It was hard to figure out which attribute to prioritise over the others. Every single one did something very important. It felt like that was intentional, so that the Alarendei Empire could watch and assess our decision-making process and even forge brand new threats that would counter the weaknesses in our character builds.
I've never really been a magic user kinda guy, and most of my abilities – anima or otherwise – were more focused on physical feats of strength than anything else. However, the wisdom attribute directly increased the healing rate and the overall recovery provided by abilities and spells. Naginata and I had access to healing abilities, so wisdom would be an important stat for us to invest in. As it was, we were split across the map. Hopefully that wouldn't be the case for much longer, but until it was, we needed to act appropriately.
Naginata: Congratulations on killing the secret boss! Are you all okay?
Hatchet: Yes, we’re fine. We weren't expecting it, but we figured out how to take it down. If you come across any dungeons, don't go inside without coming to get us first. It looks like these dungeons are locked to your squad and would be incredibly difficult to get through by yourself. They’re covered in traps and tricks, and we're not sure how we're going to get out of this one yet.
Naginata: X hasn't mentioned anything about dungeons and stuff like that, but we have encountered some things called area quests. Have you guys seen any of those?
Kaiser: I haven’t.
Hatchet: Nor have I.
Macuahuitl: I have. I'm trying to finish one at the moment. I have to kill a bunch of these Runeforged servants, and they’re all building something at the foot of the big black tower. The quest asked me to disrupt their activities, and it’s marked as repeatable daily.
Spook: We should send lots of people to that area to disrupt them. If we don’t, they’ll probably build something dangerous by the end of the contest.
Naginata: I think you're right, Spook. I can see a concentration of anima swirling around that tower.
Hatchet: It's meant to be the stronghold of that rune master guy, right?
Macuahuitl: Definitely. These things I'm killing are wearing armour covered in glowing runes. Maybe that's how he controls them all?
Hatchet: Possibly. Naginata, what else have you seen to the north?
Naginata: A whole lot of desert. Some interesting reagents and crafting ingredients, but there’s barely any wood here. I need a long straight branch or something similar to craft myself a naginata. The other two boss locations are in the north half of the plateau, and I can see them with my Eyes of the Dragon. They're both emitting huge concentrations of anima, just like the tower. Whatever the Empire are doing there, it's using a hell of a lot of energy.
Hatchet: Once we get out of this dungeon, we’ll head towards that bridge. We're going to kill that bridge guardian and meet up again. I saw somewhere earlier that we might be able to use as a base of operations – another ruin to the east of our current location. I have a feeling that most of the people from Monster Squad are keen to work with us. Grendel might not be, but Lockjaw and Marilyn seem open to it.
I wanted to mention the moment I’d shared with Grendel, how I felt like I’d connected with him for a moment, but now wasn’t the time.
Naginata: We’re about to meet up with another of X’s team who is not far from our location, but the other two living members are south of the river. They’re on the same side of the bridge as you. X will follow me once we meet up with their friend on this side, and then we can all take the bridge together.
Hatchet: Sounds like a plan. We’ll keep going here and figure out a way out of this dungeon. Hopefully there is one.
I already used what anima I had left in my tank to channel the grenade, so I had no more anima to draw on. Somehow we needed to find a way out of this chamber, and it was exceedingly likely that we wouldn't be able to get back to the top floor where we'd entered this dungeon. The elevator lay in ruins after it tried to kill us, which cut off our retreat. Even if we somehow cleared the debris, we still needed to figure out a way to climb back up the elevator shaft to get to the top.
If this place truly had been designed by the Alarendei Empire, there would have to be another way to exit. I felt it had something to do with that weird statue with the moveable arms. There were other symbols we hadn’t checked, like the stairwell glyph. We’d have to investigate that once we were done figuring out our skills.
Kaiser, Spook, and I sat in companionable silence as we went through our options. This system the Empire used was very different to either of the interfaces EDGE Force had used previously. The system from the first mission with the skill lines and skill trees made my bloody head spin. The simplified ability trees from the second mission were a bit easier to navigate but still a bit of a head-scratcher. This system had no trees of any kind. The only abilities I've received so far were from prize boxes from killing high-value targets and boss monsters.
Don't get me wrong, Rancid Claws and the Leshy Stomp were pretty powerful, but it didn't feel like a coherent progression experience, like working through the handgun skill line on my first mission or taking different synergistic abilities from the second mission. It felt like this was almost randomised, chaotic, like it wasn't a guided experience at all.
We were the only variables here that we had control over.
“It's us,” I said as the truth of the situation hit home. “We are driving the types of skills and abilities we get in this contest.”
Spook and Kaiser both gave me a weird look, like I had just started speaking in tongues.
