Chapter 6: When given lemons…

I was very proud of myself at the moment.

Never in my life did I imagine I had such vast reserves of patience. Indeed, I was practically an enlightened monk sitting atop a mountain, bathing in soft rays of sunlight. Soft and soothing breaths came in and out of my lungs, taking away all earthly worries, all the anxiety I had, all the stress weighing me down.

Most importantly, it was taking this volcano of white-hot fury I had boiling inside of me. The timing was excellent, as without this serene influence, I might have completely lost my mind from sheer, unadulterated spite.

“Why? Why all this? Why not just have everyone in one place?”

System Notice:

Students perform better in the long run when they have a generous diversity of thought and philosophy.

“Don’t listen to it.” Steve spoke up. “Its so that everyone has to fend for themselves at the start. This kind of System wants to weed out the weak early on.”

I turned to Steve.

“Listen, man. I couldn’t help but reading your mind a few times while we were talking. You realize that you’re acting as if this is a video game, right?”

“Well yeah. Because it is like a video game.”

“Yes.” I agreed. “One where other people, people we could be helping, are dying by the score. One where we’ll be very, very dead if we happen to mess up. As the list of survivors clearly shows. One where you suggested that our best move was to hunker down and do nothing.”

“Yeah, so?”

I pinched myself to avoid going on another rant.

“Don’t let yourself down Sully. You’re better than this. You’re going to make it out. You’re still you. You’re going to keep being a good person, despite being a Telepath and you’re going to save more people.”

“Dude, you’re starting to scare me.”

I ignored him.

One breath came in, slow and steady until my lungs were full. Then it went out, leaving me deflated and more in control. Another breath, drawn in through the nose and expelled through the mouth. Then another, and another.

“All right.” I said after some time. “This partnership of ours isn’t a sinking ship just yet. Can we at least agree that levelling is important to our survival?”

Steve seemed to hesitate. His bare chest shivering slightly as he shuffled awkwardly in place.

His eyes were darting around as well, brown flecks moving from side to side as they reflected what little light could be found in the cave.

His mind was now awash with some aspects of the Labyrinth that I had already become familiar with. Such as the giant centipedes, and the venom they carried.

Up until this point, the idea of physically coming across a monster was hypothetical. He’d seen them in his own fog, but he hadn’t actually witnessed what they were in their entirety. There were simply some things one had to see for themselves. Like the sound of their skittering legs on stone as they whizzed about, far faster than one would expect. Or the way their little, primitive minds were hyper-fixated on food. On the kill placed in front of them.

“I mean, I guess that makes sense. It’s a really high difficulty instance, but we should be able to handle the starting enemies. At least, I should be able to if you were able to.”

“Okay then. I’m glad we can agree on something. Now, since levelling is important because we get more Psy and more ability points, then it stands to reason that we should think about spending those points carefully, since we’re working with a limited amount. Right?”

He seemed affronted at that.

“Of course, man. That’s obvious. Don’t treat me like I’m stupid.”

I put my hands up in a placating manner. Doing my best to clear my mind of my private opinions.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Now, back to my point. Since we have a limited amount of ability points, we should spend them carefully. After reviewing all the available abilities and going over our options. Take my current options for instance. I got four points to spend and need defensive abilities. The system won’t tell me anything about them, so I have to go by their names. I’m pretty sure I can figure this out.”

I went back to the list.

“Telepaths can’t rely on super durable physiques like Enhancers or regeneration like Shifters. Nor could they pull off energy fields like Projectors. For me…” I paused and corrected myself.

“For us, the best strategy would be to stay out of sight and out of mind, striking out from very far away and hopefully finishing off the monsters before they have a chance to retaliate.”

I looked back at Steve.

“Does that sound reasonable?”

He nodded slowly.

“I guess I can get behind that.” Then his eyes focused on mine. Bearing some hints of suspicion.

“Okay. You take the upgrades and I’ll watch how you do. It should be fine since this is your idea of how to progress. I’ll spend my points after seeing how you do.”

I blinked. A little astounded that, after coming to terms with the fact that both of us were stuck here together, he’d still be showing apprehension at the idea of cooperation.

I searched his mind then. Trying to look for any ulterior motives and finding none. The man was honestly just trying to see what worked and wanted me to spend the points in case the build I proposed was sub-optimal.

‘That’s fine. I guess. Bit of a jerky move to make when our best shot at survival involves implicit trust but whatever. As long as it gets him on board.’

With that in mind, I decided to go for [Static Illusion], [Hide], and [Faint Presence] right off the bat, with an extra point up for debate.

