----------------------------------------
Jace kept trekking across the tundra. He was making great time – Day 3 wasn’t even close to being over. At this rate, I’ll get to the Glacier and maybe crack out another Complex or two before calling it a night. He smirked. And even then, I just need the hour of rest.
A screen appeared in his vision.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Xera here. I am almost done coordinating our plans with the Star Council. When you achieve Tier 3, you will be grouped up with two Aspirants you have interacted with. Greg Bhastal, and Quinn Cipher.]
[I saw that you interacted with a World Pillar. Exciting stuff. I have done a bit of digging and found the location of other World Pillars. One is in the glacier tile you are heading towards, and there is one in the caldera of that volcano tile. There is a path to get into the caldera and not die; but I would advise using an Equipment Augmentation Boon to make your gear heat-resistant. The World Pillar for aeromancy has already been claimed and is inert for this ten-year cycle.]
[Sadly, I’m running low on resources. I can’t give you easy Quests to complete. So, keep doing those Complexes and getting the System provided rewards.]
[Take care, stay safe.]
<<<<<>>>>>
Jace smiled and focused on the text box. Thanks for checking in. And thank you again for the apartment. It means…so much to me. I’ll be careful, and try to get the…I guess fire pillar? And this ice one, for sure.
He paused for a moment, There’s an Aspirant who is stealing from and killing other Aspirants. I was about to kill him, but he got away. It got me thinking…so far, I’ve only killed people who deserved it, or I did it in self-defense. Those Black Hole guys, that icy-hammer lady…but I’m going to end up having to deal with something that isn’t justified, aren’t I?
“Send.” He kept walking towards the next Complex, and a response came up.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Probably. In the grand scheme of the whole universe, for the good of The Cosmic System, you should not worry about the moral issues. If someone dies as a result of your actions as you endeavor to maintain the System? It is a necessary and acceptable loss. You don’t have to go out of your way to kill people, of course. But…it is inevitable that you will.]
[I know that’s not what you wanted to read. It is the reality of the situation. I promise you; I won’t send you off to just kill randomly. Every task I set in front of you as my Signer is a necessity. I care for you and your well-being. Including your mental health. If you ever need a break, or want someone to talk to, just tell me.]
[Take care of yourself out there. I have duties to attend to.]
<<<<<>>>>>
Jace sighed and kept trudging along. Ollie flew alongside him, “Want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” Jace muttered. “I’ve killed…four people in my life?” He paused and shook his head, “But Xera is right. Plus, in the end, I only have one real goal. Being in the Dark Between Stars is just a means to an end for me.”
“Tier 10.”
Jace nodded, “And bringing Chroma back. I’ll do anything to get her back.”
“Anything?”
That gave Jace pause. I…I don’t know. Growing up how he did, he was taught to keep in a tight-knit community and keep trust with his people. Street folk. Everyone else? Leave them alone and they leave you alone. That was part of the lifestyle. But…he did not know the answer.
Were there any hard limits on what he would do to achieve his goal?
<<<<<>>>>>
[Warning! You are about to enter a Complex!]
[This location has been marked by The Cosmic System as Tier 2.]
[Number of foes to clear out: 12.]
<<<<<>>>>>
[Quest: Slay the Razor Clan Kobolds.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Rare (Equipment Augmentation) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
<<<<<>>>>>
“Easy enough,” Jace muttered as he strode forward, blade blazing and shield ready to go, happy for the distraction from his thoughts.
----------------------------------------
Flosho woke up, scanned the sky above, and resumed his activity that he had repeated over the past several hours. Consistently using his [Sparkmine] evolved Lightning Bolt on the ground in front of the World Pillar. At this point, he had stacked up over twenty of the effects.
If he’s smart, he’ll fight the creature, kill it, and then go for the World Pillar. It zaps him, I go in, take his stuff, and get the power for myself. Plus, all those dungeon cores he has. He chuckled as he retreated, exhausted once again, into the recesses of his small hole in the snow.
“Ribbit,” his Wayfinder floated in front of him.
“Well, of course I’ll survive. I am not going to leave this cave until we hear the enormous kaboom of all those [Sparkmine]s going off.”
