***Elsewhere***
Ganorlen Vosh sat behind his desk as various reports came in from throughout the sector. It was a demanding position, monitoring an entire sector for the Syndicate, but he was paid very well. He had long ago, placed a dozen layers of underlings below him to filter through the reports and only allow the most pertinent information to come to his attention. That was why he was confused as to why a simple ships seizure action came to his desk.
“What is this, Edgemont? Why should I concern myself with such a minor action in Project Mechrise?”
“Read the report, sir. There’s too much in there to summarize and it is definitely worth your attention.”
“Very well. Dismissed.” Ganorlen pulled up the report and read through it. At first, it read like a botched seizure attempt but the more detail he read the more he realized that there was something more to this story. How had an unarmed, Tier One human defeated an entire double-strength seizure squad? The Stun Rods should have easily been enough to subdue the new slave. One hit should have done it.
He delved deeper as it got curiouser and curiouser. The human had been stunned nearly a dozen times yet was still able to keep fighting? And highly effectively? This human is now on the list. Ganorlen stopped reading and switched to the recording of the event.
The longer he watched, the more intrigued he became. “He’s faster and stronger than any Tier One human should ever be. Even after being stunned more than ten times, he took apart those Tier Two agents like they were training dummies. He displayed no Abilities, no Spells, no indication of his Class. Nothing.
“Edgemont, get in here!”
“Yes sir?” The underling asked, making the fear in his voice masterfully.
“This guy.” Ganorlen pointed at the figure on the screen. “Who is he? I want to know everything there is to know about him. If it takes time to dig deeper, then take the time. Yes, you heard that right. Thorough is better than timely on this one.”
“Yes sir! The preliminary report is attached to the imagery in a subfile. We will dig as deep down the well as it goes.”
“Good. Thank you, Edgemont. Excellent job kicking this report up to me – this is exactly the kind of thing that should come across my desk. Is there anything else I might have missed?”
“The only other thing of significance is that we lost contact with one of our privateers. A heavy cruiser acquired from a competitor. It’s just one ship but if it becomes a pattern, it could be a drain on resources or revenue.”
“Very well. Monitor the situation and keep me informed.”
As Edgemont left, he returned to reading the file. “Iron Reaver. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of that ship before. Looks like a run-of-the-mill mech transport. So why this much trouble? And the reports call this guy Duke. Is he a member of a royal family hiding out? In exile? And the report says the ship was destroyed with all hands. Let me take a closer look at that.”
He watched the crystal recording over and over before applying his Abilities to the task. The image slowed down even further, and the clarity enhanced by an order of magnitude. He watched as the beam closed the distance to the mech transport, slowing the image even more as it came to impact. He noted the artifact that had made him look closer. There! He focused in even further, pushing his Abilities to their limits and saw a shuttle appear in the path of the beam as it impacted the transport’s shield. The shuttle was destroyed, creating the reported debris field but the ship itself, this Iron Reaver vanished before the beam could penetrate its shields.
“So, this defiant ship has managed to escape us. Clever trick with the shuttle. I’d like to know how they did it. And, most of all, where they are now. Don’t worry, children, I’ll find you. I always do.”
***
It wound up taking Duke all three hours to upgrade all the Mana cores with as much care as he was taking. When he was done, the ship had ten times the available Mana as it had previously. And, with the upgraded cores, it could draw on the Mana five times as fast. Duke was well pleased with his work but was still annoyed at the nagging question of the reduced Mana regens. What is the connection? Why are they such even percentages but so varied between us? Lya, Mira, and Aurelia all are reduced to 20%. I’m at 40%, and the orcs are at 0 or 10%. What could it be that is driving those numbers? Duke stopped in mid-thought. Could it be that simple? He raced up to the bridge.
Duke, once again, charged onto the bridge and turned to Tukka, “I know this is a personal question, but you wouldn’t happen to be Tier One, would you?”
“Yes, that is a rather personal question, human,” Tukka responded with irritation.
“And you, Gro’nok, you’re Tier Two, right?”
Gro’nok nodded, unsure what Duke was up to. Duke immediately continued, “I figured out the Mana regen percentages! They are based on your Tier. A Tier One has a zero percent, a Tier Two has a ten percent, a Tier Three has twenty percent, and so on. I don’t know what that means, but at least we have the mechanics figured out.”
Mira cut in, “Glad that’s all figured out, but the more important thing right now is that we now just might have enough power to get us out of this gravity well. It’s going to tax the engines, but I think we will be able to make it. I’d say hold on, but I don’t think that will help.”
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With a shudder, the engines engaged, drawing on the new Mana capacity of the ship. Slowly, Mira increased the power to the engines beyond their original limits. She knew that the engines would need maintenance when this was all done whether it worked or not. But she also knew that she had the best mechanic in the cosmos onboard. It felt like cheating to her having Duke’s Abilities in their back pocket but with him reluctant to use them she had mixed feelings. She understood his desire for anonymity given the price on his head, but he could have gotten them all out of this situation in an instant. Then again, her ship just got an unimaginable upgrade. She returned her focus to monitoring the engines and piloting them out of this mess.