The first three options would hopefully allow me to sneak past enemies or make them ignore me. I figured that was far more cost-effective when it came to swarms that may or may not be hunting for me.

Upgrading [Fever] was an option, but I couldn’t guarantee kills with that yet and I didn’t know if another point would make that much of a difference.

In addition, I now knew for a fact that there were massive groups of centipedes that gathered up and strategized to some degree.

If I was surrounded anywhere, then that was that. Lights out. Welcome to the pearly gates.

Better to rely on stealth to carry me through. If being a sneaky little poo meant surviving then sign me up for ninja school.

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” Steve agreed. “I think I’m gonna go that route too. Stealth builds tend to be overpowered when done right.”

He paused again.

“After you’ve tried it out. Of course. If it doesn’t work out, I can still use my points on something else. Meaning we have a backup. As a group.” He clarified.

“As a group.” I agreed. Trying very hard to keep my mounting irritation under control.

I nodded. Thinking back to how I also had a certain degree of insurance from my superhero knowledge.

Blackjack had famously disappeared time and time again after each of her attacks. Every time, Enhancers, Projectors and Shifters would gather and search for hours without any luck. Every time, footage would emerge of her literally walking alongside response units without being noticed. It wasn’t that she could turn invisible or anything. Rather, that she could make herself undetectable to people around her.

I had no illusions that my abilities would be that strong right away, but it was a start. Definitely a decent use of 3 points.

That last point would require some deliberation however. I’d narrowed down my choices to either [Precognition], which sounded overpowered, or [Mental Map], which sounded very useful and practical.

Problem was, we had no descriptions for either of them. Taking one might mean missing out on an incredible ability until my next level. With how things had played out, I might not make it that far.

I was leaning towards [Precognition] right now, only because of the possibilities I conjured up in my head. Being able to predict the future? Knowing how things would play out before every fight? Every conversation? Every little situation where skill and probability were a factor?

It was simply too good to be true. Which is exactly why I was suspicious.

I was all for positivity in the face of adversity but if being in this forsaken hole had taught me anything it was that whomever threw me down here had very few scruples and a twisted disposition.

Furthermore, there was that itty bitty fact that no Telepath I’d ever heard of could predict the future. I’m pretty sure something like that would have made the news, which only deepened my skepticism.

There was no way something that good would be available for 1 point. There had to be a catch.

Besides, [Mental Map] was something relatively simple in concept. A map that was in my mind. Brilliant thing to have around. Yes, I could tell distance and relative positions using [Sense Thoughts], but that was that. There could be a single wall between me and my target or there could be fifty. Furthermore, I’d lose track of them once they died, leaving me blind once more.

So, these were my final choices. Take a gamble on something amazing or settle for something safe and useful.

“I think I’ll go for more points in [Hide] instead.” Steve said. “If it actually works, it might be the better option. [Precognition] sounds like a scam. I’d bet it wouldn’t even work that well unless you invested heavily into it. It might be smart to indulge a little bit once we have more levels under our belt, but I’m not willing to risk it. I, I’m going to be honest. I’m not too familiar with Blackjack. Nothing specific at least. But I do know she’s never been caught. So, going for stealth sounds like the safer option. That sounds like our last line of defence and I want to make sure it won’t fail if I meet a monster with keen senses or super vision or something.”

That made sense. Not the route I would have gone for, as I was pretty sure most monsters would be dead long before they reached me, but his logic was sound.

In the end, I settled for the safe option. I could always go back to try out Precognition, but I needed a definitive edge right now.

With a small pang of sadness, I allocated my points.

Name:

Solomon Carter

Psy:

80/80

Type:

Telepath Level 6

Abilities:

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[Sense Thoughts] 2 / [Message] 1 / [Mental Bolt] 3 / [Fever] 2 / [Fear] 1 / [Static Illusion] 1 / [Hide] 1 / [Faint Presence] 1 / [Mental Map] 1

Ability Points:

0

At once, four new swirls of energy appeared in my head. I knew them all instinctively, as if I had known them all my life.

Two of them, [Faint Presence] and [Mental Map], were passive in nature. No matter how hard I tried, they would not accept any Psy into them. It was much the same deal as [Sense Thoughts]. Either I turn them off or on. No in between.

The map appeared as a holographic image of a sphere in my head. Within the center of the sphere lay my current chamber, dyed in pale blue and purple. I appeared as a single yellow dot in the middle, soft currents dancing from me to fill the image.

I couldn’t feel anything different about my presence, but I figured I was immune to whatever I was doing now.

I decided to leave the ability activated and move on.