“No, seriously, hear me out. All we've done so far since we woke up is react. That fucked up robot with the smiley face told us to read the manual for the contest, and we read the manual for the contest. It told us that we were going to be transported somewhere, and we were transported somewhere. Then the next thing was to find our teammates, which we did. But once we meet up with Naginata and Big Mac again, we need to start making some plays to get the right type of skills so we can take down these bastards for good.”
Spook’s eyes widened. “You’re right. These stupid parachute pants are thematically linked to this dungeon. So is the ability I got from killing the boss. They both have something to do with mist and damage mitigation or avoidance.”
I nodded. “If someone else comes here and clears the same dungeon, then it's likely that they might get a similar type of armour or skill that gives them some mist-related ability as well.”
“So if we find a dungeon that gives us items or abilities that give us an unfair advantage over everyone else, should we keep that knowledge to ourselves? Or should we share it with everyone?” Spook asked.
That was a loaded question. As the de facto squad leader, I would have to make a call one way or the other. We were in a situation where we didn't know who we could trust or who might turn on us to achieve their own ends. If we told everyone about this dungeon and how to get to the secret boss, would they use that knowledge against us? Or would sharing information openly between squads give us all a better shot at killing the three imperial targets we needed to slay to end the contest?
“That's a toughie,” I said.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Kaiser: You can't trust most humans.
I reached down and rubbed the back of Kaiser’s neck. The poor bugger had seen almost the worst that humanity had to offer. He hadn't gotten it anywhere near as bad as Grendel, but I had no doubt that if Doctor Daisy Cathcart hadn’t smuggled him out of the Mnemtech facility back on Mori Island, he might have suffered the same fate.
“Kaiser’s right,” I said. “I don't like lying or withholding information from anyone. It's not my nature. But until we know that we can trust these people, we should probably play some of this close to the chest. It doesn't help that a bloody notification went out and told everyone we killed a secret boss, though. I guarantee you that when we meet up with people again they’ll have questions.”
Spook nodded at that. “I agree.”
Kaiser: I’m brilliant.
My buddy looked up at me with that big goofy dog grin, rolling his tongue out the side of his mouth for effect. I couldn't help but return his grin. One of the reasons I loved dogs was that there's absolutely no deception in them. You meet a dog, and you know exactly how they’re feeling. They can’t help but wag their tails when they're happy, growl when angry or scared, or roll over when they know they’re with someone they can trust.
Cats were different. You can never really tell what the cat was thinking. I suppose that’s why some people like them, but I can’t stand fake people.
Spook helped us figure out this whole system, and everything seemed to click when she mentioned something about party dynamics. In role-playing games, everyone had a job. You usually had one tank, one healer, and three damage dealers. If these damage dealers had utility skills that helped heal those on defensive duties, then all the better for team cohesion.
Naginata and I had healing abilities thanks to our blessings from Balaur, the interdimensional dragon we’d encountered in the Romanian Mountains. It was decided that we’d split the healing duties between us, because we were both really good at killing things too. If we ever got into a position where we needed a dedicated healer, we decided we'd reassess that if the situation arose. There was no telling which of us would end up with better healing skills if we needed to specialise any further.
Big Mac put up his hand to be our primary tank. His callsign came from an ancient Aztec execution weapon wielded in a two-handed grip. Generally, you would want a tank to have a sword and a shield in a video game, but Mac insisted that wouldn't be an issue. He said something about having a blessing of his own, but didn't go into much detail. We agreed that I would be the off-tank, as my Balaran Knight armour increased my survivability significantly.
Kaiser was going to be our specialist damage dealer. His [Sic ‘em] ability gave him the strongest burst damage that any of us had so far. Spook said she would help him focus on strategies to get the most out of that ability and whatever else he unlocked from here.
Spook readily admitted that she wasn't up to being a tank or healer. She said it was way too much pressure. Based on what I'd seen of her abilities so far, she would be better off as a battlefield manipulator and damage dealer anyway. If she could use kinetic force blasts to stop enemies in their tracks or knock them off balance, then we'd be able to work well together using the limited abilities that we already had.
We might even be able to use some of those force abilities to get out of this dungeon. I've been hesitant previously to structurally damage this dungeon, but now that I had received an attack that did that exact kind of damage, then maybe that was all part of the puzzle.
At Level 3, I had a grand total of 6 attribute points to distribute, along with two skill tokens and two equipment tokens. I had no idea why the Alarendei Empire chose the standard Dungeons & Dragons array of attributes to base their system around, but at least I was familiar with how those worked. These statistics were broken down into 6 different values: Strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. However one key difference between that system in the one the empire used was that it appeared that this system used the wrong values, not any kind of modifier that you added to dice rolls.