Aurelia sat in her chair contemplating the turn her life had taken. She had left her home, her planet of origin but she still had mixed feelings about Teldin. It really wasn’t her origin. She was born out of a soul trapped in a dungeon. What was she really? The ship and space and all this stuff was just beyond her comprehension. And the potion Duke had given her had worn off so she really couldn’t understand what anyone but him was saying. He didn’t even seem to notice, lost in his own thoughts. Did he even care about her anymore? They were growing apart and she wasn’t even sure that it upset her. Her place was with the Legion. That is where she fit, not in space. This is not where she belonged.
Lya stared off into space, watching the accretion disk unfolding before them as the ship fought its way out of the gravity well. She considered the course of her life from this point. She knew that she had been clinging on to her husband’s memory and that had dragged her into the life of a hunter. She now was a Celestial Tracker with some remarkable Abilities. It was a Class she had never heard of, even in the hunter circles she had been running in for the past few years. But was she still clinging onto the past, even in this new stage of her life? Was she really making the right choices for her?
Gro’nok stared at the readout on his mech. It, like all the Steel Tusk mechs, was heavily damaged. He had the funds to pay for repairs. They all did, but the Syndicate’s noose was tightening. Was there even a place where they could get their mechs repaired that wasn’t under Syndicate control at this point? Had he made the wrong decision? Should he have just accepted Syndicate control like everyone else had? Had his decisions set his team on a path to destruction. Had his leadership skills finally failed them all?
Duke was reviewing his notifications, annoyed that he had only received 600 experience for all that fighting. Should I have just stayed on Teldin? All the bounty hunters coming after me were giving me good experience. Did I really need to spread dungeon cores around? I have enough to maintain my Title. Why should I bother with more? His thoughts were interrupted by another notification.
*** MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased from Adept 32 to Adept 36 ***
Why is my MENTAL FORTITUDE increasing? It’s not like I’m doing anything. I’m just sitting here reading notifications.
*** MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased from Adept 36 to Adept 38 ***
What the hell?
*** MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased from Adept 38 to Adept 40 ***
Duke’s head snapped up and he looked around the bridge, his XENOGLOSSIA working overdrive to translate the despondent and forlorn looks of everyone else. As he looked around, he grew more confused and curious as to what was going on.
*** MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased from Adept 40 to Adept 42 ***
Duke started cycling through his additional senses to see if they could tell him more than just his eyes. He started with SENSE MAGIC and he instantly saw some sort of swirling eddies of magic that he couldn’t figure out rippling around the bridge. When he switched to DUNGEON SENSE, what he saw sent a wave of terror down his spine.
A dark, ephemeral creature stood in the center of the bridge. It had the general size and shape of a humanoid save that it was wider and thinner, looking like a floating blanket draped over a surfboard. It had a dozen tentacles stretching out from its body and one was latched onto the head of everyone on the bridge. The tentacle in front of Duke seemed to be having difficulty latching on. His IDENTIFY Ability instinctively kicked on.
*** You have encountered an Umbral Gloomwraith. This creature is rarely encountered and even more rarely survived. Its insidious attacks drain all hope and positive emotions from its victims typically leading to self-destructive behavior. The Umbral Gloomwraith then feeds on the emotions released upon the death of its victims. ***
Duke immediately attacked the creature with a burst of LIGHT. It was not impressed and seemed to start pulling even harder at the crew. Duke followed up with his entire repertoire of elemental attacks, none of which, even FORCE had any effect other than to have the creatures remaining tentacles that did not have a victim already move to attack him.
I only have three more attacks that might work. I’m pretty sure UMBRAL REAPER would be a bad idea here – probably would feed it. SOULFIRE it is. Duke unleashed his SOULFIRE attack as a trio of tentacles went right through his defending hands to latch onto his head.
The result was immediate. The creature screamed in a tremendous psychic wave.
*** MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased from Adept 42 to Adept 45. ***
Duke grit his teeth against the pain and continued to pour the SOULFIRE on, bathing the creature in the terrible energy. It writhed in pain, retracting all its tentacles and wrapping its body in them in an attempt to fend off the soul-burning flames. It did the creature no good. After a full minute of sustained attack and countless psychic attacks in response, the creature finally succumbed to the SOULFIRE and dissolved into burning vapor.
*** You have defeated a Tier Five, level 150 Umbral Gloomwraith. You receive 62,250 experience. You are now level 124 and have 18 Characteristic Points to spend.
Your SOULFIRE Ability has ranked up to Initiate 5. ***
Duke looked up from his notification to see that he had burned a hole straight through the floor of the bridge, including the runescript buried within. He did not hesitate to activate RESTORE to fix the damage, reflexively adding additional Mana to ensure enough volume was covered. The shuddering and whining of the ship that Duke hadn’t noticed stopped to be replaced with the vibration of the straining engines pulling them out of the gravity well.
One by one, the others stirred, groaning and holding their heads. Duke tried to help them but really had nothing that could help them other than kind words and a shoulder to lean on. It took most of the next hour to explain what had happened. The looks of horror on everyone’s faces as Duke explained the monster’s attack grew even more deep-seated as each recalled their thoughts during the attack. It was quickly agreed that everyone should head to their cabins to get some rest. Duke volunteered to stay on the bridge and monitor the ship. It took no small convincing, but Mira left only after being assured that he would get her immediately if anything went wrong. And then Duke was alone on the bridge with his own thoughts.