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Jace had his sword out and ready, coated with the Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], along with his Dark Matter Shield (Rank 2), as he entered the area of another Complex. It was a few hours until sunset, and he wanted to try to just use his sword and shield to save on energy. The faster I clear complexes up here, the faster I can move onto that volcano tile and get to the World Pillar.
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[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.]
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[Quest: Slay the Winter Wyvern.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Epic (Equipment) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
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This glacier tile is really giving me good rewards, he thought. Epic rarity Boons for all the dungeons. He looked around the wide-open space. “No sign of it,” he muttered.
Ollie scanned the area as well, keeping an eye on his backside. “Look up.”
Jace did so and spotted a distant dot that began to get larger. “Oh, it’s flying.”
Ollie frowned, “Wyvern. A scaled, lizard-like entity with wings and back legs. A close cousin to the dragon, considered to be dumber. They have a tail with a stinger.”
Jace stood ready and kept his shield pointed up at the coming foe. It got closer and began to beat its wings to slow its descent. It shifted the angle of its approach making a swooping motion towards him. As it flew overhead, its tail whipped down to try and pierce the – to it – unshielded Jace. But his shield intercepted the stabbing sting, and Jace swung back – scoring a hit as the crimson and purple miasma began to spread.
The creature roared in pain or frustration as it went sailing overhead and circled around for another pass. This is too easy, Jace thought. Invisible gear is such an unfair advantage against dumb creatures like this. He repeated the same process, intercepting the stinger’s stab and scoring another slash.
As that second pass ended, the creature flapped rapidly and turned in mid-air, landing on the ground and giving Jace his first good look at the monster. It was easily fifteen feet tall from foot to top of the head. The outside was a tough, leathery, light-grey hide with scales of dull-white that covered vital areas – chest, neck, underbelly. And that miasmic glow was spreading up the hide. The creature began moving forward, lashing out with its enormous maw.
Sidestepping the blow was easy enough, as Jace’s Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) guided his body to move out of the way in a graceful sidestep. Lashing out with the sword, he struck a blow across the thing’s snout – spreading the miasma from both ends. The creature reared back, snarled, and staggered.
It lunged at him again, but was much less coordinated as the [Rending] had affected the head and presumably the brain. He scored another slash across the snout, and the red spread in a more dull color. Now let’s try out this new Skill. Dark Matter Mending (Rank 2) [Vampiric].
Jace felt a dull warmth suffusing his body. The slight soreness from his earlier fall against the dragon began to be soothed away. Keeping his distance from the wyvern, he felt the heat continue as the monster tried to clamber towards him; stumbling as the crimson glow of the bleed and the purple cloud of the slowing effect reached the monster’s legs.
After about ten seconds, the creature fell to the ground, and the golden pillar with the dungeon core appeared. Jace snatched it, “Dust it,” Jace instructed.
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[Stardust Acquired: 300]
<<<<<>>>>>
[Quest Completed: Slay the Winter Wyvern.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Epic (Equipment) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
<<<<<>>>>>
“Well done!” Ollie shouted as he swam through the air above Jace. “7 more dungeons on this glacier tile.”
Jace glanced up at the sky above, “How long until nightfall?”
“Five hours,” Ollie replied. “And most of the other Aspirants will be going to bed in all likelihood.”
And I can keep going. Just quick power naps in the tent, and I can clear this whole mountain! Jace felt a surge of energy. “Alright. Let’s go to the next one!”
Ollie flew in front of him with the map, and Jace took off at a sprint over the ice and snow.
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“Good job!” Renlas shouted as he dismissed his Singularity Bomb (Rank 1). The waterlogged wetland stopped surging in the direction of the Black Hole Aspirant’s Skill. “Let’s turn these into Stardust.” Walking over to the golden pillar, he snagged the orb. “Bellor, it’s your turn!” he tossed the orb to his armored ally.
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Bellor caught the orb and stowed it in his hip pouch. The duo were both in the process of turning the corpses into Stardust. “Good,” Bellor replied. “Where next?”
“Hmm. Map?” Renlas asked. Right, no Wayfinder. He patched through a System request, and a few minutes later one of the Conclave's operatives sent him the requested item. “Hmm. Nothing close by anymore.” He looked over at Bellor, his armored companion cleaning off his large spear. “What do you say to ascending to that glacier?”
“If we clear some dungeons in the tundra tile along the way,” Bellor replied. “Someone is already up there, by the look of the map.” He pointed, “A whole cave tile, some of the tundra tile, and now that glacier tile? Lots of dungeons being cleared – quickly, too.” As he spoke, another one of the dots blinked out of existence. “I think that glacier will be cleared off soon enough.”