The other two were a bit trickier. [Static Illusion] did just what it advertised. I focused on an area and willed it to become a rock to my senses.

It worked. Somewhat.

The rock did appear where I wanted and it did look how I wanted it to look. However, the size was off. This Illusion was way too small to hide myself in. On closer inspection, it also rippled as I moved around it.

I shook my head as disappointment set in. Right now, it would be a good distraction, but little else. A few more points might fix that, or they might not. On the bright side, only one Psy per use, so there was potential there. It would just have to be a gamble for another time.

My last ability, well, I don’t know how good it was yet. I could feel it inside me. I could activate it. I just couldn’t notice anything different. Maybe a centipede would be completely baffled right now, wondering how the handsome human had vanished from the world.

Or, maybe it would wonder what the handsome human was doing to become partly see-through.

Could centipedes, see? I guess they sense with their antennas. Would my ability work on antennas?

No matter. I needed to find live prey to test this on anyway. One sad little beast, all by its lonesome.

If it works? Great. If it doesn’t? Better to find out it doesn’t work in a controlled setting. That’s the scientific process in action.

I turned on my senses, combining [Mental Map] and [Sense Thoughts]. Flickers of emotion came to me and began to fill out blank spots in a three-dimensional sphere.

Critters in groups of two and three and four moved around my sides and above me. Below me lay the same concentration of life that had sent scouts to accost me.

Their feedback filled my map as my own energy did, modelling their passages and crevices.

Then I noticed that the map stopped forming around the entrance to the lower tunnels, where the re-enforcements were coming from earlier.

The same spot that marked my previous range.

Huh.

So, the range of my map is half that of my current senses.

Good to know.

Maybe it’s because of the level difference?

I set out to test it further by moving around my chamber.

The borders of the map being made moved with me, as did the borders of my senses. However, there was one crucial difference. The previously-completed portions remained in place, even after I move away.

Finally, some good news.

About time.

This meant that I could slowly map out the whole maze given enough time. It also meant that I didn’t have to worry about losing my only source of water.

Steve also followed suit and appeared suitably impressed, so that was good. Us being on the same page was a relief.

Now then. Two choices lay before me. Before us.

Go out and test my, our, new powers or stay here a bit longer and get a few more levels before heading out.

I considered it for a while as centipedes moved throughout the labyrinth.

I could start taking them out from here, but then I risked them converging on our position again.

On the other hand, I could start sniping them after we made our way out of here.

That way, search parties wouldn’t attack my little hideout.

Wait. What about the smarter variants?

Those things I felt when the Enhancers were fighting.

I didn’t sense any right now, but they could easily figure out where we came from if they know the tunnels. If that happened, they could set up an ambush at our only water source. Granted it wouldn’t catch me by surprise, but it would force a confrontation.

An idea struck me at that moment. It beat me over the head with how easy and obvious it was.

Man, I was such an idiot.

That lack of imagination was going to get me killed if I didn’t shape up. I turned back to the metal door and the battered locks. I made my essence flow and laid down an Illusion.

Then another.

Then one more on top of that.

I continued until the entire gateway looked like yet another wall in the cave.

Completely unremarkable if one didn’t pay close attention. The whole process set me back 10 Psy, but I couldn’t help but pat myself on the back.

“Dude! Way to go! That’s genius!” Steve cheered.

I couldn’t help but agree with him on this one thing. I’d just found our ideal hunting method.

The next few minutes passed without much consequence.

We threw [Fever] and [Mental Bolt] at enemies and watched their reactions. I heard their panic as I removed their friends or immobilized entire groups.

I studied how they spread out in search of me, bigger packs of 10 or 20 dispersing at once to explore all available openings. This encouraged me to keep targeting bigger and bigger hordes as their dispersal filled out my map extremely quickly.

Indeed, the whole sphere was almost filled out after just half an hour.

I stared at it in my mind, conjuring the sphere into being. I’d guess it had a radius of roughly 100 metres. It was a very rough guesstimate but it felt right.

Furthermore, the power now extended in every direction and was completely full of twists and turns.

There were passages that diverted themselves into three separate corridors, slow inclines that send travellers far below or far above their previous positions and holes that lead to chambers filled to bursting with chitin.

Now, 2 levels higher and 60 Psy lighter, I could make a few tentative conclusions.

1. This place was huge. I mean, completely gigantic in a way that would drive aspiring architects green with envy. It’s also one big deathtrap, in a way that would make injury lawyers salivate like hungry hyenas. Sadly, I should probably get used to the idea of being stuck here for a while. Or until help comes, as unlikely as that seems.