----------------------------------------
Jace backpedaled and slashed horizontally. These kobolds had spears – and were using their reach to keep him back as the casters in the back brandished their staves and charged up spells. Well, time to try this out. Dark Energy Beam (Rank 1).
A beam of grey, purple-tinged energy lanced from just above his right shoulder, dashing out and drilling a hole through one of the caster’s heads. It instantly killed the creature, and Jace fell to a knee as the kobold collapsed. Crap!
The spear users took that chance to step in and stab at him. He was able to get his sword in the way of one, but the other one pierced forward and hit his Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3). The drain on his energy was immediately noticeable, and he stumbled forward. Damnit. Drop the Shield. The barrier faded, and he was able to slice at the one that had hit him. The creature danced away – but Jace had nicked it. Enough that the crimson miasma began to spread.
“Dodge roll!” Ollie shouted.
Jace rolled to his left as a beam of bright, orange energy arced from the caster in the back. But the beam unexpectedly altered course and slammed into his back. Jace felt an intense warmth – but his new armor took the hit and dispersed the heat. Coming out of the roll, he sliced at and managed to nick the second spear kobold to inflict the bleed effect.
The two spear users backed off and began shrieking as they tried to roll to put out the [Rending] effect. Their efforts were fruitless, Jace knew, and so he took heavy, tired steps to the caster that prepared another shot. He closed the distance before the spell was ready to go off and took the monster’s head clean off.
Turning around, he waited for the spear users to expire. They did after a few moments, and the golden pillar appeared just in front of him.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Quest Completed: Slay the Razor Clan Kobolds.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Rare (Equipment Augmentation) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
<<<<<>>>>>
He grabbed the golden orb and added it to his backpack. “Let’s use that (Equipment Augmentation) Boon on my armor. Give it the heat resistance just like it has the cold stuff now. And Dust them.”
“You got it!”
<<<<<>>>>>
[Stardust Acquired: 300]
<<<<<>>>>>
[Using Boon: Rare (Equipment Augmentation).]
[Target Equipment: (Medium / Snowguard) Devastation Armor.]
[Augmenting.]
[Result: (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Devastation Armor.]
[Description: The Burnguard (Equipment Augmentation) provides resistance to heat, fire, and other effects of a similar nature. Additionally, ensures comfort in any warm environment.]
<<<<<>>>>>
His armor shimmered and rippled briefly before the scales became a mix of white and black coloration. “That’s pretty cool,” Jace stated.
“I think you mean it’s ‘hot’,” Ollie said with a slight chuckle.
“I think another hour in the tent, and then we tackle that glacier.” He began setting up the tent. “How much Stardust are we sitting at?”
“2100 currently,” Ollie replied as he scanned the environment around them. “Want to level up?”
“Yeah. It looks like the more unique tiles are more difficult than the general ones. Let’s dump them into Dark Energy Beam.”
“You got it!” Ollie sprinkled the Stardust down onto Jace’s head.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
<<<<<>>>>>
Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 2)
Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage 39]
Skills: Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3) [Reflecting], Swordmage Stance (Rank 3), Dark Matter Dart [Exploding] (Rank 4), Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3), Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10), Dark Energy Beam (Rank 10), Starfire Stride (1/day), Arbiter's Anathema (1/day), Archmage Geomancy (1/day)
Stardust: 100
Equipment: Swordmage blade, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Devastation Armor, Wirecannon Arm, Anathema Arm, Dragonclaw Devastation Legs, (Heavy) Venture Pack, survival meals (x36), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, flint bar, flashlight, Omnitech prosthetic repair module (x3 charges), (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll
Boons: x4 Common (Equipment), Common (Information), Uncommon (Information)
<<<<<>>>>>
Dark Energy Beam (Rank 9) - As Rank 1, but increase size of the beam (32 in. diameter)
Dark Energy Beam (Rank 10) - As Rank 1, but increase size of the beam (36 in. diameter)
<<<<<>>>>>
“Bigger beam. Nice.”
“Yup! It is one of those Skills that can have unlimited Ranks invested. It just gets bigger and bigger.”
