Mercy! Please, mercy!”
He was turned over and a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. One of these new humans from Earth. He had dark black hair with purple highlights that were slowly fading, and his deep, purple eyes were also returning to a natural, brown color. He had prosthetic arms and legs.
And his face was set into a pissed-off frown. “Mercy? You shot me with electricity!”
“B-b-but it didn’t hurt you,” Flosho stuttered out, wincing at the pain of his dislocated and snapped arm.
“Yeah, but you’re a killer, aren’t you? We heard a report about you.”
“Yup!” the furry creature shouted.
“Ribbit!”
Flosho growled as he looked into those condescending eyes. This person was stronger than him, and his Cosmic Power prevented electricity from hurting him? This isn’t fair, he thought. But I’m not dying here!
As the figure raised a glowing, purple and crimson blade, Flosho shouted, “Lightning Leap (Rank 2)!”
He turned into a bolt of electricity, dashed back to the tunnel entrance, and took cover behind the rocky outcropping. He had traveled miles in moments. His Wayfinder was pulled along for the ride thanks to the tether effect.
“Ribbit, ribbit. Ribbit?”
“No! I’m not okay! I can’t use my arms!” Flosho groaned, “Screw it! Use the Boons!”
“Ribbit?”
“Yes! The Rare (Equipment) Boon! I need a healer!”
“Ribbit!”
There was sparkling blue starlight, and Flosho felt his mouth fill up with fluid. He chugged it down and felt an intense warmth shoot through his body. His dislocated arm returned to its spot, his broken arm was repaired, and he felt refreshed and energized. “And,” he growled, “I need another wand. Use a Common (Equipment) Boon.”
There was another sparkle of starlight, and a simpler, plain, wooden wand appeared in his grip. It was not necessary for his Skills – but the Class-specific equipment amplified them.
Now…I need to tail him until he tires. I’ll kill him when he’s sleeping.
----------------------------------------
Jace had acquired 5 more dungeon cores. Plus, the 10 he had, and the 1 he had just acquired – he was at 16 total. “Who was that guy?” he asked Ollie.
Ollie was flying around in the air above Jace, “Well, I couldn’t query the System since I was occupied.” He shadow-boxed an invisible opponent in the air above Jace, “I gave him a run for his money!”
“I thought the damage wasn’t real?”
“Let me dream,” Ollie said, wistfully.
Jace chuckled and shook his head as he put the dungeon orbs into his bag. They merged with the larger cluster, and the whole sphere was about the size of a watermelon. “Onto the next Complex?”
“Yup!”
Jace was still tired, but he got his second wind from that encounter with the cat-man. He examined the wand he had stripped from the Aspirant. “I thought I couldn’t loot other Aspirants?”
“You can’t.”
“Then how come I can keep this?”
“Hmm. Hold it up.”
Jace did so, and Ollie put his paws on it – well, above it. “Interesting. He intentionally wanted a piece of Equipment from a Boon that could persist after he was gone. There’s an engraving on it. ‘The legendary, lightning wand of Flosho.’”
“He wanted to leave a legacy,” Jace muttered as he bent it against his leg. The length twisted, warped, and finally snapped in two before vanishing in glimmering, light-blue stars. “No legacy for him.”
“Yeah, I was going to comment on that whole thing – you were brutal. Breaking both of his arms? Why not just kill him?”
“I was about to,” Jace snapped back. “I was getting ready to stab him anyways!” And, it would have been totally justified. He’s a known killer if those Wayfinder’s reports Ollie saw were anything to go by.
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He shouldered his backpack and kept moving towards the next Complex, Dark Matter Blade still active. But he had dropped Dark Matter Cloak and Shield. He was confident that no one else save for this Mage was following him.
“What can we use an Augmentation Boon on?” Jace asked.
“Ah, they can change your Equipment. Alter it and provide neat effects. For example, you could make your Swordmage blade coated with frost, or flames, or something else like that.”
“Does that interfere with any of my Skills?”
“Nope!”
“…What about my tent?”
Ollie stopped in midair and turned to Jace with a curious expression, “What?”
“I mean, if I could change the tent to make it, I don’t know, speed up how quickly time passed inside versus outside – I could get in a full rest and not lose on that much time outside of the tent.”
Ollie put his paw to his chin and concentrated, his eyes going black for a few moments before returning to normal, “Yes, but with a Rare version, you would only feel the effect while you are asleep. Not just sitting in there, awake.”
Jace nodded, “Let’s do that.”
<<<<<>>>>>
[Using Boon: Rare (Equipment Augmentation).]
[Target Equipment: Wildercloth tent.]
[Augmenting.]
[Result: (Restful) Wildercloth tent.]
[Description: The Restful (Equipment Augmentation) provides a time-dilation effect. One hour outside the tent equals a full night’s rest (while sleeping only).]
<<<<<>>>>>
“Right. Let’s get up next to another Complex, and then give this tent a test run.”
The travel to the next Complex was uneventful, and Jace set up the tent. The exterior cloth shone as bronze flecks seemed scattered within the fabric. Jace crawled inside, rolled out the bedroll, and sealed it up before almost immediately passing out from exhaustion.
----------------------------------------
“And that’s twenty-thousand Stardust,” Quinn muttered as she counted out Greg’s cut on her floating, golden screen. Valerie – her Wayfinder – flew over to Darrin – Greg’s Wayfinder – and transferred the Stardust.
I’m at 29,050 Stardust after all is said and done, Quinn thought. She had been saving up all her Stardust, intending on using it to purchase a mansion in The Eternal City. She had learned that any person could buy property from The Cosmic System directly, using several terminals and Stardust that were readily available in Khrox. It’ll be 12,000 to go from level 1 to 25, and then that leaves me with 17,050. Another 17 levels at 1,000 Stardust each puts me at level 42. She sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Greg asked as he finished his own Stardust infusion with his Wayfinder. “You’re rich!”