2. My Illusions worked! At no point did any of the centipedes stop to take a closer look. I can even simulate other things like sounds or smells, which could come in handy. They were also static and contained to a single location, but its still good to have more options. The only downside was that they started to vanish after about 20 minutes and had to be re-done. Still, that’s a massive load off my back.

3. [Fever] did give me kills. Slowly. It took a while for the centipedes to keel over and some of the stronger ones shrug it off after a minute of two. Consider Improving.

4. Psy doesn’t regenerate unless I’m completely still and resting. I would have to try to get breaks whenever I was at or below 20 Psy. That way I would have some wiggle room in case of emergencies.

5. There had to be other safe places aside from this one. I knew this because the survivor count had stopped at 895. Not a single person had died while I was experimenting. Yes, the number was absolutely spine-chilling, but everyone left seems to have found a decent hiding spot.

Overall, could be worse.

Could be way (Centipede)ing worse.

Still, that number left a question hanging in the air.

Should I stay here where its relatively safe or try to find and rescue other people? Should I spend my points now or wait to see what the surrounding situation is?

Any superhero worth their salt would have leapt at the chance to save lives after all.

Then again, I probably wouldn’t react very well to finding a Telepath in front of me after surviving a kidnapping. There were those two weirdoes that had called me a Shepherd or something but I figured they were most definitely not the norm.

Then there was the whole difficulties and possible alternate dimensions thing. I wasn’t quite ready to trust the System messages without further evidence, but if it were true, then it put me at a far trickier position.

Beyond that, my levelling had petered off, so I was hesitant to spend the points.

It could be a game-like thing, where sniping mobs from safety doesn’t give any progress past a certain point, or it could be that I’m either at or approaching the proverbial soft cap for experience.

Maybe the centipedes didn’t give out anything past level 8 and I’d have to find stronger enemies. It would suck, but no more than the whole morning kidnapping scenario already did.

Or maybe this whole game-like thing worked as a representation of skill or familiarity with powers. If so, training or using abilities in new ways was more important.

Right, better to hold off for now. Maybe see if I could link up with a group and get some more information before deciding what to get.

As for the safety angle, the decision was simple.

Staying here meant certain death sooner or later. Either by the inexorable march of time and the need for food, or from suffocation, once someone was stupid enough to start lighting fires around the place. Again, carbon monoxide was not the way to go and even if this was a magical, other world, there was still the fact that gravity carried water down into the earth.

All it would take is a heavy rain to drown all of us together.

Alternatively, I could go outside and actually try to be a hero. To make a positive difference despite what I was. While looking for an exit, of course. Again, the deepest cavern on earth was two or so kilometres below ground. We would reach the surface eventually.

“Right. I guess that settles it.” I said aloud. “We’re going up.”

“Uh. No.” Steve said sharply.

I turned to look at him. Confusion evident on my face.

“Uh, Steve. You’ve been reading my mind. Right?”

“Yeah?” He confirmed.

“So, you know about my friend Vince and all his caving accident documentaries?”

“Yeah. I know about them.”

“And, you don’t want to leave, despite that?”

Steve shrugged.

“Of course I don’t want to leave Sully. Look around.” He spread his arms out to signal the empty cavern.

“We have running water here. And safety besides. The smart thing to do is to stay put and keep grinding until we reach some kind of level cap.”

“We already reached a level cap.” I pointed out.

“No. We reached a soft cap. That’s different. A hard cap means that anymore levelling is impossible. A soft cap means its more difficult. Yeah, spamming bolts over and over again might not be fun, but it’ll have to do. If it means I have to kill hundreds or thousands of centipedes for the next level, then I’m okay with that. Who knows? We might be able to ride this out until level 100 or something. Or, we could run into other ways of levelling up besides killing mobs. We don’t know everything about this System yet and you know what they say about assuming.”

I stammered. Trying to find the words.

“Steve! Man! Basic Chemistry says that’s a terrible idea! Gases like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are produced when we breathe and there are a lot of breathing people and monsters around here. They also tend to gather at the lowest points of caves during cave-ins. Because of the lack of ventilation. Also, water. It also does that too. You’ll die if it starts raining. At least this way, we’ll have a chance. Besides, between the two of us, we can attack twice as fast and we have twice as much Psy to rely on. On top of that, the bolts have a cooldown, so if one of us runs into something that takes two bolts, the other can finish the monster off. Beside all of that, I mean, dude! We have no food! And the water we do have might be riddled with parasites and tapeworms or, the plague for all we know! I mean, I’ll take it over dehydration right now, but I sure wouldn’t trust it to keep me alive and healthy over an extended period of time.”