My stats hadn't changed since level one, And when I opened my character information screen, it looked as though this system had based the initial values on me as a person in the real world.
Hatchet
Level 3
Squad: EDGE Force
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 7
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 6
Charisma: 7
6 Attribute points to distribute.
2 Skill Tokens to spend.
2 Equipment Tokens to spend.
I was a little amused that the system had put my latent intelligence above my strength score, because I'd never considered myself an intelligent person by academic standards. I'd always learned through practical means, with verbal instruction tending to go in one ear and out the other. But intelligence comes in many forms, and there's no way I'd be able to build a successful writing career if I didn't figure some stuff out on my own.
A wisdom score of 6, though? I was glad my ex-wife wasn't here to see that. I had no doubt that she would have wholeheartedly agreed.
When allocating the attribute points, I needed to be smart. This system would have a finite amount of experience and levels that I could gain before the end of the contest, which was in just over six days. I needed to build on my strengths but also balance out my weaknesses.
If both Naginata and I shared the healing duties, then I would need to increase my wisdom score. That increased healing rate and mana regeneration while also bolstering my defence against magical abilities. Raising my intelligence score would increase the overall amount I healed for and the damage of any offensive spells I learned. Intelligence and wisdom would also be vital if I picked up any other spells. Would my anima grenade ability scale in damage with my intelligence score?
Strength increased my melee damage output with axes, swords, and maces, and would bolster my body’s core strength directly. Dexterity improved the damage with daggers, bows, teeth, and claws. Kaiser would focus on dexterity over everything else.
Constitution was mostly a defensive attribute. Considering that a high constitution score would mitigate overall poison damage taken, it was very likely that this stat would also be important if I was going to be taking a lot of damage.
Charisma increased the output of abilities and spells that allowed you to influence others, while wisdom mitigated this when others tried to use the same types of skills and spells on you.
No matter what, putting points into something meant giving something else up. There were no wrong choices, but there were better choices, and I had to decide.
Ultimately, I decided to raise my wisdom score to 9, aligning it with my intelligence. Then I increased my constitution by 2 and my strength by 1, bringing them all up to 9.
When it came to the equipment and skill tokens, the choices were pretty simple. I did check to see if I could use any of my skill upgrades on the anima abilities I received through my claws of the dragon blessing, but those anima abilities did not appear in the list of skills compatible with the upgrade tokens. I only had two system-given abilities so far, and I wanted to see whether I'd be able to level one of them up twice or whether I had to level both of them at once.
Rancid Claws would be an essential skill to grow over time. A line from a video game my son played suddenly floated into my head: Strong is the blade that cuts on its own. If I could tag someone with poison and then drop back into a defensive position and have them still take damage, that would be a potent tool.
Upgraded Skill: Rancid Claws
Rank 2
Cost 45 mana
Duration: 12 seconds
Coat your claws in rancid poison, giving you a chance to poison enemies you slash with your claws. Enemies with lower constitution scores will take greater poison damage over time.
The only difference between Rank 1 and Rank 2 was that the cost was reduced from 50 mana to 45 mana, and the duration increased from 10 seconds to 12 seconds. More ticks of damage over time was a great thing, and reducing the cost of this ability through multiple levels would compound those benefits.
Thankfully it let me spend the next point on Rancid Claws again immediately if I wanted to. I quickly consulted with the team, and it was decided that Spook would be able to handle any of the debris clearing we needed, but increasing my combat effectiveness was a bigger priority.
I used the next skill token to increase Rancid Claws to rank 3, which reduced the cost to 40 mana and increased the duration to 14 seconds.
Kaiser used both of his tokens to upgrade the [Sic ‘em] skill, which increased its damage by 10% and decreased its cooldown by 10 seconds. Again, not a massive upgrade, but over time and through future upgrades would significantly improve it.
The two abilities spook had used on the Leshy were called [Get Away] and [Stop Right There]. Then She had the [Mist Blink] ability too. She used her two skill tokens to bolster both [Get Away] and [Stop Right There]. The former used force to repel an enemy, and the latter locked the enemy in place. Upgrading [Stop Right There] to rank two also increased the damage the locked enemy would take from the rest of the squad by 2%. This was good to know because it meant that our skills and abilities might gain new effects as they increased in rank.
We all made a unanimous decision to hold off on using our equipment tokens right away. Every piece of gear that we've received so far was of low or common quality. If we wasted the tokens we had on gear that we were going to replace, then we may not be able to level up the gear that we wanted to grow as we received it.
Once we'd sorted all of this out and finalised our decisions, we headed back into the last chamber with the strange statue with the movable arms.