It’s a nice trump card to have, just being able to blast a huge hole in anything and disintegrate it, Jace thought as he finished setting up the tent. I’m almost a quarter of the way to Tier 10. Crawling into the tent, he got a little message from Shhiv.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Hey there! I just finished my shift. How you holding up?]
<<<<<>>>>>
I’m doing well, thanks, Jace thought as he focused on the text box. It’s going really well so far. I’m getting strong, fast. About to sleep again. I got a neat tent that causes time to pass way faster when I’m asleep. “Send.”
<<<<<>>>>>
[Well, isn’t that handy? Think about how much time we could spend between the sheets if we could take a small power nap in between rounds?”]
<<<<<>>>>>
Jace chuckled and continued messaging back and forth with her for a few minutes before bidding her goodnight and closing his eyes, the edges of a smile gracing his face.
“Hey, you know I can read all of your messages, right?” Ollie asked. “So can Xera.”
“I don’t care,” Jace replied keeping his eyes closed and his grin plastered on his face. “I’m enjoying this.”
----------------------------------------
Flosho was getting impatient. Hours were passing. Where is he? He had stopped putting down mines after this last round. This is taking way too long. What if he’s just clearing the whole tundra? Glancing over at the map next to his Wayfinder, back towards the rear of the hiding-hole, he saw that the number had stayed stable.
A crunching noise came from outside. Peering out and focusing his eyes, he spotted the figure jogging along the snow and ice at an incredibly fast clip. The black hair, the…much fancier armor? Damn. He got (Equipment Augmentation) Boons.
Flosho held his wand at the ready as he watched the figure pause a few feet away from the Complex entrance. Alright. A little longer of a wait.
----------------------------------------
Jace saw the World Pillar before him. A massive, grey edifice towering up into the sky. The language on it was glowing faintly. “There’s a Complex nearby. Could it be around the pillar?”
“Possible.”
“Use a Common (Information) Boon to get the precise map like the last tile.”
<<<<<>>>>>
[Using Boon: Common (Information).]
[Query: Complex location on glacier tile.]
[Answer: See Wayfinder map for updated information.]
<<<<<>>>>>
Ollie threw his paws up and the starry, blue map appeared. “Yup, we are just about to enter it.”
“Okay.” I don’t have Starfire Stride or Arbiter’s Anathema available, he thought. So. Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], and Dark Matter Shield (Rank 2). His sword blazed with crimson fury as the shield manifested on his Wirecannon Arm. “Here we go.”
<<<<<>>>>>
[Warning! You are about to enter a Complex!]
[This location has been marked by The Cosmic System as Tier 2.]
[Number of foes to clear out: 1.]
<<<<<>>>>>
[Quest: Defeat the World Pillar Guardian.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Epic (Skill Evolution) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
<<<<<>>>>>
“Why does this one have a guardian, but the earth one didn’t?” Jace asked.
“I am not sure, perhaps because this is a more hazardous tile,” Ollie replied as he began diving into and out of snowdrifts. “Uh-oh.” He flew over to Jace and wrapped around his neck. “Don’t move.”
Jace froze in place. “What?” he asked.
“Shh! It could hear you!” Ollie pointed at the snowdrift, and Jace squinted his eyes.
I don’t see any- his eyes went wide as he saw a weird, slightly off-white colored patch of snow. But it wasn’t a patch. It was an enormous scale.
“It is a big creature,” Ollie muttered.
The scale moved slightly, and the sheer size of the creature finally clicked for Jace as he saw a massive, truck-sized head lift itself out of a snow drift and look in his direction. He had limited access to the Webnet at the orphanage, and didn’t know much about animals – but this large crocodile-thing was enormous.
“It is a dragon!” Ollie whispered. “The strongest entity naturally occurring on Nihilethelea.”
Jace struggled to swallow down the knot in his throat as the creature slowly stood up and shook its large mass. The creature dwarfed him – easily 150 ft. long from mouth to tail. A pair of enormous, whitish-blue wings unfurled from its back as it stood to its full height.
And it roared. Jace winced slightly at the sound. Fine. Roar all you want. Dark Energy Beam (Rank 1), he thought as focused on its eye.