Steve heard my pleas in stony silence. Then he heard them again when I repeated myself.

All of them fell on deaf ears.

“Oh, my goodness Steve! What aren’t you getting about this!?”

He put up his hands then. Backing off slightly without seeming the least bit convinced.

“Look man. Those are all good points. I admit it. However, this is still the right choice. I want to be at least level 20 before heading out. That way I can invest in all the abilities I want. Like, [Block Mental Detection] and [Block Mental Attack], for example.”

He shivered for a second before composing himself.

“I know you already considered them and that you don’t think its at the top of the priority list. I disagree.”

“Its not that I don’t think they’re worthwhile man.” I clarified. “Its just that we can get them later. After ensuring our physical safety from the physical monsters. Again, as far as we know, we’re living on borrowed time. The most logical option is to make it to the surface as quickly as humanly possible. We haven’t encountered Telepathic monsters yet. So, what we can do is leave a couple of points free in case we do. Taking both those powers is only two points. Less than a level. That, and by having the points on standby, we can opt for another ability in case we need it.”

Steve shook his head. I tried reading his mind again and again, but only ended up getting a confused jumble of…

“Dude! You already took the ability! Its getting harder to read your mind! What are you even complaining for?”

He frowned.

“I guess I’m complaining that you were able to read my mind at all. That kind of sucks. But it highlights my point. We need to get that ability up to level 3 or 4 at least. Not because of monsters, but because of people.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. Sensing where he was going.

I took another deep, calming breath.

“Okay. I get it. I’m not going to argue that point. I’ve sensed Enhancers and Projectors out here, but I also met you. Another Telepath. It stands to reason that there are others. It also stands to reason that the others might not be… friendly.”

“Good.” Steve smiled. “Then we’re in agreement.”

“However…” I continued. “I don’t think the chances of a confrontation are very high. Its not like any other people are likely to try and attack us when we’re surrounded by actual, literal monsters. Even if we’re attacked, their abilities would be working just like ours, so I would actually argue that having the longer range on [Sense Thoughts] makes more sense. It means we can sense the other attacker before they sense us and it would also give us a bigger edge against monsters at the same time. All while we can keep a couple of points in reserve for the blocking abilities in case all else fails.”

Steve shook his head. Sighing dramatically.

“And this is why I want to keep grinding. You already can’t sense my own thoughts very well. What if the other person hides their intentions before attacking? What if we don’t attack them, despite having the range advantage, because we’re afraid of hurting a potential ally?”

He began to wag his finger theatrically.

“No. Better to risk a flood or a tunnel collapse for a few days. I’m sure the System will provide food in some capacity. Worst case scenario, we can eat the mushrooms.”

I gazed at the far wall, where some of the luminescent fungal colonies were growing. Taking in their fluorescent, pale green glow.

Then I looked back at Steve.

“Bro.” I said. Unable to put my disappointment into proper words.

“Don’t you bro me dude. That’s my line.” Steve snapped. “Here. I’ll prove that I’m right.”

I felt his Psy swelling up, and I panicked as I realized he meant to attack me with [Fever]. His own inner world making the line grow taut.

I immediately cursed, summoning a bolt in self-defence.

But I needn’t have bothered.

Steve was on the floor. Screaming.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!” He wailed. Letting loose a cry of exquisite agony as he collapsed and began to writhe like a worm.

His nails slashing bloody ribbons across his face as his eyes began to melt like hot wax. Blood and tears streaming together and pooling down unto the floor.

I tried to help, to hold him, but it was no use.

He screamed and screamed and screamed. For minutes that felt like hours.

Until he stopped. His body growing limp, as his head exploded.

I stared at him. At his corpse. Wondering what the (Centipede) had just happened in front of me.

Then I stood. Swallowing the lump in my throat.

“I… guess the System doesn’t like us attacking each other. At least, not with Telepathic abilities.” I said aloud.

Addressing no one in particular. My mind still reeling from the sight of his rapidly cooling corpse and the spreading puddle of warm blood across the floor. I watched as the trails covered the surface of the cavern. Intermixing with the stream falling from the grate.

“Right then.” I repeated a few times, before I finally got the shaking under control. “I guess [Block Mental Detection] and [Block Mental Attack] aren’t priorities for now. Using Telepath abilities to attack other people is a very bad idea.”

The words calmed me down somewhat, though another notion soon reared its ugly head.

I couldn’t use Telepathic abilities on other people, but what if they used their own abilities on me? What would happen if someone threw an enhanced punch or a bolt of fire? Would they be held to the same standard?

My stomach churned and it took all the effort I could muster, to keep myself from throwing up.