Renlas nodded and looked up to the heights of the icy mountains. The higher we go in elevation, the more rarity the Boons have, he thought. Someone must have made a rush for those more lucrative dungeons. “What do you suggest?”
Bellor pointed over to the flaming peaks off in the distance. “That is a few days’ travel. And, less dungeons that way have been cleared. We can go into the mountains no one has entered yet.”
Renlas smiled and clapped his blood-brother on the shoulder, “Alright! Let’s get to it.”
The two began their walk towards the mountains that led to flaming peaks.
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Jace finished setting up the tent as he took stock of his recently completed Complexes. 4 more cleared. I’m at 25 dungeon cores. Plus, another 1800 Stardust from the two wyvern fights, and the two other frost giant fights. He was quite satisfied with his progress thus far, having added another Epic (Equipment) Boon to his tally, as well as two Epic (Equipment Augmentation) Boons.
Ollie zoomed around the top of the tent in circles, splashing through starry nebula that formed around his body. “The day is about to switch to night,” he stated. “Day 3 is coming to a close.”
“3 more dungeons up here on the glacier,” Jace replied as he laid out his bedroll. “Then, I’ll use Dark Energy Mine and the grapnel line to launch myself over to the volcano tile.”
“Sounds like a plan. I am going to pop away if you are fine with it.”
Jace nodded, “Yeah, go ahead. See you in an hour.”
Ollie waved goodbye and vanished with his pop. Jace laid back on the bedroll and sighed. Dealing with the wyverns was easy, but the encounters with the frost giants still left him unnerved. They behaved in a very human-like manner, and while he knew from what Ollie said that they weren’t really people…it still troubled him.
He thought of Shhiv and pulled up the text program. Hey there. I finished a few more Complexes. I ended up losing my eye – thanks for your easy Quest, by the way. The new eye is great. Anyways…I wanted to get your opinion on something.
He paused and took a deep breath before putting his thoughts to text. I’ve killed a few of these nearly-human…well, nearly ‘people’…creatures. I don’t know how to feel about it. On one hand, Ollie is telling me they’re not sapient, so they don’t count as people. But I can’t help but feel like there’s something wrong about it.
You can look through my logs. Mind taking a look and just…giving me your opinion? “Send.”
He waited there, taking deep breaths as he anticipated the response. He was not waiting long as the text appeared in his vision.
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[You seem upset. Well, what my nurse used to say is ‘you have to take care of yourself first.’ Beating these things looks like it’s the only way to clear these Complexes. What good would it do to just leave them uncleared? Other Aspirants will get to that location eventually and may not have the same hesitations as you.]
[You might as well be the one who benefits. That just makes sense to me. Plus, if a Wayfinder – literally the envoys of The Cosmic System – tells you it’s okay…who are you to question that?]
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Jace felt a slight sense of relief that someone else was condoning his actions. And she had a great point – others would do the same thing and benefit if he did not. The glacier and volcano tiles had the best rarity of Boons – why shouldn’t he get them instead of others?
Plus, it was a surer way to reach Tier 10. Thank you. That reasoning helps out. I hope you’re practicing your swimming. I’m going to try my best to beat you at your game. Loser is going to have to buy dinner. “Send.”
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[Oh, challenge accepted! I can’t wait.]
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Jace smirked and rolled over, closing his eyes as the wind pushed the sides of his tent in around him.
[Day 4 of The Dungeon Run.]
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Jace woke up and Ollie almost immediately popped into space. “Get up and get going.” His voice was rushed and almost panicked.
Jace immediately sat up and began rolling up the bedroll, “What is it?” he asked as he ripped open a travel ration and scarfed it down in a few gulps.
Ollie pulled up the map and pointed at the remaining dots of dungeons still marked out, “The other groups are clearing way faster than anticipated. My guess is that there is less Aspirant-on-Aspirant violence than in prior Dungeon Runs. But it will not remain that way. There are 260 dungeons left.”
That’s almost half. In three days? He frowned as a realization set in. “This same thing happened in the past I’d bet. Aspirants rush out and clear the dungeons – and then they start hunting each other for the dungeon cores.”
Ollie nodded, “That seems like the way it is heading. At this rate, all the dungeon cores will be claimed by the end of Day 6 or 7 at the latest. We would then be dealing with up to three days of inter-Aspirant combat.”
“But that city had combat banned by this Double-A, right?” Ollie nodded, and Jace smiled. “Then let’s clear this glacier, rush to the volcano, and get as many of those under our belt as we can. After, I can use Dark Energy Mine and launch myself back to his city. Then we just wait it out.”
“Right! Let’s do it!”
Jace finished packing up the tent, reactivated his Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], and Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3). Hefting his gear, he took off at a fast jog towards the next Complex.