“Yes,” she replied. “And I have to hit level 51 to count as Tier 3 and be able to do what the Star Council wants me to do back on Earth.” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I wanted to save up and be rich, and then just leisurely work my way up to enough Stardust to become an Ascendant. But I don’t get that choice.”
Greg frowned, “Well, sorry you feel that way.”
“What level are you now?” she asked as she crossed her arms.
“35,” Greg replied with a grin. “I’m a tough bastard now. Well, I always was. But now? I’m even harder to crack. Want to see?”
“Sure.”
Darrin floated up and displayed a screen with Greg’s information.
<<<<<>>>>>
Name: Greg Bhastal (Aspirant, Tier 2)
Power [Class Level]: Planet [Protector 36]
Skills: Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Protector's Vow (Rank 3), Planetary Defenses (Rank 3), Planetary Retribution (Rank 3), Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10), Protector's Panacea (Rank 8), Planetary Palisade (Rank 10), Planetary Growth (Rank 1)
Stardust: 90
Equipment: Protector's starting gear, Pheracorp deflection matrix, Stunstick
Boons: None
<<<<<>>>>>
“These new Skills are awesome! I take a quarter of the damage that my Protector’s Vow target takes – so if you got stabbed and it would go 4 inches in, I’d only be stabbed an inch deep. I’m not slowed down by Planetary Defenses anymore. I redirect all the damage I take when Planetary Retribution is active – I’d hate to be on the side firing bullets at me.” He put his hand to his chin, “But I wonder if the damage would direct to the guns, the bullets, or the people. Hmm. Something to test.”
“And the rest of the Skills?” Quinn asked, authentically intrigued at what he could do now.
“Protector’s Panacea lets me heal all injuries and afflictions on anyone within 30 ft. The Palisade lets me make a wall of any solid common stuff. Here. I’ll show you.”
He walked outside of The Star Market, planted his hands on the ground, and they glowed with a deep, brown hue. A moment later the ground erupted in front of him – forming an enormous wall. The sudden appearance of the wall caused a bit of a commotion as Civilians cleared the area – knowing they couldn’t be harmed willfully while in The Eternal City, but not wanting to stick around what suddenly seemed like a combat zone.
“Up to 10 inches thick, and I can make 50 square feet worth of wall. It isn’t permanent, though,” he stated. Snapping his fingers, the wall disappeared. He had sweat beading on his forehead, and he chuckled, “That was…wow. Big energy expenditure.”
“I’m guessing the last one lets you just grow plants?”
Greg gave her a thumbs up as he caught his breath.
“Why not go for your Advanced Class and Ascended Power?” Quinn asked.
“Please. You heard Jace’s plan. Get to Tier 10? Being able to bring people back from the dead? I need that. Missy will die, eventually, when her time is up. But if I can bring her back? I’ve got myself an immortal wife.” He grinned and the smile was infectious, as Quinn found herself also smiling.
“Why not just ask Jace when he gets there?”
“Insurance. Jace is a tough guy. He’s motivated and has one hell of a survival instinct. But if he fails? I don’t want to be locked out of the option.”
Quinn nodded, “Understandable.”
Greg gestured to Valerie, “Are you going to level up?”
I don’t want to, Quinn thought. But I don’t really have a choice in the matter. “Valerie, let’s do it. Use all of it.”
“You sure? I can always set some aside in a little fund-”
“The sooner we get up to Tier 3, the sooner I can deal with this Earth situation, and then be done with it once and for all. But I don’t want too many new skills. Max out what we can, and then give me that Cosmic Infusion with whatever Ranks we have left over.” At least that should be useful no matter what.
“Okay!” The bird flew around Quinn’s head, and she felt an intense rush of heat in her torso.
<<<<<>>>>>
Name: Quinn Cipher (Aspirant, Tier 2)
Power [Class Level]: Star [Broker 42]
Skills: Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Broker's Instinct (Rank 1), Broker's Contract (Rank 20), Broker's Fee (Rank 16), Cosmic Infusion (Rank 7)
Stardust: 50
Equipment: Broker's interface, Broker's starting gear, Webwalker Implants, Cybereyes Mk. 3, Cybermind Mk. 4
Boons: None
<<<<<>>>>>
Broker’s Contract (Rank 20) - As Rank 1, lasts up to 504 hours.
Broker’s Fee (Rank 16) - As Rank 1, increase the amount of Stardust created (50%)
<<<<<>>>>>
She felt her heart sink a bit. You are an idiot, Quinn. You should’ve leveled up and put Ranks into Broker’s Fee before selling all that stuff! Damnit!
She could have had so much Stardust. “We need to go on another trade run,” Quinn muttered, thinking of all the free Stardust she had missed out on because she was stubborn about saving up for a luxury purchase.
Who could blame me, though? I’ve never had this much freedom in my life. I just wanted one, goddamn mansion. Is that too much to ask for?
“Give me a day off, at least! I gotta visit Missy and check in.”
Quinn sighed, “Fine. Take – no, you know what, take two days. Treat her to a restaurant or something.” She felt miserable as she thought about all the Stardust she had missed out on. Idiot.
“Hey! Alright, see you in a few days.” Greg left down The Cosmic Corridor.
Quinn turned around and entered The Star Market, sighing as she looked around the austere space. Stupid Quinn. She winced and felt the pounding pain in her brain, right next to her temple. Where the Cybermind Implant was located. It’s degrading more. I need to replace it. She wished she could blame her lack of judgement about ranking up Broker’s Fee before selling all of those materials on the implant’s degradation. But she couldn’t.
Be smarter, Quinn.