The beam of grey-purple light lanced out from above his shoulder again…and bounced off of it. What?
The creature lowered its head and opened its maw. Jace instinctively pulled his whole body behind the tower shield. He could see through the transparent barrier a pure, singular dot of white energy that coalesced within that monstrous maw.
“It has Spellproof Scales! Rank 3 and lower offensive Skills will not work against it!” Ollie seemingly curled tighter in around his neck.
Jace heard the wind howling and saw the blast of ice and rime surge toward him. Digging in his foot claws, he felt the enormous pressure across the tower shield – and the freezing torrent billow around his body thanks to the imposing barricade. He put his whole weight behind it as the outpouring of razor-sharp ice and blisteringly cold snow impacted the barricade.
But he persisted. The surge died out, and he barely felt the colt. His shield, however, was layered with rime, and was quite heavy.
“It cannot use its Frost Breath Skill more than once per minute.”
Perfect! Jace dismissed the Dark Matter Shield – not wanting to sacrifice his maneuverability because of the extra heft. “Tell me when its close to recharging that!” He dashed to the left as the creature began to move towards him. It swung its tail in a rapid spin towards him, and he jumped over the appendage as he sliced down at it. The blade cut into the scales and spread the purple and crimson miasma…very slowly. He could not rely on it to bleed out while he just stayed away.
As he landed, he sprinted along the backside of the tail, carving a gash as best he could with his sword. The scales got tougher the closer he got to the center mass, and the blade almost got caught when he was about ten feet from where he made the initial cut. Wrenching it out, he ducked down as a claw went slashing over his head.
I need height, he thought. I could get on it. It worked with the Vyrknadine. Curling his legs under him, he jumped up and landed on the dragon.
It let out a roar that caused Jace’s head to pulse. Whipping its tail back and forth, it tried to dislodge him. But Jace’s feet-claws were able to get just enough of a purchase to keep him rooted in place. “I’m not going anywhere!” he shouted as he felt the adrenaline of the fight take over. His blood was pumping and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears.
The dragon began flapping its wings, and Jace fired the grapnel at the extended membrane. The surface was strong enough to hold the hook, and he tapped the retract button as he shot up to the flapping appendage. The cool air racing past his face grew even colder the closer he got to the thing’s head – as if just being near those icy, blue eyes caused a drop in temperature.
The dragon tried to use its back legs to kick up and claw at him, but Jace swung his body sideways as he ascended to the grapnel point, dodging by scant inches. That was close, he thought as he reached the membrane. The mine won’t do anything, I could use Dark Matter Dart at (Rank 4), or the Dark Energy Beam. He didn’t want to expend that much energy, as the short seconds of fighting was already beginning to wear on him. I’ll just try to get to the hea-
The dragon pulled an unexpected move – twisting itself into the air as it flew up. Jace was close enough to the wing to grab it with his hand and keep the grapnel affixed to the membrane. But the spins were jarring and he felt the connective tissue in his shoulder pulling against the prosthetic. Okay. Screw this. He used his sword to slash at the membrane nearby, carving a large gash.
Releasing the grapnel line, he fell down. Aiming once more, he pointed it at the top of the World Pillar, shot the grapnel to it, and swung around in a tight circle until he was atop it. “Ollie! Claim it!”
Ollie popped out of his collar and tapped the pillar. There was a surge of bright, blue light that then soaked into Jace’s arm.
<<<<<>>>>>
Archmage Hydromancy - Enables a Hydromancy spell of the highest order.
<<<<<>>>>>
The dragon turned and began to open its mouth. “It has recharged its breath weapon!” Ollie shouted as he returned to his spot around Jace’s neck.
“I want to pull that dragon down to the ground. Geomancy – activate.”
A torrent of earth, dirt, and rock surged up, through the glacier, and wrapped itself around the dragon. With a very surprised shriek, it snapped its jaws shut as the rocky embrace dragged it down to crash with a resounding thud on the ground.
“Alright!” Jace shouted as he planted his grapnel into the pillar and lowered himself.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, and he had taken two steps, the world exploded in a blue light.